To Forum Or Not To Forum

Official ACWGC Union Army General rank promotion announcements, command appointments and UA awards are made on the Parade Ground. The Mess Tent serves as a casual place for all club members to socialize, drink or have a meal, as long as they spend Yankee dollars! And, as much as we like to accommodate our Southron brethren, they will not be able to vote in any polls held here, or gain access to the restricted areas.

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Joe Meyer
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To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by Joe Meyer »

Well, I've arrived here in tolerably good shape and think that General Walter has done us, the officers of the ACWGC Union Army, a favor! Having our own main board will certainly have its advantages. We'll have a specific and private place where we can directly go to conduct the business of the Union Army side of the club without interference or third party permissions. It's clean, neat and to the point. Moreoever, it has the capability of safe harboring the forums for those armies which have been previously dependent upon those same third parties for operating space.

On the opposite side of the equation is the potential for anything and everything that is brought here to suddenly fall victim to a sudden and complete shutdown, as we all saw happen in part with the "acwgc.org" system. That's not to say that it's possible with General Walter in charge of the operation. Far from it, I don't believe Dierk would ever consciously pull the rug out after having gone to so much trouble in setting this all up. Yet there remain the unexpected issues in life that can completely destroy even the best laid and best intentioned plans.

For some time now I've been considering how to best safeguard the AotT forum and army webpages that I've located against any untoward things that could happen to me! I am the current main account holder with the host service (a very good one!) as well as the principle administrator. Two other officers each have access to the host site account password for immediate backup and security should something happen to me. Each officer has HTML and FTP capabilities and experience. They are a necessity to the site's initial security from any illness or disability that may happen to me. But the host site account is also under my personal name, and should I elect to close the site down for any reason, I could so without interference and that would be that!

Obviously I wouldn't dream of doing that, but my wife might if I suddenly died! So what can be done with these accounts to provide a measure of security beyond that of the good intentions of the individual owner/administrator? I think when you get right down to it, the host site account must be financially shared by all those involved. In the first place, the good, roomy and supportive sites do not come cheap or free. The financial operation of the old MDT was a shared cost by donations, directed and oversaw by one club member. That, I believe, was a good start in the right direction, but I'm not certain if it was the best arrangement. While the site had multiple administrators, there was still only one primary operator and account holder. Shouldn't such an arrangement have had the capability of immediate transition to others had the primary account holder been suddenly removed by some unexpected calamity?

What would be the best way of setting up a host site account to allow uninterupted operation against any unexpected disaster for as long as the site was needed by those who use it? How close to real security can we actually get in a situation like this? Good intentions and reputations aside, how more solidly can these sites be rendered safe from unintentional disruption?
General Jos. C. Meyer,
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
(2011-2014 UA GinC)


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D.S. Walter
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Re: To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by D.S. Walter »

Personally, I have every intention of keeping this site (acwgc-usa, including the forums) available to the ACWGC Union Armies as long as they and I both shall exist, during and after my tenure as G-in-C. The cost is next to negligible (I believe something like 20 or 30 Euros a year). Barring sudden poverty, I will be able to cover that more or less infinitely.

Obviously this intention is no safeguard against my suddenly disappearing or dying, which I hope is both reasonably unlikely, but then you never know. If there is a reasonably simple solution that will keep these forums open and the web space available even under such circumstances, I'll be happy to implement it.

On the other hand, there are risks in life against we cannot effectively safeguard, and maybe this is one of those we'll simply have to accept. I honestly believe you trust my goodwill. Should I completely lose interest in wargaming or my life change so that I can no longer maintain these sites, I think it won't happen so suddenly that I can't transfer the web space to someone else in time. And before I grow so old that my sudden death becomes a likely eventuality, I'll do the same.

In the meantime, I have made the Chief of Staff of the Army administrator for this entire forum too. Joe, if there are any privileges you are missing, let me know and I'll grant them.
Gen. Walter, USA
The Blue Blitz
3/2/VIII AotS
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"... and keep moving on."
J. Corbin
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Joined: Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:29 pm

Re: To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by J. Corbin »

Perhaps I missed something in the new forums but... was not the Winchester arms and Quatermaster depot for union officers only and only accessible by the biys in blue?

Not knocking the work, just curious is all.
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General John Corbin
Army of the Potomac
V Corps
1st Division
7th Brigade
"The oh be joyfuls"
Drex
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Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 1:13 pm
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Re: To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by Drex »

I think what Joe wants is what we all want and that is perpetual life but we know that can't happen. Even a corporation is mortal. I guess a foundation might give us perpetuity but the legal issues to be dealt with are expensive to say the least. Until then, Dierk has at least given us a longer lease on life.
General Drexel Ringbloom, AotS,Commanding

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D.S. Walter
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Re: To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by D.S. Walter »

John Corbin wrote:Perhaps I missed something in the new forums but... was not the Winchester arms and Quatermaster depot for union officers only and only accessible by the biys in blue?
But that's still the case, isn't it? :?:
Gen. Walter, USA
The Blue Blitz
3/2/VIII AotS
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"... and keep moving on."
J. Corbin
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Re: To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by J. Corbin »

D.S. Walter wrote:
John Corbin wrote:Perhaps I missed something in the new forums but... was not the Winchester arms and Quatermaster depot for union officers only and only accessible by the biys in blue?
But that's still the case, isn't it? :?:
I was just curious as to why we moved here is all
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General John Corbin
Army of the Potomac
V Corps
1st Division
7th Brigade
"The oh be joyfuls"
D.S. Walter
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Re: To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by D.S. Walter »

John Corbin wrote: I was just curious as to why we moved here is all
Two reasons.

One, with the move to the new forums the roles of moderators have become more restricted. Basically, a moderator, as opposed to an administrator, on the new MDT cannot even do such simple things as reset a password for his forum, change the description (the welcome message), or even make a post sticky. The person who is the sole administrator refuses to share any of his privileges, so there. It's simply a lot easier not to have to rely on third persons (uncooperative third persons to boot) for each and every change.

Two, these forums are safe from outside interference and prying Reb eyes.
Gen. Walter, USA
The Blue Blitz
3/2/VIII AotS
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"... and keep moving on."
J. Corbin
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Joined: Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:29 pm

Re: To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by J. Corbin »

Roger that...

now.... Drinks on me... :D
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General John Corbin
Army of the Potomac
V Corps
1st Division
7th Brigade
"The oh be joyfuls"
nsimms
AotC
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Re: To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by nsimms »

We've been through so many website/forum upheavals in this club (and survived them all) that I can't imagine any in the future having any more effect than the past ones. Some were vindictive and some were simply companies shutting down or software no longer being supported. Do your reasonable best and when that isn't good enough (or you die) then the club is resilient enough to find other pastures.

The only such things in the past that have done some damage to the club is the loss of databases. The club has a 'failsafe' plan for the continuation of the DoR so that problem has now been thought through. When the previous database was shut down after the owner/operator got angry and left the club (no, I'm not talking about acwgc.org), we were left with practically nothing and we still have a bunch of games missing from our club records for that period of time in between the databases.

Does acwgc-usa.org reside where acwgc.org resides or are the names just similar?

Tripod still hasn't been able to resolve their problem so that I can update the Link Express. They thought that they did but now it'll probably take them a few more days to respond to my "Nope, it still ain't working" note. The problem is most likely the 10 year old software that I'm using (Frontpage 2000) but they are supposed to support it.

I get mixed feelings when I see people trying to either get or start reimbursement from members for website costs. I've been paying $4.95/month for about 10 years for the Link Express site so that there would be adequate bandwidth and there would be no popups and I'm sure that there are others who are also spending money out of their pockets (as Dierk is now doing). You reimburse them all or you reimburse none and none is the best answer. I would feel pretty secure in stating that 100% of us who are spending money wasn't asked to do it but did it out of the love for the games and the club. Regardless of the reason for doing it, if we shut them down, then other club members will step up to the plate if the site is needed. "Club money" just gets too complicated and opens the door for some terrific future problems.
Gen Ned Simms
1/1/XIV Corps/AotC
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
D.S. Walter
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Re: To Forum Or Not To Forum

Post by D.S. Walter »

nsimms wrote: Does acwgc-usa.org reside where acwgc.org resides or are the names just similar?
Nothing in common except the ACWGC part of name which afterall makes sense. We are the USA in the ACWGC. :)
Gen. Walter, USA
The Blue Blitz
3/2/VIII AotS
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"... and keep moving on."
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