Page 3 of 8 FirstFirst 1234567 ... LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 80

Thread: What happened: 2016 edition.

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    5,704

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by flecom View Post

    also give up on vB, it's junk at this point, pretty much every major vB forum I am a member of has moved over to XenForo

    https://xenforo.com/

    much better software, better features, less load on servers as a bonus too
    I don't know what this forum runs on, but it's one of the best looking boards I've seen and has the much wanted thanks button:

    http://www.civinfo.com/

  2. #22
    Bradfo69's Avatar
    Bradfo69 is offline Pending BST Forum Purchases: $47,127,283.53
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Wilmington, DE
    Posts
    6,202

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Banthai View Post
    I think that the forum could be compacted or archived if its a cost issue ... for example does the buy and sell forum need posts that are older than 2 years ?
    Actually... if I may put in my $.02, yes the Buy/Sell forum needs posts older than two years. I frequently use it to go back and reference pictures and prices for things I have purchased and now might be considering selling. It almost cost me $1000 just in this last week as I thought I had paid $900 for something I paid $1900 for and am looking at selling. That's the same reason I don't delete PM's and still have all of them since 2010 or whenever it was.
    PM Sent...

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Posts
    2,292

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bradfo69 View Post
    Actually... if I may put in my $.02, yes the Buy/Sell forum needs posts older than two years. I frequently use it to go back and reference pictures and prices for things I have purchased and now might be considering selling. It almost cost me $1000 just in this last week as I thought I had paid $900 for something I paid $1900 for and am looking at selling. That's the same reason I don't delete PM's and still have all of them since 2010 or whenever it was.
    It seems wasteful to save every message so that a few people can use PL as their inventory system. It would be nice if there was a way for expiring threads to notify subscribers that they are about to be deleted/archive and give them an opportunity to save whatever they need from it, or, even allow users to vote for a thread to remain in tact for another year or some time period, or maybe even get a "won't ever delete" status if it has good info. There are a bunch of filler threads on here that really don't need to be kept around for any good reason.

    I don't know how much storage space is costing, though. Maybe it's only pennies per month?

  4. #24
    Bradfo69's Avatar
    Bradfo69 is offline Pending BST Forum Purchases: $47,127,283.53
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Wilmington, DE
    Posts
    6,202

    Default

    I would imagine less. I can't speak intelligently on this but, for example, there are 207 pages of posts. Each page appears to have 25 entries. Most threads have between 0 and perhaps 7 responses. Yes there are some big ones like DTR's Single Mode Diode thread with like 127 replies but, 207 x 25 is 5175 listings and many I guess would equal a page typed on 8.5 x 11 paper. What's 5-6000 full pages of text equate to? If you actually backed it up it would probably would all fit on a $20 thumb drive, right? Just guessing. Like I said, I really don't know all the ins and outs of storage but, they always tell you they will hold 10,000 songs or 6000 pictures or 10 hours of video or whatever. Storage I know has gotten stupid cheap. I think I pay on average about $59 for 1 TB externals these days. I know enterprise drives that should be used for something like this forum cost more but, I guess what I'm saying is, I doubt the Buy Sell thread really takes a lot of storage space/money but, I'll be interested to hear and learn if that's not actually correct.
    Last edited by Bradfo69; 05-30-2016 at 19:17.
    PM Sent...

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Cleveland Ohio
    Posts
    2,598

    Default

    Maybe that is a solution. Put the archive on the ftp as a zip file by year. The ftp can be a plain Jane nas.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Monroe, Mi USA
    Posts
    818

    Default

    Technical Help...NO....Duh from me !!! Fascinating read though !!!Moral support and a echo to find a way to do a donation...here and there !!!! Yes !!!
    .
    An now....things do have seemed to slow down...a bit....no hills to climb....no new diodes to wrestle with !!!Yikes...who builds their own projector anymore ???.....that seems to have gone the way of the DoDo !!!
    .
    Most exciting thing is the new "Maxwell software"...IMNSHO
    .
    Anyway Robert...THANK YOU !!!! You have made the world a better place !!
    .
    Beam out
    Beam Axiom #1 ~The Quantum well is DEEP ! Photons for ALL !!
    .
    Beam Axiom #2 ~Yes...As a matter of fact...I DO wear tinfoil on my head !!
    .
    Beam Axiom #3 ~Whe'n dout...Po ah Donk awn et !!
    .
    Beam Axiom #4 ~A Chicken in every Pot, and a Laser Lumia in every Livingroom !!
    .
    Beam Axiom #5 ~"Abstract Photonic Expressionism"....is "Abstractonimical" !!
    .
    Beam Axiom #6 ~ "A Posse ad Essea" ~ From being possible to being actual ...is the beam target !

