Demise of Greenspun.Com Imminentgreenspun.com : LUSENET : B&W Photo - Film & Processing : One Thread |
Philip Greenspun has notified me that the demise of Greenspun.Com is imminent. I do not have a shut down date at this time. Philip has suggested that I contact Photo.Net and have all our accounts and archives transferred there. I have sent Photo.Net a letter requesting just that and will post further information as I receive it.Apparently, this has to do with the implosion of Philip's company, ArsDigita, after being taken over by a bunch of venture capitalists who don't know shit about software. See http://www.waxy.org/random/arsdigita/.
-- Ed Buffaloe (uneye@hotmail.com), December 06, 2001
I'm surprised that no one has responded to this post, as there is a huge discussion about it on the Large Format forum. I did receive another note from Philip Greenspun, who seems to think it will be a piece of cake to transfer the three forums I moderate to Photo.net. He says it will be seamless. I hope so. Everyone will have to get user accounts and log on to make posts.
-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), December 06, 2001.
Ed, as you said I was following this in the LF group, it appears that photonet.com is the correct choice, so I guess unless you can convince Simmons to take all 4 boards, I will see you at photonet.com
-- Jorge Gasteazoro (jorgegm58@prodigy.net.mx), December 06, 2001.
so these forums will just appear in the 'discussion' section of photo.net along with the moderated, unmoderated, photo critique, nature, medium format, yadda yadda yadda forums?doesn't seem to be a problem. I've already have an account there.
-- David Parmet (david@parmet.net), December 06, 2001.
The only problem with the Steve Simmons View Camera site option is that he never answers e-mail or snail mail, so if we ever had a problem we'd be SOL.I too already have an account on Photo.net, and I think it is our most viable option.
-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), December 06, 2001.
sad to hear... hopefully if photo.net takes us on (I always have difficultly distinguishing here from there anyway!) they don't add us to the unified forum as we'll be flooded by 'what best' questions ;)
-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), December 06, 2001.
photo.net seems to be the best alternative. I wish I could offer a better alternative, but I can't think of one.The ArsDigita story written by P. Greenspun is shocking and tragic. I was so upset after reading it, I couldn't think about responding to this post. I urge the rest of you to read it, though. It's sad, but an eye-opening dose of reality.
-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), December 07, 2001.
I did not know that, but then I think he just recently started participating in the LF forum, so I am not surprised. I also have an account in photo.net, so might as well go there, at least we know what to expect.
-- Jorge Gasteazoro (jorgegm58@prodigy.net.mx), December 07, 2001.
Greetings,I too have been following this thread on the LF discussion, unfortunately I don't see many options. Someone of the LF discussion, suggested a fee if that would help fund another option. Personally, I would rather see a site similar to Philip's for a fee rather than Photo.net. I would also rather see it go to Photo.net than go away completely.
Regards,
-- Pete Caluori (pcaluori@hotmail.com), December 07, 2001.
Ths forum has given me a great deal of helpful information and enjoyment. I second Pete's suggestions of a fee based forum rather than go away. By the way, I am not to skilled with a computer but I do offer my help to Ed if needed.
-- Howard Dvorin (HowardDvorin@cs.com), December 07, 2001.
I will visit the page on Photo.net just as I do here. It may even help in picking up a few more people for B&W. I would suggest a real emphasis on Frequently Asked Questions if it moves there though so we don't get the same 'what is the best..' over and over again. Possibly a moderator can suggest the right area for those who ask the easy ones, some way to do it without sounding rude (as I get at times, even wnen I may not mean to) or telling them to piss off. B&W is still a mystery to many & if photo.net will help get more intereste or be able to help some who see this part, go for it.
-- Dan Smith (shooter@brigham.net), December 08, 2001.
Ed, Q-Tuan of the LF format has a similar post and has received numerous answers, some offering an alternative hosting to photo.net. This would be another server with ACS installed. Perhaps you and he could get together (if you haven't already) and find a common solution to the problem for my three favorite forums (LF B&W film and B&W printing). I, personally, would like to retain the user-freindly, speedy interface we currently have, as well as the archives (though a search function would certainly be helpful), WITHOUT having to log on/register/fill out forms/get tons of banner ads/pop-up windows, etc. Regards,
-- Doremus Scudder (ScudderLandreth@compuserve.com), December 08, 2001.
I received a communication from Photo.net. They are looking into the best method of transferring the database information. The transfer will take place sometime early in 2002. I'll provide more information as I receive it.
-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), December 12, 2001.
Ed,I'm curious as to what the demise of free services on www.greenspun.com has to do with the sad story of ArsDigita (for which there seems to plenty of blame to go around). I seem to recall that the home page for greenspun.com used to say that it and its services were hosted on a server cluster that was part of some experiment at MIT.
In any case, the move to photo.net is probably a good idea. As Dan Smith suggests, it may help introduce more people to B&W photography. It seems that a certain amount of consolidation is inevitable that as the web matures.
-- Charles Ruberto (charles_ruberto@attglobal.net), December 18, 2001.
An update on the fate of this forum. Greenspun.com has had a lot of downtime of late, and Mason Resnick contacted me in regard to moving the forums. I told him that I wrote to Photo.net last week and they said they have been preoccupied with upgrades, but they will look into moving the forums soon. I would still prefer to stick with Photo.net. I don't know if any of you followed the Philosophy of Photography forum, but they were recently moved to http://www.usefilm.com, and in my opinion the quality of content there has declined significantly since the move. I'd like to stick with Photo.net, however long it takes them.
-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), February 13, 2002.