When is the New Server going down?

mistybison said:Nobody joins an empty Reddit community, much like nobody signs up for a brand-new dating app. That's why most of those platforms launch with fake profiles or bots to simulate activity and attract actual users.

When I was looking for new communities to join, I always checked the user count and engagement levels, specifically within the subreddits that caught my eye. If there isn't regular posting from multiple users, it simply means the community is dead and won't interest anyone new.

Building a community from scratch with just a few hundred regulars and trying to make it appealing to newcomers is an incredibly difficult task.

In this day and age, everything comes down to clicks. Just look at how newspapers craft headlines today just to bait people into clicking. It’s the same principle here. Even if a thread is titled 'Buddhism,' it will likely grab the attention of someone browsing the web. It doesn't matter if the topic is massive, old, or largely inactive—it still fulfills its purpose by generating that click.

I get that, but it would be better to migrate things PDF by PDF 😬
just so people can actually adjust to the change. 😬

mistybison said:Nobody joins an empty Reddit community, much like nobody signs up for a brand-new dating app. That's why most of those platforms launch with fake profiles or bots to simulate activity and attract actual users.

When I was looking for new communities to join, I always checked the user count and engagement levels, specifically within the subreddits that caught my eye. If there isn't regular posting from multiple users, it simply means the community is dead and won't interest anyone new.

Building a community from scratch with just a few hundred regulars and trying to make it appealing to newcomers is an incredibly difficult task.

In this day and age, everything comes down to clicks. Just look at how newspapers craft headlines today just to bait people into clicking. It’s the same principle here. Even if a thread is titled 'Buddhism,' it will likely grab the attention of someone browsing the web. It doesn't matter if the topic is massive, old, or largely inactive—it still fulfills its purpose by generating that click.

Agreed.
A forum without people is pointless.

mistybison said:Nobody joins an empty Reddit community, much like nobody signs up for a brand-new dating app. That's why most of those platforms launch with fake profiles or bots to simulate activity and attract actual users.

When I was looking for new communities to join, I always checked the user count and engagement levels, specifically within the subreddits that caught my eye. If there isn't regular posting from multiple users, it simply means the community is dead and won't interest anyone new.

Building a community from scratch with just a few hundred regulars and trying to make it appealing to newcomers is an incredibly difficult task.

In this day and age, everything comes down to clicks. Just look at how newspapers craft headlines today just to bait people into clicking. It’s the same principle here. Even if a thread is titled 'Buddhism,' it will likely grab the attention of someone browsing the web. It doesn't matter if the topic is massive, old, or largely inactive—it still fulfills its purpose by generating that click.

First, you keep both forums active, then you slowly phase one out...

mistybison said:Nobody joins an empty Reddit community, much like nobody signs up for a brand-new dating app. That's why most of those platforms launch with fake profiles or bots to simulate activity and attract actual users.

When I was looking for new communities to join, I always checked the user count and engagement levels, specifically within the subreddits that caught my eye. If there isn't regular posting from multiple users, it simply means the community is dead and won't interest anyone new.

Building a community from scratch with just a few hundred regulars and trying to make it appealing to newcomers is an incredibly difficult task.

In this day and age, everything comes down to clicks. Just look at how newspapers craft headlines today just to bait people into clicking. It’s the same principle here. Even if a thread is titled 'Buddhism,' it will likely grab the attention of someone browsing the web. It doesn't matter if the topic is massive, old, or largely inactive—it still fulfills its purpose by generating that click.

I agree, we should put together a plan.
Maybe run a giveaway or something similar. 😁

An old joke for you:

A CEO asks one of his employees...
-Why isn't the internet working?
-The server went down!
-Who carried it away?

silentfalcon3 said:An old joke for you:

A CEO asks one of his employees...
-Why isn't the internet working?
-The server went down!
-Who carried it away?

I think I rolled my eyes just a little too hard at that one.☕>

Casey Bennett said:Honestly, we could just lock this entire site down—set it to read-only so the archives stay up, but nobody can post anything new—and then just migrate all the major subreddits and their most vital threads over to a brand-new platform.
It would be a massive undertaking, I'm sure, but I suspect the moderation team would jump at the chance if someone actually had the guts to pull the trigger. We just need someone to take the first step, and we all know exactly who that needs to be.

