Is JudoForum officially dead?

BillC wrote:
Neil owned the JudoForum ... it was his ... it was a lot of work ... and he sold it. he explained this many times before, leave the poor guy alone.
End of story.

Regardless of who started it and what they did, it had morphed from "someone's baby" into the most trafficked Judo discussion board on earth. It had become bigger than one person. Therefore, it's not out of line to wonder wtf happened to it. Yeah, he sold it- but why did the company to whom he sold it allow it to die? Why buy something then kill it? And is there anything we can do to save the content on there? Why is everything so hush-hush? I'm not mad at Neil- and obviously he was well within his legal and commercial rights to do with his business as he wanted, but is this what he wanted? No, right? Not even close, right?

Since it was such a big part of our lives I find it odd to just sweep the whole thing under the rug. If Ezoic doesn't give a shit about it, then perhaps they wouldn't mind allowing one of us to access the site and transfer the content- in an archival sense- over to here. After all, what do they care?

And why do I have to move on? Move on from what? There are truly valuable writings on there which may- just may- be able to be saved and retained in perpetuity.

Ought we not to try?

Wait just a minute.....what happened to the old JudoForum? This is the first I've heard of it.

*Facepalm*

Stacey wrote:

Steve Leadbeater wrote:

Stacey wrote:

Cichorei Kano wrote:

Steve Leadbeater wrote:My question is ....Whats is happening with the Conclave of Cardinals and Bishops ??

Stacey is now Soeur Supérieure of Chastity, and also in control of the Judo Forum' Abbey's beer stock.

oy gevalt!

I can't believe that The Sister Superior of Chastity is not in need of an "expert" in beer stocks, to assist Her Reverence in the "Quality Control" of said beer.

quality control, sure. Quantity control? never!

Not sure if that is a Compliment or an Insult......

Dudes and chicks ...

... in this thread we have

- sarcasm;
- artful derailment;
- humorless and clueless equine flagellation despite the fact that the maximum entropy allowed for a self-sustaining biological has long since been exceeded ...

... the new lama has been found, he (or she) lives here in this new mortal form (forum).

GJ ... I commend you for sitting through a movie featuring both Keanu Reeves and Chris Isaaks.

P.S. ... greetings from the Grand Canyon. My salad bowl floated upstream, but it may have been the waiter taking it to the Mexican dishwasher ... I am not sure. Since my last trip 5 years ago the cute little "interns" that shout "irashaimase!" to my Japanese customers from the hostess stand at the cowboy steak restaurant have disappeared.

Impermanence!

I have to say I'm really disappointed in some of these responses (especially the last one).

I'm beating a dead horse? How so? Is the demise of that forum really such common knowledge that the mere act of bringing it up is equivalent to asking where the sun sets? I didn't realize discussing had become taboo. I guess I'll call it "that other place that got sold" from now on.

For the record: MY QUESTIONS ABOUT JUDOFORUM'S GOING INTO THE TOILET WERE IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM ATTACKS ON NEIL OHLENKAMP.

I got it- he sold the site. Understood.

My curiosity revolved around what happened after that; i.e., how and why Ezoic managed to do such damage. Obviously Neil didn't know that this would happen, otherwise he would've sold to some other entity. I am interested in whether or not anything could be done by us to rectify this (unforeseen by Neil) predicament- including whether or not the many thousands of postings on there can be saved before it's too late. I have utter respect for both Mr. Ohlenkamp and the many other contributors who added so much to that site and whose thousands of hours of work will soon be lost forever; in fact, my questions arise precisely from that respect- not from a desire to be annoying, childish, or clueless. My post(s) are/were about saving that precious material as much as they are/were about finding out the reasons behind what can only be described as a disaster. Neil himself is mystified. Maybe someone on here has experience with Ezoic- or has experienced a similar situation regarding the rise and precipitous fall of a great site. Who knows- is it so bad to ask?

Anyway, I have enough of a bad taste in my mouth from this unfortunate dialogue to not care any more- but this could've been handled differently. No reason to insult me.

it's not that discussing it is taboo, it's that it had been discussed at length on another thread that went to 8 pages (also started by you), and also discussed quite extensively on the other forum (I believe that thread went to 20+ pages). I just don't know how much more there is too be said about it. I miss the old forum too, but it's gone. it'll probably never come back. it's a damn shame, but many things are a damn shame these days. I've given up on dwelling on what's gone, and have instead focused my energy on enjoying what's here in its place.

I believe the question..

" CAN ANYTHING BE SAVED FROM THE OLD FORUM ??"

..is yet to be answered with a simple..

"YES" or "NO"

If "YES", is anything being done to save the material ??

If "NO"..then the matter is ended.

genetic judoka wrote:it's not that discussing it is taboo, it's that it had been discussed at length on another thread that went to 8 pages (also started by you), and also discussed quite extensively on the other forum (I believe that thread went to 20+ pages). I just don't know how much more there is too be said about it. I miss the old forum too, but it's gone. it'll probably never come back. it's a damn shame, but many things are a damn shame these days. I've given up on dwelling on what's gone, and have instead focused my energy on enjoying what's here in its place.

I guess you could say I never got the answer I was looking for. As lengthy as both of those threads were, very little of the story was ever really told. That's why I started this one last time- I was hoping for some clarity. Turns out the best answer I got was from Neil, who said "it makes no sense to me."

