[vs-Admin]

I want to give you an update on the process I use once the site goes live with the new platform.

The night before the site goes live you will see an announcement from me that the site will be going live soon. Once the actual process starts, the site will be in read-only mode while the team does the migration from the old platform to the new one.

Once it goes live you will see an announcement thread created here in this section. All questions and feedback about the new platform should be posted ONLY in that thread.

• You will see me reply to the thread introducing myself.
• I will add a new signature and avatar to the admin account.

What should you be doing now before this happens?

• Make sure your email address is up to date in your account.
• If you don't remember your password, now would be a good time to reset it. Save the information.

When Will This All Happen?

slotforum.com is currently scheduled for May 31, 2021. HOWEVER, the schedule is very fluid, so that could change depending on any complications or schedule changes. I am simply giving you a heads up.

As your dedicated support, we will be here with you multiple times a day once the site goes live with the new platform, answering questions, and listening to feedback.

My only request is that you remain patient with us while we work through the changes.

- Cricket

 

[Billy_Cart]

My only request is that you remain patient with us while we work through the changes.

- Cricket

Agreed 👍, my only request is that you complete this task with competence with no data loss or excuses post change that unforseen issues impacted the change and a roll back is not possible. "Past performance is the best indicator of future outcomes", let's hope this isn't proved correct yet again.

 

[3 Ball Charlie]

Wow!

What software are you porting your history to!?

Really curious.

 

[conti_rowland]

This sounds like it could be great news but that there is a risk of loss of information.

Cricket, you haven't really given us a lot of information to go on, nor mentioned why one of the forums has disappeared.

@everyone else, could someone give a clear explanation of how best it might be to 'back up' information?

Kind regards
Andi

 

[conti_rowland]

Might older threads be discarded?

 

[portals999]

The mods keep calling the proposed work a 'migration' and not an 'upgrade'.

This implies that they are moving from one software Forum product to a different Forum product, there is far more work/things that can/will go wrong as you're migrating the current database schema and data to a new database schema. There will be migration tools available with the new Forum software to assist with this database migration however if it's anything like a SAP migration then there will be many manual follow-up specialist config tasks that needs done in the Forum software, database and file system to get it all hanging together. Not envious...

If they are moving as well to a new hosting partner then this add another layer of complication around DNS, email etc. that all needs to hang together.

If they are misusing the word migration then maybe it is just a Forum upgrade to the latest bells/whistles version, this is by far the least risky.

 

[portals999]

@everyone else, could someone give a clear explanation of how best it might be to 'back up' information?

Good question!

Possible Options? (I am interested to see what other suggestions people come up with)?

DISCLAIMER: - if you try 3 or 4 below then please make sure you understand what your scripting will actually do

- do not inadvertently try and mirror too much of the site at once or the admins may notice the sudden increase in bandwidth and get annoyed and block your IP...

1. Browser Save

Using your browser of choice use the 'Save as' option and save to a folder. You can then click on the index.html file and the page will load from local drive. This grabs the core data from the page incl text, images and links however the page will not paginate correctly and look like a dog's dinner....not nice at all. Imagine having to do that for a Topic that has say 80 pages....and you have dozens of Topics...

2. Print to PDF

On the SFI Topic page do a [CTRL]+[P] then print the page to PDF, this generates a PDF with the test, images and links and it paginates pretty well however imagine having to do that for a Topic that has say 80 pages....and you have dozens of Topics...

3. Web Crawler/Offline Reader

Download a free tool such as HTTRACK, work out the required config/wildcards and mirror the pages with the topics you want to keep. The config in HTTrack is a little confusing even for a web tool, I need to spend some time with it and figure out what it can really do, I'm hoping I can pull back full Topics and that all I need to do is just spoof the 'showtopic=xxxxxx 'querystring for each Topic I want.

4. Linux Shell Script

Using something like wkhtmltopdf conversion tool and write a shell script that will save an entire Topic recursively based on a list of URLs of the pages/topics that we manually have added to a text site-map file and spit out a PDF.

5. What Else....?

Other suggestions?

 

[portals999]

So after few frustrating hours I think I might have a idea of how I can download my own Topics on the Forum to run locally (for purely my own use), as there are a few I'd really hate to lose forever as the content does not exist anywhere else. And the pages won't don't look like crap. Hopefully I will just need to run the script once to get that entire Topic (all pages included), well that's the plan, still to be fully tested.

