So, when Shaun ends up tinkering with that great server in the sky...

[ColinJ]

A while back, I was thinking about how much of my time I spend on here, or riding with people I've met through CycleChat's pages. There would definitely be a large CycleChat-sized hole in my life it suddenly vanished.

The internet is still relatively young so there probably haven't been too many cases yet of forum owners shuffling off this mortal coil leaving their digital babies to fend for themselves. But what happens in such a situation?

If the forum owner in question hadn't thought about this subject in advance, then his/her forum would linger on a while while the domain name registration remained valid and as long as the web-hosting was paid for. Maybe some technical gremlin would prematurely kill the forum before the money ran out. If not, there would just be an ominous silence from Admin, and at some point in the future - BANG! - the forum would abruptly vanish!

Of course, somebody would know what had happened and would spread the bad news before forum-meltdown occurred. But could and should such a forum be saved?

I sent a message to Shaun a couple of weeks ago asking if he would object to us discussing this subject, with specific reference to him and CycleChat. There was an ominous silence ...

Perhaps I had inadvertently invoked the forum owner equivalent of the p*n*t*r* fairy? By even mentioning Shaun's eventual demise, perhaps I had hastened him snuffing it!

Fear not, good members - Shaun is back! He says we can discuss this, but in a light-hearted manner. He'd rather not read his own obituary!

We CycleChat members could get organised and "do a YACF" by cloning the look 'n feel of the original forum, but a great store of wisdom, bad jokes and friendly banter would be lost. Which would be a pity ...

We could have a whip-round for a members' buy-out and keep the forum going in Shaun's memory. Maybe even display a photo of Shaun on the home page with the caption "Our Esteemed Founder"?

How about a 'win a cycling forum' prize draw? I'd buy a ticket!

(Or should we just cremate the server and have done with it? )

 

[4F]

What you describe is surely what got a lot of us here in the first place. I used to post on Bike Radar and then when Future Publishing ****** up that forum there was a mass exodus with the majority coming here.

Keep up the good work Shaun

 

[snorri]

The internet is still relatively young so there probably haven't been too many cases yet of forum owners shuffling off this mortal coil leaving their digital babies to fend for themselves. But what happens in such a situation?

I only wish I knew!
The owner of another forum I subscribe to has just disappeared. Someone investigated following the collapse of the site and discovered it had collapsed due to non payment of a bill. The owner was last seen to have been online in mid February, since then no trace, and no reply at his house door. The site holds a considerable amount of historical data and photographs gathered by members over the last five years or so, but the owner has always been coy about sharing the "key of the door" to the site, and now all appears to be lost.

 

[Crackle]

The question is, is Shaun Shaun without Cyclechat and is Cyclechat Cyclechat without Shaun and would cake provide the answer??

Seriously I don't know, the answer lies with Shaun.

 

[Fnaar]

The question is, is Shaun Shaun without Cyclechat and is Cyclechat Cyclechat without Shaun and would cake provide the answer??

Seriously I don't know, the answer lies with Shaun.

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

 

[lukesdad]

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

Thats cleared it up then Fnaar !

 

[MacB]

Thats cleared it up then Fnaar !

Nope, I'm still not clear...

Col, where does the cross dressing and surgery fit in to all this?

 

[ColinJ]

What you describe is surely what got a lot of us here in the first place. I used to post on Bike Radar and then when Future Publishing ****** up that forum there was a mass exodus with the majority coming here.

Well, the old C+ forum which became BikeRadar; yes, I was one of them! In fact, I do still make the odd appearance on BR because some people I knew never made the transition to CC.

Keep up the good work Shaun

Yes, in all the waffle above, I forgot to say that!

The owner of another forum I subscribe to has just disappeared. Someone investigated following the collapse of the site and discovered it had collapsed due to non payment of a bill. The owner was last seen to have been online in mid February, since then no trace, and no reply at his house door. The site holds a considerable amount of historical data and photographs gathered by members over the last five years or so, but the owner has always been coy about sharing the "key of the door" to the site, and now all appears to be lost.

Ouch!

It struck me that a forum is a strange thing. Without its members, it is nothing (ACF, anybody?) but it is still owned by an individual or a company who can kill it a moment's notice.

