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Johan (Keyholder)
28th July 2018, 21:06
A sanctuary, a place to find likeminded souls, a break from a society that prefers to remain unaware, finding good unbiased information in very specific fields ,… that and so much more “Project Avalon” is to all of us here. But, it may be endangered, or rather it IS endangered, be it by GDPR, EU art 11 and 13, all kinds of internet censoring or ways to make finding information harder and harder.

Bill, Paul and the Moderators and Administrators certainly do what they can. It is well known that the possibility that in a few years all this information could become unavailable, has a rising probability. This thread is to start looking for solutions how WE all can contribute to preserving what is dear to us, here on PA.

It is something that has been happening more and more over the past year and it is likely to get worse. We are not looking for “mainstream” info normally here, and everything that is not a part of that becomes harder to reach. This is not only limited to PA, it is a general observation.

In the thread “How to stay in touch in case Project Avalon forum goes offline” it was mentioned that as Chicago would “go down” so would this forum (because the server is/was located there).

What can we do in case this really happens?

First of all, it may be necessary to have sufficient back-ups of everything that is on the website, and have it stored in a number of places (at least one on each continent I would think, preferably more than that). Personal information about individual members should be handled with utmost care; but in case that there is a “shut-down” of any sort, maybe these same members would like to be contacted? The question then is, in case email isn’t working anymore, would anyone want to receive a letter by mail (for instance), with further info, in case that is still operational? Is this at all feasible, do we want that or not?

Storing all of the website info off-line, on hard-disks may be possible (not the personal info maybe). I have no idea about the number of terabytes involved, I would think somewhere between 10 and 20? But that is a wild guess. One TB of storage costs about 25 € nowadays. So, cost-wise it should be no problem.

Then there is the matter of keeping the data unaffected by an EMP or anything else. I suppose that a kind of a special case that keeps any and most radiation out should be bought, as well as a small PA-dedicated laptop that also would be kept inside the case).
Something to provide minimal power (solar?) should also be present I think.

And then the forum should be somehow searchable “off-line”. Not sure if and how that would or could work.

For communication between the PA-members that want to do this, some ULF device to communicate would be useful (I have no idea about what and at what cost this would be). Bob wrote about this some time ago.

Hopefully it won’t come to this, but then again, we never can be sure. We ARE living in very strange times indeed! The above are some ideas I came up with and I don’t know whether these are viable or even wanted.

This Thread: How to stay in touch in case Project Avalon forum goes offline
from December 2012 is very useful to read. Paul and Ilie (as well as others) wrote a lot of important information in several posts there.

Any input on this would be welcome.

RunningDeer
28th July 2018, 22:18
This Thread: How to stay in touch in case Project Avalon forum goes offline
from December 2012 is very useful to read. Paul and Ilie (as well as others) wrote a lot of important information in several posts there.
How to stay in touch in case Project Avalon forum goes offline (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?53710-How-to-stay-in-touch-in-case-Project-Avalon-forum-goes-offline&p=607494&viewfull=1#post607494)

ThePythonicCow
29th July 2018, 00:35
This Thread: How to stay in touch in case Project Avalon forum goes offline
from December 2012 is very useful to read. Paul and Ilie (as well as others) wrote a lot of important information in several posts there.
How to stay in touch in case Project Avalon forum goes offline (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?53710-How-to-stay-in-touch-in-case-Project-Avalon-forum-goes-offline&p=607494&viewfull=1#post607494)

That thread is still almost entirely accurate and current.

We did move the Avalon server from Chicago, Illinois to Phoenix, Arizona (USA) a few years ago.

But we still rely on backups in multiple locations and on multiple continents to recover from a catastrophic failure of the server (or of the city where the server is located.) Our backups continue to be frequent and robust.

And I still try to keep http://projectavalonstatus.net/ updated, at least in the event of a major server outage.

I can be reached at my long standing email, pj@usa.net, and I have the email address of every member in my backups, so could (with some effort) send out email to all members, if need be.

If email were no longer working, and not about to start working again soon, then I'd expect that cars, trucks, postal services, and lots else would soon not be working as well. In which case, if you can't walk there, or sail a boat there, or ride a bicycle or horse there, you probably aren't going there, and the Internet including Avalon would soon become a memory of times past. Moreover, most of us would probably have other things on our mind, then browsing (or administering) web forums.

The issues of censorship on the Web, and the finite lives and evolving interests over time of those who keep Avalon alive and well, will likely, in my estimation, determine the lifespan of the Avalon forum. What that means, over the coming years and decades ... my crystal ball is too feeble to be of any use.

Stay strong, be flexible, take good care of yourself and others ...

Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see (https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dorisday/queserasera.html)

RunningDeer
29th July 2018, 01:26
Stay strong, be flexible, take good care of yourself and others ...

Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see (https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dorisday/queserasera.html)

http://avalonlibrary.net/paula/smilies/cow2.gif .....http://avalonlibrary.net/paula/smilies/cow.gif

https://i.imgur.com/TYjiN4P.jpg

The Waterboys - Strange Boat ♡
x-NXwRUQcmg

Strange Boat

We're sailing in a strange boat
Heading for a strange shore
We're sailing on a strange boat
Heading for a strange shore
Carrying the strangest cargo
That was ever hauled aboard


We're sailing on a strange sea
Blown by a strange wind
We're sailing on a strange sea
Blown by a strange wind
Carrying the strangest crew
That ever sinned


We're riding in a strange car
We're followin' a strange star
We're climbing on the strangest ladder
That was ever there to climb


We're living in a strange time
Working for a strange goal
We're living in a strange time
Working for a strange goal

We’re turning flesh and body into soul

dancing bear
29th July 2018, 13:02
Never really listened to that song before, heard it but had not listened if you know what I mean.

Listened and read lyrics posted in unison, amazing! , thanks.





From Bill: It's the Avalon theme song. :star:

Cardillac
29th July 2018, 14:35
I agree to all of this-

but what has sinced happened to moderator @Ilie?

we haven't heard from him in a long time-

am just wondering-

Larry





From Bill: Ilie [Pandia] is an active administrator, not a moderator per se, who's a world-class expert on vBulletin. That's the software the forum uses. He regularly assists with technical, behind-the-scenes questions and minor bugs which may appear, and we're in touch with him all the time.

Foxie Loxie
29th July 2018, 15:24
Paul....you can add a hug from me to the one Running Dear gave you!! :bearhug:

We are a Motley Crew aren't we?! :grouphug:

Mercedes
30th July 2018, 14:50
Paul....you can add a hug from me to the one Running Dear gave you!! :bearhug:

We are a Motley Crew aren't we?! :grouphug:

A sort a band of pirates, sailing against the wind. :grouphug: