Andy Pierce
Member
Not necessary. It has already been fully scraped by ChatGPT.is there any way to to archive the content of ukaps.
Not necessary. It has already been fully scraped by ChatGPT.is there any way to to archive the content of ukaps.
I'm not sure this is true. I think a lot of people just want UKAPS to continue and as long as it does, then it's money well spent. Obviously that's not going to be enough for everyone and I understand the reasons for that, but as a practical matter nobody saw any financial information for years and it wasn't a problem.Few folk, if any, will take a forum with an unresolved financial history seriously. Doesn’t matter if it changes governance and there is clear blue water between old and new. And especially if the same people are involved in setting it up. I would have especially thought that it’s in the interests of the few members that had direct contact with Dan to set the record straight once and for all. If only to prove all was above board for their own sake and peace of mind.
I do know for a fact this is true, unfortunately. I don't know if it's the majority, but there's definitely people who might be inclined to be involved but have found the whole thing very alienating and are choosing to step away.What you’ve also got to consider here is that many of the members posting on this thread are perhaps among the more confident and vociferous of us. There are other members, perhaps the silent majority, that have no voice here and are quietly concerned too. Please let’s not forget them. Ultimately how the forum moves forward is up to you all.
Not in a way that makes it possible to read threads and journals from beginning to end though.Not necessary. It has already been fully scraped by ChatGPT.
almost the entire mod team has left because of this vitriol and the insistence of a conspiracy
Only person from the moderation team that is not in the staff directory anymore is Geoffrey. Other than Paulo and Tim, who else has left?Please be mindful that the UKaps is running on very few staff/mods at this particular time.
Previously there were other mods recruited by Paulo several years ago, but they have left of their own accord.Only person from the moderation team that is not in the staff directory anymore is Geoffrey. Other than Paulo and Tim, who else has left?
I have looked all the way back at old archives of UKAPS dating mid 2021 and I could not find from that point forward any new moderator. The only 2 moderators wich are not part of the team since then are Edvet and Hogan who left somewhere early in 2021. Did some moderators operate without the "moderator's" badge?Previously there were other mods recruited by Paulo several years ago, but they have left of their own accord.
That's totally understandable and absolutely nothing wrong with that. Perhaps this is a misunderstanding, but Iain clearly states that most mods have left their moderator's position because of the current situation which clearly does not translates that way in the staff member directory/list. Only Geoffrey has left (so far), presumably because of all this situation. Am I missing something here?Mods go on holiday, family health issues occur.....etc.
I have no official say in this, but surely that is the voice of reason?I'm happy to accept a statement by a majority of the old moderators that they accept the financial past and draw a line.
I made it simple for a decade, now this will be super complicated to pull off in terms of a society, I managed the Team, I managed the forum Admin duties, I managed the Server, the Mods looked out for issues on froum, ensured posting was adequate and members were in line with our policies, and we dealt with them. The members created the content and most of the time self moderated the forum anyway!
@LondonDragon has done an amazing job and I'll be honest one of my main motivations for wishing the forum to continue is that I owe the forum a lot, not in financial terms, but in the platform it has afforded me, and the knowledge I have gained from our members.is there any way to to archive the content of ukaps.
And that is very sad, because Paulo has made this technically possible.This will be my last post on UKAPS for the foreseeable future....
The bottom line is this shouldn't have escalated, full, rapid and clear financial transparency could have shown this to be just a storm in a teacup. The lack of it doesn't inspire confidence.
If you don't accept what has been provided, just ask the team to delete your account and move on! I think everyone has better things to get on with in their lives!! If this keeps going as it is and for member(s) that seems to just want Dan's head on a stick, then its a lost cause and then who is going to want to volunteer anyway?
I'd agree with @ElleDee personally I'm more than happy to accept that there hasn't been any financial impropriety and that the money that should have gone to UKAPS has gone to UKAPS.I'm not even saying that it's unimportant per se, I just can't get worked up when I haven't seen any real evidence of maleficence.
And what useful purpose is discussing it going to achieve? Let us draw a line under it and move on. @Wookii has laid out the legal situation, we need to comply with that and then move forward.@Onoma1 is right, if there had been full and rapid financial transparency we wouldn’t still be here discussing it.
That is also my position: "I think a lot of people just want UKAPS to continue and as long as it does, then it's money well spent."I'm not sure this is true. I think a lot of people just want UKAPS to continue and as long as it does, then it's money well spent. Obviously that's not going to be enough for everyone and I understand the reasons for that, but as a practical matter nobody saw any financial information for years and it wasn't a problem.
Sounds very good (unasked for advice) to me, very similar to how the gaming community ran there forums and servers I was a part off. We all 'chipped' in when needed, complete transparency. Back end was easy to run as most of us was competent with software and config files etc - so we all took turns ( I did my watch) at the back end and updating setting up game servers and mods/updates. One of the members was an accountant and a couple of members was 'root users'.I've run big forum, bigger than this and seen societies set up and down. My (unasked for) advice is that although setting up societies and committees sounds like a great way to safe guard things, actually it's really difficult to get enough people to committ consistantly to the formal structures that comes with all that. You need AGMs, chairpeople, treasurer, minutes, account etc. etc. as soon as you go formal, you get complicated.
I never assumed that society in the title meant the forum was set up in a formal manner. I assumed, like the majority of forums based on a shared passion, there was someone(s) that had put the time in to set it up and from there mods volunteer time to help running and people offer help towards the costs of servers and software.
I agree a seperate bank account is a helpful thing - I don't know if that was in place or not, that's how I always did mine money going in/out of that. If only for the person running things to keep on top of whether there is enough to cash to keep things going. I frequently topped mine up with my personal funds when the money from sponsor/advertising/donations were enough - which is more the direction these things go that making a fortune. Honestly I'd be impressed with anyone making enough money from a forum these days to in any way compensate for the time spent on it.
The only part of the situation I agree with is that if a mod raised a concern to me I'd be happy to show the costs/income, but I can also understand being upset about someone questioning your intergrity, which is how it would feel no matter how well intentioned. Tracking cash flow seems like the only big complaint and I would tend to look at solutions that just targetted that.
This is a rather long way around to say, my advice would be pick an admin, pick some mods (if you need more than you have), use a seperate bank account and keep the mods updated on the cash flow situation as needed e.g. are there enough funds to cover expenses and otherwise let things tick over. I would predict that if you start getting formal you'll struggle to maintain it - for something this size it just adds more work than it has benefit.
Finally, I know how much work moderating a forum is behind the scenes, all have you that have or are doing it have done an excellent job. I would say this is one of the best moderated forums (from a user perspective) I'd come across.
is there any way to to archive the content of ukaps.