Options for new discussion forums

[jusjoken]

Originally Posted by Narflex

I mentioned in my last post that I won't be setting up a Discourse server (internal issues I can't explain). The only other option I'm allowed to pursue would be a Google Group...for any real forum, somebody else would need to set it up since I'm still bound by Google's rules.

So once you have the existing site backed up thru httrack.. Where will that be hosted?

k

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Narflex

Now regarding Discourse...so that's not going to happen at this time (internal details I can't get into). The only other thing I can do w/ Google's blessing is to create a Google Group for this...which isn't really ideal. The other alternative is somebody else creating a non-official discussion site..and then we link to that as the 'non-official SageTV dicussion forums'. Any takers on that?

Can we all chip in to keep this forum site going? Or is that not allowed by Google.

I am not a huge fan of reddit for this sort of stuff, but there is an existing sub that is rarely used. And we don't have to pay for that. But there are other downsides. If no one comes up with a better option then we may be stuck with that.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

Can we all chip in to keep this forum site going? Or is that not allowed by Google.

I am not a huge fan of reddit for this sort of stuff, but there is an existing sub that is rarely used. And we don't have to pay for that. But there are other downsides. If no one comes up with a better option then we may be stuck with that.

I don’t mind chipping in, but personally, I’d prefer a forum where I’m signing-in ONLY to the forum, not to Google, or Facebook, or…you know?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by Narflex

I compiled a special version of HTTRack.

Can you post a ZIP file of the forum you saved... So, it can be downloaded for local use?

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Can you post a ZIP file of the forum you saved... So, it can be downloaded for local use?

or your compile of HTTrack so we can grab it ourselves.

[Narflex]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Ah, okay - that's what a tech-friend of mine thought you may have done.
Any idea what a non-coding commoner like moi could do - would I replace the htslib.c which installed with the program with the one you linked to ini post #34, or do I need to re-compile a version myself as you did?

You'd actually need to recompile it...but I'll post an issue w/ the fix on their Github page so maybe they'll include it.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Narflex

You'd actually need to recompile it...but I'll post an issue w/ the fix on their Github page so maybe they'll include it.

ok, thanks so far. At least you isolated the problem. Although, I tried another web-download app, Cyotek WebCopy, and got exactly the same response. That’s why I thought the issue was with Sage forums and not HTTrack

[Narflex]

Originally Posted by jusjoken

So once you have the existing site backed up thru httrack.. Where will that be hosted?

k

It should still end up on forums.sagetv.com; but the URLs will be different because they can't use actual query parameters (like every single page on the forums except the main page). The site will actually be hosted by Google's infrastructure.

[Narflex]

Originally Posted by wayner

Can we all chip in to keep this forum site going? Or is that not allowed by Google.

I am not a huge fan of reddit for this sort of stuff, but there is an existing sub that is rarely used. And we don't have to pay for that. But there are other downsides. If no one comes up with a better option then we may be stuck with that.

No, you can't just keep the existing site going because I can't just hand over the forums database to somebody else (lots of personal email addresses, PMs, etc.). This has nothing to do with money..it's all about security policies.

[Narflex]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Can you post a ZIP file of the forum you saved... So, it can be downloaded for local use?

That's all going to depend upon how big it ends up being....ask me again later after I said the download worked completely and I know how big it is.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Narflex

That's all going to depend upon how big it ends up being....ask me again later after I said the download worked completely and I know how big it is.

Thanks for all the updates. And yes, I’d appreciate privacy and security with regards to our currently stored info. If the scenario were you could send all the forum info over but we had to create new ID’s, logins, etc., that would be preferred over what you said

[VCRUser]

Originally Posted by Narflex

That's all going to depend upon how big it ends up being....ask me again later after I said the download worked completely and I know how big it is.

I'd also like to be able to download for local use.

[trk2]

Originally Posted by Narflex

No, you can't just keep the existing site going because I can't just hand over the forums database to somebody else (lots of personal email addresses, PMs, etc.). This has nothing to do with money..it's all about security policies.

Bummer. And I guess just upgrading to the latest version of vBulletin doesn't meet the security policies?

[Narflex]

Originally Posted by trk2

Bummer. And I guess just upgrading to the latest version of vBulletin doesn't meet the security policies?

No, otherwise I'd just do that.

[KryptoNyte]

This forum link has been in my bookmarks for so long that I don't even remember a time when it wasn't right up at the top of my browser's bookmarks list ... it's been a major virtual hangout for me for like 1/3 of my life. It's not just for Sage, it's the extraordinary amount of technical knowledge that's openly shared here between users, and there is a long list of great Sage users and plugin developers that have contributed far beyond what I will ever be able to understand.

Jeff, whatever you deem appropriate at this point is great with me.

(I know that beggars can't be choosers, but I don't navigate reddit so well now that I'm old)

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

This forum link has been in my bookmarks for so long that I don't even remember a time when it wasn't right up at the top of my browser's bookmarks list ... it's been a major virtual hangout for me for like 1/3 of my life. It's not just for Sage, it's the extraordinary amount of technical knowledge that's openly shared here between users, and there is a long list of great Sage users and plugin developers that have contributed far beyond what I will ever be able to understand.

Jeff, whatever you deem appropriate at this point is great with me.

(I know that beggars can't be choosers, but I don't navigate reddit so well now that I'm old)

If I read Jeff’s previous post correctly, Google is not going to allow him to setup an alternate forum at all - not even the Discourse site that was previously suggested. Therefore, unless someone else steps up and creates a new forum, it’s sounding like we could be coming to the end of the road.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Tiki

If I read Jeff’s previous post correctly, Google is not going to allow him to setup an alternate forum at all - not even the Discourse site that was previously suggested. Therefore, unless someone else steps up and creates a new forum, it’s sounding like we could be coming to the end of the road.

Let's hope that's not the case - which is why I've been trying to download the site using various web-download software apps like HTTrack and Webcopy. Unfortunately, the SageTV Forums site returns '403 Forbidden' errors with every software package I've tried so far.
I believe Jeff was able to get around this by compiling a 'special' version of the HTTrack software, but this is beyond my coding abilities unfortunately.
If anyone else can investigate what he did and replicate it, that would help most of us.
As far as someone hosting the site - we only have 2 1/2 weeks until June 1st, so yes, lets hope someone with the knowhow can do this

[wayner]

A couple of people have said that they don't like reddit, but that is a pre-existing solution. Surely it is better than nothing, if nothing else pops up.

[Opus4]

Unless someone has other options, what do people think of Discord, as opposed to google groups? I don't remember if anyone had another hosting option posted previously.

Discussions there are less threaded, but there are thread and pseudo forum channel options there.

[Narflex]

Originally Posted by Tiki

If I read Jeff’s previous post correctly, Google is not going to allow him to setup an alternate forum at all - not even the Discourse site that was previously suggested. Therefore, unless someone else steps up and creates a new forum, it’s sounding like we could be coming to the end of the road.

You are correct for new discussions...somebody else needs to come up with a new option or it'll end up being Google Groups.

I will definitely keep a static copy of the existing forums alive for archival purposes...I am allowed to do that. So please don't try to download your own copies of the forums right now...it's just going to slow down my work trying to create the official archive of them.