Demise of Greenspun.Com Imminent

[ed b.]

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.

 

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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 <a href=http://www.waxy.org/random/arsdigita/> http://www.waxy.org/random/arsdigita/</a>.

[ed b.]

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.

[jorge_gasteazoro3]

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

[david_parmet1]

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?

 

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doesn't seem to be a problem. I've already have an account

there.

[ed b.]

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.

 

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I too already have an account on Photo.net, and I think it is our

most viable option.

[nigel_smith2]

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 ;)

[ted_kaufman]

photo.net seems to be the best alternative. I wish I could offer a

better alternative, but I can't think of one.

 

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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.

[jorge_gasteazoro3]

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.

[pete_caluori]

Greetings,

 

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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.

 

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Regards,

[howard_dvorin]

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.

[dan_smith]

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.

[doremus_scudder1]

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,

[ed b.]

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.

[charles_ruberto1]

Ed,

 

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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.

 

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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.

[ed b.]

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.