So that relatively long articles can't be cut and pasted. Bloody nuisance but you still can't beat the price and lack of pop-ups.

-- Anonymous, December 28, 2002

Answers

well, now I'll have to learn how to post links here! (glad I have cod-a-magic!)

-- Anonymous, December 28, 2002

what a pain in the finger joints!

-- Anonymous, December 29, 2002

Looks as if it will take about 7-8 short paras before you get an error message. That and the frequent "Server Busy" notices tell me thins are getting a bit overloaded. I guess we need to prepare for some sort of demand from Phil, such as send a check to the animnal shelter of my choice or I cut off privileges (as he did once before). Or Phil might turn this thing into a formal moneymaking proposition.

-- Anonymous, December 29, 2002

Or he might just shut it down. He said as much before.

-- Anonymous, December 29, 2002

Phil is a pretty unpredictable kind of guy but I don't think he would be wasting time tinkering with the innards if he were going to shut it down. One of the things that keeps me hoping is my belief that the software is Linux and Phil seems a bit of a rebel. Does anyone know for sure that this stuff IS Linux?

-- Anonymous, December 29, 2002

I tried posting a bunch of things last night, and it was a real pain...one insert at a time, and I finally quit when I was getting busy server for 15 minutes.

maybe you and I were posting at the same time??

-- Anonymous, December 29, 2002

not sure of the Linux bit, I thought I read that somewhere...

[quote]

I'm currently trying to figure out how to redesign these services so that

1. users are authenticated, e.g., before posting they have to register and respond to an email message (we won't know who they are but at least we'll know that they supplied an email address where they can receive mail)

2. a person is available to handle service inquiries

3. a programmer is available to provide enhancements based on user needs

4. the site is financially self-sustaining, i.e., either the owners of bboards or the most active posters are contributing to the costs of sysadmin, programming, hosting/bandwidth, and customer service

When these services were built in the mid-1990s it made a lot of sense. Running a database-backed Web server was an esoteric art that required expensive hardware and proprietary software. But as we enter the year 2002 there are quite a few 14-year-olds who've set up Linux, Postgres, and OpenACS in less than one day. With a $500 PC and a DSL line, they end up having all the collaboration tools that dotcoms spent $10 million to construct.

Bottom line: prepare for some changes to these services! [close quote]

-- Anonymous, December 29, 2002

Phil is a lot like many managers I know: they get their fingers into multiple pies and then only work on one thing at a time, occasionally leaving one mess or another to go on for months.

I was sorta hopeful that Phil would just leave the system alone for awhile, yet. No telling what will happen when he does eventually start messing with it.

-- Anonymous, December 29, 2002

. . . and now it seems to have been readjusted because I can post long stuff again. Maybe the software allows it when traffic is light.

-- Anonymous, January 01, 2003

I don;t think it is fixed.. I tried to add postees last night and then earlier today.. kept getting "Ouch" the bad news is....

-- Anonymous, January 01, 2003

Yep, someone flipped the dwitch. Can't be THAT busy so early in the a.m. (0445.)

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2003