#1 2020-06-24 17:17:59

This topic is for discussion of managing the site after Bill's passing.

I was able to copy a full backup of the files and databases early this morning, so the bound archives are safe.  I also initiated the process with Linode to get ownership of the site transferred into my name, which will make sure the hosting bill gets paid and the site stays up.

The most immediate concern is that now I am the single point of failure, so it would be appreciated if someone could step up to be my backup.  This requires a certain (but not extreme) level of technical savvy, plus you will need to have or obtain a Linode account.  I will then be able to attach your account.

The second priority is the expiration of the high-street.org domain name on September 16.  I don't have any access to choad's account with the domain registrar.  It might be possible for me to register the name after it expires, but domain squatters have a tendency to pounce so I'm not too hopeful.  Suggestions for a new name will be cheerfully accepted.  (BTW, High Street can also currently be accessed at greenlobster.net, but almost nobody does - I also don't control that name, which coincidentally expires a year from today.)

Feel free to bring up other things that come to mind; I'm currently focused on the immediate tasks and not really looking at the big picture.

In addition to High Street, Bill also ran Wareham Observer/Wareham Water, a similar forum but focusing on local town matters.  I'll need to come up with a transition plan for that, too.  There doesn't seem to have been activity there recently, so maybe it can be put into stasis - still would like to keep it available, even if it's closed to new posts.

Thanks to everyone for your support, and especially to Bill for making this possible in the first place.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

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#2 2020-06-24 17:51:13

I would like to suggest: www.highstreetdiaspora.com as an alternate URL, or maybe www.choads-space.com.    Both are currently available.  Just my 2 cents.

I used to be tech savvy enough to offer to be a backup for this kind of thing, but I haven't dabbled in web development in a good 6-7 years.  I have basic knowledge, so if no one else steps up, I could be a last resort. 

Thanks,

RT

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#3 2020-06-24 20:12:03

How about Rcade Giving Us Cruel.Com?

Hadda Ask.

Dusty

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#4 2020-06-24 20:16:02

Well, that went quicker than I thought.  The transfer is done and everything seems to be working.  Speak up if you see anything amiss.

Not a bad suggestion, Dusty...

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#5 2020-06-25 01:51:53

Thanks Square. It would honour Choad, as he pulled us from the ashes.

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#6 2020-06-25 06:11:11

Does Rcade still have cruel.com registered?  I can always ask him...unless he sees it here first.

IF not, there's always crueldiaspora.com as well.

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#7 2020-06-25 11:20:20

Woggah, last time that I know of, he did.

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#8 2020-06-25 12:42:08

Cruel redux would be perfect if the domain name is available.  I would offer to be a backup, but my tech chops are limited to power tools and legal niceties.  I do appreciate all the effort that maintaining this little zoo entails.  Thank you, square and others, for stepping up. 

p.s. - i promise never to use comic sans again.

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#9 2020-06-25 13:31:43

I'm in for an annual donation to keep this digital dive-bar alive, I love it here.

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#10 2020-06-25 14:16:22

FYI, I talked to Rogers.  Due to him not being self employed anymore, he is (rightly) concerned about letting us use Cruel since it ties back to him.  He did think about it for a hot minute....but that option appears to be out.

RT

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#11 2020-06-25 16:46:54

Emmeran wrote:

I'm in for an annual donation to keep this digital dive-bar alive, I love it here.

Ditto.

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#12 2020-06-25 16:54:05

square wrote:

Well, that went quicker than I thought.  The transfer is done and everything seems to be working.  Speak up if you see anything amiss.

Not a bad suggestion, Dusty...

Everything looks as it should from what I can tell.

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#13 2020-06-26 14:18:44

How about Cruel-Street.com?

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#14 2020-06-26 14:19:16

Baywolfe wrote:

Emmeran wrote:

I'm in for an annual donation to keep this digital dive-bar alive, I love it here.

Ditto.