Anyway- like I said: I'm officially done with the topic. I do hope, however, that someone, somehow, someway saves those old threads. I think it's worth it. Yeah, there's a lot of junk- obviously- but there's also a lot of CLASSIC information. Just because it existed in cyberspace (as opposed to, say, book form) doesn't make it any less valuable. Imagine a library full of both crappy books and great books that's slowly burning down in front of your eyes. Sure, it's great that you have already moved into a new library space, but wouldn't it also be great to save the books that are about to get destroyed from the old one? If you could add the collection to your new place, wouldn't that be even better than just simply 100% "starting over?"

NYCNewbie wrote:

genetic judoka wrote:it's not that discussing it is taboo, it's that it had been discussed at length on another thread that went to 8 pages (also started by you), and also discussed quite extensively on the other forum (I believe that thread went to 20+ pages). I just don't know how much more there is too be said about it. I miss the old forum too, but it's gone. it'll probably never come back. it's a damn shame, but many things are a damn shame these days. I've given up on dwelling on what's gone, and have instead focused my energy on enjoying what's here in its place.

I guess you could say I never got the answer I was looking for. As lengthy as both of those threads were, very little of the story was ever really told. That's why I started this one last time- I was hoping for some clarity. Turns out the best answer I got was from Neil, who said "it makes no sense to me."

Anyway- like I said: I'm officially done with the topic. I do hope, however, that someone, somehow, someway saves those old threads. I think it's worth it. Yeah, there's a lot of junk- obviously- but there's also a lot of CLASSIC information. Just because it existed in cyberspace (as opposed to, say, book form) doesn't make it any less valuable. Imagine a library full of both crappy books and great books that's slowly burning down in front of your eyes. Sure, it's great that you have already moved into a new library space, but wouldn't it also be great to save the books that are about to get destroyed from the old one? If you could add the collection to your new place, wouldn't that be even better than just simply 100% "starting over?"

Yes, we are starting over, but with a lot of the same people and knowledge that appeared on the old JF. The knowledge is still here. Some of us may have to be a bit redundant answering posts, but look at it this way - which is more important, the rough draft or the first revision?

Let's just look at it as a new chance to ask and answer questions. Some of the answers you get may better - more timely, more informed, better formed, etc. Some of the questions you get may be better formed.

By the 12th iteration of the JF, we should be able to bind a book on some subjects.

If I could figure out a way to save the topics and posts from the old forum I certainly would. They can't easily be captured and put onto this forum.

The JudoForum was run on a dedicated server with its own (huge) database containing all the member information, posts, attachments, and other data. I no longer have access to that database, and even if I did this free forum doesn't give us direct access to the database so the old forum can't be imported or combined with this one.

Maybe someone else can figure out a way, and I don't mind anyone asking or looking for a solution. I would love to see it saved as well.

Judosensei, you should have been a mathematician.

Q mystic wrote:Judosensei, you should have been a mathematician.

I hate math, and I hated running the server as well.

Its uplifting to see a non-math guy be so concise.

A special thanks for everything you have done Neil. It is greatly appriciated.

judoratt wrote:A special thanks for everything you have done Neil. It is greatly appriciated.

Indeed. It needs to be said once in a while.

Use the wayback machine! It's not perfect but you can review some topics there.

http://wayback.archive.org

I have run forums for many years and am familiar with administration and the back end of things as well. Currently I use vBulletin, but at times I have also run forums on SMF and IPB.

The very first thing that would have to happen for "this" forum (i.e., administrators, posting members, content, etc.) is to get away from the free format and back into a dedicated environment. There simply isn't any way to control how the host treats the data and changes that may occur in their business model. A <$20/ mo. shared host can easily handle a forum with hundreds of active/current users. You have to control your own software, data, and ads or it isn't YOUR forum.

If any old SQL backup of the old JF is available it could be mined for post data. Without that it would be tedious. With that I'm certain it would be accessible as an archive and searchable. All of the old user names, member data, and ranks would likely be lost, but that really isn't part of the salvage operation anyway. New posts could continue to be made adding to old topics.

Anything I can do to assist just ask.

It's dead.

Yes, technically, it's "there,"- as in it exists- but I cannot access even one thread.

I think that counts as brain dead.

NYCNewbie wrote:It's dead.

Yes, technically, it's "there,"- as in it exists- but I cannot access even one thread.

I think that counts as brain dead.

Ok I am sorry, now let it go.

judoratt wrote:

NYCNewbie wrote:It's dead.

Yes, technically, it's "there,"- as in it exists- but I cannot access even one thread.

I think that counts as brain dead.

Ok I am sorry, now let it go.

I already did let it go.

I was just remarking that now- for the first time- NOTHING can be accessed on the site. Whereas before when I began this post it was hanging by a thread (meaning: you could at least read some stuff), now it is completely inaccessible.

Which means it is OFFICIALLY dead.

Disgusting.

quite sad.
I learned a lot from that site.
I feel like saying RIP, as the JF hasn't seen peace in a long long time.

We could still choose a casket and organize a funeral.

There are some pretty good deals out there if you look around, like for example, this one:



Bear in mind though that there are some funeral scenarios to best avoid like the 11 examples given here:

http://www.funnyordie.com/slideshows/68e845401d/funerals-you-should-definitely-avoid

It is still possible to view and copy stuff from the old forum by using google cache.

I have tended all my life to either live in the past or worry about the future. Neither can I change. This new forum is what we have so make the best of it as this may well be as good as it gets. Depressing thought but lets live with what we have.

Regards to you all, I hope you are all well and enjoying your tatami time, now that does count an awful lot.

Mike