I won't be sharing how here right now for many reasons but it's not particularly difficult in initial testing and there is a clue in above post (you can do in on a Wintel machine, no Linux required so far...), I just need to make sure I'm only grabbing what I want/need if I had to recreate my post and nothing else and importantly not grab it in a agressive manner so as to upset anyone.

 

[portals999]

Left window is www, right window is local C drive for testing.

 

[StuBeeDoo]

Question...... Are those of us who have direct-uploaded images to the forum in danger of losing them?

 

[portals999]

Question...... Are those of us who have direct-uploaded images to the forum in danger of losing them?

Nobody knows...

You would hope not because it would be rank incompetence, however stranger things have happened at sea, really you know the answer - backup anything you want to keep.

Hopefully they will archive the site as-is when it's set to read-only like they did with the old one, JUST IN CASE, ARE YOU LISTENING, ADMINS.....?

 

[gus3049]

I'm quite sure it would be possible to update the existing software but this is going to be a migration to an entirely different platform, presumably so that it matches other forums that VS operate (and no doubt benefit them financially).

I have a bad feeling about this! I have spent quite a few happy hours saving things that interest me to PDF as I trust nobody whose prime concern in life is profit to be doing things for my good rather than theirs.

 

[StuBeeDoo]

I have a bad feeling about this!

You and me both. If it goes the way I fear it will, I'm done here. TBH, these days I rarely post anywhere on the forum except for The Pit Lane. 'Tis a shame, over the last 10 years I've learned so much from members more knowledgeable than myself that has boosted my enjoyment of the hobby.

 

[Gripping Pneus]

Gordon and Stu are spot-on. I have a terrible foreboding too about this. Systems are so complex now that such a move is bound to have glitches. We already know that this Forum does not make much money for VS so I don't expect them to have allowed many man-hours for the changeover. It could very soon become a loss-making exercise. Man the lifeboats.

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Geez, and I thought I could be a glass half full kinda guy.🙄

 

[munter]

Again I notice the absence of any comments by any of the admin/mod team.

Please be patient..... I am more the impatient sort.

 

[Gripping Pneus]

I AM an optimist and change has always been good for me, but big organisations do not have a good track record where changing software is concerned, even with colossal budgets. Wishful thinking is not helpful in this case. I shall be delighted if proved wrong though!

 

[StuBeeDoo]

I'm not your archetypal doom-monger, but businesses taking-over what essentially began as other people's hobbies rarely ends well, IMHE.

 

[conti_rowland]

Good question!

Possible Options? (I am interested to see what other suggestions people come up with)?

DISCLAIMER: - if you try 3 or 4 below then please make sure you understand what your scripting will actually do

- do not inadvertently try and mirror too much of the site at once or the admins may notice the sudden increase in bandwidth and get annoyed and block your IP...

1. Browser Save
Using your browser of choice use the 'Save as' option and save to a folder. You can then click on the index.html file and the page will load from local drive. This grabs the core data from the page incl text, images and links however the page will not paginate correctly and look like a dog's dinner....not nice at all. Imagine having to do that for a Topic that has say 80 pages....and you have dozens of Topics...

2. Print to PDF
On the SFI Topic page do a [CTRL]+[P] then print the page to PDF, this generates a PDF with the test, images and links and it paginates pretty well however imagine having to do that for a Topic that has say 80 pages....and you have dozens of Topics...

3. Web Crawler/Offline Reader
Download a free tool such as HTTRACK, work out the required config/wildcards and mirror the pages with the topics you want to keep. The config in HTTrack is a little confusing even for a web tool, I need to spend some time with it and figure out what it can really do, I'm hoping I can pull back full Topics and that all I need to do is just spoof the 'showtopic=xxxxxx 'querystring for each Topic I want.

4. Linux Shell Script
Using something like wkhtmltopdf conversion tool and write a shell script that will save an entire Topic recursively based on a list of URLs of the pages/topics that we manually have added to a text site-map file and spit out a PDF.

5. What Else....?
Other suggestions?

Thank you,
I've no idea what you mean in 3 and 4 due to my limited understanding.
I guess I'm going to be spending hours printing screen.
I really won't risk losing this part of my life.
Andi

 

[Ade]

Copy, Paste, Post, Repeat.