AARoads Forum

National Boards => Bridges => Topic started by: SteveG1988 on April 04, 2023, 11:55:48 AM

Title: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: SteveG1988 on April 04, 2023, 11:55:48 AM
Just as the subject says, is it down? and if so, is it for good?
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: roadman65 on April 04, 2023, 12:10:16 PM
I noticed that too. What's up?
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: 74/171FAN on April 04, 2023, 12:16:33 PM
My understanding is that they are moving things to their new website and that it will be back up when that is complete.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: SteveG1988 on April 04, 2023, 01:07:17 PM
Quote from: 74/171FAN on April 04, 2023, 12:16:33 PM
My understanding is that they are moving things to their new website and that it will be back up when that is complete.

Cool, odd that nobody posted about that.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: Dirt Roads on April 04, 2023, 01:26:01 PM
Surprised that someone else didn't post this, but Bridgehunter.com developer James Baughn died in late 2020.  He was so popular that it got two (albeit short) threads that didn't get merged.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=28121.msg2553506#msg2553506
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=28118.msg2553216#msg2553216

It is hard to keep a website running after the passing of someone that put so much of themselves into the development (without a corporate team willing to support it long-term). 
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: roadman65 on April 05, 2023, 01:28:58 AM
Www.Bridgehunter.com
https://bridgehunter.com/

It's a shame that it's not available for now. Great info.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: Stephane Dumas on April 05, 2023, 01:25:19 PM
The Wayback Machine have archived some parts of BridgeHunter. 
https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/http://www.bridgehunter.com/ 
The more recent one is https://web.archive.org/web/20230321112348/http://www.bridgehunter.com/
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: US71 on April 05, 2023, 02:34:33 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on April 05, 2023, 01:28:58 AM
Www.Bridgehunter.com
https://bridgehunter.com/

It's a shame that it's not available for now. Great info.

Resurrecting an older thread: I thogut arrangements had been made to preserve Bridgehunter and allow it to be updated? Sadly, it appears not to be.  "It's dead, Jim" :(
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: 74/171FAN on April 05, 2023, 02:42:41 PM
Quote from: US71 on April 05, 2023, 02:34:33 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on April 05, 2023, 01:28:58 AM
Www.Bridgehunter.com
https://bridgehunter.com/

It's a shame that it's not available for now. Great info.

Resurrecting an older thread: I thogut arrangements had been made to preserve Bridgehunter and allow it to be updated? Sadly, it appears not to be.  "It's dead, Jim" :(

As I stated above, I believe it will be back once the new site is ready to go.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: US71 on April 05, 2023, 03:06:31 PM
Quote from: 74/171FAN on April 05, 2023, 02:42:41 PM
Quote from: US71 on April 05, 2023, 02:34:33 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on April 05, 2023, 01:28:58 AM
Www.Bridgehunter.com
https://bridgehunter.com/

It's a shame that it's not available for now. Great info.

Resurrecting an older thread: I thogut arrangements had been made to preserve Bridgehunter and allow it to be updated? Sadly, it appears not to be.  "It's dead, Jim" :(

As I stated above, I believe it will be back once the new site is ready to go.
I guess I missed that memo.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: ixnay on April 06, 2023, 08:13:19 AM
What about bridgereports.com?  Is *that* down for good?
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: Max Rockatansky on April 06, 2023, 08:16:51 AM
I'm not exactly encouraged by this supposed upgrade to bridgehunter if it requires taking the whole site down for an indefinite period of time like this. 
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: US71 on April 06, 2023, 09:56:27 PM
There's a message today:

Down for Maintenance
Sorry for the inconvenience, but this site is temporarily down for maintenance. We are working to bring it back as soon as possible

This site is operated by the Historic Bridge Foundation.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: SteveG1988 on April 07, 2023, 08:44:32 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 06, 2023, 08:16:51 AM
I'm not exactly encouraged by this supposed upgrade to bridgehunter if it requires taking the whole site down for an indefinite period of time like this. 

