Setting up a fully functioning temporary site for us here

It felt like we needed a full forum sooner rather than later. So I started one. It is meant to be temporary and we cannot take the threads with us. With that in mind, I am asking people if they would save the threads they have started, so that when we do move to a permanent home, we can resurrect them. I don't know of a way to save the graphics or smileys in a thread, as copying and pasting each post within a thread seems to be the only way we can save them.

Tedious, I know, but if we do it as they occure, it shouldn't be too bad.

Also, the names I assigned to the forums are meant to be temporary; I'd like you to create some fun names for them that still describe what they're about. If anyone wants any more forums, this is the thread to suggest them in.

Melodi, can you or your current host do a back up? They can do that on mine and I could take the whole forum to another host. It does cost around thirty dollars for me.

From what Justin has found out, and from what I have read, this host has a restore function if the site should go down, but only up to the previous 48 hours. He doesn't think we can back up the threads to take with us. But, the host is french, and the english instuctions and explanations for things are confusing. We're still trying to figure out what a lot of it means.

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Logan wrote:Are we staying here or are we going to be moving? It doesn't really make much sense to start a bunch of boards and threads and then ask everyone to save all their stuff so it can be transfered when we move. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't have time to be copying and pasting all that kind of stuff for later use. Why not just decide to either stay or move on, before things get too settled here? I'm a little confused about the decision you made Melodi to just make this place, that you all seem to feel is so unacceptable, into a full forum.

I'm sorry for the confusion. Saving stuff is voluntary of course. It just may take some time to get to where we need to be. You joined in in the middle of a long story; this group is mostly refugees from another forum that abruptly closed. We were trying to hold the group together while we built something that would last a long time and grow into something very special. We have had too much experience with sites abruptly disappearing or turning hostile, and we want it to stop. But my inner voice told me that we needed a general temporary forum, even if we couldn't take it with us, in the meantime.

Somehow, in spite of everything, the group held together, for we had developed something unusual that was well worth preserving. But given everything that has happened, it seems we just need a place to visit while we create the site.

when aimoo crashed, there was some classic stuff that 'went away'; i dint miss it. i think some wanted to save all the old stuff, and were quite upset. leaving 'words' behind doesn't upset me....

my view is, if it's said once, it'll be said again (just look at how jokes come back around every six months). evidently, from my experience with the hsp forums, this includes the good, the bad and the ugly (sorry, mr. van cleef and mr. brynner-lol!)

i'm learning to 'move on' with a light bag. there's nothing here that's so crucial to me that i can't start over somewhere else....

reb

You do channel Norquist well....

lol1 i don't think i'm 'channelling' him. i think i'm channelling 'me'. frightening, int it? go read him again; he was bored, and dint see the point of doing anything; i'm sure as hell not....lol! at least mostly not, althoughafter painting for three hours with that 20' pole and elastomeric, i passed out in the hammock for over an hour with the birds singing in the background...maybe that was norquist looking in on me??? lol.

reb

Logan wrote:Are we staying here or are we going to be moving? It doesn't really make much sense to start a bunch of boards and threads and then ask everyone to save all their stuff so it can be transfered when we move. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't have time to be copying and pasting all that kind of stuff for later use. Why not just decide to either stay or move on, before things get too settled here? I'm a little confused about the decision you made Melodi to just make this place, that you all seem to feel is so unacceptable, into a full forum.

I don't know how it works for anyone else, but for me the future's always a bit of a mystery. There's the things I plan and/or want to happen, and there's what actually happens. Quite often, those two bear little resemblance to each other. What we're doing here is planning, but what will actually come to pass will likely be nothing like what we planned. Human arrogance often tries to dictate what the future will bring, but in my experience holding that line too strongly only leads to an ever increasing sea of frustration & disappointment. Expectations are a bitch.

I have great difficulty not planning, so I simply let that part of myself do what it wants. What I try not to do is let that interfere too much with what the future actually brings. You, quite understandably, want to know what we're actually going to do, but only the future can answer that question. All we have are intentions and plans, so that's all we can discuss here.

Truth be told, given what I know about human nature, I expect that this forum will become somewhat permanent. It won't be ideal, but it will be something. Waiting isn't something people do easily. Planning comes quite naturally to most, but waiting doesn't. So we'll plan, and while we do this place will become home. It won't be perfect, but it will be something. And if this host crashes, or kicks us out, or whatever, I'll just have to get out my axe and hack up a few things around here to dissipate my anger over being shipwrecked once again.

Justin, I share your vision of what the future site can be. It's final form may be a bit different than what was originally thought of, but we always expected that. Your concerns about security, backups and durability are valid. We should all just be prepared to leave what we write here behind, except those parts we feel are important enough to personally back up.

