Author |
Topic: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated (Read 247 times) |
|
rtr2
Guest
|
 |
BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Thread started on: Sep 20th, 2014, 10:37am » |
|
As you may be aware Wikispaces are discontinuing their free service (other than for Wikis which are exclusively for use in Higher Education). Therefore the BB4W Wiki - which contains a vast amount of information relevant to BBC BASIC for Windows - will be deactivated on 15th November next.
Converting it to a paid-for Wiki isn't a realistic option, unless some philanthropic person wants to contribute the $50 per year cost. 
Unfortunately the URL to the Wiki is hard-coded in BB4W (Help... Wiki menu selection) so that will probably cease to work after the above date.
Richard.
|
|
 Logged
|
|
|
|
Matt
Developer
member is offline
Gender: 
Posts: 210
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #1 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 11:01am » |
|
Hi Richard,
I may not have contributed much to this site recently, but I have often, looked in, and am still interested and active in BB4W. I would be very disappointed if the Wiki site were to close as it has helped me a lot. To me, $50 pa does not seem a significant cost, and am willing to be a cost partner (not sure what the correct term is) in its upkeep. Can you give me more information for this. If you require personal details, I think you have my e-mail address.
Matt
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
rtr2
Guest
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #2 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 12:52pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 11:01am, Matt wrote:| To me, $50 pa does not seem a significant cost, and am willing to be a cost partner (not sure what the correct term is) in its upkeep. |
|
I don't see how it could work, really. Anything involving money cannot be handled 'informally'; for example I might need to show it in my annual accounts or declare it for taxation purposes. I don't fancy having to invoice you (and maybe others) on a monthly or annual basis!
Personally I would have preferred Wikispaces to continue to provide a free service but with some advertising to fund it, with perhaps an option to pay in order to suppress the ads (rather like this forum - although in practice the donation process isn't usable because it requires an admin to activate the ad-free status).
Richard.
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Edja
Developer
member is offline
Posts: 60
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #3 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 1:30pm » |
|
Quote:| Unfortunately the URL to the Wiki is hard-coded in BB4W (Help... Wiki menu selection) so that will probably cease to work after the above date |
|
To have immediate access to all this information I wouldn't mind clicking a "bookmark" button on my browser as a work around to replace the "hard-coded in BB4W (Help... Wiki menu selection)". Creating such bookmarks only takes seconds.
But is it feasable for you to move all this information to another environment ?
I wouldn't mind either a yearly contribution but if that is complicated (accountancy, invoicing, taxes, ...), will there be an alternative?
Eddy
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
rtr2
Guest
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #4 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 2:02pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 1:30pm, Edja wrote:| But is it feasable for you to move all this information to another environment ? |
|
I have no idea. Wikitext isn't standardised, so even if there were some means to 'bulk import' the content to another host (371 pages at the last count, plus numerous images) there would no doubt be a lot of editing to do. One thing it would presumably be almost impossible to 'move' is the syntax-coloured code listings; I don't suppose any other Wiki hosting site knows about BBC BASIC syntax! I'm sure (the new owners of) Wikispaces are well aware of the difficulties, and are hoping that many people will cough up the cash to keep their wikis going.
Quote:| I wouldn't mind either a yearly contribution but if that is complicated (accountancy, invoicing, taxes, ...), will there be an alternative? |
|
I am open to suggestions, but this sounds like a difficult nut to crack.
Richard.
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Matt
Developer
member is offline
Gender:
Posts: 210
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #5 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 2:22pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 2:02pm, g4bau wrote:| I am open to suggestions, but this sounds like a difficult nut to crack. |
|
Would paying for it privately, be an alternative? You could request annual private donations by post, say, and I'm sure there would be enough of us to reimburse you.
If all else fails, I would be willing to pay Wikispaces direct as a private payment. This would keep the finance of it out of your books. There's no guarantee this could be kept going long term, but it might hold it for a while.
I started printing off the pages as a back up, but didn't realise just how many there were!
Matt
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
rtr2
Guest
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #6 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 2:47pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 2:22pm, Matt wrote:| Would paying for it privately, be an alternative? |
|
It would be difficult to argue that a payment connected with my primary product is 'private'.
Quote:| I would be willing to pay Wikispaces direct as a private payment. |
|
That would presumably require you to acquire ownership of the wiki. I don't even know whether a transfer of that sort is possible.
Quote:| I started printing off the pages as a back up, but didn't realise just how many there were! |
|
Much easier to export it as a zip! You can choose to do so as Wikitext, HTML or PDF. At one time somebody used to do a regular export to the Yahoo! group to provide a read-only backup of the wiki.
Richard.
