Please unlock a thread!

[Kathy Li]

Figured I should start a thread for folks who want to request a thread be unlocked so they can post to it. Obviously, if the thread was originally closed down ahead of its time by a mod or an admin, your request probably won't be granted. But since the majority of the Good Stuff in the book forums appears to be locked, figured this was worth a shot.

I'd also hope that when you make a request, that you post a link to the thread you want opened up, or give the actual thread title. Given my muddledness these days, I'm likely to open up the wrong one if you give me a vague description. Thanks.

[Kathy Li]

Bumpity bump-bump. Just in case you weren't aware, locked threads can be opened by moderators and admins. Let us know if there's an older discussion you want to revive.

[Tuttle]

well, its not the thread I was expecting on asking to revive, but this
seems to be really well written about the group we have here and after reading it I've been wanting to add in my own 'Memoir'.

Searching around for what the one was which I'd been wanting to open, but not having luck, so unless I find it soon (in which case editing is your friend ) I'll just post later.

[Sean L.]

I second this request; another member seems to want to post a memoir too

[Wizard Girl]

i had a problem and didn't know where to post it. i tried typing in the URL for this site: http://youngwizards.net and i got this weird search site. i had to go and get in through a search. is there something wrong?

[Sean L.]

Should be posted in 'Things That Don't Work', I would say, but Lee says she's working on it

[Kathy Li]

The domain expired and had to be renewed. It should all be up and working, now. Lee managed to get it all in place this morning, after a few phonecalls.

[EricG1793]

I think that this thread may be worth opening: http://youngwizards.net/eve/forums/a...1/m/1461043504

alien real?

Aliens play many huge parts in the YW series so it'd be interesting to hear if fellow readers really believe in these beings who are so important in the YW series.

Oh, I don't really know if this one can/should be unlocked, but this: http://youngwizards.net/eve/forums/a...62/m/812105103

DD's Phonepix

I have some questions about a few of the pictures. And DD's cats are adorable!

[Kathy Li]

I unlocked the alien one, we'll see how that goes. But I've left the one on DD phonepix alone. It's old enough and had so few comments that I think it died a natural death, and I think commenting on it is unlikely to gain a response from DD--far better to ask her directly in the official chat this coming Saturday.

[Wizard Girl]

thanks! i'm so happy it works now

[Kathy Li]

Over in the "Glasses" thread, EricG1793 got me off-topic and posted:

Originally posted by EricG1793:
Hmm, thirty days... I never knew that about the way these forums are designed. They are different.

Yup. That's because most forums are corporately funded by deep pockets, or they don't care about wasting space and resources or the comfort of their members. Because this is a YW board, we care about the heat-death of things. We care about spending pennies wisely and wasting energy and/or resources.

If there's a thread closed, and I should want to talk about it, you said that I should start a new thread. Wouldn't I get yelled at if I did that?!

If you didn't requst that it be unlocked here, first, and if it was IDENTICAL to the old thread, yeah, probably. Personally, I was giving you credit for being creative enough to come up with NEW discussion ideas...

What I meant to say was that I wasn't going to open up ALL the locked threads on the offchance that you might want to respond to one, because that's a waste of board resources. The reason threads get locked is that active threads eat more of the board resources. Closed ones can be archived, and stored separately from open ones. Opening them up again starts to eat at the board storage and it's a finite resource--we've already been through a board purge where older postings are deleted, and are about to undergo another. DD doesn't have an infinite amount of money for this board, y'know.

This is also why I was urging people to think about posting more with YW-related content and to maybe cut back on the non-YW stuff in Chatter II.

I thought that you originally were the one who started complaining about getting off topic, in this very thread, in Chatter II!

I'm an admin for this board. It's my job to gently nudge people towards more constructive uses for the board and away from less constructive ones (like starting threads for arguing again about politics or religion. Again. And Again. And Again.) I've been on this board longer than the average member, I've seen more threads come and go than you have. I've been in online discussions for over 20 years, now. If you choose to ignore my advice, but still stay within the rules, you're ok. But it's my job as moderator here to help keep this a civil, comfortable place for folks to be. That means telling them not just the rules, but also the why behind them.

And yes I COULD have posted in those threads... if I was a member here at the time they were active.

Which is why you can request a particular thread that you want to reply to be opened. You'll notice that the last time you requested it, it happened.