I'm in.

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#16 2020-06-27 00:53:54

Fled wrote:

How about Cruel-Street.com?

Sounds Good!

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#17 2020-06-27 01:01:43

Fled wrote:

How about Cruel-Street.com?

I'd buy that. Count me in. Bill would guffaw if he only knew it took his demise to spark new commitment to this shabby place. Somebody better post something less drab,  or at least some decent tits.

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#18 2020-06-27 19:10:07

I'll throw money in once I get past the possibilities of eviction due to loss of business, and Oregon Unemployment fucking me over for being self employed.  I will know for sure by the 1st.

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#19 2020-06-28 01:22:39

I'm happy to run with the mob.

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#20 2020-06-28 22:35:25

I'd be happy to help out financially, that's the easy part.  I took down my BBS 16 years ago, and since then have set up one message board and one Facebork group so my technical savy is dated or small.  I have a very full time job and several volunteer things going on, adding another one wouldn't kill me but you might not get fast turn around.

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#21 2020-06-29 08:25:51

Should the aforementioned nor my own (hereby pledged) support suffice,  the Federal Reserve is advertising and may be an option. 

https://cruelery.com/uploads/thumbs/307_fed_reserve.jpg

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

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#22 2020-06-29 13:17:24

I hate to get into nuts and bolts but someone must take ownership then we need to calculate annual costs and necessary fund raising goals.  Also, sadly, we must establish a line of succession to prevent this from happening again.  I'd volunteer but seeing how I flat-lined twice in January that would probably be a very temporary solution.

Damn Bill we miss you...

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#23 2020-06-29 21:36:22

Emmeran wrote:

I hate to get into nuts and bolts but someone must take ownership then we need to calculate annual costs and necessary fund raising goals.  Also, sadly, we must establish a line of succession to prevent this from happening again.  I'd volunteer but seeing how I flat-lined twice in January that would probably be a very temporary solution.

Damn Bill we miss you...

Agreed, two or three people should have access. We ran a local Fido mail co-op back when.  I've taken to heart something Jim Gaffney said when we were setting it up.  It's important to not only do things right, but you also have to avoid the appearance of impropriety.  I suggest if you're going to set something up with contributions everything be public. Or just whoever wants can pay as the bills come due.  Whenever there's nobody willing to keep it going it shuts down.

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#24 2020-06-29 21:41:19

Still not back home yet so I haven't been participating much in the conversation.  Thanks to all those offering to chip in funds.  The actual cost is small ($5/month) so even adding the name registration and a backup service (which we should) ought not to exceed $100/year.  I'm in good enough shape to manage that, so no worries there.

So far RT and hedgewizard have said they could be technical backups but aren't that up to date.  That's fine, there's not much real need to dig in and get your hands dirty.  If anyone else wants to step up, please post.  While I'm in reasonable health, one never knows and having a plan is good.

As JR points out, some more posts would be fantastic!  And keep the name suggestions coming; I haven't given that much thought as yet but am liking the ideas.

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#25 2020-07-08 22:20:04

OK, been thinking about some domain names.  The following are all available in the .com space: choadery, choadsrest, buzzardsrest*, and cruelery.  Any likes/dislikes/preferences?

*If you're questioning the relevance of this one, see the favicon for this page; also, choad used buzzardsbay (.net) as a personal domain.

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#26 2020-07-09 00:47:56

Cruelery!

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#27 2020-07-09 02:40:32

I like cruelery.com too.  Also choadsrest.com.

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#28 2020-07-09 08:39:59

Cruelery.com is good.  Also ChoadStreet.org could be good, ha.

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#29 2020-07-09 09:47:52

I don't have a dog in this fight.  Whatever you guys want is fine with me.

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#30 2020-07-09 12:27:58

cruelery is a fitting home for this buzzardsrest.