The way we're going about developing it is unnerving to some, because it is a creative process and so appears illogical and in danger of stalling out from the outside. I'm going to ask everyone else right now to trust Justin and me; we really do have an idea of where we want to end up and I hope it becomes clearer to the rest of you soon. In the meantime, the bits and pieces of information Nucky, Reb and Logan have brought in are useful and I have been mulling everything over in the back of my mind. I'll be putting together a summary of where we are in this process and the next steps needed; it's going to take me some time, but I hope to have it finished later today.

melodi, in all sincerity, i trust Justin, but i'm worried about you.....

Justin, you been writing speeches for one of the politicians? holy shit, what a buncha 'maybe'....you have a great second career ahead of you, i feel sure (i feel something...is it sure? lol!)

in the spirit of what was given, i have no problems, only challenges. i often fail to rise to meet challenges...i'm not a trout, no way....challenges are the bread and butter of mankind, except when they are not. when they are not, mankind must make it's own bread and butter. this presents problems for those without cows and wheat, but no problem at all for those with adequate weaponry, or sycophants who will do their bidding and wield adequate weaponry to impress those who are afraid of being killed. the owners of weaponry simply steal the bread and butter from those with the cows and wheat....this is the basis for human civilization, and has been, ever since one person said 'i'm smarter'n this dumbfuck-i can take his shit, and convince him i'm doing him a favor. i'll tell him i'm going to solve all his problems, all he has to do is give me a share of his eats; then i'll tell him i'll solve more problems, but he has to give me more of his eats. once i get one doing it, others will follow, because their minds are basically soft and lazy.' eventually, the owners of weaponry convince the owners of cows and wheat that they own cows and wheat, but don't need weaponry, and then can simply take what they want with no discussion. this is the highest level of human civilization, upon the brink of which we are poised at this juncture in politics......i assure you, be not afraid, we have everything under control. that which we do not have under control is not worth concerning yourselves over....the sun will rise, i will not, but you will, and will have to go to work to pay for me not rising.....hemingway was, therefore, full of shit, as you now see....

i don't see a problem with what 'is' now. i don't see a problem with 'what will be' tomorrow. i see problems in the past, but they have been overcome by events (obe). someone, tomorrow, will do something wonderful. i look forward to it with great anticipation. no one today has done anything outstanding, but the day isn't over, and there's no one here, so someone must be outstanding somewhere.

Logan, i'll try to answer your question in plain texan....we're all fucking nuts. none of us has the slightest concept of what the fuck we're doing. we're stumbling forward hoping to find some answers. if we dont' find any answers that make us smile, we'll make some up, or rearrange our 'fuzzy language' to make it look like whatever happened was what we intended....this serves most of the world, and will serve us as well. if we do become shipwrecked, we'll eat the fattest person first....and so on down the line, until the last person has to start with their toes, and wind up like the Cheshire cat....eating their smile....in the immoral words of Bill Clinton, 'define 'it''.

like Justin, if i'm frustrated, i take my fiskars axe, and go whack on some wood-need firewood every winter. anger is a great motivator; so is freezing my butt off. better yet is having trees fall on your house and let the rain come in.....

(i know you don't really know me, Logan, but i am completely certifiably nuts.....as the doctor tells me when he gives me my annual digital 'just relax' lol!-i try my best to laugh about everything, and make sarcasm about what i can't laugh about...)

(((hugs to all))))
i'm going to go see if i can sovle 'the great tractor mystery'.

reb

reb wrote:melodi, in all sincerity, i trust Justin, but i'm worried about you.....

Justin, you been writing speeches for one of the politicians? holy shit, what a buncha 'maybe'....you have a great second career ahead of you, i feel sure (i feel something...is it sure? lol!)

in the spirit of what was given, i have no problems, only challenges. i often fail to rise to meet challenges...i'm not a trout, no way....challenges are the bread and butter of mankind, except when they are not. when they are not, mankind must make it's own bread and butter. this presents problems for those without cows and wheat, but no problem at all for those with adequate weaponry, or sycophants who will do their bidding and wield adequate weaponry to impress those who are afraid of being killed. the owners of weaponry simply steal the bread and butter from those with the cows and wheat....this is the basis for human civilization, and has been, ever since one person said 'i'm smarter'n this dumbfuck-i can take his shit, and convince him i'm doing him a favor. i'll tell him i'm going to solve all his problems, all he has to do is give me a share of his eats; then i'll tell him i'll solve more problems, but he has to give me more of his eats. once i get one doing it, others will follow, because their minds are basically soft and lazy.' eventually, the owners of weaponry convince the owners of cows and wheat that they own cows and wheat, but don't need weaponry, and then can simply take what they want with no discussion. this is the highest level of human civilization, upon the brink of which we are poised at this juncture in politics......i assure you, be not afraid, we have everything under control. that which we do not have under control is not worth concerning yourselves over....the sun will rise, i will not, but you will, and will have to go to work to pay for me not rising.....hemingway was, therefore, full of shit, as you now see....