If you don't want to do it out in the open, you can also private message myself, Garrett, Lee, or DD. We can all unlock threads for you. However, Lee and DD are very busy and may take a lot longer to get back to you.

[EricG1793]

Originally posted by kli6:
What I meant to say was that I wasn't going to open up ALL the locked threads on the offchance that you might want to respond to one, because that's a waste of board resources. The reason threads get locked is that active threads eat more of the board resources. Closed ones can be archived, and stored separately from open ones. Opening them up again starts to eat at the board storage and it's a finite resource--we've already been through a board purge where older postings are deleted, and are about to undergo another.

Oh, I never knew that open threads wasted board resources.... Hmm, that completely changes my perspective of things.

There's going to be another purging of the boards, already? Wow, the server space charge must REALLY be skyrocketing really fast, faster than I thought. Maybe it'd be cheaper to have DD buy her own server; that'd probably save tons and tons of money! And I don't think servers are all that expensive... Yeah, the cheapest HP server is $599. Paying that amount of money once, rather than pay for server space and hosting, would probably be much much cheaper than paying for server hosting/space, or whatever's happening right now. That way, the only issue with hard drive space would be that the hard drive would start to get full... but then there could be a hard drive upgrade, or an additional hard drive could be added... but that probably wouldn't be necessary, as that hard drive would last several years anyway. Wow, I'm on to a great idea right now!

Although I'm sure that someone'll come back with some reason that that's a horrible idea and it's impossible and ruin my dreams, and my great idea that will help DD out with the money issue.... Yup, any minute now, I'll get an E-mail saying someone replied to this thread....

[Kathy Li]

DD still has to pay for the bandwidth. Things like continual e-mail notifications eat bandwidth. Graphics eat bandwidth. Sigs cost bandwidth. Sure, hardware is cheap, but we're talking about the ISP bills. You can't serve without a connection. You have to pay the phonebill. And phonebills generally grow if you use the phone a lot.

And that's not counting domain registration, software fees, upgrade costs. And then there's time spent making sure it all works, weeding out the sockpuppets and the trolls, and all the other moderation tasks.

If you've been on the 'net for 20+ years, you can remember when bandwidth was painfully narrow. When a 300 baud modem was the norm, and you could type faster than the network could send characters. So, you know how to use bandwidth sparingly.

Some of you don't think about bandwidth. You think it's free, because you're not paying for it. But bandwidth costs. DD gets charged by how many returns you hit in chat. Still think that going into an empty chat and then typing reams and reams of stuff to nobody and into empty space is a good idea? (I see the chat transcripts. It happens when people get bored and they think it's free.)

It's not about hard drive space.

Again, DD's happy to pay for this board, but personally, I think that means it's our responsibility to make sure her money's spent wisely.

[EricG1793]

See, just like I said, someone came in, and instead of telling why my idea was horrible, just kept throwing out the other things that need to be payed for...

The thing that I am talking about is the space that the software and forum data takes up. And the reason I'm talking about it is that there are posts all over the forums saying that charges for server space are increasing dramatically, and we're snipping out old threads and old posts. It seems as though that's the biggest issue. So, what I'm saying is, DD could have her own server. That way she doesn't have to pay for server space as it's her own server that she purchased. That would save money in that department. MUCH money, from what I'm hearing all over these forums. Whether she has her own server or she has whatever storage/hosting method she's using now, she'll STILL have to pay for "bandwidth". Of course, DD would already have an ISP connection, as I have read that she has several computers. And she does the chats and looks at these boards every now and then, so I know those computers must have Internet connections.

...WHAT do phone bills have to do with this?

[Kathy Li]

By definition an internet server is only a server only if it's hooked up to the internet. Sure, DD could buy a box, load all the software and turn it on. But it's not a server until it's hooked up to the internet.

But running your own server requires time and effort and technical knowledge that DD either doesn't have, or would rather spend on writing, so she pays someone else for server space. It's a full time job protecting a server from attacks. It's a full time job to admin databases and keep them up and running. And backing them up. And...

It's time or money. So, DD's spending money instead of time. But there's not an infinite amount of money. The reason the server space is getting expensive, is because it's getting used up. Different rates for different amounts of both bandwidth and server space. It's like tax brackets.

Does that make sense and answer your question?

Regardless, if you don't like the rules of this particular sandbox, then go play somewhere else. There are plenty of boards where you can spend bandwidth freely, if you want.