What happened?

[ddmckee54]

Was it just me that the forum hated, or did the forum actually go away for a while?

I hadn't been able to access the site for over 3 weeks, kept getting the message that the server wasn't available. Then yesterday when I checked in the site had started to come back to life. And today everything seems back to normal - What happened?

Or did the forum just hate me, and finally decided to relent?

Don

[Smiley]

I think that the forum crashed for some reason

[CorbettTrailers]

Same for me, I've been trying to sign in for at least 2 weeks. But I did notice the forum agreement expired recently.

[jerry56]

Just Glad it's back

[fhhhstix]

It had crashed hard but it seams it is back up and running for now.

[Blender]

Total relief this place survived

[ddmckee54]

Originally Posted by Blender

Total relief this place survived

Totally agree, there's a lot of good info on here. (Plus I was starting to get the DT's, needed my construction fix.)

[ddmckee54]

Originally Posted by CorbettTrailers

Same for me, I've been trying to sign in for at least 2 weeks. But I did notice the forum agreement expired recently.

Forum agreement, is that something you need money to fix? Do we need to kick in a couple of bucks to keep the lights on?

[Zabco]

Man I am glad to see this back. No other comparable site, at least in english, and Facebook just doesn't cut it.

[frizzen]

I'm glad it's back, i was afraid i'd have to get used to another board, or try to find some of you on that Bookface

No other place in english even comes close!!!

[fhhhstix]

It cost me about $500 a year to keep it going as of now. We will see what happens if we have to do a major upgrade. I wont ask for donations but if you want to message me and I can give you my pay pal address.

[wolfws6]

Travis, Sincerely thank you for keeping this going!

Aka Josh or Jasper! LOL

[ddmckee54]

Originally Posted by fhhhstix

It cost me about $500 a year to keep it going as of now. We will see what happens if we have to do a major upgrade. I wont ask for donations but if you want to message me and I can give you my pay pal address.

That's not really fair to you.

Some of the other forums that I belong to have "Supporting Members", people that are willing to kick in a few bucks to help defray the cost of the forum. I for one would be willing to do that, and I'm sure many others would be too. We gotta keep the lights on in this place WITHOUT just you having to foot the bill.

Maybe a separate page to become a supporting member, or to just donate a few bucks for the cause? That's not asking for donations, that's ALLOWING us to help.

Don

[Tgrzes]

Originally Posted by ddmckee54

That's not really fair to you.

Some of the other forums that I belong to have "Supporting Members", people that are willing to kick in a few bucks to help defray the cost of the forum. I for one would be willing to do that, and I'm sure many others would be too. We gotta keep the lights on in this place WITHOUT just you having to foot the bill.

Maybe a separate page to become a supporting member, or to just donate a few bucks for the cause? That's not asking for donations, that's ALLOWING us to help.

Don

I think that's a great idea. I would be willing to kick in. Lot's of great info here. Would hate to lose it!

[frizzen]

Travis, thank you for running this place and keeping the lights on for us to hang out here!

I also wouldn't be opposed to buying some overpriced stuff like stickers or t-shirts with the logo Banner and url or something...

[jerry56]

I'd be in for a supporting member kind of thing.

[trilliwilli]

I had an email exchange with Joe (LilGiants) about a year ago about the login problems I had. He explained to me that the original founder FreddyGearDrive past away and the passwords and licencecodes for the forum went with him.

Basically the forum needs a computerexpert that know how to migrate to new software and the financial side is then to pay for license fees, serverspace etc.

Since the software is very old a crash can happen again. There is already some spamming going on again.

When the forum went blank I emailed Joe again to ask what happened and he confirmed that the forum had crashed. In the same timespan I contacted Bo Wallen through Facebook, he is one of the administrators of the RCTruckandConstruction page on FB, to ask if he knew anything, since Joe’s answer came some time later.

He didn’t know and apperently doesn’t have contact with the forum administrator (my conclusion).
He wanted to take over the administration of the forum some time ago, but it didn’t happen for some reason.

Now I am not in a position to give any opinion about what has happened, all I know is that running a forum is a difficult task that requires a lot of knowledge and if the owner decides to pay for it themselves also a costly one.

I think just spending just some money to keep this forum running is perhaps not the most futureproof thing, since an update to keep it working is almost inevitable. The forum was quit heavy on traffic, but almost dead on new contributions. To make it futureproof and user friendly, with direct photo upload, embedded Youtube videos and hacker safe invirement, so that my email and password is not stolen, is only possible with an active member crowd and modern software.

It is strange to me that the only English forum for RC trucks and contruction that I know of is more a Titanic heading for an iceberg than a comfortable, large, save community having fun.

I like to read here and see the different aproach from what I am used to here, but the current administrator(s) should think if this is just a FreddyGearDrive memorial forum, or should be something for the future.

Maybe I am direct or thinking out to loud, but with just paying the server costs the keep it running, the next crash might be sooner then you think with this old software. Or the server crashed and it is now running on a different one, then it might go alright for some longer, but the one who pays has got to be willing to keep it going as well.

I am glad to see the forum back after one month, and hope it is able to stay.

[Actros4160]

We need to start to donate to this.

Everybody is using this board and a small donation can go a long way. So, please Travis put your paypal account in here and we can start support the Side, I would differently do that.

Bernd

[jerry56]

Or create a "contributing" user account ( or whatever you want to call it) for $25 or $35 a year.... and put up a "donate" button. Explain it's to help defray the cost of running the site or upgrades etc.... then if something comes up you can ask the community for help otherwise use the donations for annual costs.
I'd do $35 a year to keep the site going.....or help anyway....

[Zabco]

Amen