[theforum] Zombie!

[Erika Meyer]

Thanks William, for writing!

It seems like web design/dev has moved far beyond what it was when we
started, and many other sites out there do what we did, but in a more
up to date way.

I think that to continue on, a re-thinking would not be out of line.

My recollection is that the real problem w/ moving evolt forward has
been structural - who decides what/how and who does what/how.

I am moving more into multimedia myself...

but I'm here.

Erika



On Sun, Jun 2, 2013 at 7:42 AM, William Anderson <neuro at well.com> wrote:
> Hello fellow evolt-type peoples!
>
> To paraphrase that learned scholar, the renowned Professor Elmer J.
> Fudd PhD, things are vewy vewy quiet! :)
>
> I have a suggestion just as I've both reactivated my evolt.org
> donation subscription (Dave K, for your books, $20/month sir!) and
> have been working on reconstructing the Browser Archive to include
> funky stuff like external mirrors to nominally save us space and
> increase our coverage (I'm hoping to get some stuff into github soon).
>
> But the suggestion comes loaded with some sticky questions, and a
> gentle reminder.
>
> First, the gentle reminder.  Evolt.org is 15 years old on Saturday
> 15th December 2013.  We should try and do stuff for and on that date
> if we can.
>
> Now, the sticky questions.  The tl;dr, in case you're in a hurry:
> EVOLT IS BROKEN, WE CAN AND SHOULD FIX IT.
>
> Dave, how are the finances doing?
>
> Folks, why are core evolt.org pages not being rendered without
> authenticating first? (I had to sign in to reach the donate page!)
>
> Are we considering doing the upgrade to the latest version of Drupal,
> whatever that may be?
>
> Are we going to reconsider our hosting platform to save some money?  I
> think the hosting bill is still around the ~ $45 a month mark, a cost
> which could get us a virtual machine with similar if not increased
> storage on Amazon Web Services (a service which could not only host us
> one or two virtual machines (one for web, one for lists?) but also
> handle our DNS which would stop us having to futz around with bind on
> tron, and could allow us to allow multiple finance/sysadmin team
> members access to pay for and manage stuff using AWS IAM).  I know I
> had been talking about trying to migrate tron to a more reliable
> server in France, but I think AWS makes more sense, especially
> considering the price.
>
> Are we considering mothballing the evolt.org project due to lack of
> activity on several fronts?  The website is still there, albeit
> fixably broken.  The browser archive is still there, and I think with
> a bit of help I can make it really great, partly because it's a vital
> resource, and also because I don't want to let Adrian's legacy of
> creating it in the first place go to waste.  The lists are still
> there, with thelist and thechat still getting some conversations
> going.  The last post in here was over a year ago.  The @evolt_org
> twitter account is still active, I think it is Martin keeping that
> alive.
>
> I know some/most of us have moved on from web design, but that surely
> doesn't mean this community needs to slowly fizzle out.  Perhaps we
> can laser focus back on creating a great web design community?
> Perhaps not solely relying on just mailing lists and submitted
> articles?  Perhaps we can refocus on an overall technological
> perspective?  Perhaps we can refocus on being just a social place for
> tech types to hang out, chat, shoot the shit, brainstorm, collaborate,
> enjoy each other's company, maybe like a hackernews that predates
> hackernews but with more ... I don't know?  Joie de vivre?
>
> It's coming up on six months to the FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY of this
> website.  I put that in caps because the FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY of
> ANYTHING on the web is surely something to be celebrated.  More time
> has passed between evolt being created and now, than had passed
> between THE ACTUAL WEB being created and evolt being created.  We have
> done awesome stuff, and I think we keep doing awesome stuff.  I'm sure
> le sysadmin team (including my ownsome self) would enjoy migrating
> stuff to AWS and taking advantage of their highly available services.
> I'm sure John, Martin, Mike and co would love taking on the challenge
> of migrating to a new version of Drupal.  I'm sure we'd all love to
> attempt a redesign (a PROPER one, not a half arsed one where we start
> thinking about it and then nothing happens) of evolt.org using awesome
> new web tech.  We could try the competition idea again to try and
> attract attention and hopefully reinvigorate the community.  We would
> all love to push for more outreach to remind people what evolt.org
> was, is and can/will be.  I know we'd all love to think of more things
> we can do to celebrate FIFTEEN FRICKIN' YEARS OF THIS AWESOME EPIC
> BEAUTIFUL RESOURCEFUL FANTASTIC SEXEH SMART FUNNY BALLS-OUT-AMAZING
> COMMUNITY.  Yeah, all caps for >50% of the sentence.  I went there.
>
> So this is my rough sketch of a plan.  I call it "Le Plan", but I can
> handle a rebrand if necessary.
>
> 1) Now: Ensure our finances are on a stable footing for now.
> 2) June: Hack out ideas for EVOLT15, including a redesign competition.
> 3) July: Migrate existing theplanet infra to AWS for cost effectiveness
> 4) August-November: Implement ideas hacked out in June/July, including
> redesign implementation
> 5) ???
> 6) December: Profit. With Content, Resources and Lurve!
>
> We have done great things together.  Let's do some more.
>
> EVOLT!
>
> -n
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