View Full Version : Future of the Forum - Poll
I found out what is wrong with the database. It's size has exceeded the allowable limit on our hosting plan. This leaves two choices, either upgrade the plan at an additional $350 a year or delete older posts or some forums to get it back under a gigabyte in size. If you opt for donating enough to cover the additional cost (I would do it myself if I could, but my SS check doesn't go that far) or ongoing deletion of posts whenever the database exceeds the allowable size. Since this is your forum, I leave the choice to you. If either way, we have till December 5 to either raise the money or delete the data.
Pat
Pat, If you were to keep all of the threads for 2017 and delete the rest, that should be a gain of quite a bit of space. Lets face it there is a lot of junk that is piled up and could be removed and that is just in gun talk. We do the same to the rest of the forums too. Maybe any forum that doesn't have at least two or three posts each month for the past year could be deleted. Only thoughts on my part here.
FWIW...
I think "Tuna" has a good idea !
Gunny
Ditto. I for one like information in the older post but I can not navigate and find these items any more so all of this past info is not doing me any good. I don't know if others have the same problem as I do.
I'm with Tuna, I only read the current postings never go back to look for stuff.
barretcreek
10-21-2017, 03:43
Gun Talk and 2A may contain stuff which becomes outdated quickly, but others pertaining to specific weapons and data may be worth maintaining.
Can the selection be made forum by forum or does everything before X go or stay?
I would delete old "arguments" and trim some of the subjects. There are 30 different catagories.
Just saw this ... "There are currently 121 users online. 17 members and 104 guests." Current time is 8:52 PM (EST). If we want to build this site back up to what it was a few years ago, we must have a variety of forums, etc. If a forum is only being frequented a time or two a month, it's utility would be questionable. Posts from more than a year ago are probably not worthy of being saved unless truly remarkable.
CSP and now CSP2 have meant a great deal to me. This was the first place I came when I first got a M-1 Garand from the CMP. I am willing to put my money where my interests are. Let me know how much to send, where, etc. Can do Paypal, etc. I am certain there are many others who would also want to support this forum. Sincerely. bruce.
I agree with Tuna and Dry heat.
Pat, I know you replied in another post that "I paid the amount necessary to upgrade our hosting plan till we decide on what to do"....
I don't know how much time that gains, if it is still 12/5/17 or you paid a full year, but you could give the users until ??/??/?? to copy and save the posts/information they want before deleting the old data. I know I do that now. There was a scare, for me, long time ago about Lanes Tips, that we had lost the Major's and Gus Fisher's reference data, so when I did re-find them I began copying, and I copy from this board. We would lose valuable history, but hopefully a query to the board would result in the usual helpful answers from the other users and their saved data.
Also, you asked about Forums to be "laid off": I would hate to see them go, but "On the Firing Line", "Stolen Firearms", "Service Life" "Militaria", and "Books and Videos" all seem to be slow but they do make this a well rounded "premier" shooting website; but if this is a business decision and something needs to be laid off....... I know I will probably be flamed, but you did ask for opinions.
PWC, I doubt anyone will flame you for stating your ideas. That is what Pat is asking for, your ideas. And your right. Some of the forums only have 10 or less postings in two years. I don't mind donating to the cause but it only is good for a year and it comes around again so more money shelled out. Time to clean house. If in the future it picks up again then she can always add another forum to the site.
To answer a few questions:
We are paid until 12/9 so I chose 12/5 to either have to the money in hand to pay the upgraded service for the coming year or have the excess posts deleted and the service downgraded.
Since there are thousands of posts, it is not possible to review and delete or preserve individual posts. I can delete by forum and date until the goal of about a 20% reduction is achieved. Further deletion will occur whenever we approach the gigabyte limit. Obviously, the political forum and gun talk would be the first for post deletion as their information becomes less relevent first. I could run a poll on which forums to save as much as possible.
However you want to do this is fine with me. The poll will show us the decision.
free1954
10-22-2017, 05:25
you could get ride of the SECOND AMENDMENT AND POLITICS FORUM. most of the threads started on there are rable rousing designed to stir up trouble.
Kill all posts and threads older than 30 days. Imagine the public health implications of the old men having to make face to face contacts instead of rummaging through antiquate posts, looking fro something to do (comment on).
If you could keep the political posts for only 30 days, that would clear up quite a bit of space.
you could get ride of the SECOND AMENDMENT AND POLITICS FORUM. most of the threads started on there are rable rousing designed to stir up trouble.
And you would lose a lot of people and most of the contributors.
I am partial to small bore, Krag , Japanese and Mauser sites. However they are very slow with new posts. So why not just have them post in gun talk?, or create a military rifle forum. That would be 3-4 forums gone. Perhaps shut down 'New Posts', after all they are just repeats from other forums, altho convenient. Get rid of old posts, I would not suggest a time frame, I never go back to search, I copy if interesting when I see it, which is seldom. Keep politics in its forum, do not allow in gun talk, or get rid of political forum.
Dick Hosmer
10-22-2017, 10:05
For what it is worth, here is a current snapshot of forum "popularity".