i don't see a problem with what 'is' now. i don't see a problem with 'what will be' tomorrow. i see problems in the past, but they have been overcome by events (obe). someone, tomorrow, will do something wonderful. i look forward to it with great anticipation. no one today has done anything outstanding, but the day isn't over, and there's no one here, so someone must be outstanding somewhere.

Logan, i'll try to answer your question in plain texan....we're all fucking nuts. none of us has the slightest concept of what the fuck we're doing. we're stumbling forward hoping to find some answers. if we dont' find any answers that make us smile, we'll make some up, or rearrange our 'fuzzy language' to make it look like whatever happened was what we intended....this serves most of the world, and will serve us as well. if we do become shipwrecked, we'll eat the fattest person first....and so on down the line, until the last person has to start with their toes, and wind up like the Cheshire cat....eating their smile....in the immoral words of Bill Clinton, 'define 'it''.

like Justin, if i'm frustrated, i take my fiskars axe, and go whack on some wood-need firewood every winter. anger is a great motivator; so is freezing my butt off. better yet is having trees fall on your house and let the rain come in.....

(i know you don't really know me, Logan, but i am completely certifiably nuts.....as the doctor tells me when he gives me my annual digital 'just relax' lol!-i try my best to laugh about everything, and make sarcasm about what i can't laugh about...)

(((hugs to all))))
i'm going to go see if i can sovle 'the great tractor mystery'.

reb

OOOOooooOOOO! You're still P.O.ed about the tractor fiasco..... (Logan, I am good friends with this insane person, as well as Justin.)

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Reb's right, as long as you can translate the "texan". Nuts is in the eye of the beholder after all, which stings quite a bit when they're thrown too hard.

You really don't want me "explaining" things today. I've been angry with the world all day, and if I had a magic wand right now I'd make every person on this planet disappear for a while. Today I hate everybody. Tomorrow - who knows. The way things have been going for me lately tomorrow I'll be inviting everyone over for tea.

The thing is, decisions are an illusion, just like everything else our minds think about. What will be will be, and that's all there ever is. We can plan, and hope, and dream all we like, but what is is, and that's all she wrote. First time, every time. So we'll plan and hope and think and dream about this place, and in the end it will be what it is. We contribute & comment, and we pretend our decisions are "final" sometimes, but that changes nothing. We don't control what is (or what will be), and never will.

Re-reading that I can see I just gave another "WTF" answer. Oh well. It's a big time "WTF" kind of day here, with a lot of "screw everything" mixed in for me.

(Golly. I guess Nucky's been adding smilies. The big guns have arrived! Tempting. Very tempting.)

Logan,

well, it was 'straight up'; i don't think anyone is completely sure of what they are doing; i know i'm not.

we're trying to answer questions before we have the 'right questions'. how important is it to have 'infinite backup'? words slide away; relationships continue (sometimes). fancy features? i dont use 'em; i have dialup; i don' t care about avatars, scimitars or any kind of tar....pm's...thass fine. when i post pictures, i post links to photobucket; i don't want to overload board storage, and photobucket is moer convenient for me...i can have two folders running, one with bucket loading, the other with a board or email.

discussion is, many times, a way to avoid action. since i (maybe only i) don't know what actions to take, i'm discussing. mostly nonsense, but this is the way most of the world seems to me...the 'goal' is why i brought up 'goals, outlines, mission statements'....what is it we are trying to accomplish? we have a board that we can evidently make private threads on; as private as the net gets, anyway. we have a host taht is evidently quite tolerant, if a little difficult to understand (well, heck, most of life is)...i'm not sure why the push to 'move somewhere else'. here is pretty ok...whatever, i guess, to put it in valley speak...

i'm just not worried much about 'where we go'; i'm fine with where we are. i'll be ok with it tomorrow.

melodi, don't blame everything on the tractor; it can only lift about 800# with the bucket...you're overloading the poor thing...i'm certifiably nuts, and proud of it. Logan will figure it out...

btw, Logan, i've had two black labs and a yellow; wonderful animals...the best one was half springer spaniel and half labrador-he was a real trip...all dog.
reb