Welcome back everyone!

[Mick_VT]

I'm here!

Chris

Sweet! Welcome!

[Vala]

I'm here!

Chris

Good to have you with us!

[cjd]

Wow. That was a big step up. Great job.

Only two questions:

1. Who all do we thank for the great migration? Were there costs associated and, if so, is anyone taking donations?

2. Will you all please re-post each of your previous posts so that when I need some guidance I only have to search in one place?

[Mick_VT]

Wow. That was a big step up. Great job.

Only two questions:

1. Who all do we thank for the great migration? Were there costs associated and, if so, is anyone taking donations?

2. Will you all please re-post each of your previous posts so that when I need some guidance I only have to search in one place?

Well, I setup and built the new site, and I am hosting it on an account I already had. The webspace being used by that account was not really in use so there was space for a reasonably low volume site like this one currently is. The main cost was just time (I was already paying for the hosting space), and some monies spent to reserve domain names. In all not a whole lot at this point in time.

Many of you have generously offered to chip in and donate, but at this point it really is not necessary. My out of pocket and ongoing costs are not substantial. If the site grows like I hope it will, that may change. It is conceivable that an upgrade to a dedicated, more capable server might be needed at that point. If and when that does happen we can explore options to take the financial load away from just me. Options I have seen, and we as a community could consider, include some discrete on-site ads, sponsorship by pertinent interested businesses, a "supporter" level membership, and some others I cant think of at this precise moment.

It is way too early to discuss those, but if and when the time comes we as a community, will have the discussion around specifics.

I have run forums like this before (but not for a good few years) and one of my key beliefs is that the owner and moderator team are there to serve the forum membership. That the forum would not have content, be attractive to new folk, nor really be able to exist without the contributions and posts from that membership. In essence, you guys are the forum, not I, nor the mod team. I hope that you will all see that belief manifested in the way the District is operated. For your part, I need you guys to all communicate with me, tell me what you like and dislike, tell me what you want, so that I can synthesize it and incorporate it as and where I can.

On the re-posting question, well, that's all up to you guys I did look briefly at trying to transfer posts from the old place, but as one member pointed out, although that may be possible, and indeed the copyright of the posts belongs to the authors not the site owner, it really is likely to make this whole thing get nasty in some way. I for one don't want that. I would have loved for us to have been able to take over the old site, or transfer the posts in an agreed way, but that did not seem to be an option. Perhaps at some point in the future there will be some way we can get that content without just taking it. Time will tell.

In the meantime I think it is fair game for anybody who wants to take important posts or threads from there and repost them here. They are your threads, it is a different thing for you to move things selectively and individually than for me to do a wholesale "scrape" of the site. I would in fact encourage you to do just that for things that you are strongly attached to, or are important or currently pertinent. You can easily link posts here to those on other sites, but remember those links may go stale if the other site changes (posts deleted for example) or the site goes away.

To truly answer your question "who do we thank for the migration" its is all of you guys who have created the demand, and who have moved over here. I'm just the guy in the boiler room.

[cjd]

Great job. And I was only kidding about the re-posts. I know that the knowledge base will grow quickly- everyone is so helpful and generous with their time and knowledge.

And as I am learning right now, it is super mobile-friendly. Very convenient!

Thanks for all the work and time.