Or maybe Anderlon could stop being cheap and pay someone a decent amount to handle the migration—you know, actually moving the core topics, posts, and user profiles to a new platform? 😁

And what kind of "work" are you even talking about? I doubt it would take more than a few hours to port everything over to a new site. As for the mods, they aren't exactly essential here; they don't have any real authority anyway.

Benjamin Taylor90 said:Or maybe Anderlon could stop being cheap and pay someone a decent amount to handle the migration—you know, actually moving the core topics, posts, and user profiles to a new platform? 😁

And what kind of "work" are you even talking about? I doubt it would take more than a few hours to port everything over to a new site. As for the mods, they aren't exactly essential here; they don't have any real authority anyway.

Irrelevant? That's a stretch. They're essentially the police force of this Reddit.😁

Benjamin Taylor90 said:Or maybe Anderlon could stop being cheap and pay someone a decent amount to handle the migration—you know, actually moving the core topics, posts, and user profiles to a new platform? 😁

And what kind of "work" are you even talking about? I doubt it would take more than a few hours to port everything over to a new site. As for the mods, they aren't exactly essential here; they don't have any real authority anyway.

Look, a relational database doesn't just work by you exporting some files from an old system and picking out the tables you like to import into a new one. That’s not how this goes. Take a table containing posts, for instance—it’s tied to the threads table, the user ID table, the thread starter table, and even the table for the last post author, which you need just to get the homepage looking right. I’m probably glossing over a few things because I haven't spent my life studying the inner workings of vBulletin, but you get the idea. Every software package has its own quirks, but the bottom line is that almost every table in a database is interconnected. When you migrate, it’s all or nothing. If you try to cherry-pick, you're just asking for a massive headache that'll make your current problems look like a walk in the park.

Eric Newman75 (No input provided to rewrite.)
Relational databases don't work by just picking and choosing which tables you feel like exporting from an old system to dump into a new one. It’s not a buffet. Take a posts table, for example. It's tethered to the threads table, the user ID table, the thread starter table, and the last poster table—all of which you need just to get a basic homepage looking right. I’m probably leaving stuff out because I haven't spent my life studying vBulletin, but you get the gist. Every software package has its own quirks, but the rule of thumb is that every table is hooked into another. When you migrate, it’s all or nothing. If you try to cherry-pick, you're just inviting a massive headache that'll make your current problems look like a walk in the park.

🤦

Time to write. I need the script. What’s next? Just winging it. Adapting Bulentino's database to work with any existing platform out there—even if you're working with a mediocre programmer—should only take about an hour. Assuming, of course, things actually go according to plan. ☕

Look, it’s not an all-or-nothing deal. You don't have to dump everything at once. 😵

The only real "issue" worth bringing up is how user passwords are hashed. If this current version is still running on MD5, we’re basically leaving the front door unlocked. When the new platform rolls out, they should probably implement some kind of temporary validation check to flag those weak hashes and just force everyone to reset their passwords. It's better to be annoying about it now than to deal with a total meltdown later. ☕

Look, there’s an easy fix here. If they actually implement validation using something like new_algo(MD5(password)) on the new platform—and then just import the old ones via new_algo(bulletin_hash)—the whole thing works. Everything else is just amateur hour. 😁

So, you’re just going to toss vBulletin out of the equation entirely? You wouldn't even consider grabbing the latest version—I think they're on 5.6.4 now? Honestly, depending on which platform you're running, there are probably plenty of migration tools out there. With the right software, you might be able to handle most of this yourself without even needing to hire a developer. It really all hinges on how the database is structured. I'm assuming there's a whole mess of extensions running in the background that we regular users never see, but the admins, advertisers, and those other folks definitely deal with.

What would you actually go with then? Personally, I've always liked vBulletin, and frankly, I've got some serious trauma from migrations I've dealt with in the past. It never goes smoothly. There's always something you have to fix or tweak afterward. 😳

Lead tech over at Reddit after getting all the software maintenance wrapped up smoothly.

