The Future of the Forum

The family plan to keep his youtube account and forum open, so all is good there. I am sure that they may appreciate the offer of donations to keep the forum up and running. For now, they are just dealing with their loss, but Cliffs brother intended to at least make sure that everything is paid up to the end of the year.

As far as the forum goes, we will need to work out if it is going to become an active archive to maintain, where most people are lurking in the woodshed, or if we want to try and invigorate it and keep up the legacy of its intent.

I think there is already a large wealth of information on the site that is worth keeping around for those that want to search. Cliff was clearly the backbone of this forum and I think we all noticed it with his absense.

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It's not Cliff, its Dr Stamp
#kebabstickcut, it's a thing - make it happen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2021 12:41PM by cKc.

I'm in favor of archiving this forum and creating a new forum. Would allow the community a chance to tailor the forum to the current state of discussion. Which I think has broadened beyond knives to other applied sciences as well lots of other topics. This might prompt some growth beyond the current laser focus on knives. It might ease resuming discussion as well. Its not the first migration this community has made either. Way back before Towards 0.1 Microns there was noss' forums that eventually went down so many of us moved here with Cliff.

I am for whatever you guys decide on.

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
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Old Spice
I'm in favor of archiving this forum and creating a new forum. Would allow the community a chance to tailor the forum to the current state of discussion. Which I think has broadened beyond knives to other applied sciences as well lots of other topics. This might prompt some growth beyond the current laser focus on knives. It might ease resuming discussion as well. Its not the first migration this community has made either. Way back before Towards 0.1 Microns there was noss' forums that eventually went down so many of us moved here with Cliff.

I’m in agreement with Old Spice on this one.

Well while we wait for more feedback. We should probably look into what is needed to host and operate a forum. What the easiest, low cost, and features we might want or need.

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Old Spice
Well while we wait for more feedback. We should probably look into what is needed to host and operate a forum. What the easiest, low cost, and features we might want or need.

From what I can tell, Phorum (the current software here) is 5 euro per month for hosting. And on their site they claim it to be very customizable, very open, so it may be a viable option.

Other than that, just making a new one on the same software that we’ve all grown accustomed to and haven’t had any significant problems with, I don’t have any more ideas because I just know so little about this stuff.

Phorum is a fairly nice cheap option. where it falls short is like facebook, the ease of pasting images, and other such things.

has anyone considered the thought of just using a private facebook group? is it good enough, searchability, threadability.. might be garbage. might be that some dont want to touch facebook.

there is certainly an advantage to just going with phorum based on the cost alone.. and there are many plugins that can be added that are not in this forum. its almost vanilla.

Personally i would opt for a phpBB, which can be hosted less than 10USD a month with a site like bluehost. would need to select a domain name etc. register it. determine to have a group of people to administer and manage the accounts incase someone cannot for some reason. (redundancies)

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It's not Cliff, its Dr Stamp
#kebabstickcut, it's a thing - make it happen

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cKc
Has anyone considered the thought of just using a private facebook group?

Facebook is the spawn of the evil synth, Mark Zuckerborg.

I forward the motion that anything too closely connected to Silicon Valley and it’s self-appointed Supreme Oligarchs be completely avoided. They deserve to rot in the puddle of their own corruption and evil on the very outskirts of the Internet, not be made central to free and honest discussion, which they don’t value anyway.

I've never used facebook. Also it being a private group sounds like it defeats the purpose of allowing anyone interested to participate. Beyond that Phorum or phpBB would probably work. I'm going to look at those plugins for phorum and see if any of them might be useful.

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cKc
… would need to select a domain name etc. register it.

Old Spice had a good idea, I thought. Call it “Beyond 0.1 Micron”

Publicizing the forum is the big factor.

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Bill22252 on YouTube. "See you space cowboy"

Resident Emerson Fanboi

Folding knives are fun, fixed blades are important.

I'm also against the idea of using Facebook for this.

What about using a platform like Locals or Minds?

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
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jasonstone20
What about using a platform like Locals or Minds?

No social media. A forum only.

Ryan,
Ok.