49,769 2A/Politics
36,349 Gun Talk
17,371 M1903
6,517 Krag
5,599 M1 Garand
5,585 Sniper
5,439 M1911
4,231 Reloading
3,845 Trapdoor
3,795 Sale/Wanted
3,310 M1 Carbine
3,289 Mauser
2,615 SMLE
2,505 Knife
2,181 Shotgun
2,087 Smallbore
2,056 Service
1,795 Militaria
1,678 M1917
1,375 Firing Line
1,229 Revolvers
1,151 M16
1,142 Ammo
1,066 Japanese
855 Black Powder
726 Books
444 Soviet
398 Optics
289 Maj. Culver
241 Welcome
166 Stolen
53 Admin
5 Event
Some questions:
Is there a practical way to archive deleted material, to get it off the allocated (paid) space? In these days of thumbdrives a Gb is nothing.
Since "delete" seems to be winning by a large margin, are we going to delete entire forums, or purge older posts?
Looking at the numbers, I am in hopes that we can achieve the 20% reduction by cutting back Politics and Gun Talk. There is very little to be gained by deleting the small forums unless there are massive numbers of pictures in them. I won't make the announcement till the poll closes on 10/26 but we are leaning to cutting posts. I don't know of a way for you to save individual posts except to open them, select and copy the content and paste it into a text file or word document. We might want to put more valuable gun information into the smaller forums so that Gun Talk is primarily chit chat, which will be less painful for future deletions.
The real long term value is in the gun posts with info hard to find elsewhere.
Quite often these posts will be found from a Google search, not searching from this site.
The least long term value is in the chit chat and political areas. Nice to exchange pleasantries, views and outrage with friends, but value after 30, 60, 90 days drops to almost zero in most cases. These are also this highest volume content just by number of posts, and likely to achieve a significant storage reduction if time limited.
If someone wanted to donate to help buy more storage is there a PayPal or similar method we can use?
The real long term value is in the gun posts with info hard to find elsewhere.
Quite often these posts will be found from a Google search, not searching from this site.
The least long term value is in the chit chat and political areas. Nice to exchange pleasantries, views and outrage with friends, but value after 30, 60, 90 days drops to almost zero in most cases. These are also this highest volume content just by number of posts, and likely to achieve a significant storage reduction if time limited.
If someone wanted to donate to help buy more storage is there a PayPal or similar method we can use?
There is a PayPal link on the donate tab, but until this all shakes out, I won't know whether there will be enough to upgrade the storage. It's pretty much an all or nothing deal with an annual repeat. Certainly, the gun posts will be preserved if we can cut enough elsewhere.
Dick Hosmer
10-22-2017, 07:31
Is there any "overhead" consumed by having many forums? If there is, I could certainly suggest a few consolidations.
No, the number of forums isn't an issue, just the just the number of actual posts and pictures.
But, to clean up the site some, a few forums could go. Aw, but that would surely end up in an argument.
I think most of the posts on Gun Talk and 2nd Amend can be deleted after 60 days. If I see posts on Gun Talk that belongs in a specific forum, I try to move them. My 2 cents.
free1954
10-23-2017, 04:30
I think most of the posts on Gun Talk and 2nd Amend can be deleted after 60 days. If I see posts on Gun Talk that belongs in a specific forum, I try to move them. My 2 cents.
delete anything that starts out with HILLARY SAID or OBUMMER DID. right from the start. most of the stuff posted over on the 2ND AMEND. is just posted to stir up anger. who cares who kneels or what people like WILSON have to say.
JB White
10-23-2017, 09:38
I'm with Jeff on this...
I would say if a thread hasn't been hit in 60 days then adios. Put an automatic expiration date after a year. It not as though we need an archive on the chatter boards. The gun related boards..as mentioned those turn up on a search engine. I'm sure we've picked up a few new contributors who have found us by going that route.
Bottom line is there is no quick clean answer, but deletions are needed.
I think any posts that show hostility, anger, argument, belittling, prejudice, disrespect, name-calling, etc. should automatically be deleted.
That's not the point of this thread.
Dick Hosmer
10-24-2017, 10:38
I think any posts that show hostility, anger, argument, belittling, prejudice, disrespect, name-calling, etc. should automatically be deleted.
We'd simply become a gaggle of eunuchs. No fun there!
Well, after following this thread, it seems most users favor reorganizing/rellocating current available storage. The most usage belongs to the political forums, Gun Talk and Second Ammendment. Also this information is transitory and becomes dated very quickly.
The Culiver forum is primarialy a gun board/site for the discussion and even more so, a valuable help source. There is valuable information stored here searchable from outside the Culiver site.
So, it appears to me the consensus is to put a time limit on the non-gun talk forums, that would limit the storage required, allowing better usage for the firearm discussions and the original intent for which the Major created this site.
We'd simply become a gaggle of eunuchs. No fun there!
+1... Easy to contribute here just click on "support this site." If you don't support this site, you have no skin in the game...
How can one delete their own posting? I have several that have run their course and would be happy to delete them. This may not solve the total problem but would help.
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