So, what’s the damage if you were to build a whole new forum from scratch? Like—say you hire a crew of 4 or 5 devs to build something using the latest tech, migrate everything over from this site, and then just keep adding features based on what people actually want. Are we talking millions of dollars here, or could you probably pull it off for a few hundred thousand?
Honestly, I still think this place is pretty unique compared to most of the internet today where everything feels stale after like three days. If they just added better sorting options, tighter moderation, or maybe a way to collapse posts that the mods or the community flagged as irrelevant... man, this place might actually see a comeback. Not that it’s totally dead right now, but you know what I mean.

Linda Wood96 said:So, what’s the damage if you were to build a whole new forum from scratch? Like—say you hire a crew of 4 or 5 devs to build something using the latest tech, migrate everything over from this site, and then just keep adding features based on what people actually want. Are we talking millions of dollars here, or could you probably pull it off for a few hundred thousand?
Honestly, I still think this place is pretty unique compared to most of the internet today where everything feels stale after like three days. If they just added better sorting options, tighter moderation, or maybe a way to collapse posts that the mods or the community flagged as irrelevant... man, this place might actually see a comeback. Not that it’s totally dead right now, but you know what I mean.

I nearly choked on my coffee☕ at the numbers you're throwing out. Thank god you didn't suggest billions.🤦

driftingstag84 said:I nearly choked on my coffee☕ at the numbers you're throwing out. Thank god you didn't suggest billions.🤦

Honestly, I think starting from scratch is the only way to go. Like, not just buying some off-the-shelf software and tweaking it like people did with vBulletin back in the day. I mean, look at dev salaries—they're pulling in over $10k easily—so if a team needs like three months to build a MVP, you're already looking at well over $100k just in payroll.

Linda Wood96 said:Honestly, I think starting from scratch is the only way to go. Like, not just buying some off-the-shelf software and tweaking it like people did with vBulletin back in the day. I mean, look at dev salaries—they're pulling in over $10k easily—so if a team needs like three months to build a MVP, you're already looking at well over $100k just in payroll.

Are you implying the owner hasn't made enough to buy a damn bagel in twenty-five years running this little ragtag Reddit?
makes sense though

Jesse Collins68 said:Are you implying the owner hasn't made enough to buy a damn bagel in twenty-five years running this little ragtag Reddit?
makes sense though

Nah, not really. I'm just wondering if there's actually any viable business model out there where someone from Adelon buys up a site like this, builds a fresh interface, and moves it to a faster server—you know, something modern. From what I can tell, there's still a core group here who actually knows their stuff and replies fast (like those grammar experts), and honestly, when I Google things in English, I still see results from this site popping up all the time.

Anyway, I’ve got an old motherboard from back in 2005 lying around, and I’m more than happy to donate it if it helps get this Reddit community running smoothly.

Linda Wood96 said:Nah, not really. I'm just wondering if there's actually any viable business model out there where someone from Adelon buys up a site like this, builds a fresh interface, and moves it to a faster server—you know, something modern. From what I can tell, there's still a core group here who actually knows their stuff and replies fast (like those grammar experts), and honestly, when I Google things in English, I still see results from this site popping up all the time.

Which Adelon are we talking about? Does the honorary owner run the place now?

Eric Newman75 said:Which Adelon are we talking about? Does the honorary owner run the place now?

Look, I don't really keep track of who's running the show here. If everything stays free—well, even better. But honestly, the big question is whether there’s even any money in reviving a site like this when you've got Facebook and Reddit right there... I mean, maybe? But if anyone actually wants to pull this off, they'd need to bring some fresh ideas to the table—something to make us actually want to stay. In my opinion, it should probably be all about keeping the content organized and easy to find.

..so, just how high up is this server sitting, and how much does the damn thing actually weigh before it comes crashing down? 🤔
..and is there any way to tie it off with some rope so it doesn't just plummet? 🤔
..I'm thinking we should probably slide a sponge underneath it too, just in case the whole thing falls and shatters on impact ☕

neoncrane64 said:..so, just how high up is this server sitting, and how much does the damn thing actually weigh before it comes crashing down? 🤔
..and is there any way to tie it off with some rope so it doesn't just plummet? 🤔
..I'm thinking we should probably slide a sponge underneath it too, just in case the whole thing falls and shatters on impact ☕

I was actually just mentioning you the other day! It feels like I haven't seen you around here in forever. 🙂

Anyway, the server hasn't crashed yet. It stutters every now and then, but it's holding on for dear life. Hang in there, everyone! 👋