10 members

[Michelle]

Both things stink, Bob, but thanks for the info!

[BobD]

While it can be true that nothing ever really disappears on the internet, unfortunately large databases can be corrupted quite easily. The file size allowance on the old forum was huge (up to 5mb per attachment). The database of photos was over a TB in size. Unfortunately, the old forum software couldn't handle a database that large, and things ended up getting corrupted in the conversion. We're keeping the old threads so people have the opportunity to re-upload the, so that's my suggestion: if you have access to your old photos, re-upload them.

As for sending an e-mail... we recently got off Comcast's blacklist of e-mail senders marked as spam by two many of their customers. This means e-mails from the site were totally blocked (they wouldn't even show up in the member's spam folder). We do not want to risk that again.

Bob

[pallin]

The photo gallery in the old site was not the same as photos embedded in discussions. It was a stand-alone collection of images sorted by category. This we could do without. I'm talking about images attached or embedded in individual postings such as are possible in the current site. What is the sense of having access to old threads if the illustrations are omitted?

[Michelle]

So assuming we never see those "old pictures" again, is there a Gallery section in this new and revised forum? I just had a quick look at the home page and didn't see any ............but i've been known to look directly at something and not see it ...........

According to this post from Bob back in July, no. "We said from the beginning that we would be phasing out the photo gallery attached to the forum. That's how the hackers got into the site; the photo gallery software is a second-party add on to the forum, and it's not secure."

[Soggy]

AND, just because I'm so bummed about it, I will say it again: It's sad that all of those pictures just vanished in to thin air. I'm guessing they are actually somewhere, but I doubt anyone knows exactly where. Rumor is that NOTHING is ever completely GONE from the internet.

So assuming we never see those "old pictures" again, is there a Gallery section in this new and revised forum? I just had a quick look at the home page and didn't see any ............but i've been known to look directly at something and not see it ...........

[Brian T]

Membership lists take so few kB, forget about them.

IT people are so infatuated with their code writing abilities that they have little regard for users, like we are lower life forms when, in fact, the reverse is true.
If IT people take that as a hard insult, I'll be happy. They ought to be writing jingles for birthday cards.
Let us just assume that the IT people have failed. That their elementary coding skills cannot save them from themselves and all our pictures went into their toilet.

In the meantime, we should begin a project of ressurection. all the old pictures.
I would, but I'd be writing precious little about them. Happy enough to answer questions.

[Michelle]

The member list is a mess, no doubt. Several forums I'm on cull it once a year or so to keep things more manageable, but some forums seem to like the inflated non-active, bot, dine and dash type membership numbers they have. It still wouldn't be hard to send out a blanket email to all registered members, and I think it's a pretty good idea. Even if 10 come back to us it would be worth it. All it should take is typing out an email.

AND, just because I'm so bummed about it, I will say it again: It's sad that all of those pictures just vanished in to thin air. I'm guessing they are actually somewhere, but I doubt anyone knows exactly where. Rumor is that NOTHING is ever completely GONE from the internet.

[Spiritwolfe]

No, I'm talking about contacting former members NOT among the current ten. This site has the email addresses of all past members including me. I have seen no emails inviting my return!

I hope I word this properly to convey what I mean because I'm not always the best at communicating but......
What's with the member list?
Has anyone ever taken a close look at it?

I did one day and couldn't help notice all the members who had joined and not posted anything and I mean there's probably thousands.
Soooooo it makes me wonder if these are actually real people or 'made up' memberships. If they are fake memberships, perhaps that would make it difficult sorting through them all. I'm no computer nerd so I don't know how difficult this would be. I would have assumed that a programmer could just send out one notice that gets sent to every email address stored in its data base.
Did the site owners ever give an explanation as to what happened to the site?
Perhaps there are members who might not want to invest in posting info and pictures just in case it happens again. Not to bring up a can of worms but the subject DID come up.

[Michelle]

It's sad that all of those pictures just vanished in to thin air.

[Brian T]

I'm a member in other places and lots are drifting away to Etsy and FB.
Personally, I can't imagine what it would take to turn me into a competition carver.
I tried to carve for the money. What a chore and a bore it finally came to be!

I got all huffy about the picture loss. This isn't the only place for that nonsense, several others.
I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the (expletive of your choice here) programmers who failed to comprehend
the value of illustration. And by that, I'm cetain that the good folks at WCI found there was precious little that they could do about it.

[Spiritwolfe]

No, I'm talking about contacting former members NOT among the current ten. This site has the email addresses of all past members including me. I have seen no emails inviting my return!

Ohhhhh. Ok that's a huge valid point. Most members aren't going to randomly check back to see how the sites going. That's too bad that emails aren't sent out. That's an excellent idea.

Invite people back with an official " welcome back email".

Maybe even have some carving competitions?.

[pallin]

Isn't that what we are doing?

No, I'm talking about contacting former members NOT among the current ten. This site has the email addresses of all past members including me. I have seen no emails inviting my return!

[Brian T]

Maybe seeing is believing? Maybe start new threads with old pictures?

[Spiritwolfe]

, let's work together to invite back the experts and active participants.

Isn't that what we are doing?

[pallin]

I don't share your enthusiasm. Ten members is not even equal to the attendance at our local woodcarving club. We have access to some old threads, but not the photos. Isn't this called Woodcarving ILLUSTRATED? That said, let's work together to invite back the experts and active participants.