Shutting down the "new" forum

mdettweiler · 2009-12-09, 22:05

Hi all,

I got a note from David yesterday saying that if we're not going to use the vBulletin license we currently have set up at http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/forum/, he could really use it somewhere else where it would probably get more use. Since the activity level at NPLB has lessened somewhat since where it was when we first decided to get our own forum, now it seems like sticking with mersenneforum won't be too particularly restrictive, and in fact it might be better publicity-wise to stay in close connection with a large prime searching community. The rather expensive vBulletin license could probably be much better used elsewhere.

Does anyone have any objections to shutting down the "new" forum? We'd back up the whole thing in case we decide to set up our own forum at some point in the future.

As of now, we don't have anything of consequence over there except the k=300-400, n=1M-2M sieving drive thread. We'd of course need to transfer that over here; that shouldn't be too hard since it's only one thread.

Max

Brucifer · 2009-12-09, 22:15

Sounds like the common sense thing to to do me!

mdettweiler · 2009-12-10, 14:53

As it turns out, David was able to find another license for the other forum he originally was going to use ours for. So, looks like we can keep ours after all.

Brucifer · 2009-12-10, 18:26

But then there is the issue of the updates for the new versions of the software, etc., and that costs bucks that someone somewhere (assumably David) has to spend bucks for. So it is still really just a matter of time before it goes away isn't it, unless it's going to get hosted by Gary on a system, and then it's gonna still cost buck. ?????????

mdettweiler · 2009-12-10, 20:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brucifer

But then there is the issue of the updates for the new versions of the software, etc., and that costs bucks that someone somewhere (assumably David) has to spend bucks for. So it is still really just a matter of time before it goes away isn't it, unless it's going to get hosted by Gary on a system, and then it's gonna still cost buck. ?????????

I'm not sure if you have to pay for security updates. I'll drop David a line and ask him that.

The idea is to have it hosted on Gary's new server when that's ready (soon, yes, I know, I've been saying this over and over

).

If everyone feels that it would really be too much of a hassle to have our own forum, we can always hang on to the license until sometime in the future when we've grown to a size as to make one useful.

henryzz · 2009-12-10, 20:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdettweiler

I'm not sure if you have to pay for security updates. I'll drop David a line and ask him that.

The idea is to have it hosted on Gary's new server when that's ready (soon, yes, I know, I've been saying this over and over

).

If everyone feels that it would really be too much of a hassle to have our own forum, we can always hang on to the license until sometime in the future when we've grown to a size as to make one useful.

so basically we have been gifted a free licence whether we use it or not
although if we dont use it David might ask for it back like what just almost happened

mdettweiler · 2009-12-10, 21:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryzz

so basically we have been gifted a free licence whether we use it or not
although if we dont use it David might ask for it back like what just almost happened

Yes, if we weren't going to use it right away then I'd ask David if he'd like it back. If he said no, then we could hang on to it until we're ready to use it.

Xyzzy · 2009-12-12, 05:11

Even with an "owned" license, there is an annual fee for updates.

The updates are tied to the serial number of the software, so even if you have multiple licenses you need multiple updates.

We let our license run out until there is a big security update and then we renew it.

We sometimes wonder if some of these security updates are really just a way to renew licenses.

We run the older and more stable tree of vBulletin so updates are less frequent.

mdettweiler · 2009-12-12, 11:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

Even with an "owned" license, there is an annual fee for updates.

The updates are tied to the serial number of the software, so even if you have multiple licenses you need multiple updates.

We let our license run out until there is a big security update and then we renew it.

We sometimes wonder if some of these security updates are really just a way to renew licenses.

We run the older and more stable tree of vBulletin so updates are less frequent.

Yeah, I figured we'd probably follow a similar plan (upgrade only when a big security update comes out) in that case. Thanks for the info.

In light of this, what's everyone's opinions on how to proceed?

Mini-Geek · 2009-12-12, 14:40

Why did we pick vBulletin over free forum software like phpBB? Just because it's what mersenneforum.org is? If we had free software, we wouldn't have to worry about David needing our license more than us, or paying for the big security updates and missing the small ones. Just a thought.

For now I don't think we would really benefit from a separate forum.

mdettweiler · 2009-12-12, 18:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mini-Geek

Why did we pick vBulletin over free forum software like phpBB? Just because it's what mersenneforum.org is? If we had free software, we wouldn't have to worry about David needing our license more than us, or paying for the big security updates and missing the small ones. Just a thought.

