Hostboard ADM has been posting periodic updates at Hostboard.com...

Should Hostboard go down in the future, please check Hostboard.com for status reports.

There is no time-line that I know of for replenishing forums with topic posts that previously existed. It appears the forums are good to go, but at the present time, all old topics are not showing.
ADM knows about this.

The reason for the down time involved ADM writing new computer code and upgrading several forum functions that will lead to some really cool innovations.

The reasons I have been a Hostboard fan still remain...Its an actual community of forums, diverse, easy to use, and a place where people from all over the world can meet, and in the process of meeting, very worthwhile data bases are created for all, and unexpected friendships with people who would have never met any other way.

Because Hostboard is a free hosting service with an owner, we are all passengers on the Hostboard plane, even the moderators.

Even though though Hostboard is a "free service" to everyone who posts here, what is everyones time worth?

In my line of work as a video editor, when I make a Video Master for a client, I never record over the original master. If I have to make a new master, I just keep the old version in storage, It is instantly available to me if needed.

I tried suggesting some type of approach that would allow a simultaneous move to a new system without interrupting the old system. I made this suggestion in the ADM forum....ADM had already decided on this approach anyway.
The one difference is I suggested the moderators pitch in MONEY so that duplicate equipment could be set up in such a way that the original Hostboard could keep running until Hostboard II was perfected.

A moderator named Bucket_O_Beef suggested I was getting in the owners business for making such a suggestion. On another occasion, another moderator named farfalla (or something like that) ridiculed me because of my asking if there was any chance that documents could be lost via all the changes that were being made...

All I was actually doing was saying, "give the moderators a cost estimate to keep Hostboard I going uninterrupted while Hostboard II is perfected". Unfortunately, all the moderators were left off the hook by ADM, which decided to brunt the expense, pain, and enormous amount of time for the changeover entirely on their own shoulders.

I believe Hostboard followed the most cost-effective approach. This approach meant the moderators were not asked for any donations.

Perhaps it would have taken an effort in triplicate to make my idea work...

You start with Hostboard I, do an exact copy over to Hostboard II, then bounce Hostboard II to Hostboard III for developing the new software....once it works perfectly on Hostboard III, then everything gets transferred back to Hostboard I, with Hostboard II serving as a back-up of the original Hostboard I should the III to I data conversion not work up to an acceptable standard.

Of course, this approach means you need most of the computer hardware in duplicate or triplicate.

Now if what I have just proposed costs 100,000 dollars to do...then fogedaboudit....

But if what I proposed costs 10,000...and there are over 500 moderators...then suddenly the cost is $20.00 per moderator.

My point is nothing is really free in life...posting here is free. At the end of the year most regular members will spend a minimum of 50 hours or more on these forums. Free or not, that is an investment of time.

As a moderator of three forums, I can easily spend an hour to two hours a day on Hostboard.

I would not whine about paying $50.00 bucks a year to keep everything running smoothly since I spend several hundred hours a year posting here.

Unfortunately, most moderators on Hostboard either don't take their forums as seriously as I do. They love free, and abhor fee.

One thing is for sure, the members who post here have a right to complain to the moderators of the forums about the inability to enjoy Hostboard, but the moderators really dont have any right to complain to ADM.

You see, free isn't really free to complain.

And frankly, ADM is smart for not accepting money from the moderators...could you imagine Moderators who think their 20 bucks somehow gives them a right to complain!

So, let's hope this ship gets righted in the near future, and we all can get back to communicating with others on the other side of the globe!

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 23, 2002 01:27 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]</font>