wisp
 Admin
Posts: 203
Original Join Date: February 18, 2004
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Post by wisp on Sept 28, 2016 2:48:33 GMT
I have some bad news. As you know, the plan was to give it a month or so and then turn Old LA into an archive, where we would all still be able to log in and view everything. Unfortunately, however, we've found out that it's not feasible after all*. The current plan is still to keep the domain name and have it redirect to our new location, but we expect the old forum to be shutting down completely in about a month (no exact date yet, but we'll let everyone know when we find out). Please go ahead and save anything you wanted to save from the old board as soon as you can.
Eventually losing the archive was always a possibility, as we had discussed before, but we're sorry that it's going to be happening sooner rather than later. Again, please go ahead and save anything you want as soon as you can, since we aren't 100% sure about the shut-down date yet.
*Unfeasability of original plans may or may not be blamed on Jaina.
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Masamune
Member
Posts: 113
Original Join Date: January, 2002
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Post by Masamune on Sept 28, 2016 3:19:40 GMT
Will you guys be able to get a copy of the database itself? If you're able to get a complete archive of the file structure and the database itself, it can always be replicated elsewhere.
But this is indeed sad news to hear.
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Post by Chikara Nadir on Sept 28, 2016 3:23:55 GMT
We're at least taking care of saving all the emotes, so soon enough you'll be able to deadlink again on any skin you want!
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fish
 Admin
Posts: 9
Original Join Date: 21.03.03
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Post by fish on Sept 28, 2016 3:28:50 GMT
Will you guys be able to get a copy of the database itself? If you're able to get a complete archive of the file structure and the database itself, it can always be replicated elsewhere. But this is indeed sad news to hear. Should be able to get a copy of the database, but it's IPB's own structure, so to be replicated it would require another IPB installation to import it, if I'm not mistaken. |
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Masamune
Member
Posts: 113
Original Join Date: January, 2002
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Post by Masamune on Sept 28, 2016 3:31:56 GMT
Yeah it would need to be. But without the file structure, all the attachments and avatars will be broken if it's ever imported elsewhere.
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masterofwind
Member
Posts: 116
Original Join Date: When Loddie ruled LA
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Post by masterofwind on Sept 28, 2016 3:33:16 GMT
Hmm sadness. Thank you for the heads up again
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tydaze
Member
Posts: 72
Original Join Date: 2004
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Post by tydaze on Sept 28, 2016 3:34:42 GMT
Why is it not feasible? And what happened to saving a backup? Not that I have an issue, I'd just like to know.
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wisp
Admin
Posts: 203
Original Join Date: February 18, 2004
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Post by wisp on Sept 28, 2016 3:43:40 GMT
Simply put, it turns out that it's just going to be cost prohibitive even to maintain Old LA as an archive. :/ As I'm understanding it from the admin discussion we had, any backups that were saved would essentially be useless without another Invision board to import them to. Which brings us back to one of the original reasons why we moved here, which is that IPB is too expensive.  |
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Selena
Admin
Odinsdottir
Posts: 320
Original Join Date: February 13, 2003
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Post by Selena on Sept 28, 2016 4:40:25 GMT
Yes. Old LA has a backup feature, but unfortunately it only spits out code that cannot be read under normal circumstances. IPB has framework that you have to install -- then that base framework translates all our specially coded data (all our posts 'n shit). It's unfortunate that they don't allow us to create a read-only text archive of any kind.
We'd have purchase a whole new server, install IPB on it, then bulk-upload LA there simply so we can look at it whenever we feel nostalgic. Hosting would eventually start to get expensive. At least in relation to how much we'd actually use it. Given that we're already settling in nicely here, this feels like the best option.
Khuff recently contacted us saying that he needs to shut down his server assets, which would include LA. Since he seemingly has no idea that we've already migrated over here, we picked a REALLY GOOD TIME to move! Old LA was gonna get shut down regardless!
Fated timing, I suppose.
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Post by Rova on Sept 28, 2016 5:11:28 GMT
Well, shit. |
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tydaze
Member
Posts: 72
Original Join Date: 2004
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Post by tydaze on Sept 28, 2016 6:11:56 GMT
So theoretically, you could just hold on to the backup files until some day far in the future when we decide we want to collectively look back at it, kind of like a time capsule? Even if it's unreadable for the time being, I'd be most happy knowing that someone still has a copy of the backup.
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Leo
Member
I don't believe in the moon, I think it's just the back of the sun.
Posts: 282
Original Join Date: September 30, 2008
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Post by Leo on Sept 28, 2016 6:32:13 GMT
So theoretically, you could just hold on to the backup files until some day far in the future when we decide we want to collectively look back at it, kind of like a time capsule? Even if it's unreadable for the time being, I'd be most happy knowing that someone still has a copy of the backup. ^ Agreed; in future, I wouldn't mind paying for an IPB server if enough of us want to go back and browse all the threads. Having an archive of the database at least keeps that door open. That being said, does anyone happen to have a summary/synopsis of the Chronicles from the beginning to where JR has gotten to as of 2 weeks ago? I think that might be one of if not the most important OC we as a community have made together. If we can't save a copy of all the threads, it'll be good to go back and start documenting as much of the story as possible. |
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Turtlebro
Member
Posts: 106
Original Join Date: February 22, 2009
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Post by Turtlebro on Sept 28, 2016 7:02:43 GMT
I'm going to go ahead and third Ty's idea. Even if we can't read it for the time being, being able to hang onto the files for a potential and unknown future date seems much better than keeping nothing at all.
This means I need to put my foot on the gas for saving all the old Chronicles threads, plus whatever else I feel like. And to answer your question Leo, I have the first third of the Chronicles threads saved as Word docs. I'm going to go ahead and try and knock out a few more tonight.
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Post by khuffie on Sept 28, 2016 12:55:21 GMT
What devilry is this?  Yes, I didn't even know this place existed until Toan mentioned it yesterday. Sadly, yeah I'd like to move on and stop paying almost $650 US a year to host Zelda Legends and LA and a couple of other smaller sites. (And I'm in Canada, so the exchange rate this year killed me  ) A few things to note: it probably won't be next month. Need to give people enough time to migrate. Another thing to note: you can get relatively cheap hosting for a site of LA's size ($5-10 a month), but maintaining a site and keeping up with updates might be cumbersome, so this is a good choice. There ARE things out there that will 'convert' the Invision board to another forum software. When I looked last year, I couldn't find any, but just searching now I found this one: mybb.com/download/merge-system/ . Not sure it'll keep the attachment, but something to keep in mind! |
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Selena
Admin
Odinsdottir
Posts: 320
Original Join Date: February 13, 2003
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Post by Selena on Sept 28, 2016 16:47:51 GMT
To everyone: We were thinking about backing up files regardless, even if we never get a server to host, just to be on the safe side. So no worries. Khuffie's right -- even if we do get a server, IPB has to be maintained and updated over time to remain functional. It starts getting overly complicated for the size LA currently is. Also to consider: It might be a good idea that we're losing older data. We had a lot of threads about exchanging contact info and a lot of personal information. Once LA is taken offline, that will no longer be searchable. When you search for your username in Google, a lot of older LA threads can pop up -- sometimes stuff that'll look a little embarrassing if an employer runs a search on your name. |
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