Print

As a Deviantart group

3 (11.1%)

As a Yahoo! group

0 (0%)

At this same site, only recreated with Warg & Co. at the helm

23 (85.2%)

Other (please specify)

1 (3.7%)

Total Members Voted: 26

Voting closed: January 29, 2012, 09:33:50 PM

[Foxeye]

I have some disappointing news and there's no easy way to say it.    I will be retiring in the near future from running EQFA, for a variety of personal reasons.  Kael already retired many months back.

Due to the success of the pin-up calendars I've agreed to leave EQFA open until the end of February, to provide time for the completion, enjoyment, and discussion of the 2014 calendar.

At that time I will be removing the gallery and forum, but leaving the calendar archives in place. Once my ownership of the domains expires (I've paid for another 4 years or so), I'll transfer the domains to Richard Pini so that the domains don't fall into the hands of squatters like eqfanart.com did.

That assumes, of course, that no one else in the community wishes to pick up the torch that began with Amanda O'Dell of eqfanart.com and continued with Foxeye & Kael of elfquestfanart.com. I would be delighted if someone were passionate about creating the next incarnation of the EQ Fan Art community home, and they would be welcome to all of the related domains (elfquestfanart.com, elfquestfanat.net, and eqfanart.net).  Also, while I cannot give the website code or design elements to another party, the content (user accounts, user albums and images, forum posts, and comments) could be transferred intact if someone created a new site based on the same forum and gallery software.  

If anyone is interested in doing this, we should start discussing the transition period ASAP.   Otherwise the community can hopefully find a home on elfquest.com or as the spread-out community that they already are on DeviantArt! 

[nilla]

  Damn. I really love this site. It's not the same as elfquest.com whatsoever.

[silentleaf]

Oh n oooooos CRY if i had time and know how i would take up the torch... i love you guys all so much and the amazing art here.

[Treefox]

What? Noooo! I also wish I could keep this going. This my favorite place on ALL the internets. I love the people here and because this is a relatively small community I have that cozy feeling that I know the people here.

It's not the same as elfquest.com whatsoever.

Probably one reason why I like it so much.

Anyway, I do hope we can keep this community going, maybe with a joint effort or something....

[Frozenleaves]

Oh no!  :'(  I love this place here.

[Afke]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Like Treefox this is my fave internet place. I doubt I'll go to elfquest.com if this one disappears, it's just way too massive for me. I'd rather make a group for us at deviantART!

[Wildfire]

Oh no That's terrible! As Treefox and Afke says, I feel the same about this being one of my favourite internet-communities. I'll be very sad to see it go Unfortunately I know squat about running a site like this...

 

[Mirror]

Nooooooo!!!

 :'(

I love this place - we all do -  it'd be terrible to see it die. I feel like I know everyone here, EQ.com simply wouldn't be the same.

I agree with Afke: if nothing else, we should at least make a group on Deviantart and try to get as many of us as possible to sign up. I'm going to miss this community so much....

[branchscamper]

  :'( I'm seriously crying. I just found you guys again and I don't want us to part ways! I wish I had time to run a site but I don't. I had to close all my personal ones a year ago due to lack of time :/

We need to figure something out!

[Treefox]

Okay, I really don't want to promise anything, but as I told this sad news to my lifemate, he said that depending on how you build this site, meaning what tools, etc. you used, he might be able to help keep things running.
So Foxeye, would you share? Maybe PM me?
Still, I don't know how much time I can invest in this, as I do have a very time consuming job, but if maybe someone shared the load, maybe, just maybe we could work something out?

[Redsun]

Hello Foxeye,

This is redsun (yes i misspelled my name sadly) But I was pointed here with the sad news of it shutting down by Elf-in-mirror from deviantART. I have watched this site for a long time and never joined. I would like to offer myself up to take over the site and help it out for all my fellow EQ fans. Sooner or later I would hope for help managing this wonderful site. So if you still need someone I am ready to help.

[Tynami]

PM sent

If all else fails, I think a DA group would also work for this. I've been seeing alot of the calendar stuff over on DA so I know some of ya'll have memberships. Hopefully we can work something out though.

[Foxeye]

I'll post rather than PM since this information is useful to anyone thinking about whether they could take this on  

Short answer:
The site is Simple Machines Forum 1.1.x with the Aeva Media 1.x mod.

If we wanted to retain the content and the new site owner was not a professional web developer with experience writing database conversion scripts, but who was comfortable installing/configuring forum and/or CMS packages, the process would go something like this:


Step 1
Engage the services of a webhost. Faerydae has tentatively offered to host the site on one of her professional-grade servers, so you could talk with her about this arrangement.

Step 2
Install Simple Machines Forum (SMF) 1.1.x and install Aeva Media 1.4c on top of that.

Step 3
I would convert the existing database to remove all custom columns and settings to exactly match the configuration of the default SMF + Aeva Media installation. I would then export the database, and the image files, so that you could import them into your new installation.

NOTE: All user passwords would need to be reset and users would need to log in again to change them.  

Step 4 (optional)
Design a custom theme of your choosing to make the site more ElfQuest-ian.  I'm sad to say that I cannot pass the Splotch Design along, as it is linked too closely with the custom spaghetti code.

Functionality that will be lost under default install:
- Maturity filter
- 24-hour Upload cap
- "Newest Art" page would no longer filter challenges/contests into a seperate section
- Artist-centric user profile (though this is mostly in the theme, so I might be able to work with the new admin to tweak their theme)
- Calendar archive integration (again, I might be able to help you re-implement this)

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

Also to clarify: the user passwords would need to be reset because we will have to blank the passwords in the database before passing the rest of the database to whoever would take over. This is, unfortunately, necessary in order to uphold the security of the user accounts.

