As DaveO last posted in the "Status of IT Issues" thread, he and I are collaborating on exploring technical and financial alternatives for this site's future health and growth. Since I have the time, I'm doing most of the research.
Although we won't have concrete alternatives for a few weeks, I thought I would start a new thread to clear up one possible misconception and to outline the things I'm exploring.
First, neither I nor anyone I know is thinking of starting a competitor site to this one, both operating at the same time. The idea is to find a technically and financially feasible successor to this site, possibly including a full migration of all posts and data if affordable.
There are five services needed to run a forum.
1. An available name must be legally registered and paid for every year. We can probably keep the "CanoeTripping" name, but if not, another will have to be selected from the registry.
2. A license for a forum software package must be obtained. A couple of the forum software packages are free. The others, like vBulletin, require an upfront license fee plus periodic update fees. Each package has different features and costs. I think it's fair to say that both Dave and I preliminarily feel we have to move off of vBulletin for a variety of reasons.
3. A web host has to be hired and paid for monthly or yearly. This is a company on whose server computers the forum software, and related support software, runs. There are many web host companies and at least four different types of hosting available: dedicated, shared, VPS, and cloud. Each has different features, storage, bandwidths, and costs.
4. A service provider has to be hired to fix bugs, glitches and all the types of problems that we have been suffering.
5. If we want to save and migrate all our threads, posts, registrations, usernames, etc., that technically can be done. But a migration service costs upfront money and many glitches can occur in the process if our database has problems. If migration is not affordable, the new site would have to start afresh with everyone registering anew.
Some companies offer combinations of all or some of the above five services. I am researching all of these, technically and financially. It will take me a while, and in the meantime this site will have to continue on as is. I anticipate that I will ultimately recommend a higher and a lower cost solution package to Dave, at which point we will post them for comment.
Although we won't have concrete alternatives for a few weeks, I thought I would start a new thread to clear up one possible misconception and to outline the things I'm exploring.
First, neither I nor anyone I know is thinking of starting a competitor site to this one, both operating at the same time. The idea is to find a technically and financially feasible successor to this site, possibly including a full migration of all posts and data if affordable.
There are five services needed to run a forum.
1. An available name must be legally registered and paid for every year. We can probably keep the "CanoeTripping" name, but if not, another will have to be selected from the registry.
2. A license for a forum software package must be obtained. A couple of the forum software packages are free. The others, like vBulletin, require an upfront license fee plus periodic update fees. Each package has different features and costs. I think it's fair to say that both Dave and I preliminarily feel we have to move off of vBulletin for a variety of reasons.
3. A web host has to be hired and paid for monthly or yearly. This is a company on whose server computers the forum software, and related support software, runs. There are many web host companies and at least four different types of hosting available: dedicated, shared, VPS, and cloud. Each has different features, storage, bandwidths, and costs.
4. A service provider has to be hired to fix bugs, glitches and all the types of problems that we have been suffering.
5. If we want to save and migrate all our threads, posts, registrations, usernames, etc., that technically can be done. But a migration service costs upfront money and many glitches can occur in the process if our database has problems. If migration is not affordable, the new site would have to start afresh with everyone registering anew.
Some companies offer combinations of all or some of the above five services. I am researching all of these, technically and financially. It will take me a while, and in the meantime this site will have to continue on as is. I anticipate that I will ultimately recommend a higher and a lower cost solution package to Dave, at which point we will post them for comment.