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UPDATE ON TIMELINE: The Future of the Penny Arcade Forums

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Posts

  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    There are many things worse than PHP but all languages are yes that bad.

    Still if I've gotta make something work give me a LAMP stack with full sudo access.

  • SeñorAmorSeñorAmor !!! Registered User regular
    While I'm not against the thought of pay-to-access for the new forums, taking payment does mean that (at least) one person now has to be responsible for reporting said income and doing whatever tax shenanigans are required by whatever country will admit we're somehow a business.

  • Space PickleSpace Pickle Registered User regular
    SeñorAmor wrote: »
    While I'm not against the thought of pay-to-access for the new forums, taking payment does mean that (at least) one person now has to be responsible for reporting said income and doing whatever tax shenanigans are required by whatever country will admit we're somehow a business.

    Does anybody live in Ireland? Or the Cayman Islands?

  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    Ramius wrote: »
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    Any of the splinter forums still alive? Ttb, sheep shirts, ranssite (which I think became moose site, but I lost track). I guess I only know one that officially died ( flying stove)- I just lost track of the others

    Yes, Platformers(arguably the OG) is somehow still active.

    I think penny arcade cult has to be the OG, possibly followed by citadel of truth.

    I can't believe I remember something like that a quarter of a century later!

    360arcadians died long ago.

    <.<

    >.>

  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    zagdrob wrote: »
    There are many things worse than PHP but all languages are yes that bad.

    Still if I've gotta make something work give me a LAMP stack with full sudo access.

    I have two production environments using php.

    One is running php 5.x (will not say what the x is because holy shit nooooo)

    One is on 8.3, and honestly… symfony framework plus a modern system and yeah, you can make it happen.

    Especially if you park modern caching systems in front of it and create proper scaling.

  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    edited October 2024
    syndalis wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    There are many things worse than PHP but all languages are yes that bad.

    Still if I've gotta make something work give me a LAMP stack with full sudo access.

    I have two production environments using php.

    One is running php 5.x (will not say what the x is because holy shit nooooo)

    The fuck is wrong with your people?

    My 7.4 environment I'm trying to get prioritized to go to 8.4 so I can not worry for a few years.

    A 5.x? No

    zagdrob on
  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    zagdrob wrote: »
    syndalis wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    There are many things worse than PHP but all languages are yes that bad.

    Still if I've gotta make something work give me a LAMP stack with full sudo access.

    I have two production environments using php.

    One is running php 5.x (will not say what the x is because holy shit nooooo)

    The fuck is wrong with you?

    My 7.4 environment I'm trying to get prioritized to go to 8.4 so I can not worry for a few years.

    A 5.x? No

    The nastiest tech debt you have ever seen.

    If it makes you feel better I plan on treating it like the office space xerox it is before the year ends.

  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    syndalis wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    syndalis wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    There are many things worse than PHP but all languages are yes that bad.

    Still if I've gotta make something work give me a LAMP stack with full sudo access.

    I have two production environments using php.

    One is running php 5.x (will not say what the x is because holy shit nooooo)

    The fuck is wrong with you?

    My 7.4 environment I'm trying to get prioritized to go to 8.4 so I can not worry for a few years.

    A 5.x? No

    The nastiest tech debt you have ever seen.

    If it makes you feel better I plan on treating it like the office space xerox it is before the year ends.

    Ah the scream test decommission.

    The most reverred and boldest IT move.

  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    Of all the languages I have worked with over the years, I have made the most money off of languages that are out of favor or long dead.

    Php? VBA-based access apps that handle medical data? Yes, I will deal with this shit. I will solve this nightmare.

  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    syndalis wrote: »
    Of all the languages I have worked with over the years, I have made the most money off of languages that are out of favor or long dead.

    Php? VBA-based access apps that handle medical data? Yes, I will deal with this shit. I will solve this nightmare.

    I was once the AS400 talker.

  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    edited October 2024
    I remember when the desperate call went out for people who remembered how to code in COBOL.

    Y2K came and went, and thanks to the heroic efforts of so many unknown programmers, it was hardly a blip ... and the public concluded it had never really been that big a deal, right?

    (God, 25 years - that was half my life ago, now.)

