On January 1st (or shortly thereafter) we'll be freezing the boards here, as we're moving all our message board activity from this third-party system to one that's entirely within our own website, at www.thomhartmann.com.

If there are posts or threads here you'd like to continue, feel free to copy and paste the essence of them into the new board by way of starting a new thread over there.

Once this board is frozen as read-only, we'll keep it up as an archive for at least a few months so people can find and relocate or save off things they may want from here.

Thom

Perhaps an increase in the number of moderators might help also; I know of one community that is about one third in size compared to this one, that has 8 moderators. Needless to say, it's a nice place to hang out

Thom, once it is "frozen" will it still have the quote (modify) function or will that cease also?

The reason I ask is that cutting and copying will not capture the URL script and thus will not facilitate such a "move".

As always, thanks for setting up and maintaining this forum for us.

I've never done this before with this Groupee software, but would guess that when it goes read-only nothing will be able to be modified. You may have to re-create hot-links if you want them.

Our new host, by the way, is 100% solar-powered. A zero-carbon footprint!

Thom

Cool.

I am going to feel tremendously better knowing that my hobby is going to be Carbon Neutral on your end. Hopefully, that will inspire me to stop using Coal to power my computer on this end. I have been looking into the alternative energy source of little children on hamster wheels. Still working out the bugs.

Can I be a moderator? PLLLEEEASSSSEEE!!!!!

Is there any way to download the database?

quote:

Originally posted by ArtJunky:
Is there any way to download the database?

Good question? And how big a file is it anyway?
I am assuming it is only a HTML file/text. Without any graphics.

I nominate Loganthor...

quote:

And how big a file is it anyway?

269.6 MB.

We're still investigating. No promises though; these things are often not straightforward, as I know from professional experience. It would be best to assume it won't happen.

quote:

Originally posted by Gnarlodious:
I nominate Loganthor...

For what?
What about me anyway? What am I not your friend???

I have been trying some things to save to the content here and it seems that nearly 8000 posts, I have no way of saving except a small portion...

Which means that this is a non-mutual divorce for some people here.

We have had purges before but this is a drastic one. So how can we save what we had for at least posterity?

quote:

Originally posted by Sue N:

quote:

And how big a file is it anyway?

269.6 MB.

We're still investigating. No promises though; these things are often not straightforward, as I know from professional experience. It would be best to assume it won't happen.

Thanks for answering that. In what format is it in? File format? What software can read it?

Well if it won't happen then we definitely will be disappointed. And I assume that we all would like to find another alternative.

What if someone or group hosted it instead?

It's in MySQL so far as I can tell. There doesn't seem to be a lot of experience out there of exporting databases from this host to others, so we're having to feel our way. I certainly would hate to see us leave the old messages behind.

MySQL is extremely flexible. You can make commands to extract all posts by some username, or any other data field.

I log in to the MySQL server every week at http://LiberalTalkRadio.com/ and delete scripted user accounts with no emails. There are several hundred per week. It's fast and you don't even go through a browser. I also back up the entire database to two other servers weekly. You do all this from Terminal through SSH.

It's mostly a matter of how well one schema maps to the other, and how well documented it is, how clean the data is, and stuff like that, rather than what flavour of database.

A simple thing like apostrophes in names (e.g. O'Henry) or the two systems using different character code sets has been known to add considerably to the amount of work involved in porting databases, for example.

The is in the detail.

Hello Sue,

Well, this is going to be a big problem for me also. I have nearly 4,000 posts and even an index of threads. The last transfer wasn't too big of a problem since all my old posts and threads were move over to this board. However, the old transferred posts had coding embedded and made it difficult to edit.

Anyway, will our old threads (I am speaking only of threads created under a person's name and not every individual post) be moved over to the new location?

Could individual requests be made for those of us that want to transfer and preserve our old threads under our names?

Can we request our old account threads to be sent to us as a backed up text file archive...even for a fee?

I have spent a lot of time writing and thinking about my posts for the last 3.3 years. Those posts I especially invested time in are already in my personal archive, but I could not preserve the entire dialog.

I'd be willing to work on it. Some people have invested a lot of work on material on these boards, and I think it's important to have some archived posts.

Hello Thom, Sue,

Thank you for the notice and thanks for the space to present my voice over the past few years.

Wishing you, and forum friends, happy holidays and all the best in the new year.

