RULES/WELCOMES > Message from the Owner

We're Moving!

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Flyin6:
With all this Tap Talk baloney, it's time to drop a Willie-Pete grenade in the house as we exit and move far, far away from our current server.

We are working in the background to migrate the entire forum over to a new home. I hope it is seamless, but knowing what little I do about the process, I doubt it will.

I am letting everyone know that the process has begun with battlefield prep in the background which may show up from time to time and appear like the site is having issues. Jeremy (Who I call J-Bomb) is really good at this stuff is already doing things. He will migrate the entire site to a new server probably around midnight on a Friday or Saturday night or something like that.

I found it humorous that right in the middle of all these Tap-Talk problems, our current host kept telling me we were fine, that they had fixed everything, and then today they hit me with my annual renewal fee...wait for it...

They increased my annual renewal fees to $973!!! Additionally, I have other monthly fees so for this joke of a service, I am now on the hook for well over a grand annually.

That little renewal is driving the kick into overdrive with the migration process. So come heck or high water, we are moving and something which I hope looks a lot like the forum we currently have survives when we hit the beach at our new home. Fasten your seat belts and get ready for some choppy water. Hopefully, it's not like Normandy beach with shore batteries shelling us as we make our way to landfall!

Flyin6:
I talked to Jeremy this morning.

He has selected one of the largest forum-hosting companies in the world. He has been working with them to get the size of our forum which is currently about 14 gigs of storage and 30-40 people logged on at any given moment. That all has to do with the sizing of both the storage and the front end where you guys all play. One thing we were able to verify early on is they are 100% compatible with "A simple Machine," which is the software that generates RealMan.

His current work centers around what it's gonna take to copy over a couple hundred thousand pictures and vids. That's big. He has them working on the Tap-Talk issue. I don't want any functionality issues.

Lastly, I can do it now, but the cost is steep...as in several hundred dollars a month up to around $900 or more, just for the hosting. I also need to pay J to keep things tidy, so I'll need $1,000-$2000 a month in income to make ends meet.

Nate:
so we are just shy of the 3 month mark of this post, and if i am correct just shy of the 2 month mark for getting this site restored.

what is the status of this migration?

Flyin6:

--- Quote from: Nate on May 22, 2023, 05:14:21 PM ---so we are just shy of the 3 month mark of this post, and if i am correct just shy of the 2 month mark for getting this site restored.

what is the status of this migration?

--- End quote ---
OK, darn, forgot to finish the thing.

OK, so we are all familiar with the shenanigans that went on with our host company. After we fixed all that and effectively paid the ransom to get the site back online, Jeremy advised me to stay put for the time being. He did a bunch of work on the background with the staff of "A Small Orange" to get us protected and iron out some bugs. I haven't pursued it any further, because we are running fine for the time being. I guess, I am seasoning this for a time to see how it all goes. J advises it will cost about the same to host on a new server, and he feels if things are OK here, then maybe we just stay put. I am not sure about that, but there is some risk and guaranteed turbulence associated with a move.

There is another issue in play at the moment. We seem to be trending downward in terms of views. It is looking like we may be down 30% from last year, which was down from the year before. That could mean several things. We could get to a point where it becomes difficult to keep the doors open and I'll have to look at the cost/benefit of the whole thing. But people have been forthcoming in paying the bills, so that's one thing to take note of.

I wanted to grow this site much larger and then to monetize it, but with it trending downward, that is a hard sell.

I know we all have fun here, and I really want that. I like the fellowship that goes on here. I like the fact that people can get quality answers when they ask something. I like how we all interact, in a healthy but still genuinely in a traditional male manner.

Mostly, I want the site to honor God and I want more talk of him here and more discussion. Matt brings us a new scripture every single day. We have an active prayer thread. We do loads of good things like that here, and for that reason alone, I want to keep this place alive. In a darkening America, I want to keep a bright light burning. And maybe there is a lesson in all of this. Even with decreasing numbers signaling a loss in interest, we or I should stand and not budge from offering a place of normalcy, of sanctuary, and one who openly acknowledges God as our king.

Those are my thoughts for the forum. I hope I am right...

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