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Miami, FL
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by White-Light View Post
    I don't know what this forum runs on, but it's one of the best looking boards I've seen and has the much wanted thanks button:

    http://www.civinfo.com/
    that uses vB just like PL, but it doesn't scale well to very large forums, and the mobile interface sucks for the most part... xenforo is a much better choice

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Belgium
    Posts
    306

    Default

    For me, one of strenghts of PL is the archive of laser related stuff. This includes the buy/sell section. I often search PL using google for info and it has happened more than once that I find the info I need in the buy/sell section.

    Aside from this I would be willing in donating some money for moving PL to another location.
    Trying to create a good diode mount....

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    262

    Default

    Agreed, IMHO we should subscribe to the common practice these days of "keep everything forever" which in PL terms is still a tiny amount of data and easily manageable

    The site admin shouldn't decide what is and isn't important to people really, although that's his prerogative.

    PL now is almost less important as a social community and more active as a wonderful archive & encyclopedia of all things lasers and more.

    Its like SAMs FAQ but with more up to date information and photos!

    Im using posts from donkeys years ago at the moment with my gas project, its a wealth of information which is very valuable.
    Regards,

    Aidan

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    5,704

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JohnYayas View Post
    It seems wasteful to save every message so that a few people can use PL as their inventory system. It would be nice if there was a way for expiring threads to notify subscribers that they are about to be deleted/archive and give them an opportunity to save whatever they need from it, or, even allow users to vote for a thread to remain in tact for another year or some time period, or maybe even get a "won't ever delete" status if it has good info. There are a bunch of filler threads on here that really don't need to be kept around for any good reason.

    I don't know how much storage space is costing, though. Maybe it's only pennies per month?
    If server space is expensive is it really necessary to even keep an Archive? I kind of agree with Gary here. Laser tech moves so fast that posts from 3 or 4 years ago are no longer relevant. eg LW seem to have got their act together. DPSS modules are almost items of the past....

    Would it not be best to selectively archive timeless items such as threads on how to renovate gas lasers and then delete the rest? Would save a lot of server space and thus cost for Robert.

    Alternatively, something many people have requested in the past is a comprehensive step by step photo guide to building lasers, so why not start a Wiki reference section with sections such as 1. How to build a laser - a step by step guide, 2. How to repair your gas laser etc (maybe some on here with the knowledge would be willing to write these guides) and then all the archive could be deleted with all the relevant material in wiki archives - far more useful there than hidden in multiple threads. If you want to repair a DT40, is far easier to look in a DT 40 wiki thread than search for 20 separate bite of information contained in 20 separate threads for separate dates.

    It seems very pointless spending a lot of money on storage keeping an archive of largely outdated and useless material.

    Quote Originally Posted by flecom View Post
    that uses vB just like PL, but it doesn't scale well to very large forums, and the mobile interface sucks for the most part... xenforo is a much better choice
    ???? That's a very very large forum, much much larger than PL in both size and user base.

    Go to the forum section and you'll find the thread board is 3 times the size of PL - 75 sub sections sections compared to 20 on PL.

    The forum stats show over 2 million posts:- 2,174,035 posts, 137,000 threads and 70,000 members. Plus the most simultaneous users ever recorded is 7,500 compared to 1,500 for PL.

    That particular company is one of the biggest owners of car forums (they run multiple forums around the world) and so presumably have some experience of forum software. I've been a browser of that forum for a long time and I've never known it be down for maintenance, ever crash or ever fail to display properly on my Android phone. (PL is unusable in Mobile mode).

    I'm not saying it's the best forum, but I visit a lot of forums (only browse most including that one) and that's one of the best looking and most reliable I've come across. All I can say is that if that is Vb, then they've got their act together with that version. I'm sure if you contacted them, they'd be helpful as it seems quite a friendly admin wise from what I've read.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •