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I want to drop a rock into the pool here to let everyone know that the issue of how to handle the situation is still under consideration: but it won't be for too much longer, as I just got an email from DD about this last month's forum fees, which (like last month's) were almost double what they normally are. This can't go on forever.
One suggestion I would make immediately for members who've been winnowing through threads to find the "best" message in them is that they should start saving out those messages, as quotes, into a separate forum. We'll think of a name for it: right now I'll just open one called "Lifeboat". Copy the message in question, attribute the original member, the date, time, etc, and save it. This has the virtue of placing the labor of the business on those who're most eager to see given messages conserved. One way or another, whether the threads are preserved or culled, the vital content will have been saved by those who considered it vital. And when the serous culling starts, if there are messages that no one could be bothered to save, that onus then lies on the Forum membership, rather than on the mods and admin staff.
As a side issue -- I get a strong sense that DD is unwilling to save whole long threads just for the sake of one or two good messages that might] or might not be in the thread(s). The TOGR is a special case: otherwise, DD prefers straightforward pruning by time. (She said to me in one phone call last week, "It's ephemera, for gosh sakes: it should be ephemeral.") Frankly, I don't think she has the inclination to watch the Forum members start spending all their time arguing about old messages instead of writing new ones.
I have to keep this brief, as there are some other software issues I have to be handling at the moment. I'll be opening the "lifeboat" forum shortly, and people can start patching content into it. Messages / threads posted there will be at least considered for preservation for culling. But the hard truth that the daily stats tell me is that (at the moment) less than 2% of our membership ever even glance at the archived messages for which DD is paying archive fees. So culling is imminent, one way or another.
More shortly.
One suggestion I would make immediately for members who've been winnowing through threads to find the "best" message in them is that they should start saving out those messages, as quotes, into a separate forum. We'll think of a name for it: right now I'll just open one called "Lifeboat". Copy the message in question, attribute the original member, the date, time, etc, and save it. This has the virtue of placing the labor of the business on those who're most eager to see given messages conserved. One way or another, whether the threads are preserved or culled, the vital content will have been saved by those who considered it vital. And when the serous culling starts, if there are messages that no one could be bothered to save, that onus then lies on the Forum membership, rather than on the mods and admin staff.
As a side issue -- I get a strong sense that DD is unwilling to save whole long threads just for the sake of one or two good messages that might] or might not be in the thread(s). The TOGR is a special case: otherwise, DD prefers straightforward pruning by time. (She said to me in one phone call last week, "It's ephemera, for gosh sakes: it should be ephemeral.") Frankly, I don't think she has the inclination to watch the Forum members start spending all their time arguing about old messages instead of writing new ones.
I have to keep this brief, as there are some other software issues I have to be handling at the moment. I'll be opening the "lifeboat" forum shortly, and people can start patching content into it. Messages / threads posted there will be at least considered for preservation for culling. But the hard truth that the daily stats tell me is that (at the moment) less than 2% of our membership ever even glance at the archived messages for which DD is paying archive fees. So culling is imminent, one way or another.
More shortly.
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