I'm sure that Shaun would never choose to do that, but at some point the grim reaper gets us all. As far as I know, Shaun should outlive me by 15 or 20 years so I shouldn't have to worry about what eventually becomes of the forum but I think what a forum represents is an interesting subject.

If your life's work is a few books, poems, statues or pieces of music, they continue to exist after your death. You can create a big forum with a lot going for it, but it will die within a year or two if somebody doesn't keep paying the running costs. And even if the money is found, who maintains the server and software?

 

[Wigsie]

The issue is, Shaun would have to hand over the keys prior to popping his clogs, failing this one of us (I nominate Arch), would have to attend the funeral and ask his next of kin to get the admin login reset and approve a transfer of the site/payment details.

There is one other problem however, I dont think anyone else can maintain it as it is without the instant power rush going to their head and Cyclechat becoming a facist regime run by Colonel Dellzeqq, Idi Arch or Saddam McGinty!

 

[ColinJ]

Nope, I'm still not clear...

Col, where does the cross dressing and surgery fit in to all this?

I should perhaps mention that just because I singled out Fox Hunting as A Bad Thing, doesn't mean that my interests necessarily include the other things on 'that list'!

 

[Norm]

The main difference there, Colin, is that any book or music which you write is yours, whereas anything written to a forum database belongs to the forum's owner.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

If your life's work is a few books, poems, statues or pieces of music, they continue to exist after your death. You can create a big forum with a lot going for it, but it will die within a year or two if somebody doesn't keep paying the running costs. And even if the money is found, who maintains the server and software?

Cue Mr Cameron's BIG society

If Shaun was to actively encourage members to get into help run it then the thing could become self sustaining.

But that is up to Shaun of course.

BTW - how is the site funded at present? Does Shaun have deep pockets?

 

[Fnaar]

If your life's work is a few books, poems, statues or pieces of music, they continue to exist after your death. You can create a big forum with a lot going for it, but it will die within a year or two if somebody doesn't keep paying the running costs. And even if the money is found, who maintains the server and software?

Some things have transience; other things have permanence. But some things have a transient permanence, whilst others have a permanent transience.

 

[ColinJ]

The issue is, Shaun would have to hand over the keys prior to popping his clogs, failing this one of us (I nominate Arch), would have to attend the funeral and ask his next of kin to get the admin login reset and approve a transfer of the site/payment details.

There is one other problem however, I dont think anyone else can maintain it as it is without the instant power rush going to their head and Cyclechat becoming a facist regime run by Colonel Dellzeqq, Idi Arch or Saddam McGinty!

I'm sure that Shaun had thought about this subject before now, but if he hadn't, I'm sure that he is thinking about it now! Somewhere, right now he might be adding 'Create My Legacy' to his 2,000 item to-do list!

I keep trying to come up with ideas for online money-making schemes. I've not had much success so far, but I live in hope that the day will come and I'm already considering the question of what would eventually happen to those future digital assets.

None of my family or friends has the interest and/or ability to maintain websites so they should be sold off to the highest bidders and proceeds divided to my inheritors. The thing is - I haven't documented anything. Whoever dealt with winding up my affairs wouldn't even know what sites I owned, let alone who I registered the names with, who supplies the hosting, my user names, passwords etc. The sites would freeze, then eventually die when I wasn't around to maintain them and pay the bills.

All this reminds me - I should write a will! I haven't really thought through exactly how my state should be divided, but I do know that I don't want it be what the legal default would be if I die intestate.

 

[Arch]

The issue is, Shaun would have to hand over the keys prior to popping his clogs, failing this one of us (I nominate Arch), would have to attend the funeral and ask his next of kin to get the admin login reset and approve a transfer of the site/payment details.

There is one other problem however, I dont think anyone else can maintain it as it is without the instant power rush going to their head and Cyclechat becoming a facist regime run by Colonel Dellzeqq, Idi Arch or Saddam McGinty!

Oh thanks, I get all the fun jobs...

I suppose it would be good if Shaun gave all the necessary details to someone trustworthy - and someone who had a clue what it all meant! No good telling me, I can't currently work out how to embed a pic from Flickr....