Peace,

Lisa

quote:

Similarly, in human terms, edges are places of great activity. Be they the front lines in battle, the point of customer and vendor interaction in business, or the places of disagreement and difference between individuals, cultures, or nations, edges are dynamic, alive, and inherently unstable.
Societies without edges become stagnant....
I've always been a risk-taker, a "Hunter" as I use the term in my books on ADD. As a child and a teenager it got me into considerable trouble, but it also led me into situations where I learned things that have been of considerable value to me all my life.

Thom Hartmann, The PROPHET'S WAY, P.213

Thanks to you Thom and all that have ever showed up here. All have been my teachers and I'm grateful.
I look forward to the change and continued evolution of the message board.

Thanks folks.

I'm not sure how much progress will be made over the holiday season, so I'll get back to you when I find out more.

One of the advantages of the new thomhartmann.com is that people can comment directly on the show, Thom's blogs, transcripts etc. And with that and the message boards under the same roof, there should be more interaction on the message boards with new people who might never have got as far as the message boards in the past.

Bamboo - thanks for the kind words...

quote:

e people have invested a lot of work on material on these boards, and I think it's important

Gnarl and others,

I do web design and database work for a living so if there's something I can do, let me know. However, I mostly work with windows/SQL and ASP so working in php or mysql isn't as natural to me. Perhaps there's something I could do.

I've been here since 2003 so I have an interest in making sure this material isn't lost. I've downloaded most of the threads I'm interested in but it would be nice to capture these threads and perhaps post it somewhere.

Just created a new account on the new message board.

Where do I start? I'm so disappointed.
I like the new site but the message boards...

Can't hide user information...it's all out there for everyone to see.

Email address is visible
Name Visible. Basically, any right-winger and a loose screw and a gun can find me without the slightest problem.

The obvious is the fact that the ENTIRE history of our conversations are going to be zeroed out and we'll have to have all those arguments all over again as though NOTHING ever came before.

No indication who is new and who has been a devoted contributor. We'll have nowhere to point all those one-post tyros that come along with their one-liners.

I don't know, perhaps it's a good time to leave all this blogging behind.

Hang in there, please, ArtJunky. It is early days yet.

Thanks for the feedback and SQL offer. I'[ll bring it to the attention of the people over there.

Your email address should only be visible to you.

Sorry, Just a moment of frustration.

What is the rough plan? Timeline?

I couldn't log on to the new site?

Any suggestions?

newguard, I'm afraid you have to register again at the new site.

That's one of the reasons for having a new board over there. People can now sign up over at thomhartmann.com and comment on Thom's blogs, Louise's "On the program today" notes, as well as my post show notes. By moving the board over there, people will only need one login. I've asked if we can copy over the membership database to there, as well as the messages, but I don't know yet when or if it will be possible.

quote:

Registration Complete!

Your account has been created and activation link has been sent to the e-mail address you entered. Note that you must activate the account by clicking on the activation link when you get the e-mail before you can login.

But I never received an email.

OK, I've updated your record, Antifascist. If you do get an email, please let me know.

I'm beginning to suspect that there is an ISP out there that is blocking thomhartmann.com. Although hundreds of members have signed up ok, there have been quote a handful who have not.

Sue,

I am having problems with the new message board, when I tried to edit my post it kept coming up with an error message, and then it would NOT allow me to get back on the board....
unless you are trying to tell me something.

In fact I keep getting an H-Sphere screen, which for a techno-phobe like me, I have no idea what to do.
Help! I wanted to keep in touch with everyone, while the primaries are in swing.

Hi meljomur,



I've been getting the same errors off and on today, and I'm an administrator, so you are in good company. It seems that they had an outside company in to do a network upgrade, and it has screwed things up.

Hopefully it will be sorted soon.

quote:

OK, I've updated your record, Antifascist. If you do get an email, please let me know.

Ok, got the email and logged in successfully. Thank you.

Dear Sue N.,

I attempted to register on the new board as "Brent" and with the same password as I had on this board.

Up came: Your login was blocked. Please contact administrator.

Wanted to post something on the "Honoring Benazir Bhutto" thread: being as she and her hubby scammned about $1 bil. from the Pakistani public treasury; most likely had something to do with her own brother being offed; helped consolidate Taliban power in Afghan; and was in league with feudal capitalists in Pak.

Some guy wrote a letter to The Oregonian in which he compared Benazir Bhutto to Mohandas K. Gandhi!

