Reversing the slow decline of SD.NET

[RogueIce]

Honestly, if the Discord is active, and with members who used to post here and don't currently, I would imagine the thing to do is ask them what stops them from just logging in here. It wouldn't exactly bring in new members, but if more old-timers posted the place would at least seem less dead.

If it's board culture issues, I think it's reasonable to posit that can be somewhat easily changed, with how few active people are even left. If it's technical issues - phpBB being less convenient to browse on mobile than Discord, for example - then there's not much to be done at that point, and technology has moved on.

[Solauren]

And how much can those store?

Well, I downloaded the WOTC discussion forms, at least the D&D Section of it, before it closed.
Compressed, it was just over a Gigabyte. Standard Text compression of 20:1 would put it at about 22 Gigabytes.
That's 4 DVDs in capacity, probably 5 when you deal with having to sort things so they all fit without stuff being divided up.

Given the sheer amount of activity on that board, that's probably more then SD.NET by a comfortable margin.

Can you download that without admin access? I'd like that as a dataset (The SDN board, nvm others)

Yeah, but it's not a quick thing.

When you get down to it, all most Internet BBS are simply large websites. The individual threads are webpages (possibly multiple linked ones, in the case of threads with multiple pages), with a built in editor for posting.

So, downloading one, into a non functional but viewable copy, is as simple as tossing all the thread webpages addresses into a downloader program.

For example, the 'Testing Policy' thread is at the web address of
http:// bbs.stardestroyer.net / viewtopic.php ? f=21 & t=138477

The most recent thread about the Order of the Stick Webcomic is at
http:// bbs.stardestroyer.net / viewtopic.php ? f=32 & t=167586
with page 2 starting on
http:// bbs.stardestroyer.net / viewtopic.php? f =32 & t=167586 &start=25
going up to the current page (33) &start=800
(25 posts per page)

The breakdown of the address is 'Website/command' (stardestroyer.net, viewtopic), Forum #, Thread #, Starting Post
and if you want, you can add "&view=print" to simplify the view.

Now, you can actually ignore the forum #.

So, there are two ways it could be done.

One, is go into each form, get a count of all the thread pages (i.e Fantasy has 129 pages worth of threads displayed)
Save each of those, and a little programmer magic, and you'd known the #, Title, and # of Pages of each thread.

Easy enough to turn into a download list. (A quick look at the code via the view source option in most web browsers shows it's very clean and efficient compared to most bbs background code, so it would actually be simple to work with).

Repeat on each forum that can be viewed without login. (You'd need someone that had access to each subforum to get them all.
And then there is also the fact that you'd have to configure the downloader to be used to log you in with that password. Annoying, but doable.)

Add a second page grab on all the threads to account for activity since you started making the list to make sure...

And the End result is each Thread, all pages, ready to download, nice and organized. Drop them into your favourite mass downloader, and wait.
(Note to the Admins: I use one with speed limits to keep any board I'm downloading from being abused by the process.

The other is to brute force it, ignoring thread #, and starting at Thread #1, and assuming 2000 posts per thread.
(I believe most threads on here are locked after 1000 posts, it's been a while since any got that big).

[ray245]

Honestly, if the Discord is active, and with members who used to post here and don't currently, I would imagine the thing to do is ask them what stops them from just logging in here. It wouldn't exactly bring in new members, but if more old-timers posted the place would at least seem less dead.

If it's board culture issues, I think it's reasonable to posit that can be somewhat easily changed, with how few active people are even left. If it's technical issues - phpBB being less convenient to browse on mobile than Discord, for example - then there's not much to be done at that point, and technology has moved on.

Honestly if you post here you have to wait maybe weeks for a response while on Discord you get people talking about what you posted almost immediately.

It's perhaps less useful if you want an organised debate on discord, but no one goes to discord to have a debate anyway. Not to mention forum debates threads can be exhausting.

[LadyTevar]

Honestly if you post here you have to wait maybe weeks for a response while on Discord you get people talking about what you posted almost immediately.

It's perhaps less useful if you want an organised debate on discord, but no one goes to discord to have a debate anyway. Not to mention forum debates threads can be exhausting.

Oh, honey... right now there is a full discussion going on about how future historians would look at and write a histrography on the Old Republic, Palpaltine's "brief Interregnum", and the New Republic's arrival.

In ONE FUCKING HOUR there were 700+ posts on how the future would see the philosophy of the Force re:Jedi/Sith dictomy.