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Malcolm
Guest
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #7 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 3:58pm » |
|
Quote: At one time somebody used to do a regular export to the Yahoo! group to provide a read-only backup of the wiki.
|
|
Well I did initially, but the option to bulk export was withdrawn from members. It looks like Richard did the last update.
The bulk download option is still there for the Admin or Organizer.
Quote:| If you no longer wish to keep your wiki active, you may allow your wiki to expire and it will be deleted. If you would like to export the contents of your wiki you can download the contents of your wiki in wikitext, HTML, or PDF format. |
|
As for linking from somewhere else: it is easy to put in a link via the Utilities Manager. The search might get lost but if it was in a PDF then the pdf reader search facility might work reasonably well. Extracting the example code might be easier from HTML or "wikitext" though. Then again there is no real downside in putting both online. And there is plenty of space in the forgotten Yahoo files.
Malcolm.
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
rtr2
Guest
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #8 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 5:51pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 3:58pm, Malcolm wrote:| Well I did initially, but the option to bulk export was withdrawn from members. |
|
Oh, I didn't know they had made that change. It's a pity, especially if the owner has 'gone away'.
Quote:| It looks like Richard did the last update. |
|
In November 2011! I've now replaced it with a more up-to-date (although not current) version.
Quote:| And there is plenty of space in the forgotten Yahoo files. |
|
Probably the only beneficial change arising from the Neo debacle was the increase in file storage from 100 Mbytes to 2 Gbytes. But the files are accessible only to members so I would still advise uploading to Wiggio and pasting the public link into a forum message if you want people here to be able to get it.
Richard.
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Malcolm
Guest
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #9 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 8:09pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 5:51pm, g4bau wrote:It's a pity, especially if the owner has 'gone away'.
Richard.
|
|
What am I missing?
Malcolm.
|
| « Last Edit: Sep 20th, 2014, 10:17pm by Malcolm » |
Logged
|
|
|
|
rtr2
Guest
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #10 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 9:03pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 8:09pm, Malcolm wrote:
In what respect "missing"? The information looks right to me Why did you reproduce it here? What relevance does it have to this forum or thread?
I have to say that I am sick and tired of your trolling.
Richard.
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
rtr2
Guest
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #11 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 10:44pm » |
|
And now you retrospectively edit your message to make my reply appear nonsensical. In my opinion Conforums should not let you edit a message once it has been replied to.
For the record, the deleted content was an extract from my Wikispaces profile confirming that I am the owner of the BB4W Wiki, which (surely) everybody knew anyway.
Richard.
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Richey
New Member
member is offline
Gender:
Posts: 35
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #12 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 11:00pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 10:37am, g4bau wrote:As you may be aware Wikispaces are discontinuing their free service (other than for Wikis which are exclusively for use in Higher Education). Therefore the BB4W Wiki - which contains a vast amount of information relevant to BBC BASIC for Windows - will be deactivated on 15th November next.
Converting it to a paid-for Wiki isn't a realistic option, unless some philanthropic person wants to contribute the $50 per year cost.
Unfortunately the URL to the Wiki is hard-coded in BB4W (Help... Wiki menu selection) so that will probably cease to work after the above date.
Richard. |
|
This is a real shame. Personally I haven't really looked at the Wiki in any depth yet, having concentrated my efforts on the BB4W tutorial (been through that twice now) and the excellent BB4W documentation. It was certainly my intention to work through the material on the Wiki so I'll start to save it in PDF format. Richard, presumably this will affect (forgive me for mentioning it here on the BB4W conforum) the LB Booster Wiki too? 
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
rtr2
Guest
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #13 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 11:14pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 11:00pm, Richey wrote:| I'll start to save it in PDF format. |
|
Apparently the ability to do that is now restricted to organisers only. Perhaps you could confirm that by checking whether the export option is available to you.
Quote:| presumably this will affect the LB Booster Wiki too? |
|
Yes, and my other wikis such as colourrecovery and lb4help too. That's one reason why I don't consider coughing up the $50 per year to be a realistic option: it might not seem to be expensive for just one wiki but when multiplied by four it certainly is!
Richard.
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Richey
New Member
member is offline
Gender:
Posts: 35
|
|
Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #14 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 11:32pm » |
|
on Sep 20th, 2014, 11:14pm, g4bau wrote:Apparently the ability to do that is now restricted to organisers only. Perhaps you could confirm that by checking whether the export option is available to you.
Yes, and my other wikis such as colourrecovery and lb4help too. That's one reason why I don't consider coughing up the $50 per year to be a realistic option: it might not seem to be expensive for just one wiki but when multiplied by four it certainly is!
Richard. |
|
Richard, I can confirm that I have been able to export and save the Wiki content in PDF format - so, it is not restricted to organisers only, which is some good news.
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