Hi Brent,

You have to wait for the email to come and reply to it before you can post. A few people have had their emails delayed or they did not turn up at all. The forum was up and down like a yoyo yesterday so some emails were probably delayed.

If the email does not come soon, please let me know.

Brent,

I think you and I are on the same page, because I too was attempting to post an article about Bhutto, which paints a VERY different picture of her.
I had not realized she was behind the assasination of one of her brothers...

Well, perhaps we should start our own post here.

By the way Sue, how do you attach an URL on the new board, it just does not seem as straight forward to me?

When you are writing a post on the new board, place your mouse over the "url" button, and it will show you the correct format in the box below the buttons. Click on the button, and it will insert some of the code for you. But if you move your mouse, it will stop showing you the format. Same for the other buttons.

Thanks, Sue N. Will await e-mail.

Sue,

I am having another issue with the new board, when I type my text, I cannot see the entire box, so half way through my sentence I can no longer see what I am typing...
Any suggestions.
I have to say I love change, however I am not so sure I like this new board format so much. Couldn't we just paint this board to make it look a little brighter

There's a message up on the new board at the moment, "Update to the forum will occur tonight at 9pm. The forums will temporarily go offline at 9pm, today Wednesday January 2nd, 2008." My guess is that that is San Diego time.

Hi meljomur,

I'm sorry you are having a problem. Which browser are you using? Is this in bot the ordinary reply and the quick reply?

In the mean time, try typing your message into a text editor, and then pasting it into the message box when you are finished.

If we had this board any brighter it might wake people up.

Sue,

Any news or update about moving old threads to the new board?

Hi Antifascist,

Sorry, I've not heard anything. Last I heard we were waiting for an expert to return from vacation over the new year.

Sue N.:

Sorry to bother you about this again, but I've yet to receive an e-mail with acceptance of registration for the new chat board.

I changed my handle to "Brent", just "Brent", and used the same password as I had here.

Hi Brent,

Sorry about that. I've told the system to let you in. No bother.

Any plans to secure our profiles, emails...?

I'm still hopeful that we will be able to bring across everything on the old board that will fit into the new board (that is, the same kind of data is held on both), but I'm not the one doing the work; that's being done in San Diego. I'll let you know as soon as I know anything.

One difference between the two is that messages can be shown in threaded view on the new board but not on the old, so on the new board old messages will appear in flat view even if you select threaded view.

What a shame! I haven't been able to log in as demandside. Please let me know if you can return to the old system!
Here are links to important articles:
"Banking- and Mortgage Fraud":
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/01/371138.shtml
"The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush" by Joseph Stiglitz:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/12/bus...true¤tPage=all
"Financial Hypocrisy" by Joseph Stiglitz:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/01/370808.shtml

In the meantime you should be able to register as demandside on the new system. I look forward to seeing you there.

quote:

Originally posted by Sue N:
One difference between the two is that messages can be shown in threaded view on the new board but not on the old, so on the new board old messages will appear in flat view even if you select threaded view.

Still unable to create a new account.

Ah, I see that you have tried to create two similar accounts. The one that has the same email address as here is the one that looks as though it should work. If you have forgotten the password, let me know and I will give you a new one. If you want to use the other one instead, send an email to administrator@thomhartmann.com from the email account that the other one was set up with, and I'll tell the system to let that one in instead.

I'm locked out too, I created a new account a while ago but it displayed my email so I changed my personal info because I didn't want spam or people contacting me that way. I really think the board should remain anonymous to those that want that.

Unfortunately, after changing my new account, I then proceeded to forget the information that I changed it to.

Does the new board still display people's emails? If so, I don't really want in and I'll just have to stay away until it's changed. If it has been changed, I would like to restart my account. I'll probably need some help with that.

Until then, I'll be "the lone poster" here on the old boards.

Hi Artjunky,

Only you should be able to see your email address there. Try going there without signing in and you should not be able to see any emails.

You're registered there as Artjunky it appears, though with a different email address to here. If you have forgotten the password, send me an email at thomhartmannadminsue@googlemail.com from the email address you used there, and I'll send you a new one, which you will be able to change by going in and going to your profile there. It will probably be tomorrow now as it is late here.

Scratch that post that was here, Ericka's working on it.

We are getting closer to moving all the sections and messages from this board to the new one.

From now on, please post on the new board not the old board, unless you cannot get on the new board, in which case ask me for help here.

Anything posted here may not be copied across.

I'll be making most sections read-only shortly.