For now I don't think we would really benefit from a separate forum.

The main reason for picking vBulletin was because David had a spare license that he didn't need. That, and having it be the same as mersenneforum would allow us to import data from the old one easily. (I'm not sure if it's even possible to import data from vBulletin into phpBB.)

I agree, at this point we wouldn't really benefit from a separate forum. When we first discussed it our project was in the middle of a temporary "boom time", and probably were just big enough to make it potentially worthwhile to have our own forum. The idea was that as we continued to grow, we'd be glad to have it. But as things stand now, the only real limitation we'd be bumping into is the # of sticky threads that currently fill up most of the first screen for even rather large screen resolutions. Having our own forum would solve that by allowing us to split various dicussions off into subforums, as can be currently seen at http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/forum/. Other than that, we'd probably have a hard time filling the shoes of our own forum, and in fact we'd probably do better to stick with the greater community of prime search projects at mersenneforum for publicity reasons.

Hey, I just had a thought: what if we got a few subforums under the main NPLB one here are mersenneforum to lighten the sticky load? We could add two in addition to the existing ROLP subforum: one for "Drives and Primes", and one for "Project Administration", like we currently have at the "new" forum. That would leave the main subforum free for general discussion, which is largely sticky-free.

Thoughts on this, anyone?

2009-12-09, 22:05	#1
mdettweiler A Sunny Moo Aug 2007 USA (GMT-5) 3·2,083 Posts	Shutting down the "new" forum Hi all, I got a note from David yesterday saying that if we're not going to use the vBulletin license we currently have set up at http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/forum/, he could really use it somewhere else where it would probably get more use. Since the activity level at NPLB has lessened somewhat since where it was when we first decided to get our own forum, now it seems like sticking with mersenneforum won't be too particularly restrictive, and in fact it might be better publicity-wise to stay in close connection with a large prime searching community. The rather expensive vBulletin license could probably be much better used elsewhere. Does anyone have any objections to shutting down the "new" forum? We'd back up the whole thing in case we decide to set up our own forum at some point in the future. As of now, we don't have anything of consequence over there except the k=300-400, n=1M-2M sieving drive thread. We'd of course need to transfer that over here; that shouldn't be too hard since it's only one thread. Max

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Aouessare-El Haddouchi-Essaaidi "test": "if Mp has no factor, it is prime!"	wildrabbitt	Miscellaneous Math	11	2015-03-06 08:17
Split "Other Projects" sub-forum?	axn	Forum Feedback	9	2006-04-27 16:39
Would Minimizing "iterations between results file" may reveal "is not prime" earlier?	nitai1999	Software	7	2004-08-26 18:12
New "Data" forum might be needed	GP2	Data	8	2003-09-13 02:34
Do we need a "Buy/Sell" forum?	Xyzzy	Lounge	6	2002-10-24 06:02

2009-12-09, 22:15	#2
Brucifer Dec 2005 313₁₀ Posts	Sounds like the common sense thing to to do me!

2009-12-10, 14:53	#3
mdettweiler A Sunny Moo Aug 2007 USA (GMT-5) 3×2,083 Posts	As it turns out, David was able to find another license for the other forum he originally was going to use ours for. So, looks like we can keep ours after all.

2009-12-10, 18:26	#4
Brucifer Dec 2005 313 Posts	But then there is the issue of the updates for the new versions of the software, etc., and that costs bucks that someone somewhere (assumably David) has to spend bucks for. So it is still really just a matter of time before it goes away isn't it, unless it's going to get hosted by Gary on a system, and then it's gonna still cost buck. ?????????

2009-12-12, 05:11	#8
Xyzzy "Mike" Aug 2002 2²·3²·223 Posts	Even with an "owned" license, there is an annual fee for updates. The updates are tied to the serial number of the software, so even if you have multiple licenses you need multiple updates. We let our license run out until there is a big security update and then we renew it. We sometimes wonder if some of these security updates are really just a way to renew licenses. We run the older and more stable tree of vBulletin so updates are less frequent.

2009-12-12, 14:40	#10
Mini-Geek Account Deleted "Tim Sorbera" Aug 2006 San Antonio, TX USA 10253₈ Posts	Why did we pick vBulletin over free forum software like phpBB? Just because it's what mersenneforum.org is? If we had free software, we wouldn't have to worry about David needing our license more than us, or paying for the big security updates and missing the small ones. Just a thought. For now I don't think we would really benefit from a separate forum.