Refracta forum temporarily down

fsmithred · 2017-10-05 01:12:44

I turned it off temporarily. Waiting to get clarification from tapatalk on something. Ask here or in freenode #devuan if you need help.

fsmithred

Connectorivity · 2017-10-05 05:10:04

What is the issue?

golinux · 2017-10-05 05:50:33

Forced migration of Free Forums to tapatalk. Tapatalk is more geared to the facebook and mobile device crowd than Linux geeks.

aitor · 2017-10-05 21:33:19

golinux wrote:

Forced migration of Free Forums to tapatalk. Tapatalk is more geared to the facebook and mobile device crowd than Linux geeks.

I saw the link today:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/refract … a-f14.html

golinux · 2017-10-05 22:17:50

I have offered the VPS where d1g used to be if he wants to migrate the forum there in a more acceptable format. But that might not be so easy to do now that tapatalk has mucked around with the DB.

MXK · 2017-10-20 19:52:34

golinux wrote:

Forced migration of Free Forums to tapatalk. Tapatalk is more geared to the facebook and mobile device crowd than Linux geeks.

Been meaning to get refracta working on a a nexus7_2013. Tips? I personally like the taptastic format, but not stagnating to change

fsmithred · 2017-10-20 22:10:52

No arm devices to play with, so no isos or images for your hardware. Sorry. Do any of the devuan images work on your hardware?

You might be able to get refractasnapshot and refractainstaller to work. The packages are not specific to any architecture, but I don't know if any of the system commands they use need to be modified. Let us know if you succeed, and if not, let us know what errors you get.

MiyoLinux · 2017-10-27 22:43:46

Hey fsr...I don't know how interested you might be in this feedback, but I did a UEFI install of Miyo-XTRA-Ascii today...it went smooth as silk.

Now I'm tempted to release that .iso too. LOL!

Thanks for all of your work...your geniousness is supreme sir.

fsmithred · 2017-10-28 15:40:43

No genius here. I just keep kicking stuff around until it works.

While I'm here, I'll share more information about what happened.

After the tapatalk migration was completed (for all their forums) they sent out a mailing to all forum owners (and apparently some others, too) informing us that the migration was complete and we would be seeing new features. They mentioned an option to make it financially rewarding. They also invited a reply if we had any questions.

A few days later, I went to the refracta forum, and I saw a PayPal Donate button on the front page, with the words, "Support refracta.freeforums.org by making a donation." Well, I don't have a paypal account, and I'm not aware of any financial agreements that I might have with tapatalk.

I replied to that email with questions, basically stating the above and asking for an explanation. I got no reply. After a couple days, I disabled the forum. I didn't want anyone to use the donate button unless I knew what it did. About two weeks later, another mass mailing went out with some explanation regarding donations and "Gold Points". Here's the gold points FAQ -
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tapatal … 37910.html

TL;DR - They ask you to donate to support refracta, and they get the money. The donator gets to not see ads. ($5/month to do what noscript does for free)

I haven't contacted them again, but I just looked around on their support forum to see if I could learn anything about backing up and migrating my database to some other host. I found this -
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tapatal … 8070ed3695

TL;DR - no, you can't do that. (Note: It's a recent post. It's possible that a moderator might respond with more information.)

So here's the current status of the board:
- It's disabled, so you can't post.
- You can log in and read.
- You can log in and send private messages.

I have backups of the posts. I don't have backups of the user accounts. I don't know any way for anyone to back up their own private messages, other than to open them and copy/paste the content.

Forum backups are at the ibiblio site. Instructions for use: unpack and practice your grep.
http://distro.ibiblio.org/refracta/files/forum_archive/

Now I need to do something else to get my mind off this.

golinux · 2017-10-28 15:58:05

It's not letting me login:

Login with your Tapatalk ID
Tapatalk ID is a single ID to allow you to join or login to any Tapatalk Groups with just one click.
Sign Up
Login with your existing forum account
You have specified an incorrect username. Please check your username and try again. If you continue to have problems please contact the Board Administrator.

I double checked and my UN and PW are the same ones I've had forever. Maybe you can see things because you're the admin?

fsmithred · 2017-10-28 19:36:44

I can log in, but I don't know if anyone else can. Would someone please let me know if you can or can't log in?

MiyoLinux · 2017-10-28 19:50:53

fsmithred wrote:

I can log in, but I don't know if anyone else can. Would someone please let me know if you can or can't log in?

I can log in, but that's it...no access to anything else.

cynwulf · 2017-10-28 20:04:24

fsmithred wrote:

Now I need to do something else to get my mind off this.

I'm sorry to hear it's come to this, it's a pity you didn't have a section at DUF.org, I'd have welcomed you there, as would the current admin (and previous admins).

Sadly these "free" forum sites tend to hold the users to ransom. Much the same in the old days with ezboard - it was impossible to migrate elsewhere, they got you on the hook and wanted you to pay...

Last edited by cynwulf (2017-10-28 20:04:46)

golinux · 2017-10-28 20:33:21

cynwulf wrote:

fsmithred wrote:
Now I need to do something else to get my mind off this.
I'm sorry to hear it's come to this, it's a pity you didn't have a section at DUF.org, I'd have welcomed you there, as would the current admin (and previous admins).

