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Topic: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated (Read 250 times) |
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rtr2
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #4 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 2:02pm » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 1:30pm, Edja wrote:| But is it feasable for you to move all this information to another environment ? |
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I have no idea. Wikitext isn't standardised, so even if there were some means to 'bulk import' the content to another host (371 pages at the last count, plus numerous images) there would no doubt be a lot of editing to do. One thing it would presumably be almost impossible to 'move' is the syntax-coloured code listings; I don't suppose any other Wiki hosting site knows about BBC BASIC syntax! I'm sure (the new owners of) Wikispaces are well aware of the difficulties, and are hoping that many people will cough up the cash to keep their wikis going.
Quote:| I wouldn't mind either a yearly contribution but if that is complicated (accountancy, invoicing, taxes, ...), will there be an alternative? |
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I am open to suggestions, but this sounds like a difficult nut to crack.
Richard.
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Matt
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #5 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 2:22pm » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 2:02pm, g4bau wrote:| I am open to suggestions, but this sounds like a difficult nut to crack. |
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Would paying for it privately, be an alternative? You could request annual private donations by post, say, and I'm sure there would be enough of us to reimburse you.
If all else fails, I would be willing to pay Wikispaces direct as a private payment. This would keep the finance of it out of your books. There's no guarantee this could be kept going long term, but it might hold it for a while.
I started printing off the pages as a back up, but didn't realise just how many there were!
Matt
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rtr2
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #6 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 2:47pm » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 2:22pm, Matt wrote:| Would paying for it privately, be an alternative? |
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It would be difficult to argue that a payment connected with my primary product is 'private'.
Quote:| I would be willing to pay Wikispaces direct as a private payment. |
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That would presumably require you to acquire ownership of the wiki. I don't even know whether a transfer of that sort is possible.
Quote:| I started printing off the pages as a back up, but didn't realise just how many there were! |
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Much easier to export it as a zip! You can choose to do so as Wikitext, HTML or PDF. At one time somebody used to do a regular export to the Yahoo! group to provide a read-only backup of the wiki.
Richard.
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Malcolm
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #7 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 3:58pm » |
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Quote: At one time somebody used to do a regular export to the Yahoo! group to provide a read-only backup of the wiki.
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Well I did initially, but the option to bulk export was withdrawn from members. It looks like Richard did the last update.
The bulk download option is still there for the Admin or Organizer.
Quote:| If you no longer wish to keep your wiki active, you may allow your wiki to expire and it will be deleted. If you would like to export the contents of your wiki you can download the contents of your wiki in wikitext, HTML, or PDF format. |
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As for linking from somewhere else: it is easy to put in a link via the Utilities Manager. The search might get lost but if it was in a PDF then the pdf reader search facility might work reasonably well. Extracting the example code might be easier from HTML or "wikitext" though. Then again there is no real downside in putting both online. And there is plenty of space in the forgotten Yahoo files.
Malcolm.
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rtr2
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #8 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 5:51pm » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 3:58pm, Malcolm wrote:| Well I did initially, but the option to bulk export was withdrawn from members. |
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Oh, I didn't know they had made that change. It's a pity, especially if the owner has 'gone away'.
Quote:| It looks like Richard did the last update. |
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In November 2011! I've now replaced it with a more up-to-date (although not current) version.
Quote:| And there is plenty of space in the forgotten Yahoo files. |
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Probably the only beneficial change arising from the Neo debacle was the increase in file storage from 100 Mbytes to 2 Gbytes. But the files are accessible only to members so I would still advise uploading to Wiggio and pasting the public link into a forum message if you want people here to be able to get it.
Richard.
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Malcolm
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #9 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 8:09pm » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 5:51pm, g4bau wrote:It's a pity, especially if the owner has 'gone away'.
Richard.
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What am I missing?
Malcolm.
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| « Last Edit: Sep 20th, 2014, 10:17pm by Malcolm » |
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rtr2
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #10 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 9:03pm » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 8:09pm, Malcolm wrote:
In what respect "missing"? The information looks right to me Why did you reproduce it here? What relevance does it have to this forum or thread?
I have to say that I am sick and tired of your trolling.
Richard.
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rtr2
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #11 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 10:44pm » |
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And now you retrospectively edit your message to make my reply appear nonsensical. In my opinion Conforums should not let you edit a message once it has been replied to.
For the record, the deleted content was an extract from my Wikispaces profile confirming that I am the owner of the BB4W Wiki, which (surely) everybody knew anyway.
Richard.
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Richey
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #12 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 11:00pm » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 10:37am, g4bau wrote:As you may be aware Wikispaces are discontinuing their free service (other than for Wikis which are exclusively for use in Higher Education). Therefore the BB4W Wiki - which contains a vast amount of information relevant to BBC BASIC for Windows - will be deactivated on 15th November next.
