Old Forum

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  • June 06, 2012 8:25 AM
    Message # 950227
    Deleted user
    Can somebody tell me how come I find it impossible to access old forum.
    Is it my computer is it the web site or is it that I am just stupid.
  • June 06, 2012 5:27 PM
    Reply # 950613 on 950227
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Al: the old forum is now in pdf files for download - see the top of many forums for the link.  You can download to your computer a browse at your leasure.

    Jay

  • June 07, 2012 12:31 PM
    Reply # 954414 on 950227
    To be fair, the old forum does exist here:

    You cant post to it, but you can search it.

  • June 08, 2012 6:04 AM
    Reply # 958118 on 954414
    Gary Burton wrote:To be fair, the old forum does exist here:

    You cant post to it, but you can search it.


    Thank you (or whoever) for putting westsail.info together.  PDF's are all but useless for searching, getting to relevant info.  I'm sure PDF files are good for something but I've yet to figure it out.
  • June 08, 2012 7:14 AM
    Reply # 958186 on 950227
    Anonymous
    Many, many thanks to the volunteer administrators of this website who have spent many hours maintaining this site.  Volunteers are hard to come by.  Just remember that one such volunteer left after some members complained about the design of this site...
  • June 08, 2012 7:48 AM
    Reply # 958209 on 950227
    Absolutely John. Kudos to Jay for stepping up and to Jack for preserving our past.
  • June 08, 2012 7:49 AM
    Reply # 958211 on 950227
    Not to mention all the others ..Aaron etc etc.. I don't know all the names.
    Thank you
  • June 08, 2012 6:53 PM
    Reply # 958745 on 950227
    I'm glad that the membership finds the Westsail.info site useful, and I appreciate those who recognize the effort. It was my intention to give members one contiguous place to search the entire forum for specific content, with redirection to the current forum for those threads that are still active. 

    You may recall that the archives are still missing one full year of content, due to the fact that I had not done any personal downloads for the year prior to launch of the new site. (The missing content is from Feb 2010 - Feb 2011.)

    Ideally, the archived content should have been converted into a compatible data format, so that all threads could remain active, as appropriate. This way, there would still be one forum, rather than the active forum and my site at Westsail.info.

    You may also recall that I promised to keep the site online for a minimum of one month for the membership to see the benefit of retaining the archives. I agreed to keep it online continuously, only if I was provided with the missing year's worth of content. This would allow members to search the entire archive.  It would have taken minutes to fulfill my request for the missing files, although considerably more time for me to parse out the old files and extract the content data. It's a moot point, of course, because the files never came. 

    Nonetheless, I kept my promise to keep the site up for well over a year already (at a cost of $95/mo out of my pocket), even though the missing archives were never provided. So, while I'm glad you enjoy the ability to search, this has not turned out to be a mutual benefit. And, having not received the simple requested support, don't expect the archives to remain online forever. I already invested way too much time, energy and expense, trying to save the forum archives, as demonstrated in the threads "Can We Save The WOA Forum?" and in "Searching The Forum Archives" and many others.  Apparently, not enough members thought it was important enough to support my efforts at the time. Sorry... but it is what it is.

    Jack
    Last modified: June 08, 2012 7:14 PM | Anonymous member
  • June 09, 2012 8:09 AM
    Reply # 959096 on 950227
    Deleted user
    Jack,
    Thanks for your post and links as I have much more clarity on this issue.
    I spend hours almost daily on your site and find it incredibly valuable.
    I am a new member to this site now for near six months. I spent a few years as a non member on the old site. I bought my W32 less than 6 months ago but when the new site was created I sent a couple emails to our great volunteers expressing my disappointments even though I still was not a member or owner. Much of my frustrations was due to the lack of explanations for the change. Your posts and links here help relieve. 
    Not that I ever plan on selling my boat but I'm sure that future buyers not having access
    to a good forum and archives affects decisions for them purchasing and may affect the values of our boats. 
    I spend hours daily on cruisersforum and don't understand why the WOA couldn't have converted to this common familiar forum format. Many other forums use it and it is a great experience for the user. 
    Is it expensive?
    Is it time consuming to maintain?

    Thanks again,
    Carl
  • June 16, 2012 4:10 AM
    Reply # 974096 on 950227
    Deleted user
    Still no explanations!
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