Do not tell me they're not having a massive debate on Discord

[Rogue 9]

anyway i like a lot of you so come check out the discord server if you don't already.

Sure.

How do I get there?

You're a grumpy fat guy in your 40's. I'm now a grumpy frumpy gal in my 60's. I need some hand-holding (no, not like that!). Where is this "discord server", how do I get onto it, and what do I do once I'm there? Yes, I really am that oblivious.

Marina is asking if anyone followed up with you on this, so I'm doing it. Discord is essentially an AOL Instant Messenger style chat service with a voice component (that the SDN server almost never uses) and the ability to have multiple text channels so everything's not jumbled up in one message stream. There are desktop and mobile apps for it, or it can be run in the browser if you don't want to install such things. This link will direct you to it, and following it will get you there without much fuss. It'll give you the choice of either downloading the relevant app for the device you're on or opening in a browser window, as you choose. https://discord.gg/eBggHPT

[Raw Shark]

Oh hey, Marina's still on here? I always liked her.

[Raw Shark]

I mean, I've talked some shit about this place, but I value you guys. We've been together twenty years. I was young when I joined this board, and now I'm old. Now I'm old.

[LadyTevar]

Oh hey, Marina's still on here? I always liked her.

She is not on SD.Net. She is on the Discord channel.

[bobalot]

I mean, I've talked some shit about this place, but I value you guys. We've been together twenty years. I was young when I joined this board, and now I'm old. Now I'm old.

Time flies, doesn't it?

It feels like only yesterday wading through flame wars on this board about the ending of Battlestar Galactica.

[Crazedwraith]

If we want to reverse the slow decline of SDN or at least pause it, it would seem a key thing would be making the forum work reliably which at the moment, it doesn't.

[LadyTevar]

If we want to reverse the slow decline of SDN or at least pause it, it would seem a key thing would be making the forum work reliably which at the moment, it doesn't.

It's hard to work when you're being DDOS by AI data-miners.
Wong is doing what he can, and bought a program that was supposed to block DDOS attacks.

[Solauren]

I agree, going 'work better' from a system that is under attack is rather, counter-productive.

I wonder if moving the board to 'you have to login to view it' would help.

[Tiriol]

I know that the discussion has moved a bit, but my two cents' worth is...

The board thrived on lively conflict of viewpoints and ideas, which was not always conducted in a healthy or really conductive manner. Everyone has probably contributed to that situation, myself included (I do suspect there might be couple of posters who are totally innocent in this regard, but not that many). And quite frankly, often that lively conflict, whether it involved Star Wars, sci-fi, fantasy or real-world situations, was coated in a very strong sense of supposed intellectual superiority. Meaning: arrogance. It worked in the past and most likely is not all that dissimilar to other boards and websites of the same time period. And that atmosphere is something that makes me grimace today quite a bit. While our board usually managed to back up the arguments with evidence, it was often coupled with venomous spite and behaviour that would not be tolerated anywhere else.

Once the lively conflict started to die out, whether because people had mellowed or were no longer interested in the debates or fandoms (you can't really escape politics, sadly), the thing that kept the board going on was the force of habit. Message boards just aren't a thing anymore. Facebook, Discord etc. have eclipsed them thoroughly, at least as far as I am aware. The force of habit no longer works, if there's nothing to keep it up. And I really can't see that changing anytime soon.

I really do respect the decision of the administration to crack down on the hostility, I just suspect that it happened at the point when the trend of moving away from message boards was already set and many of the "Old Guard" had mostly moved on. Or maybe were pissed that they were asked to take it down just a notch. I don't know. I, myself, just stopped posting at some point when I realized that I tended to get very upset whenever I visited the board, or that I was just disinterested in most discussions. Maybe some posters had the same feeling.

In any case, the question of reversing the slow decline of SD.Net is coupled with the question of "reversing it to what situation". I really don't think that the poster or anyone else in their right mind would want the return of the old overly caustic and aggressive atmosphere, which really put its mark on SN.Net and the nerd culture of its time in general. As I said, SD.Net managed to usually back its arguments, but not always and many times it came very close of having some people who could get away with very, very weak arguments and still be tolerated or hailed as "members in good standing". And, in total, I suspect that there is no reversing the slow decline, since it started so long ago - and if there is a chance of renewal, the board culture should be a lot more controlled, even if certain arrogance remains, or people will just leave. Again.