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In a hypothetical situation in which Barbelith ceases to exist, where would we go?

 
 
All Acting Regiment
16:41 / 09.01.08
So, supposing Barbelith were to fail once and for all - which, as far as I can gather, is not actually that likely, but possible where before it was not - what other places could we go?

Do any hosting companies allow you to build a board of your own? What about BB boards? Should we all move across to a different but good board?
 
 
Time, Please!
(prev. 5 Days Clean)
16:47 / 09.01.08
Should we all move across to a different but good board?

Definitely not - if "we" all did that, it could hardly remain a good board for much longer.
 
 
brb
17:55 / 09.01.08
Exactly.
 
 
Tuna Ghost will work for dope
20:23 / 09.01.08
I'd finally get around to exploring the pacific northwest. Of the internet.

I'm not sure what I'd do. Barbelith was the first message board I ever joined and remains the only message board I've ever been interested in for more than a month. I suppose I could shop around, but ahhhh it don't matter.
 
 
Evil Science Holiday
09:59 / 10.01.08
If nothing else presented itself we could "stealth" the Facebook group and use that.

I'm talking bare minimum here. Until we found somewhere else.
 
 
Proinsias
02:32 / 11.01.08
Surely there are other Grant Morrison fansites around.
 
 
*
04:37 / 11.01.08
USENET! UUUUUUUSENEEEEEEET!

Ahem.
 
 
Lurid Archive
10:11 / 11.01.08
But seriously guys, why aren't we setting up another board, on generic BB software, that preserves the bits of Barbelith we like and transplant ourselves there?
 
 
Alex's Grandma
10:20 / 11.01.08
What happened to Rage's board, out of interest?
 
 
West Baltimore Hausing Project
11:43 / 11.01.08
Well, Lurid, Gypsy Lantern is doing pretty much exactly that for the Magic people. Maybe something like the Tearoom of Despair could be set up for comic books. Other projects could certainly happen - liferaft projects, basically. One concern, I think, is that you'd lose a lot of people in the transition.

Probably the other issue is that if you are on Barbelith, and there is no immediate trolling, the functionality issues are not all that great - it's getting people on that has been difficult. So, there's a large amount of inertia about moving off. In a sense, the damage has already been done there.
 
 
Semiotic Robotic
13:28 / 11.01.08
Another hurdle might be that of ownership. Setting up a free BB using any one of many fine pieces of open source BB software (which we began discussing in this thread) still requires a person to establish a hosting account, purchase a hosting package, register a domain, etc., etc. Doing so would concentrate ownership in the hands of one person (or small collective) and could perhaps generate the same kinds of trouble we're currently experiencing. We might experiment, of course, with new models of ownership, systems of generating revenue, and so forth. I think the experiment would be well worth the effort.
 
 
Bamba
14:43 / 11.01.08
Setting up a free BB using any one of many fine pieces of open source BB software (which we began discussing in this thread) still requires a person to establish a hosting account, purchase a hosting package, register a domain, etc., etc.

Not necessarily:

http://www.proboards.com/index.html
http://ipbfree.com/home/
http://www.phpbbweb.com/
 
 
Semiotic Robotic
16:13 / 11.01.08
Very interesting. Thanks.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
16:35 / 11.01.08
Definitely not - if "we" all did that, it could hardly remain a good board for much longer.

Well, it depends. As long as our only concept of 'we'ness was that we had a shared history on Barbelith, and we went to the new board to fit in, get along and not 'colonise', I can see the joining of a big board being as profitable as the starting of a new one, perhaps? I mean, we'd have to not form little gangs.
 
 
brb
17:29 / 11.01.08
One concern, I think, is that you'd lose a lot of people in the transition.

Bug, or feature?
 
 
Time, Please!
(prev. 5 Days Clean)
17:38 / 11.01.08
OH!

 
 
All Acting Regiment
16:39 / 13.01.08
Eh?
 
 
Quantum
11:06 / 14.01.08
Well, one joy of barbelith liferafts is that they'll all have the basic functionality sufficient to punt someone to the sharks.
 
 
Our Lady Drinks Your Milkshake
15:43 / 14.01.08
Grandma's ... Worm What happened to Rage's board, out of interest?

It lasted about 8 days. There was only her, me, Ganesh (I think) and one of those litle arseholes that didn't have the stamina to be a real nuisance here. I guess she realised that boards didn't develop communities by magickz and gave up.
 
 
Time, Please!
(prev. 5 Days Clean)
14:35 / 15.01.08
All Acting Regiment - there seems to be a communication failure going on. To clarify: both brb and I are refering to our conviction that it would not be desirable to import everybody who currently is a member of Barbelith onto any existing or putative new forum/board.
 
 
MJ-12
18:24 / 15.01.08
unless it was to distract them
 
 
brb
18:33 / 15.01.08
MJ-12, you're making me paranoid.
 
  
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