The end of the Sea Slug Forum ?

June 3, 2010
From: Bill Rudman

I am afraid the Australian Museum is unable to support the Sea Slug Forum in its present form for more than a few days.

You have probably noticed the Forum has not been running very efficiently in recent weeks.  There have been problems with the Forum since it was hacked into about 2 years ago. Because the museum web team no longer has an in-house developer/programmer, outside contractors need to be hired - at considerable expense - whenever a problem arises. Unfortunately they do not always fix the problem and at times have actually exacerbated problems.

At present the Forum runs dynamically from a database, which means that pages are created when requested. The Museum recognises the archival value of the existing material on the site so it is planning to 'flatten' the site - a process in which the data would be removed from the database and the site would become a collection of html files. Theoretically what you see now is what you would get when it is flattened. However searching the data will not be as good and may not be 100% accurate.

Moreover it will be the end of the Forum as a functional website. No more messages will be posted, no more Fact Sheets and no corrections or updates.

I have been trying to find find another institution or a source of funds to host the site so the Forum can continue as at present but time seems to have run out. It is difficult to get any information on how much it would cost to fix the existing coding problems with the Forum, but it has been indicated that an outside contractor could charge $15-20,000 (Australian) to fix the problems and upgrade the software but it may be less. We would also need ongoing expenditure of software maintenance and server costs [$5000 a year??]. The Forum is built with ColdFusion [an Adobe program] which delivers the pages from an SQL database.

I am at present trying to find some way of converting the Forum to a different operating system with much smaller operating costs. If this proves successful I would be able to host the site myself. I wish my knowledge of computer programming was equal to the task but it is not! Please pass this message on to anyone who you think may be able to assist. An archival copy of the database is going to be kept so hopefully, the many unanswered messages on the Forum, will be retrievable if I can find a way of resurrecting the Forum.

I am sorry for this short notice but I have only found out today that the website needs to close in a few days.

There is little point in posting any more species based messages. However if you wish to post a Good bye message feel free to do so

Since 1998 when the Forum began I see 14,523 messages have been posted. They range from simple identifications to important new biological discoveries. I had hoped the Forum would be an example of how the world wide web could be a vital tool in bringing amateurs and professional scientists together to learn from each other. I give my thanks to those in the Museum who have supported the site, to my professional colleagues worldwide and all those great and enthusiastic amateurs worldwide, who have made my dream a reality. Unfortunately I had thought this would become a permanent site.

I will continue to try and resurrect the site as a functioning forum. If so it will have the same address.

Bill Rudman

billr@seaslugforum.net

Rudman, W.B., 2010 (Jun 3) The end of the Sea Slug Forum ?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23712


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