    Commander Zoom on
  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    Yes it was technically AS/400 but any slash would make it shit itself and if you did it wrong someone would literally walk out of the ADP data center with an error printout and tell you not to do it again.

  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    zagdrob wrote: »
    Yes it was technically AS/400 but any slash would make it shit itself and if you did it wrong someone would literally walk out of the ADP data center with an error printout and tell you not to do it again.

    I’ve had to manage ancient teletype integrations for CBC machines that let doctors know if the chemo regimen was working.

    ACK/NACK on a literal life and death level.

    This shit is still everywhere. PHP is positively futuristic by comparison.

  • R-demR-dem Registered User regular
    edited October 2024
    When I first went back to school for cybersecurity IBM specifically sent recruiters to us to try to talk us into getting certified in their Z system mainframes because surprise surprise all the mainframe and COBOL people are aging out. I seriously looked into it too before I found a network admin job ten minutes from my house.

    R-dem on
  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    Anyway future of the forums.

    Anything that is a year+ away remind me in six months.

    The warning this far back is a blessing and a curse, and we should find out if like some level of donations buys an entire other year of support.

    I hope that now that PA had backed off there is a Vanilla rep talking to the new mod community independent of PA?

  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    zagdrob wrote: »
    Anyway future of the forums.

    Anything that is a year+ away remind me in six months.

    The warning this far back is a blessing and a curse, and we should find out if like some level of donations buys an entire other year of support.

    I hope that now that PA had backed off there is a Vanilla rep talking to the new mod community independent of PA?

    Fully agree. The easiest path forward is getting off of whatever weird branch of vanilla we are on, and having the time needed to carry things we care about into whatever their new mod architecture is.

  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    syndalis wrote: »
    Of all the languages I have worked with over the years, I have made the most money off of languages that are out of favor or long dead.

    Php? VBA-based access apps that handle medical data? Yes, I will deal with this shit. I will solve this nightmare.

    I had one project that was years of merging seven hospitals into one system.

    Writing some MUMPS reports was wild.

  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    zagdrob wrote: »
    Anyway future of the forums.

    Anything that is a year+ away remind me in six months.

    The warning this far back is a blessing and a curse, and we should find out if like some level of donations buys an entire other year of support.

    I hope that now that PA had backed off there is a Vanilla rep talking to the new mod community independent of PA?

    The contract is with PA still so why would Vanilla? How could they? PA would have to delegate directly at the very least.

  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    We also had to unretire some folks to put together a VAX/VMS BASIC team of contractors, so that we could handle another hospital lmao.

  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    Infidel wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    Anyway future of the forums.

    Anything that is a year+ away remind me in six months.

    The warning this far back is a blessing and a curse, and we should find out if like some level of donations buys an entire other year of support.

    I hope that now that PA had backed off there is a Vanilla rep talking to the new mod community independent of PA?

    The contract is with PA still so why would Vanilla? How could they? PA would have to delegate directly at the very least.

    I would hope that at least an intro and a handoff conversation could be managed.

    It doesn’t feel completely impossible.

  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    Like - I don’t think they hate the forums. They just don’t see the value from their perspective which is totally fair.

    They aren’t going to do shit that makes us finding a new home wildly harder.

  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    syndalis wrote: »
    Infidel wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    Anyway future of the forums.

    Anything that is a year+ away remind me in six months.

    The warning this far back is a blessing and a curse, and we should find out if like some level of donations buys an entire other year of support.

    I hope that now that PA had backed off there is a Vanilla rep talking to the new mod community independent of PA?

    The contract is with PA still so why would Vanilla? How could they? PA would have to delegate directly at the very least.

    I would hope that at least an intro and a handoff conversation could be managed.

    It doesn’t feel completely impossible.

    Totally, just it would be a gross violation of contract for Vanilla to do anything with us without PA as long as they are the contracted entity. Same thing with finances/data, just needs to be properly shuffled so wouldn't expect stuff to just happen.

  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    Infidel wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    Anyway future of the forums.

    Anything that is a year+ away remind me in six months.

    The warning this far back is a blessing and a curse, and we should find out if like some level of donations buys an entire other year of support.

    I hope that now that PA had backed off there is a Vanilla rep talking to the new mod community independent of PA?