Hindsight is 20/20.

Sadly these "free" forum sites tend to hold the users to ransom. Much the same in the old days with ezboard - it was impossible to migrate elsewhere, they got you on the hook and wanted you to pay...

It's not the monetary cost that is the problem in this case because I'm sure that could be covered. It's the 'terms' and UI that are unacceptable. It would have been nice if freeforums had given admins a heads up to get out of there before the takeover. Perhaps DUF could still find a place for fsr to rebuild some essential posts and start anew . . .

cynwulf · 2017-10-28 21:12:29

JohnDeere630 is the owner/admin at DUF.org - I think you know as well as I do, that he's someone to depend on (having saved the mummified remains of the site from it's demise twice over).

I can't speak for him, but as one of the admins there I can pose the question if needed.

golinux · 2017-10-28 21:17:54

cynwulf wrote:

JohnDeere630 is the owner/admin at DUF.org - I think you know as well as I do, that he's someone to depend on (having saved the mummified remains of the site from it's demise twice over).
I can't speak for him, but as one of the admins there I can pose the question if needed.

Maybe we/you could start a thread there? That way we could all pipe in with suggestions. If that doesn't suit, yes, could you please pm JohnDeere630. Whatever you think is best. But let's wait to see what fsr has to say about the idea first.

cynwulf · 2017-10-28 21:36:37

I won't move forward with this until fsmithred, lets me know what he wants to do.

As far as I'm concerned meandean created both refracta and DUF.org and if refracta needs a home the offer is there.

Last edited by cynwulf (2017-10-28 21:36:56)

fsmithred · 2017-10-28 22:02:49

cynwulf, thanks. I didn't even think of that. Sorry to say I haven't been to DUF much in the past year or two. Yes, please talk to JD about it. That would be an appropriate place for the reasons you state.

And in case anyone has any doubts, Refracta is not dead. We're just without our own meeting place at the moment.

golinux · 2017-10-28 22:07:27

Fantastic!

MXK · 2017-10-28 22:15:32

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Last edited by MXK (2017-10-29 00:55:43)

cynwulf · 2017-10-28 22:22:53

fsmithred wrote:

cynwulf, thanks. I didn't even think of that. Sorry to say I haven't been to DUF much in the past year or two. Yes, please talk to JD about it. That would be an appropriate place for the reasons you state.

PM sent - don't worry about it, not many have been to DUF in the last 6 years or so... I'll keep you posted. But JD630 isn't around much these days so could take a day or two... or a few weeks.

fsmithred · 2017-10-28 22:28:26

Great! Thanks.

I didn't say it before, but it's nice to see you around these parts. Maybe Dean will show up. He does that every once in a while.

cynwulf · 2017-10-28 22:48:51

fsmithred wrote:

Maybe Dean will show up. He does that every once in a while.

Dean did make an appearance at DUF about 1 to 2 years back (?)... it was a new account (as ever), can't remember the name (perhaps "notquitethatsamemeanguyyetagain") then with a characteristic flourish, vanished into the smog, ever the typical enigmatic, leaving us all guessing...

golinux · 2017-10-28 23:24:49

cynwulf wrote:

fsmithred wrote:
Maybe Dean will show up. He does that every once in a while.
Dean did make an appearance at DUF about 1 to 2 years back (?)... it was a new account (as ever), can't remember the name (perhaps "notquitethatsamemeanguyyetagain") then with a characteristic flourish, vanished into the smog, ever the typical enigmatic, leaving us all guessing...

He was actually there in April this year.

Note the interesting link posted in that thread that relates to the redis discussion on dng.

cynwulf · 2017-10-29 11:04:41

So he was, I forgot about that flying visit.

Got the go ahead for the refracta section at DUF.org. fsmithred, just PM me with what sections you want setting up. I'll get on it later today or tomorrow.

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 2017-10-05 01:12:44

Refracta forum temporarily down

#2 2017-10-05 05:10:04

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#3 2017-10-05 05:50:33

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#4 2017-10-05 21:33:19

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#5 2017-10-05 22:17:50

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#6 2017-10-20 19:52:34

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#7 2017-10-20 22:10:52

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#8 2017-10-27 22:43:46

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#9 2017-10-28 15:40:43

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#10 2017-10-28 15:58:05

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#11 2017-10-28 19:36:44

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#12 2017-10-28 19:50:53

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#13 2017-10-28 20:04:24

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#14 2017-10-28 20:33:21

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#15 2017-10-28 21:12:29

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#16 2017-10-28 21:17:54

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#17 2017-10-28 21:36:37

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#18 2017-10-28 22:02:49

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#19 2017-10-28 22:07:27

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#20 2017-10-28 22:15:32

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#21 2017-10-28 22:22:53

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#22 2017-10-28 22:28:26

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#23 2017-10-28 22:48:51

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#24 2017-10-28 23:24:49

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

#25 2017-10-29 11:04:41

Re: Refracta forum temporarily down

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