ARSE forums, a big decision.

[norbs]

Hi gents,

I think the time has come to look at doing something about the forums. Bluehost, which was once cheap, is no longer.

Code: Select all

Product Description		Exp.	Qty	Price
arseforums.com	
Cloud Starter Hosting: from
2023-05-10 to 2024-05-10	10 May 2023	$12.99/12.00 mo	$155.88
	subtotal	$155.88
	tax:	$15.59
	total:	$171.47

Im trying to figure out if that us USD or AUD. Either way, for the use it gets, it is a lot of money.

See the poll below and have a vote.

[DarrenM]

I don't think we do anything on the forums that we couldn't be doing on the discord. Most subforums could just be chat channels put into related groups and others like Real Racing could have threads like the friday-night-races channel.

[Brett_S]

Will Jamo use Discord?

[norbs]

I don't think we do anything on the forums that we couldn't be doing on the discord. Most subforums could just be chat channels put into related groups and others like Real Racing could have threads like the friday-night-races channel.

I find the Discord forums thing clunky. My biggest worry is losing 20 years of history and info.

[pab]

Are you able to give us some idea on how much server resources (files and db) the forum is currently using Norbs?

[norbs]

Are you able to give us some idea on how much server resources (files and db) the forum is currently using Norbs?

It is bugger all to be honest. Im chatting to BH now about a slightly better price.

[nutty]

No way we couldn't run it on AWS/Oracle Free Tier.. but it would take someone time to do the migration/look after it

[norbs]

No way we couldn't run it on AWS/Oracle Free Tier.. but it would take someone time to do the migration/look after it

For sure. Even Fluxcore WEB3

But I want to minimise the work needed to keep it all running. God knows how many hours Kev has put in over the years.

[nutty]

Yeah for sure, look im bias I still like it and enjoy coming here daily, I know its died down over the years but I think loss of the forum would feel like the end of ARSE for me, tho I guess I should be more active on discord

[norbs]

Yeah for sure, look im bias I still like it and enjoy coming here daily, I know its died down over the years but I think loss of the forum would feel like the end of ARSE for me, tho I guess I should be more active on discord

I still drop in a few times a day. Discord gets more use, but the forums are like an old tshirt I dont want to get rid of.

[Jamo]

WtF is Discord?

[norbs]

WtF is Discord?

You in a HR meeting?

[Brett_S]

WtF is Discord?

It's like ICQ

[Bauer]

WtF is Discord?

It's like ICQ

1819963 if you are adding people to ICQ


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[Big Kev]

God knows how many hours Kev has put in over the years.

It's not a huge amount of my time to be honest. Just updates when I feel like it. The last time I did serious work it was 2 hours but that was because the hosts updated the minimum php version and it broke the board version we were using but once I'd updated it was fine.

I'd be sad to see it go (it's the first or second page I look at every day!) but I can understand the cost implication for a relative handful of posts a week. The number of active people has dropped off a fair bit in the last couple of years. Having said that, 41 different people have visited this month alone. A lot of forums would kill for that!

Posting is largely in off topic, real racing, cars, air, tv/film, cycling and occasionally music, racing games and hilariarse.

None of the racing team forums have been posted in for at least 2 years (I guess that's all moved to discord).

We could maybe 'archive' all the forums with nothing new since, say, 2020 by moving them to the bottom of the index page and then just bunch the active ones together at the top. That might encourage a bit more posting. Could do a mass mail 'calling all ARSEs' to see if people want to come back but sometimes real life gets in the way and people move on, that's only natural. I'm sure we've all drifted away from forums we used to read all the time.

I've never used discord so I can't comment on how the site would look and work with that but I wouldn't be averse to signing up to it if we could keep the chat going.

We're only about 18 months away from this thing running for 20 years. That's quite an achievement for a few blokes racing pixelated 60's F1 cars around old tracks with dodgy physics and big lag times! Jeez we could gradually morph it in to a pensioners forum But if we did decide to shut down, I would absolutely get a database backup and have a local copy so that if anyone wanted a reminder of an old topic I could dig it out and send them a PDF or similar.

[norbs]

Good post Kev.

I got a bit of a deal for the next 2 years. I think by that time we look into archiving things and seeing if there is a better solution. By that time we can probably host on my mobile phone.

[Big Kev]

By the way, if people are posting less because of the forum subjects not being to their liking, or the style, or the features or the usability on mobiles etc etc, I'm happy to investigate what we can do about that (if Norbs is happy too). For instance, if lots of people would like a forum on, say, dogs! I'm happy to make one

Good job Norbs. I'm sure 2 years will give us enough time to think of a plan if we'd like to keep things going. Probably all be done in VR by then!

[Bauer]

Happy to chip in Norbs. I’ve been a tight arse over the years for various reasons. Reach out and I’ll send some cash.

As for forum usage, must be time for a new car then.


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[Bauer]

The SLAB was before it’s time, just sayin.


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[norbs]

The SLAB was before it’s time, just sayin.


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Wow, great memory Studly. Even I had to think about that! Sports Loving Aussie Blokes.

[Big Kev]

We could rebrand to a SLAB of ARSE
I remember the slab too. I think the logo was an 8 pack of beer wasn't it?

[norbs]

We could rebrand to a SLAB of ARSE
I remember the slab too. I think the logo was an 8 pack of beer wasn't it?

6 pack from my foggy memory.