Live Wire

Well Ken
I think they are back just seen ONE

Live Wire

Some one made the remark that the older guys here are retired and the only thing we have to do is sit in front of the monitor Well some of us are as close to the flying site here as we get to our local field. Yes we love to fly like the rest of you but a lot of thing stop us from doing the thing we used too. That's why we sit here and build instead of barking.
Larry K

init4fun

[8D] I , for one , do appreciate the updates Ken is giving us and to know that a solution is being worked on is most welcome . Now , with that said , and in light of the seemingly volatile nature of old threads to sometimes go "POOF !" , into thin air during these types of repairs/upgrades , My suggestion would be this ;

Anyone with a build thread that is valuable to them in terms of time spent documenting the build , really ought to consider making their own backups of said threads just in case the worst happens during one of these migrations . If everyone with an extensive thread made their own copy , their data would be preserved in case of an electronic brain fart during the move . If I had any such threads I'd be archiving them , that's for sure .

I'll end with an attempted test photo ......

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

It's been reported to me that the image upload issues have been resolved. As you can see here I have uploaded a picture, so hopefully everything is good now.

Going forward I plan on taking a more active role in being a conduit of information from our Tech Department when things like this happen. In addition, if at any time anybody has any questions or concerns about tech related issues on RCU please don't hesitate to PM me, I'll do everything within my power to address your concerns. That's what I'm here for guys!!!

Ken

lasers200

As an IT professional I can assure you they are not on vacation. Just understaffed, overworked and misunderstood. In a private IT environment you usually work over 100hrs a week.

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Naturally this has occurred to a number of people and not just recently. However, doing an archive backup is easier said than done!

Have you considered what's entailed in doing an archive backup of a 50-100 page build thread using current RCU functionality!?

If it can easily be done with software functions on RCU, I'll be shocked to hear about it and frustrated that I didn't know about it before. But, I suspect (unless Ken tells us otherwise) that this is actually not achievable. In fact, it's not even possible to do an image archive backup on a page-by-page basis. In short, there is no way to create a single running HTML folder archive containing a running thread with others posts and linked pictures. Having such functionality would be an enormous asset to forum members but not necessarily to site owners. I could simply click an "archive" button and wind up with an HTML archive of the entire contents of a thread including pictures just as it appears online - but, in this case it would be offline (i.e., on your hard drive). Better yet would be the ability to create a PDF document of the running thread, start to finish (or wherever the thread is at that point in time).

I suspect such functionality doesn't exist and hasn't been (and won't be) implemented because it allows members to take material "offsite" for personal consumption. Not only that but it would result in a file which would be void of advertisement which would defeat the function and existence viability of such a site. Naturally it is possible to capture an instance of advertisement on a particular page and present it as it was at that moment on your offline file but that is only a half measure as far as advertisers go. They wouldn't be happy.

My comments above aside and having had experience in the IT administration field, I can tell you this is not a viable solution. You can't tell hundreds of thousands of members (I don't actually know how many members RCU has but 100K or more wouldn't surprise me. Maybe it's even close to a million!) to start creating their own backups of threads because the site is about to be migrated. If there are bandwidth and content access issues before a migration is planned do you have any idea what kind of bandwidth and file serving resources would be required of the sites servers? Exactly, it could tax the servers to the point of bringing the site down in a matter of minutes. This is actually one of the ways that hackers bring down commercial e-sites and big server sites such as Google. Looking at it from another point of view, you can't (or shouldn't) run a public site of this magnitude and expect to rely on end users to make sure their threads are intact because we may "fart" here in the IT department. You have to know what you are doing and you test it ad nauseum before you do it. Whatever unexpected gremlins (at most) lurk in the cyber shadows you have to be able to solve relatively easily.

Metaphorically, planning the migration of a site such as RCU is akin to painting. You plan it, prep it, mask it 99% of the time and then, you paint and you are done with that in 1% of the time. If you did it right, you'll have a tiny little "over spray" on a spot - maybe. Otherwise, you wind up with the master piece you planned for. Doing the sort of migrations that are being discussed is very rewarding to an IT group when achieved successfully. If you are not close to 99% functionality, it means you might have a monster ready to bust out of the dungeon and then you will be in for 24 hour sleepless nights for a while until you can contain the beast. Few people in IT cherish that type of situation...

David

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

As a person that has created several very detailed build thread this issue is very close to my heart. I also have several build threads that I plan on starting before too long (Balsa USA 1/4 scale Fokker D-7, Fibertech N More 100" Super Chipmunk, SR Batteries 1/4 Eindecker, and Balsa USA Student Trainer). There is one feature that I have wanted more than anything. I pushed the previous owner (Marc Vigod) for it but he couldn't figure out a way to do it. So I'm hoping that once we upgrade to VBulletin that I will be able to get the programmers to help me. So what feature and I referring to? I want to ability to archive, and/or save a thread as a PDF. I can't tell you how many people have asked me for this feature for both my threads and other threads on RCU. Many want to be able to download a build thread as a PDF to their computers so that they can reference it offline. 

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Ken,

PDF creation capability at the push of a button goes without mentioning (although I already did ) - very powerful feature!

Keeping RCU 100% intact sounds good too but as we know, RCU is in some areas thoroughly broken. Let's just say picture content is at around 1% - literally (make it 1.1% actually)! I just hope them hard drive plows and linking software is up to the task.

I have to admit, I'm not very optimistic although I want to be. Some of that stuff is very hard to re-create en masse from an IT perspective!

I hope I'm wrong. If I am, I'll bow down to the IT Jedi's and turn the flock around letting them know fresh green grass has been spotted!

David

PS 400K eh? I was in the right ballpark.

acerc

OMG Ken! That would be outrageously great, the PDF function. I have always kept a file of my photos per build for future use. But that is far short of keeping what others post in a build thread as well for future reference. There has been occassions where I would spend a few days searching to find a thread but then searching through the thread. Downloadable PDF where I coud index it myself for reference, WOW. That would unbeleavible.