Forum Administrator/Moderator Appreciation Thread

[ZLoth]

I'm surprised no one has done this before, and sometimes it takes some downtime, but....

Here is an appreciation to the forum administrators and moderators who keep AARoads up and running and the place that it is.

[kurumi]

+1 to that.

It's like a gated community, but welcomes newcomers; if you're interested in roads, and not a troll, you can find a home here. The tent is big enough that historians, road trippers, sign collectors, fictional highway buffs, TV commercial aficionados, and people in the industry (and more) can belong.

There are currently 4,669 members here. How many of them got started, and expanded their interests and talents, primarily because this forum exists?

I'm glad we didn't all end up in some discord. Instead, we have searchable forums and a public wiki. Definitely "giving back" to the world in the old-fashioned sense of the internet.

[MikieTimT]

+2

Thanks for the countless and thankless (at least until now!) hours sacrificed in the service of roadgeekery.

[Rothman]

+3!

[Big John]

Thank you for doing a thankless job.

[Hunty2022]

+4!

[jlam]

I'll fifth that.

+4!

Plus twenty? You hardly have jurisdiction to do that

[kphoger]

Thank you for doing a thankless job.

Yep.  Thanks for putting up with our childlike behavior, guys.

[74/171FAN]

Thank you for doing a thankless job.

Yep.  Thanks for putting up with our childlike behavior, guys.

Can I say "Plus 277" then? 

[freebrickproductions]

I'm gonna second/third/fourth the above comments. This forum is honestly an enjoyable one to browse.

[Alex]

Greatly appreciate the comments everyone! While I will be the first to admit that the forum has its issues, it is still a place where the road community can get together, commiserate, rant, etc. If it was not written before, we hit the 15 year mark with the forum in January, and we could not have kept it going without the encouragement and support of you guys and many others in the road community.

There are times when I want to just throw in the towel and call it good, especially when the forum goes down or major issues with former members arise. When forum problems take over every aspect in my personal life until I get them resolved, that's when I think about closing it the most. And I will be the first to admit that I hate it when I am tasked with picking a side, especially if I know both parties involved...
But closing the forum would leave us all with Facebook likely as the main way to talk roads, plus platforms like Discord. What I like about the forum is the ability to search for previous topics and posts, whereas in Facebook, if you don't see a post within a short period of it being made, you likely may never know it existed. Couple that aspect with the unfriendly (IMO) method to search for previous posts in a group...

I also find the posts made here are a huge resource when it comes to researching a road construction project. The comradery is great as well, and I have gotten to know several members offline over the years as a result of this forum. I know that the photo aspect could be better, given that you need to host pictures independently of the forum, so not everything is perfect.

There are times where our moderators butt heads with members. There will always be the aspect that roadgeeks are more anal about their own area, and thus believe they are the local authority for anything regarding to roads in said areas. So that undoubtedly is one of the reasons where disputes arise. Other disputes also cause some members to leave for good. I would prefer the forum to be welcoming for all with an interest in roads, but a negative experience can leave some feeling that is not the case.

As long as their remains an interest in the forum, I'll strive to keep it going.

[Alex]

Is this thing on? Well it appears to be the case following many hours of mind numbing database work. Basically reconstructed the forum in an entirely new database, while making sure the table structure matched from SMF 2.0.19 to SMF 2.1.4. The messages table alone for the forum is 1.048 GB in size, so had to partition that into several smaller files to do the import.

This upgrade should end the long load times and time outs associated with the PHP depreciation, though there is one other code issue to address.

[CtrlAltDel]

         
         
         

If you'd appreciate a long-distance ordered pizza or anything else as a token of thanks for your efforts, let me know.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Is this thing on? Well it appears to be the case following many hours of mind numbing database work. Basically reconstructed the forum in an entirely new database, while making sure the table structure matched from SMF 2.0.19 to SMF 2.1.4. The messages table alone for the forum is 1.048 GB in size, so had to partition that into several smaller files to do the import.

This upgrade should end the long load times and time outs associated with the PHP depreciation, though there is one other code issue to address.

Y'all's hard work is greatly appreciated!

[Rothman]

Glad it's back up and running.  Tapatalk is having a hard time figuring out unread and most recent posts...but, when did Tapatalk ever not have some sort of quirk?

[rickmastfan67]

Glad it's back up and running.  Tapatalk is having a hard time figuring out unread and most recent posts...but, when did Tapatalk ever not have some sort of quirk?

SMF changed that up.  That's why.

If you're on the site itself here's how it now works:

Unread Posts = All unread posts since you last logged in.

Updated Topics = Posts that you've subscribed to in the past.

[vdeane]

Glad it's back up and running.  Tapatalk is having a hard time figuring out unread and most recent posts...but, when did Tapatalk ever not have some sort of quirk?

At least the board itself now plays nice with mobile.

[Voyager]

Is this thing on? Well it appears to be the case following many hours of mind numbing database work. Basically reconstructed the forum in an entirely new database, while making sure the table structure matched from SMF 2.0.19 to SMF 2.1.4. The messages table alone for the forum is 1.048 GB in size, so had to partition that into several smaller files to do the import.

This upgrade should end the long load times and time outs associated with the PHP depreciation, though there is one other code issue to address.

Let me know if you want some help. 

[odditude]

from someone who's largely a lurker but has experience moderating and performing frontend-only admin duties on another board, thank you very much for your time and effort - I hope the frustrations and aggravations stay background noise and that this doesn't turn into a chore.

also, great job on getting the board back up after the deprecation snafu.

[Rothman]

Holy cow.  It does work better on mobile now.  Well done, team!

[BigRedDog]

Longtime lurker, very infrequent poster here. Just want to add my thanks to everyone keeping the forum up and running. Your time is appreciated!