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
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I think it should be maintained with as few changes to the forum possible.

sal

Yes, well that is also an option is to just continue to maintain and use this forum and try to attract some growth

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It's not Cliff, its Dr Stamp
#kebabstickcut, it's a thing - make it happen

cKc,
I think that is a better option, since this forum is already up and running and we already have a membership. It would be nice for this forum to have more participation also.

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
WordPress YouTube Facebook Patreon Locals Instagram Twitter

If it’s already working and social media is out, maintaining this forum seems simplest.

To me it would seem best to archive this as a way to capture the years of discussion where Cliff was running his own thing. As a sort of permanent memorial to the man.

Then start something else to continue the discussion in his distinct absence while maintaining the principles of discussion and inquiry that he held in such primacy.

The site had already declined in participation quite a lot in the last few years, and now the founder and central figure is literally dead, and you guys STILL can’t let it go? Seriously?

Ryan,
Exactly. So why would making a new forum change any of that?

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
WordPress YouTube Facebook Patreon Locals Instagram Twitter

The reason the forum declined in participation was because Cliff stopped posting regularly. I think we can all agree that we came to this forum because of Cliff. I tried to keep posting knife stuff in his absence, but I definitely am not Cliff, and I wouldn't even dream of trying to fill his shoes. Without Cliff doing his work on knives, I don't see this forum being anything but the Woodshed talking firearms.

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
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jasonstone20
So why would making a new forum change any of that?

Change what exactly, the participation rate?

Ryan,
Yes, the participation rate and Cliff not being here.

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
WordPress YouTube Facebook Patreon Locals Instagram Twitter

My interest in a new site is only for the sake of leaving this place. For going somewhere else. I guess I just think it’s odd to keep posting here as if things haven’t changed. It’s weird to me. That’s why I haven’t really said much at all since he died.

Ryan,
I understand. I am not sure how to proceed, and I don't know what is best to do on top of that. I would be willing to help out on this forum and a new one, and I don't mind building the new forum either, I have the time and the skill, I just don't have the resources. I would be fine with leaving this forum up as a rememberance, and having a post linking to the new forum.

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
WordPress YouTube Facebook Patreon Locals Instagram Twitter

The only hesitation I have is that it is double the resources to run two forums, which is sort of a waste. But if people are not going to participate here, and will on a new forum, it would make sense.

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
WordPress YouTube Facebook Patreon Locals Instagram Twitter

I think a new identity for a forum separate from Cliff is necessary if we want to increase participation. The main draw to this forum was engaging with him. So if a new forum is going to happen it will need something to draw peoples interest beyond just topics that already exist in more established places. Maybe we could design a collaborative experiments that anyone could contribute data to. Given they run the experiment as designed and submit data we could produce something quite a bit more interesting than what most of the casual internet is doing.

And like Jason points out, the remaining discussion here is going to be in the gun thread and not much else.
This why I also suggest archiving this forum on a new site or forum instead of maintaining two separate forums.

The main issue with starting a new forum as i see it is the following:

A Collective of people to both manage, maintain, and pay for the forum (relying on one person has a redundancy issue if someone cannot continue to manage, maintain, or pay)

The cost needs to be determined, and then a way of determining who is willing to actively pay month to month to keep it going.

A Domain name will need to be purchased, someone needs to have access to this, along with a secondary person to have access to control and pay for this and take it over in case of emergency or issue.

I am not sure how much time i will even be able to contribute to a new site. but I am happy to contribute. it would be interesting to create an outline of prospective areas and topics that would be of interest to generate.

So who wants to be a funding contributor? who wants to be a moderator? who wants to administer and maintain the financials and billing of the domain and website.

a body of rules should be setup for how moderation will happen. in all likelyhood at the start, there will only be us, those starting it, who all have the ability to have controversial discussions.. so there should be some form of ensuring admins and moderators also have some checks and balances in regards to what they do or say.

This forum had rules based on Cliffs desires. that doesn't mean those rules are what you all want to apply moving forward.
Kid Friendly? kid friendly sections, etc etc.

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It's not Cliff, its Dr Stamp
#kebabstickcut, it's a thing - make it happen