    The contract is with PA still so why would Vanilla? How could they? PA would have to delegate directly at the very least.

    The whole idea is that when PA approaches the end of the contract or in preparation for that they hand off everything to the new entity.

    It's a real question that if we can sever from Penny Arcade but otherwise maintain status quo is it worth some migration and the effort involved?

    If now the forums are negotiating independently with Vanilla as a life support thing, are they happy with a much lowered rate?

  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    zagdrob wrote: »
    Infidel wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    Anyway future of the forums.

    Anything that is a year+ away remind me in six months.

    The warning this far back is a blessing and a curse, and we should find out if like some level of donations buys an entire other year of support.

    I hope that now that PA had backed off there is a Vanilla rep talking to the new mod community independent of PA?

    The contract is with PA still so why would Vanilla? How could they? PA would have to delegate directly at the very least.

    The whole idea is that when PA approaches the end of the contract or in preparation for that they hand off everything to the new entity.

    It's a real question that if we can sever from Penny Arcade but otherwise maintain status quo is it worth some migration and the effort involved?

    If now the forums are negotiating independently with Vanilla as a life support thing, are they happy with a much lowered rate?

    I doubt vanilla is currently happy with a fragile community on an old forked branch that creates all sorts of issues whenever they want to make changes

    There is room here to negotiate becoming easier and normal to work with.

  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Cybertronian Paranormal Eliminator Registered User regular
    edited October 2024
    syndalis wrote: »
    Ramius wrote: »
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    Any of the splinter forums still alive? Ttb, sheep shirts, ranssite (which I think became moose site, but I lost track). I guess I only know one that officially died ( flying stove)- I just lost track of the others

    Yes, Platformers(arguably the OG) is somehow still active.

    I think penny arcade cult has to be the OG, possibly followed by citadel of truth.

    I can't believe I remember something like that a quarter of a century later!

    360arcadians died long ago.

    <.<

    >.>


    Holy crap, TheArcadians.Net is still around. (Formerly 360arcadians)

    I mean, it appears nobody posts there, but it's still up and the url still works.

    Undead Scottsman on
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    syndalis wrote: »
    One is on 8.3, and honestly… symfony framework plus a modern system and yeah, you can make it happen.

    Headless Drupal detected

    (I'm cheating because you've told me about this before.)

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • ExpendableExpendable Silly Goose Registered User regular
    My other forum died earlier this year. It was very sudden, I'd been there longer than PA and I'm still kinda sad about it.

    I mean, mafiascum is still about and I guess I was one of the OGs when it spun off of the GL, but I'd largely left it a long time ago.

    I'll lend whatever hand I can for a transition. I don't have the DB or language knowledge others have. Maybe my only contribution is financial.

    Djiem wrote: »
    Lokiamis wrote: »
    So the servers suddenly decide to cramp up during the last six percent.
    Man, the Director will really go out of his way to be a dick to L4D players.
    Steam
  • DrezDrez I’m exactly the same in real life Registered User regular
    The new forum should be called Phantasmagoric Grotesquerie Of Love, Hate, And Squalor

    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Cybertronian Paranormal Eliminator Registered User regular
    PGOLHAS?

    PGLHS?

  • DrezDrez I’m exactly the same in real life Registered User regular
    WOOSTER

    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • DhalphirDhalphir don't you open that trapdoor you're a fool if you dareRegistered User regular
    Mortal Sky wrote: »
    The other statistic worth noting wrt this forum is I can count on one hand the number of forumers I specifically know of who are under 30 (I am one of the youngest active forumers and I turn 31 next week), and I know of basically no active forumers under 27 years old

    This format essentially lives and dies within the boundaries of the millennial generation, unless some random cohort of younger folks suddenly get really into forums again and decide this place is particularly interesting, which I doubt could/would happen at this point

    despite how it might feel to some of us sometimes, millennials have a lot of life left. I can't envisage a time in my life when I wouldn't enjoy firing up Penny Arcade forums to have a ready made group of my generational peers to talk to. So that's at least a few decades worth of valid use-case.

  • DrezDrez I’m exactly the same in real life Registered User regular
    Plus we can use inception and brainwashing to pass forums down to newer generations of toddlers

    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    Drez I miss your frog-kitty.