The offical website for the Formerly BBC Sci-Fi Sitcom took months of being down to migrate to a new server.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: Hot Rod Hootenanny on April 08, 2023, 01:07:58 AM
Bridgehunter has been down for 3 weeks, I guess.
When James Baughn passed away (unexpectedly), he didn't leave any instructions as to how to keep the site up and running.
The folks who now maintain the site (Historic Bridge Foundation) knew a day would come in which the current Bridgehunter site would be unsustainable and a new site was being worked upon. I guess that crash came sooner than they expected.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: Scott5114 on April 09, 2023, 01:58:36 PM
Wonder if the culprit is PHP 8, the same upgrade that killed the chat here.

Whatever the PHP folks did with this version sure did a number on backward compatibility. (And people wonder why I prefer Perl...)
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: ixnay on April 18, 2023, 08:56:30 PM
Quote from: Hot Rod Hootenanny on April 08, 2023, 01:07:58 AM
Bridgehunter has been down for 3 weeks, I guess.
When James Baughn passed away (unexpectedly), he didn't leave any instructions as to how to keep the site up and running.
The folks who now maintain the site (Historic Bridge Foundation) knew a day would come in which the current Bridgehunter site would be unsustainable and a new site was being worked upon. I guess that crash came sooner than they expected.

How did he die?
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: Alex on April 18, 2023, 09:19:02 PM
Quote from: ixnay on April 18, 2023, 08:56:30 PM
Quote from: Hot Rod Hootenanny on April 08, 2023, 01:07:58 AM
Bridgehunter has been down for 3 weeks, I guess.
When James Baughn passed away (unexpectedly), he didn't leave any instructions as to how to keep the site up and running.
The folks who now maintain the site (Historic Bridge Foundation) knew a day would come in which the current Bridgehunter site would be unsustainable and a new site was being worked upon. I guess that crash came sooner than they expected.

How did he die?

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=28121.0
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: IowaTraveler on May 03, 2023, 10:55:32 PM
The website is back up, albeit a very bare-bones version of it.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: Max Rockatansky on May 03, 2023, 11:01:20 PM
Yuck, that's a pretty subpar interface so far.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: SteveG1988 on May 08, 2023, 12:26:49 AM
It's a work in progress, rather have this than nothing at all.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: Max Rockatansky on May 08, 2023, 12:30:28 AM
The search function worked reasonably well provided the name you searched is somewhat distinct. 
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: bugo on June 15, 2023, 12:52:01 PM
Quote from: ixnay on April 18, 2023, 08:56:30 PM
Quote from: Hot Rod Hootenanny on April 08, 2023, 01:07:58 AM
Bridgehunter has been down for 3 weeks, I guess.
When James Baughn passed away (unexpectedly), he didn't leave any instructions as to how to keep the site up and running.
The folks who now maintain the site (Historic Bridge Foundation) knew a day would come in which the current Bridgehunter site would be unsustainable and a new site was being worked upon. I guess that crash came sooner than they expected.

How did he die?

Instead of providing you a link. I'll just tell you what happened. He fell to his death while hiking.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: ixnay on June 20, 2023, 09:38:41 PM
Quote from: bugo on June 15, 2023, 12:52:01 PM
How did [James Baughn] die?
Quote

Instead of providing you a link.

I wasn't expecting a link.  Word of cybermouth would have been fine.  I didn't think Mr. Baughn was that famous, though I had never heard of him until I discovered this thread. No need to be snarky, bugo.

QuoteI'll just tell you what happened. He fell to his death while hiking.

Thank you.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: roadman65 on November 14, 2023, 02:57:46 AM
https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=missouri/broadway/
Here is one that is up, that sort of is like BridgeHunter.
Title: Re: Bridgehunter down?
Post by: edwaleni on December 10, 2023, 01:06:24 PM
The site address and data was taken over by:

Historic Bridge Foundation.

Historic Bridge Foundation is a 501(C)(3) organization. This project has been funded in part by a grant from the Fondren Endowed Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Burdine Johnson Foundation.

Since the original site was in effect the accumulation of years of information, it will probably take a few years to migrate it.