A "just-in-case" request regarding the upgrade.

[Ben E Lou]

In the reference thread, I have chosen to provide links to threads discussing mods, strategies, patches, games, etc., rather than direct links to downloads. This was intentional, the reason behind it being that I want anyone new to be able not just to download a file or mod, but also to be able to read any discussion about that file or mod. Moving forward, I'll continue to do it this way. I keep an extra reference thread on the board, plus I keep a backup copy in Word on both of my computers. However, there is one potential snafu in doing it this way:

If the board were ever to crash fully, and threads were lost, the links to threads would be useless.

There is always a slight possibility of this happening (Heck, lightning or a fire could destroy the gamespy servers tomorrow for that matter...), and with a board upgrade coming up, that slight possibility increases slightly. I am therefore looking for a volunteer to do what I will admit is some grunt-work. If someone could go through the reference thread, follow all links, and create a post that contains just the "final links"--the links to all off-site stuff such as downloads, other boards, etc.

For example, rather than this link: http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/for...threadid=19606 for Fido's HTML generation utility, you would use this link: http://fidosoft.com/FOF/ instead. I'm not sure if I'll have time to tackle this myself in the next few days. (Arlie sent out another beta version of TPF 1.2 last night and it needs testing. Things are still heading in the right direction I think, incidentally.) It won't be difficult, just tedious.

Just post here if you're going to do this, so the work doesn't get duplicated.

Thanks in advance!

--Ben

[Dutch]

I would be disappointed in Gamespy if they didn't maintain backups up their data and offered to rebuild lost data if an upgrade went badly.

[Bonegavel]

Well, this is a freebie board, so I wouldn't blame them for not wasting the effort.

[korme]

This was not a freebie board my friend.

[Bonegavel]

So who is paying for the space?

I think you misunderstood me. The Forum software may cost, but not the space. If somebody is paying a montly fee for this board, I would doubt it would have lasted 2 months.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Shorty3281
This was not a freebie board my friend.

Yes it is. A handful of us chipped in for the software, but we don't pay anything for hosting.

[mckerney]

So we could lose more posts?!?!

[Ryan S]

I would be shocked if Gamespy did not keep tape backup of the last 7 days.

I would also expect these tapes to be stored away from the servers, so it should be recoverable even in the event of fire.

[Bonegavel]

that is SOP, but I wouldn't blame them for making it a "use at your own risk" type of deal. Tape backup is cheap, but can be time labor intensive, especially given that gamespy undoubtedly has many many boards to deal with.

Given that, I would be shocked if they didn't back up at least for the 7 days as you mention.

[Dutch]

Originally posted by Bonegavel
Well, this is a freebie board, so I wouldn't blame them for not wasting the effort.

By clicking a checkbox on an additional directory on their backup software? I'm not sure I would actually define that as "effort!"

[Ryan S]

Originally posted by Bonegavel
Tape backup is cheap, but can be time labor intensive, especially given that gamespy undoubtedly has many many boards to deal with.

I know for sure that they backup to tape every evening.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Ryan S
I know for sure that they backup to tape every evening.

So, this isn't necessary then?

[Philliesfan980]

Tape Backup? Wow they still do that stuff.

I remember when I ran a BBS in the early to mid 90's I used to back up onto a 120 meg tape drive on a weekly basis. That thing was terrible, it lost so much data all the time. Maybe their improved. To me, I'd rather backup everything on a DVD-RW (keep on overwriting it, do you really have more than 4.7 gigs on here?). Or even get a second hdd.

[Dutch]

Originally posted by SkyDog
So, this isn't necessary then?

I'm guessing if you or Ryan S coordinated this with the server administrators beforehand that they would be glad to help out if things go badly.

[TLK]

Any update on when the upgrade will occur?

[Ryan S]

Originally posted by Dutch
I'm guessing if you or Ryan S coordinated this with the server administrators beforehand that they would be glad to help out if things go badly.

Already been in touch with them.

I am hoping to upgrade early next Saturday or Sunday.