  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Cybertronian Paranormal Eliminator Registered User regular
    edited October 2024
    like yes. anything that has things leave and doesn't have things enter means that over time, less things are in it. but let's say five months after NuForums are made, you're the only person from these forums that posts there. everyone else drifted away in the first few months. but they were all replaced by an equal number of people. more people even!

    you didn't save anything. forum's dead. you joined a different forum and used the same avatar as you used here.

    asking these kinds of questions, and not just kneejerking "well i don't want things to DIE!!!" is the only way anyone is going to successfully actually carry forward what they value anywhere forward

    I meant to comment on this but the thread got locked temporarily.

    Your scenario is an example of taking an extreme so far that it breaks the premise.

    Yes if everyone left in short order and were immediately replaced, the culture of the forum would essentially change overnight, but that's not what would happen in real life.

    We'll lose some people, but hopefully gain new people and those people will be attracted here because of the culture we've created, because they're relatively like-minded individuals seeking out others like themselves. In that way the forum culture can survive even if all of us are long gone.

    It won't be exactly the same as things are now of course, but that was never in the cards. Even ignoring the big change in front of us, the forums as they are NOW aren't the same ones as ten years ago, or ten years before that.

    Undead Scottsman on
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    My friend who’s still alive on mafiascum told me they are on phpbb3 if that is meaningful or helpful info for accessing options (or if they’re also on some weird old tech fork too)

  • QuidQuid The Fifth Horseman Registered User regular
    like yes. anything that has things leave and doesn't have things enter means that over time, less things are in it. but let's say five months after NuForums are made, you're the only person from these forums that posts there. everyone else drifted away in the first few months. but they were all replaced by an equal number of people. more people even!

    you didn't save anything. forum's dead. you joined a different forum and used the same avatar as you used here.

    asking these kinds of questions, and not just kneejerking "well i don't want things to DIE!!!" is the only way anyone is going to successfully actually carry forward what they value anywhere forward

    I meant to comment on this but the thread got locked temporarily.

    Your scenario is an example of taking an extreme so far that it breaks the premise.

    Yes if everyone left in short order and were immediately replaced, the culture of the forum would essentially change overnight, but that's not what would happen in real life.

    We'll lose some people, but hopefully gain new people and those people will be attracted here because of the culture we've created, because they're relatively like-minded individuals seeking out others like themselves. In that way the forum culture can survive even if all of us are long gone.

    It won't be exactly the same as things are now of course, but that was never in the cards. Even ignoring the big change in front of us, the forums as they are NOW aren't the same ones as ten years ago, or ten years before that.

    There's no preserving a community. It either changes with time or it dies. The latter isn't necessarily bad per se, depending on the goals and values of the individuals in a community, but I'd rather see the forums keep going even if vastly different in the long term.

  • the cheatthe cheat Registered User, ClubPA regular
    I think the new place should be called "rancid sandwich"

    4ryb5hobrnk2.jpg

    hdm3eeo1dj12.png
  • LanzLanz ...Za?Registered User regular
    Drez wrote: »
    WOOSTER

    sl00f6596ci2.png

  • LanzLanz ...Za?Registered User regular
    I think, largely speaking, the question of “how does the forum community continue to propagate itself in a community sense” is a thing that can be dealt with after the gaping wound that is about to be inflicted upon it is avoided/dealt with.

    We’re not going to be attached to the PA comic any longer, nor are we really going to be in the PAX orbit short of some ReedPOP exec getting concussed hard enough to go “PAX NEEDS A GOOD OLD FASHIONED AUGHTS STYLE INTERNET FORUM” and swooping in to buy the board from PA Corp, so whatever draw of new blood is going to be something that depends on whatever the forum is known for in the wider internet after shit comes and goes (we don’t have the inertia of ResetEra where everyone in the games industry posted on NeoGAF and jumped ship when it became clear that ownership was going ot allow the old board to fester into an alt right gamers den, for example).

    Preserving what’s here, particularly the people, and maintaining a steady ability to keep the successor materially afloat, should be the main focus.

  • DhalphirDhalphir don't you open that trapdoor you're a fool if you dareRegistered User regular
    preserve what we have before we worry about what we should become, ideally, yes.

This discussion has been closed.