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#31 2020-07-20 02:23:05

OK, based on popular demand I have secured the cruelery.com domain name and (partially) gotten it set up.  It only works for http right now, https will come after I complete item #1 below.

At the moment, my intention is to switch to cruelery.com as a URL, but maintain "High Street" as the forum name.  This is partially laziness ("High Street" appears everywhere) and partially nostalgia.  Let me know if you think this is a problem.

Near-term tasks still to be done:

  1. Update SSL certificate to include cruelery.com. (done)

  2. Remove banners that specifically reference "high-street.org". (done, I think)

  3. Modify references to "high-street.org" in various random places (forum configuration, e-mail addresses, etc.). (done)

  4. Configure web server to do a 301 redirect to cruelery.com in response to requests for high-street.org and greenlobster.net so search engines, etc. know about the change. (done)

  5. Edit posts in the database having links to high-street.org to point to cruelery.com instead. (done)


Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

Last edited by square (2020-08-02 05:43:11)

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#32 2020-07-20 12:31:22

square wrote:

OK, based on popular demand I have secured the cruelery.com domain name and (partially) gotten it set up.  It only works for http right now, https will come after I complete item #1 below.

At the moment, my intention is to switch to cruelery.com as a URL, but maintain "High Street" as the forum name.  This is partially laziness ("High Street" appears everywhere) and partially nostalgia.  Let me know if you think this is a problem.

Near-term tasks still to be done:

  1. Update SSL certificate to include cruelery.com.

  2. Remove banners that specifically reference "high-street.org". (done, I think)

  3. Modify references to "high-street.org" in various random places (forum configuration, e-mail addresses, etc.).

  4. Configure web server to do a 301 redirect to cruelery.com in response to requests for high-street.org and greenlobster.net so search engines, etc. know about the change.

  5. Edit posts in the database having links to high-street.org to point to cruelery.com instead.

Most Excellent!

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

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#33 2020-07-20 20:47:28

square wrote:

OK, based on popular demand I have secured the cruelery.com domain name and (partially) gotten it set up.  It only works for http right now, https will come after I complete item #1 below.

At the moment, my intention is to switch to cruelery.com as a URL, but maintain "High Street" as the forum name.  This is partially laziness ("High Street" appears everywhere) and partially nostalgia.  Let me know if you think this is a problem.

Near-term tasks still to be done:

  1. Update SSL certificate to include cruelery.com.

  2. Remove banners that specifically reference "high-street.org". (done, I think)

  3. Modify references to "high-street.org" in various random places (forum configuration, e-mail addresses, etc.).

  4. Configure web server to do a 301 redirect to cruelery.com in response to requests for high-street.org and greenlobster.net so search engines, etc. know about the change.

  5. Edit posts in the database having links to high-street.org to point to cruelery.com instead.

Double plus unbad, :)

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

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#34 2020-07-21 13:53:42

matty.the.damned wrote:

Double plus unbad, :)

Newspeak contains no negative terms, so while ungood = bad, just good = good.  ;-)

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#35 2020-07-21 17:55:11

Baywolfe wrote:

matty.the.damned wrote:

Double plus unbad, :)

Newspeak contains no negative terms, so while ungood = bad, just good = good.  ;-)

Well, then, fuck Newspeak.

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#36 2020-07-21 19:49:23

BorderCount wrote:

Baywolfe wrote:

matty.the.damned wrote:

Double plus unbad, :)

Newspeak contains no negative terms, so while ungood = bad, just good = good.  ;-)

Well, then, fuck Newspeak.

Zackly.

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#37 2020-07-21 22:41:38

Thanks for the encouragement.  Forgot to list one task:

3 1/2. Update the "About" page to reflect the site changes. (done)

Keep posting, everyone!

Last edited by square (2020-07-29 23:14:59)

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#38 2020-07-21 23:12:22

square wrote:

Thanks for the encouragement.  Forgot to list one task:

3 1/2. Update the "About" page to reflect the site changes.

Keep posting, everyone!