Converting it to a paid-for Wiki isn't a realistic option, unless some philanthropic person wants to contribute the $50 per year cost. 
Unfortunately the URL to the Wiki is hard-coded in BB4W (Help... Wiki menu selection) so that will probably cease to work after the above date.
Richard. |
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This is a real shame. Personally I haven't really looked at the Wiki in any depth yet, having concentrated my efforts on the BB4W tutorial (been through that twice now) and the excellent BB4W documentation. It was certainly my intention to work through the material on the Wiki so I'll start to save it in PDF format. Richard, presumably this will affect (forgive me for mentioning it here on the BB4W conforum) the LB Booster Wiki too? 
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rtr2
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #13 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 11:14pm » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 11:00pm, Richey wrote:| I'll start to save it in PDF format. |
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Apparently the ability to do that is now restricted to organisers only. Perhaps you could confirm that by checking whether the export option is available to you.
Quote:| presumably this will affect the LB Booster Wiki too? |
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Yes, and my other wikis such as colourrecovery and lb4help too. That's one reason why I don't consider coughing up the $50 per year to be a realistic option: it might not seem to be expensive for just one wiki but when multiplied by four it certainly is!
Richard.
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Richey
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #14 on: Sep 20th, 2014, 11:32pm » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 11:14pm, g4bau wrote:Apparently the ability to do that is now restricted to organisers only. Perhaps you could confirm that by checking whether the export option is available to you.
Yes, and my other wikis such as colourrecovery and lb4help too. That's one reason why I don't consider coughing up the $50 per year to be a realistic option: it might not seem to be expensive for just one wiki but when multiplied by four it certainly is!
Richard. |
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Richard, I can confirm that I have been able to export and save the Wiki content in PDF format - so, it is not restricted to organisers only, which is some good news.
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Richey
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #15 on: Sep 21st, 2014, 12:01am » |
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on Sep 20th, 2014, 11:32pm, Richey wrote:Richard, I can confirm that I have been able to export and save the Wiki content in PDF format - so, it is not restricted to organisers only, which is some good news.
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Albeit not in bulk...
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rtr2
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #16 on: Sep 21st, 2014, 10:19am » |
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on Sep 21st, 2014, 12:01am, Richey wrote:
The PDF export appears to be broken anyway. I initiated one several hours ago and received the 'export complete' notification, but it still appears as 'pending' in the exports list and any attempt to download it causes Wikispaces to end up at a non-existent page!
The Wikitext export works, but since (as far as I know) no other wiki host uses the same variety of wikitext - and I'm not aware they they support a bulk import feature either - this is of limited value.
That leaves the HTML export, which works and results in a usable facsimile of the Wiki which could be hosted elsewhere, but it doesn't allow user editing or the addition of new pages.
At the Wikispaces blog the comment "Can you direct me to some other hosting service for wikitext that won’t cause extensive re-writing and reorganization?" received the reply "If you email us we’ll do what we can to help you migrate". I suppose I could try that but I'm not hopeful of a satisfactory response.
Richard.
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KenDown
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #17 on: Sep 22nd, 2014, 4:30pm » |
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Can anyone tell me how to download the wiki pages, please? Personally I think this is a disaster of the first magnitude, as the wiki is soooo helpful!
Ken Down
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rtr2
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Re: BB4W Wiki to be deactivated
« Reply #18 on: Sep 22nd, 2014, 5:43pm » |
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on Sep 22nd, 2014, 4:30pm, KenDown wrote:| Can anyone tell me how to download the wiki pages, please? |
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My understanding is that this facility is now only available to organisers, although there does seem to be some lack of clarity on this point.
As stated earlier, I have put a more up-to-date backup (in wikitext format) in the Files area of the Yahoo! group. However I remain unsure what value this actually has, if other wiki hosts don't provide a bulk import facility.
Quote:| Personally I think this is a disaster of the first magnitude |
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I suspect there are thousands of wiki owners who feel the same way about their own Wikispaces wikis. Personally I think it's highly unlikely that only 8 comments have been made in response to the announcement on their blog. It's more probable that there has been an angry reaction but they are not approving comments (one I left - quite polite in my opinion - still says 'awaiting moderation').
One thing I'm considering is amalgamating my wikis (BBC BASIC, BB4W, LBBooster and lb4help) into one - not very elegant but expedient - thus making the $50 subscription per wiki better value for money! But I still worry that once they've got fee-paying users they will increase the subscription every year, knowing that people are locked in. I hesitate to call it blackmail but that's what it amounts to.
Altogether not a satisfactory situation. I've already manually moved my Colour Recovery Wiki over to Wikia (which is supported by advertisements) but that was only feasible because of its small size (15 pages). It's not practical to attempt the same for our wiki, and anyway it makes use of facilities unique to Wikispaces (for example the BB4W syntax colouring).
Richard.
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