[Foxeye]

As a follow-up to my previous post, the first question I'd ask everyone who is thinking about this is:

Have you built and run a site before based on a WAMP or LAMP stack?

If you don't know what I'm talking about (you are allowed one Google to go "ohhh, that, yeah, I didn't know they called it that!"), then I don't recommend even thinking about taking this one on!   EQFA would not make a good first-time learning project.

If you do know what I refer to, and you have built and managed such sites, then yes, let's talk. (Bonus points if you can point out that I misused the term in some fashion (because I'm sure I did)!)


.
.
.


I can certainly see a scenario where a more technical person handles installation, conversion, and security patches, and another group of people act as moderators.

For example, this site gets a LOT of fake user signups. Kael and I spend 10 minutes every day reviewing new members and deciphering which ones really are potential EQ fans. (Love it when you guys also have deviant art accounts with ElfQuest art faved...makes that job so much easier. )  That work could easily be done a non-technical admin with good google-fu.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

To follow-up on Foxeye's post about fake user signups, we have an automated system in place that checks new signups against botscout.com and stopforumspam.com databases, but we are also targeted by lots of spammers who do not use those login credentials on any other site -- and therefore there's a constant flood of malicious signups regardless of the automated checking

P.S. I can also help with the technical details if someone wants to take over the site. We have a fairly simple MySQL5 (admittedly with stored procs, but the need for those would go away if we drop a few columns from the database) and PHP5/FastCGI setup. Directory permissions are fairly locked-down on granular level, so you may need to be familiar linux filesystem permissions.

P.P.S. We are also occasionally targeted by DoS attempts -- albeit not very sophisticated ones, and not frequently. Being knowledgeable in writing automated firewall response rules would be helpful for would-be admins

[windbourne]

Augh! When eqfanart shut down it killed my participation in the fandom for ages; for some reason I just can't get into the Scroll's format, and this community just feels...nicer? More laid-back and interesting? Something?

I'd be very willing to help moderate, but I lack the backend skills necessary to take over.

I really hope that someone else is able to step up.

In the meantime, and just in case no one can, your work has very much been appreciated. <3 Even by mostly-lurkers such as myself.

[Mirr]

Ohdear, this is sad news, especially since you've done such a great job with the site! And I concur, I do prefer the cosyness here than to the facebookeque ness of the latest incarnation of elfquest dot com (even though I ahem have been so busy I haven't managed to lurk properly here for some time).

Hm. Well, I have fiddled very little with WAMP before, but I do have a friend who is more tech/web savvy that will try to register and post about his know-how and what he has to offer tech-wise (including own server, should it be the best option regarding server stuff).

So, keeping fingers crossed for a good outcome, either way

[Maggie]

Ok, there is no way I can run a site like this; I am not familiar with any of the tec stuff needed to run this project. I was however second (and then first) in command to the yahoo group that was the sister to the one Amanda O’Dell created way back (2000).

It has been pretty much inactive for years now as this site kind of drew patrons to it but EQ fan art gallery still exists and could be a place to continue this community? It wouldn't be quite as fancy but I think it could work.

I would also be willing to put up the money and time to create a group on Deviant Art and continue with the fan art calendar (they have the option to create and allow users to buy calendars there), which I think is one of the major things that makes this site unique.

I can’t exactly take up this torch but I would be willing to start a small fire using some kindling which would hopefully spark into something that we could all continue to enjoy.

Foxeye, you can PM me if you think any of that is a good idea.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

Something like could certainly work: the essence of EQFA is the community, not the site itself.

Whether or not that is a good idea is not really a question Foxeye or I can answer: it's the community that must decide what it wants to do. This thread seems like as good a place as any to hash it out, too.

[DestinysGift]

Since I spend most of my time on DA I think a group on there would be most convenient. However, I've only just joined this stie and I'm already so attached. This place has been better, critique wise and community wise, than most sites I've ever been a part of. The people here are so respectful to one another and I don't wish that to ever be ruined by the chance that just anyone could join a DA group.
I would love to help try and keep this site afloat, but I'm no expert in website management and things like that.
If there is a chance any one could keep this site running, that would be excellent. But if not, I would hate to see this place go. Explore all options to keep this place, it was hard to find it for me to begin with.
But, if the only option would be to just start a DA group and move on from there, I would be willing to help with that, anyway I could. It's such a sad sight to see this happen but everyone has lives to move on with, and we should respect that.
(wow, this sounds really sad  )

[Maggie]

Something like could certainly work: the essence of EQFA is the community, not the site itself.

Whether or not that is a good idea is not really a question Foxeye or I can answer: it's the community that must decide what it wants to do. This thread seems like as good a place as any to hash it out, too.

Of course it is a community decision but I just wanted to throw my hat in the ring and let Foxeye and everyone know that I have the time and energy to keep the community going. Maybe not in its current state but as you said, it's not the site that is the essence of EQFA.

[silentleaf]

YAAAY! maggie! you rock! i would be willing to help tho it seems like alot of people feel that way ! GO EQ!

[Treefox]

I think Maggie's idea sounds good and practicable!
I also would invest money, if that would help...
But it feels good that there might hope this page gets continued in some form. I must admit that I would not join a dA group because I am not a fan of dA at all. That place is also just too big for me.

[Mirror]

Personally I don't have anything against DA, but if it means "losing" people like Treefox and Windrider (she doesn't have a gallery there, I think?), we should absolutely find another option.

I'm all for Maggies idea if it means that this community can live on!