We have an About page?  Shit I'm learning new things on a weekly basis around here.

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#39 2020-07-24 04:33:57

OK, I think I have the SSL certificate sorted out so you can access https://cruelery.com/.  Please try it out and let me know if you run into any trouble.

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#40 2020-07-24 12:30:36

square wrote:

OK, I think I have the SSL certificate sorted out so you can access https://cruelery.com/.  Please try it out and let me know if you run into any trouble.

Works!

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#41 2020-07-24 20:03:06

It is the dawn of a new age.

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#42 2020-07-24 20:34:43

Everything seems to be functioning normally.

One minor thing, when I went to bookmark the new site, it said, "High-Street.Org - The Web's Bitter Afterbirth" in the Google name field.  And of course, the same icon.

Last edited by Baywolfe (2020-07-24 20:37:23)

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#43 2020-07-24 21:12:20

Baywolfe wrote:

One minor thing, when I went to bookmark the new site, it said, "High-Street.Org - The Web's Bitter Afterbirth" in the Google name field.  And of course, the same icon.

Yeah, that's part of task #3 that hasn't yet been completed.  Baby steps...

Glad to hear that cruelery.com generally seems to be working.  Note that when doing certain admin actions you may get a "Bad Referrer" error when using the new domain until I update all of the forum settings.

Edit: The forum settings should be updated now, so let me know if you get "Bad Referrer" or any other kind of error.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

Last edited by square (2020-07-25 01:11:18)

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#44 2020-07-25 18:50:04

square wrote:

OK, I think I have the SSL certificate sorted out so you can access https://cruelery.com/.  Please try it out and let me know if you run into any trouble.

It works but comes up as not secure. At least for me.

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#45 2020-07-25 18:52:25

matty.the.damned wrote:

square wrote:

OK, I think I have the SSL certificate sorted out so you can access https://cruelery.com/.  Please try it out and let me know if you run into any trouble.

It works but comes up as not secure. At least for me.

Ignore this. I'm a dumb cunt.

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#46 2020-07-26 00:13:17

matty.the.damned wrote:

Ignore this. I'm a dumb cunt.

I assume you're talking about an "insecure content" warning?  Not a dumb thing to question at all.  But yeah, you're going to get that whenever someone hotlinks an image or video in a post using plain http.  Looks like the image upload page encouraged this - I just tweaked it so it gives https URLs instead.

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#47 2020-07-27 11:22:20

Baywolfe wrote:

Emmeran wrote:

I'm in for an annual donation to keep this digital dive-bar alive, I love it here.

Ditto.

Same

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#48 2020-07-29 23:13:35

I updated the "About" page and think I have set all the other random configuration settings to use cruelery.com.  Let me know if you see "high-street.org" popping up anywhere (except links in posts - I haven't fixed those yet).

All those who have offered to chip in funds - thanks, but arranging payment is too much of a hassle and the cost of running the site is minimal (I refuse to use PayPal and the like).  I would suggest making a donation somewhere in Bill's name, but am having trouble imagining a charity he would have trust in.  Perhaps it would be most fitting to hand cash to your local wino so he can get loaded.

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#49 2020-07-31 05:19:40

I have set up the redirect so all requests for high-street.org and greenlobster.net will now be forwarded to cruelery.com.  This means you should now never see high-street.org or greenlobster.net in your address bar.

As far as I can tell, the only thing remaining is to go through the post database and modify people's posts having a URL pointing to high-street.org to reference cruelery.com instead.  This is somewhat error-prone, so I'm putting it off until I can thoroughly test it to make sure nothing gets screwed up.

Keep posting, thanks!

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#50 2020-07-31 09:16:01

Thanks for being willing to keep this mess going, square.  I don't know which database you're using but it should be as easy as;

SELECT Replace(comment_text, 'high-street.org', 'cruelery.com')
  FROM WhateverTheFuckTheTableNameIs

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