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[shavethewhales]

So as you guys have probably seen, we went down once again due to a bandwidth overrun. The last time this happened, I actually increased my hosting package for the first time in 19 years to accommodate. We are actually at the top level package for the small host that I use, and it should be more than plenty for a small site like this. I don't know what is causing the massive bandwidth spike that we have been dealing with this year, but I suspect it is AI bots scraping the site for content.

This forum has been having issues for a long time now anyway due to legacy problems since our software is a hodge-podge of 20 years of tinkering and updates. I have been meaning to work on it more for months, but I am incredibly busy at my actual job, and I just don't have the time to mess with code like I used to, especially with how much more complex things have gotten over the last two decades.

I think my last solution is this: I'm going to archive these boards and then install a fresh new forum. Everyone will have to sign up again, but it should run much smoother, and hopefully be easier to manage on my end. I think I am going to go with ElkArte, but if that doesn't work then it will be phpBB.

[kbosch1]

Appreciate the work, Shave.  Didn't realize how much I enjoy the site, until it's gone! 

[Duelist]

Yes thank you very much for all your hard work Shave!  Wish I could help you with the issues.

[biscuitcreek]

Your efforts are appreciated, Shave!

[Lampie]

Will the current site be in a visible archive or will it just be dormant on your server without public access?

[shavethewhales]

So obviously I missed my own deadline again, mostly because I decided to take a trip this past weekend instead of finishing the new forum install. I did get a new hosting package, but haven't moved the site over yet. The bandwidth spike issue is still concerning to me, and I don't know if changing hosts will fix that or just cause it to spike further and be even more expensive to deal with.

I've downloaded the new forum software and need to get it set up on the new host this week to try it out before moving everything over. It looks good so far, but there are some drawbacks since it is a less-used software and isn't maintained as much as SMF or PHPBB.

With the big announcement coming up on the 14th, it's a bad time to be switching over, but at this rate our bandwidth may not even last to the 14th so it is what it is.