Kitesurfing.ie Read-Only Forum gone !!

Kace

I noticed over recent weeks that the Kitesurfing.ie forum is now fully gone, with no access to the site.

I know that the original plan was to leave the original forum (and its 10 years of posts) there for posterity and as a brilliant kitesurfing reference for all of Ireland, but sadly this doesn't seem to be the case.

Anyone in the know about this (or in touch with Alexis) and whether this is the final decision, or is there a chance that the forum content could be returned and made available. It would be a real shame to lose it.

K

4w7s

I agree, it was sad to see the old forum dissolved. There seemed to be a lot of comaraderie and participation on the original forum that has not been evident here so far...it's like waking up one day and everyone has vanished...disappeared. Hopefully people will start getting onto the new forum. Maybe twitter and Fb have had an impact?

But yeah it would be nice if the old forum was still at least a "read only" resource and a way for people to be in contact. Maybe it's too late to wish for that.

ted1

4w7s wrote: »

I agree, it was sad to see the old forum dissolved. There seemed to be a lot of comaraderie and participation on the original forum that has not been evident here so far...it's like waking up one day and everyone has vanished...disappeared. Hopefully people will start getting onto the new forum. Maybe twitter and Fb have had an impact?

But yeah it would be nice if the old forum was still at least a "read only" resource and a way for people to be in contact. Maybe it's too late to wish for that.

There's a FB group its private to stop spammers. I'll see if I can add you when I'm back in front if a PC

4w7s

ted1 wrote: »

There's a FB group its private to stop spammers. I'll see if I can add you when I'm back in front if a PC

cheers Ted1!

4w7s

ted1 wrote: »

There's a FB group its private to stop spammers. I'll see if I can add you when I'm back in front if a PC

ps...hey ted1, if the Fb group you mentioned is "kiting buddies" I am already on with that. It's a good group to be included in, but it's not quite the same as the forum, where a lot more subject matter can be discussed.

a bit like the ol' song..."you don't really know what you got til it's gone..they paved paradise and put up a parking lot"

ted1

I noticed that when i went to add you this morning.

Its the best we have at the moment. we must try to get something like ks.ie back.

Will you be back over this year?

4w7s

ted1 wrote: »

I noticed that when i went to add you this morning.

Its the best we have at the moment. we must try to get something like ks.ie back.

Will you be back over this year?

Just wondering if there is some way to jump start the activity here, a contest or something, to get the ball rolling again...hopefully it will happen.

I hope I can make it to Eire again this year...maybe late summer/early fall...fingers crossed!

cheers

aledoux

Hey, I have been working a bit on ks.ie since it has been hack badly again and infected all code which is blocking any content to be displayed. The content is still there though which is good. I can't give you an estimate as to when it will be back up but I am trying my best to bring it back up as I do agree this was a great source of information. Unfortunatly with the amount of spam and hack attack ks.ie was getting it was getting out of my control. This forum is where the future of kitesurfing In Ireland should reside.

Alexis

4w7s

aledoux wrote: »

.... This forum is where the future of kitesurfing In Ireland should reside.
Alexis

This is not my area of expertise so I wonder if you have any ideas on how to generate participation from the old forum users. Does it make sense at all to create some categories, or is it possible to transfer threads from the last 3-6 months so there is some point to pick up activity from?

It's too bad that all the names and registrations could not automatically be transferred to the new forum.

lobster00

Hey,
I can't really see it taking of on the boards.ie. URL is the major problem. it should be easy as kiteforum.ie or something.
I'm a web developer and could give you a hand with restoring the forum on the dedicated domain to make it user friendly. Server cost is about €50/year. That could be solved on the donation base. I'd say everyone could chip in a €1 and sort it out for the year or two in one go.
Let me know if you need a hand with setting it up again. my email hubert at cocreate.ie.
We could restore original users and posts.
cheers
H.

4w7s

I'd be happy to pledge 5 quid to get it going again and 1 quid every year thereafter to keep it going. I'd even be happy to pay more to get it re-started, but I think the critical issue is whether others are willing to give it support and sustainability. Surely there are at least 50 kiters who enjoyed the original irish kiteforum over the a past years...please show your support. Thanks

ted1

lobster00 wrote: »

Hey,
I can't really see it taking of on the boards.ie. URL is the major problem. it should be easy as kiteforum.ie or something.
I'm a web developer and could give you a hand with restoring the forum on the dedicated domain to make it user friendly. Server cost is about €50/year. That could be solved on the donation base. I'd say everyone could chip in a €1 and sort it out for the year or two in one go.
Let me know if you need a hand with setting it up again. my email hubert at cocreate.ie.
We could restore original users and posts.
cheers
H.

I think the issue was more to if with the site being constantly hacked and support time then needed to get it back up.

Maybe a simple URL redirect could help. So redirect kitesurfing.ie to here might help

4w7s

ted1 wrote: »

I think the issue was more to if with the site being constantly hacked and support time then needed to get it back up.

Maybe a simple URL redirect could help. So redirect kitesurfing.ie to here might help

As mentioned before, I am not an expert with this sort of thing...so I do not know what the best strategy is to either [a] stimulate the original followers of kitesurf.ie forum to be more active here..or restore the old kitesurf.ie forum in such a way that it is secure and sustainable.

I can really only say that I am willing to support a strategy to make either strategy work and someone who has the technical expertise and personal interest to make it happen. I am sure there is some expense and work involved...so I am hoping the kiting community sees some value in it and will support it.

Perhaps this effort could also be supported/funded by the IKA...too bad this was not brought up as a referendum issue at the AGM (I wasn't there myself). Perhaps someone can contact Warren Vance about it? I will send a message to him myself to see what he thinks.

4w7s

OK, just heard from IKSA president. Apparently this was discussed and the issues were discussed at a meeting a year ago. Apparently it is not only a matter of cost, but more a matter of time required to manage it. I am told that it requires a minimum of 2 hrs/day 24/7/365 to properly image/control the forum. That's a significant amount of time. Maybe someone is willing to do it, maybe there is some way to generate commercial interest so there is some compensation for whoever takes care of it?

Anyway, I hate to just let it go...I miss the old forum and can only imagine that others feel the same way. I met a lot of good people and learned and shared a lot of useful information over the 4 years I was on it. Maybe I am just too sentimental. Facebook and Twitter just do not offer the same quality of interaction IMO.

lobster00

thats a bummer. Although, It's hard to believe that it takes 2h a day to manage 50 active members forum ? It must been set up on some old frame. I don't know. I could set it up for free and all but 2h a day - can't do that. Again, I pretty much sure that there's no need for that much time to control images. Maybe years ago that could an issue but not these days.