So my other bike is a KLR650...several years ago I used to check out daily a KLR forum that grew to be the best site for KLR talk, issues, repairs, how-tos, meet-ups, etc...just like this site. I learned so much and was so appreciative of all the info.
Then one day...Poof! Gone.
I don't remember what exactly happened, but there was no access to the site for a few days, then it comes back but very bare-boned, with nearly all threads gone due to some online storage corruption. The site slowly grew back a bit, but nothing like it was before. I think a lot of members moved on to other KLR sites.
I have already started to save some of the maintenance threads on a flash drive. I don't understand how internet storage for forums works, but I'd like to know if there exists a backup to all the info stored here. I'd hate to open this forum some day and see that blank page again.
Happens as all good things come to an end. the local sport bike forum i was on for so many years and it was huge but then one day it dried up over night. We had a wonderful time as we all knew each other and our own code. Area 51 was an out in the country emergency landing strip for military aircraft that was never used , we had a hole in the fence and the Cops could not touch us.
all that is gone now so grab what you can while you can. =just an old mans rambling on forums gone by / my son at area 51 forum meetup . Honda 929
There are backups, and I can only hope that I'm going about things the correct way. There was crash of this forum in the past. I believe it was within the first year or so. At that time I was able to get it back up and running with a minimal loss of content. But there are no guarantees made when it comes to something like that, which is one reason I've never asked anyone to contribute any money to this forum.
I don't mean that to sound so dire. Just trying to be straight up with everyone. When it comes to technology, I'm one of those guys that knows enough to figure some things out but not others. Sometimes I know just enough to get myself into trouble — most of the time I've been lucky enough get myself out of whatever trouble I get into. For better or worse (I feel for the better), this place has always been more about the quality of the conversation that takes place than it has been about the "flashiness" of the medium where that conversation takes place. There was a group that made me a nice offer to purchase the ownership of this forum early on and I turned them down. No doubt this might have put many folks at rest when it comes to things like disaster recovery, but I'm pretty sure that this place would have a totally different vibe had I done so.
The popularity of online forums has been in decline for some time now and that was the case well before I started this place. At some point online forums as we know them today will cease to exist. For now they remain but their popularity continues to fade. Much like manual transmissions in cars, these forums continue to have their ardent supporters — of which I am one. This all started because there weren't any CB1100 forums at the time and that seemed like a real shame to me. I thought it might be something fun and interesting to do. It took me long enough that when I first launched this place I wasn't even sure that anyone would even bother to join. (By the time I got things up and running live another CB1100 forum had already launched in the UK.) The way things have worked out have been a very pleasant surprise and I've been able to keep things going by not getting too carried away. At some point I will need to upgrade the forum software and that will be the next big test, which is why I haven't gotten around to it since things are still working okay for the most part. Simply put: we have a great moderating staff on board, but the IT division is a bit questionable at times, lol. Somehow it continues to work out okay.
In my experience, forums for certain vehicles and motorcycles have a finite lifespan, in which they eventually become nothing more than encyclopedias.
Forums do, by human nature, become sort of "social hangouts", where members can get to know each other quite well. However, I think the primary reason a forum exists is to serve as a source for collective knowledge....how to fix things, see different ideas, to learn if anyone else is having the same problems you are, etc.
As a specific vehicle line gets older and eventually goes out of production, almost every possible question and problem gradually gets resolved....and then, there's not much reason to visit the forum anymore, right? For any person who picks up the vehicle second-hand, most problems they encounter will have been discussed years ago, and can be thoroughly researched by using the search feature or Google.
For instance, my car is a Honda S2000, which ceased production in 2009. The forum was once an very active place, but now, as the cars are getting older, sold, crashed, or otherwise meeting a sad end, it's now basically a place for classifieds and weirdos asking "how can I get 900 hp from my 4-cylinder engine?" The originals do pop in once in a while to say hi or discuss something new, but for the most part, it's a very passive website.
Contrary to what others have said, I think forums are a very valuable tool, and will be around as long as there are vehicles and the internet.
Thanks for sharing that Guth, always appreciative of the work behind all this
(10-14-2017, 03:07 AM)Guth_imp Wrote: [ -> ]There are backups, and I can only hope that I'm going about things the correct way. There was crash of this forum in the past. I believe it was within the first year or so. At that time I was able to get it back up and running with a minimal loss of content. But there are no guarantees made when it comes to something like that, which is one reason I've never asked anyone to contribute any money to this forum.
I don't mean that to sound so dire. Just trying to be straight up with everyone. When it comes to technology, I'm one of those guys that knows enough to figure some things out but not others. Sometimes I know just enough to get myself into trouble — most of the time I've been lucky enough get myself out of whatever trouble I get into. For better or worse (I feel for the better), this place has always been more about the quality of the conversation that takes place than it has been about the "flashiness" of the medium where that conversation takes place. There was a group that made me a nice offer to purchase the ownership of this forum early on and I turned them down. No doubt this might have put many folks at rest when it comes to things like disaster recovery, but I'm pretty sure that this place would have a totally different vibe had I done so.
The popularity of online forums has been in decline for some time now and that was the case well before I started this place. At some point online forums as we know them today will cease to exist. For now they remain but their popularity continues to fade. Much like manual transmissions in cars, these forums continue to have their ardent supporters — of which I am one. This all started because there weren't any CB1100 forums at the time and that seemed like a real shame to me. I thought it might be something fun and interesting to do. It took me long enough that when I first launched this place I wasn't even sure that anyone would even bother to join. (By the time I got things up and running live another CB1100 forum had already launched in the UK.) The way things have worked out have been a very pleasant surprise and I've been able to keep things going by not getting too carried away. At some point I will need to upgrade the forum software and that will be the next big test, which is why I haven't gotten around to it since things are still working okay for the most part. Simply put: we have a great moderating staff on board, but the IT division is a bit questionable at times, lol. Somehow it continues to work out okay.
Forgive the hijack, but it's a curious thing that, while manual transmission cars continue to fade in popularity in Australia as well as the US, go to the UK and you'll hard pressed to find a car with automatic transmission.
Something similar happened to the Nighthawk Forum several years ago. I had been a member for about 4 years (since it started) and, much like this forum, it had grown to be a vast repository of type specific knowledge. Also like this forum, it was largely populated with very civil and helpful participants. Then one day, it disappeared.
Over those four years, the participants had contributed so many "how to" articles that it was difficult to find a problem that hadn't already been addressed. When the site reappeared in a few weeks, it was a clean slate. Very disappointing.
I never did hear what was ultimately the cause of the "reset". After considering all the time and effort I'd spent contributing to the site, I just didn't feel like starting all over again and moved on.
Test the backups.
Test the backups.
Test the backups........
(10-14-2017, 10:57 AM)Flynrider_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Something similar happened to the Nighthawk Forum several years ago. I had been a member for about 4 years (since it started) and, much like this forum, it had grown to be a vast repository of type specific knowledge. Also like this forum, it was largely populated with very civil and helpful participants. Then one day, it disappeared.
Over those four years, the participants had contributed so many "how to" articles that it was difficult to find a problem that hadn't already been addressed. When the site reappeared in a few weeks, it was a clean slate. Very disappointing.
I never did hear what was ultimately the cause of the "reset". After considering all the time and effort I'd spent contributing to the site, I just didn't feel like starting all over again and moved on.
That forum actually gave a few weeks warning to back up anything on there you wanted -- but of course I didn't. I just now got around to recreating the main "how to" post that I did over there. But the forum is still a shadow of its former self.