So, back on Tapatalk...

[Bob Schroeck]

For some reason I've gotten a spate of registration requests for the old boards this past week or so.  About half a dozen new accounts have been created and are requesting approval.  And I'm figuring they're just spammers because every board is locked and topped with a message saying "boards are closed", as I'm sure everyone already knows.  So these alleged new users obviously can't have actually, you know, read the boards there recently.

But that brings me back to something I was thinking about back in September.  It's been three months or so since I moved the boards, and aside from a little minor cleanup left here and there on the data, I'm pretty sure we don't need the old site any more.  I mean, most of that cleanup can be done without needing to consult the old boards, and what can't, we can get by going to the Wayback Machine most of the time.  So I'm thinking I'll blank out the Tapatalk boards completely after the New Year.

I'm announcing it here in case anyone wants to argue that it's a bad idea, or needs to pull something off the Tapatalk site, or something.

[robkelk]

Would it be a good idea to leave the thread that points at the Tapatalk scraper script? That's the only content that I can think might be useful there.

[M Fnord]

Unless we missed something in the scrape, and I can't think what that would be, I don't see any reason not to shutter the Tapatalk forum now. Unless you want to leave a redirect post on the top-level, just in case.

[Labster]

Well, nothing was missed in the scrape as far as I can tell. I know we had a few posts missing Unicode characters, but as far as I can tell, that was not on my end, and is actually included in the scrape and reformatted bbcode. So it looks like I can put the blame on Bob for that one. There might be some missing images still, but I'm not aware of any particular images.

[Bob Schroeck]

I have made a couple attempts to restore the images, but WinSCP reports my provider is returning an out-of-space error and insisting I have only 25 MB of storage, which is all used. Which is bull, as my DB backups for the board are over 45MB each, and I can easily upload images via attachment that FTP will refuse. This is why I can't update the board right now -- I'm literally not allowed to upload the changes. I'm home from work tomorrow and I plan to spend some quality phone time with both Technical Support and Sales at my provider to find out just what the hell is going on (as to my best recollection I'm not supposed to have any space limits, disk space being as cheap as it is). Once I clear that up, the board gets updated and every rescued image goes back up (and I start running SQL queries to make sure they're properly embedded in the messages where they belong).

[Morganite]

Not seeing any obvious benefit to breaking everyone's old bookmarks.

Actually what I would recommend is this:

1. Make the boards visible again.
2. Put a notice in the on-every page saying something like "We've moved! See $thread_name in the general forum."
3. Make a new thread with that name that has the essential information - summary of what happened, why we're moving, where we are, and what to do for both old and new members.

Because right now, the old boards don't give the impression that there are new boards, they give the impression that there's no boards at all. And that's bad.

-Morgan.

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, the tapatalk boards aren't invisible. They're just locked, and there is a "we've moved" notice pinned to the top of each one. Or at least they shouldn't be invisible -- they are to you?

[Morganite]

"This board requires membership to view the forums." is what I'm referring to.

And the pinned notices don't actually feel all that visible to me. I'm suggesting changing the "A place for readers of "Drunkard's Walk" and other writings by Bob Schroeck to congregate and chat." line to say that we've moved, because it appears absolutely everywhere.

-Morgan.

[Bob Schroeck]

Ah. Very good, I'll do that.

Oh, and I just got off the phone with my hosting service. Turns out my original hosting package, chosen six years ago, does in fact max out at 25 MB (because I obviously felt my site wouldn't grow so fast as to fill that up any time soon) -- but the database, attached only a few months ago, has a separate and unlimited storage space. I can upload files through the board, and the board can generate massive backups, which do not apply to the hosting limit.

This is, of course, a second good reason to change hosts, much as I'm loathe to leave an ISP that's served me reasonably well for nigh onto 20 years now. I am awaiting a call from their sales division so I can find out how much it would cost to double my available space at least for the short term, while I look for a new host. That had better be reasonably inexpensive, given how cheap MBs are these days; but once it's done I can both upload all the images rescued from the old board and finally upgrade the board software itself.

[Bob Schroeck]

Okay, I've changed the tagline over on Tapatalk, and allegedly I've set up a "welcome message" which explains that the forums are closed and why, but frankly, I can't make it appear on the main page for the boards for me. Maybe it doesn't work -- I wouldn't be surprised -- or maybe as admin it's not shown to me, I have no idea. I've also disabled a bunch of stuff I left enabled before.

[Morganite]

If it's the part that says "ham-handed migration", I can see it.

-Morgan.

[Bob Schroeck]

That's it.

I suppose that's another alleged "feature" of Tapatalk. After all, if I wrote it, I don't have to see it. Right?