WOW! It seems there is quite a few people interested in rescuing the data from The Watchtower Observer. I don't have any PayPal or anything else, but I'm sure there is a way to fix this. As long as I do get money to save the data, I will contact Saxotech and order an export of them as soon as everything is in order. Is there anyone who is thinking about puting them online? Is there anyone who can import tem in a PHP database, as an example - and make the site keep on living? Of course - The Watchtower will be breathing sukfur and flames, and will try to close it down. They have done so over the years a hell of a lot of times, but before they had quite some tougher people at my ISP. It would be great if anyone could actually HOST the site from now on. For the time being, [email protected] is working, but should that (temporarilly) go down, [email protected] will do the job. It's a pain in the ass I can't afford to continue to be a plague to the Witchpower - but then again, I have been for many years. Thanks for the support everyone! I don't know the best way to send money over here, but I'm sure there is someone who knows that. From Norway it's normally best to us a bank via the net, and send directly to an account. If anyone should think of such a solution, please send me a mail, and I will provide the neccesary information an accountnumber.
Watchtower Observer site goes down
by Norm 149 Replies latest jw friends
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Kent
IT Support said:
Decide what to call the site. Perhaps Kent will be willing to sell the 'Watchtower Observer' domain name, perhaps he might want to keep it for sentimental reasons. Or rather than simply 'clone' Kent's site, perhaps a new site ought to have a new 'look and feel,' including a new name. Any suggestions?
A new look an feel will come, as the systems would be different. However, I do believe it's a good idea to keep the name. I believe "watchtowerobserver" is free as a domain. I need the old, since I also use it for business (observer.org).
Also, the site is "famous". Thousansds of pages links to the Observer, and I believe it's possible to make lots of people redirect their links. As long as the name of the site is the same, people know what to search for, and the amount of info in the site assures the searchengines to index it rather quickly. -
Pole
# Pole: "I can then convert it to SQL or plain HTML for free."
# Euphemism: "I'm a professional developer (primarily .NET at the moment, but I've done PHP/mySQL in the past) and would be happy to provide tech help."
# seattleniceguy: "I could aid in several other facets of the re-development effort, as well, such as design and development of the new site."
Euphemism, SNG,
I have experience in Java-XML-MySQL processing, so I can write an app which will allow us to move the content of the site to MySQL. Then it can be exported in any text-based format (or to another RDB), depending on what you would want to use at the DB tier of the new site.
Norm,
Once the financial aspects are sorted out, I would take care of the initial data pre-processing. I hope if they are getting paid for the conversion, the XML they sell us will be reasonably consistent.
IT Support and others,
I guess at some stage we may want to move this discussion to Campaign and Strategy? -
IT Support
Kent,
I don't have any PayPal or anything else, but I'm sure there is a way to fix this.
If you don't mind opening a Paypal account, that would be the easiest way to transfer the money to you. So far as I can see , there is no problem opening one from Norway.
Just go to www.paypal.com and click on the Sign Up button.
As long as I do get money to save the data, I will contact Saxotech and order an export of them as soon as everything is in order.
Brilliant, thank you Kent.
Some further questions:
- Would you like us to each individually send our money to your Paypal account, or would you prefer if one of us collected all the funds and transferred it in one go?
- What media would Saxotech use to deliver the data? (If DVD, it would possibly limit who would be able to duplicate the data.)
I believe "watchtowerobserver" is free as a domain. I need the old, since I also use it for business (observer.org).
Sounds good to me.
Also, the site is "famous". Thousansds of pages links to the Observer, and I believe it's possible to make lots of people redirect their links. As long as the name of the site is the same, people know what to search for, and the amount of info in the site assures the searchengines to index it rather quickly.
Makes sense.
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Kent
I was ust reminded about a fact I had forgotten. Deb [edit] purchased watchtower_observer.org and watchtower_observer.com last year for use if the site was moved, and now is the time to use one of them, I guess.
The domains are paid for, but not in use at the moment. I don't - however - know anything about what software is awailable on the server, but it should probably be possible to use PHP. If not, it's possible to change the domain to another server as well.
So - again I have to give a big thank you to Debbie - who once more has come to my help by seeing possibilities before they were really there :)
Just a short message about the status of domains.individual's name removed by request ~ Scully
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Kent
* Would you like us to each individually send our money to your Paypal account, or would you prefer if one of us collected all the funds and transferred it in one go?
* What media would Saxotech use to deliver the data? (If DVD, it would possibly limit who would be able to duplicate the data.)The best would be, of course, if it all came in one go. I know I can set up a PayPall account, but it's a drag to have all that shit. I did have one a while ago, on the Observer, and the few money who came in was always returned to the senders because it was too little to transfer to Norway according to rules :))
Maybe Simon can help out here? He do have a PayPal account, doesn't he? Hellooooo Simon - is it possible to use your account - or is that a problem?
I do only know that Saxotech will export the data as XML, and all image files as JPG. Probably I will have the files on a CD or something, which should be fine for sending. But, I guess I could have the data sent to those who wants to run the site online. That shouldn't be a problem.
Besides that. Deb purchased watchtower_observer.org and watchtower_observer.com last year for use if the site was moved, and one of those could be used. They are payed for, and the URL will be pretty much the same as before as well. Deb has certainly had a good hunch of possible problems, and once again she has proven to have her head correctly mounted on top. LOL.
I just received this information as well:
The domains are not "hosted" at present, they are only "parked". You or someone else would have to rent space on a server and point the DNS to the server address, then the domains would be properly hosted somewhere.
PHP and MySQL, etc., are available on most hosting services. Before a hosting service is selected and paid, you just have to look at the hosting service website to see if they offer these things.
There is one possibility not yet mentioned....that is to rent a separate server for USD $109 per month and set up the domains on that server. I recommend this knowing that $109 a month is a lot of money for xJW's to offer, but.....having the domains on their own server would keep the person running the server from trouble to a certain extent. If WT was successful in closing the server legally, no other business would be harmed in the process.
I do server administration, you might be aware of that already. If the money is there I would rent the server and set it up and also maintain it, move the existing domains to the new server, etc. Someone else would have to build the site, I have limited time and only part of the necessary skills.
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Kenneson
I just tried to open a Pay Pal account, but it probably won't be verified with my bank until Tuesday or Wednesday since Monday is Martin Luther King's birthday observance. If my $25.00 is needed sooner than that someone let me know and I can get a check into the mail right away.
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Quotes
I'm in for $50, but will have to be PayPal. (I know you're already at $500, but what the heck, lets make sure this happens).
Let me know who is collecting the money and I will PayPal it to them posthaste? Then that person could send one International Money Order to Kent, and Viola, problem solved.
As for the new site rebuild: if I read correctly, Pole is already offering, and suggesting Open Source technologies (MySQL/PHP) which would forever free Observer/Kent of the danger of this happening again. I know that Simon prefers MS (SQL Server/ASP) and they are great tools, but I've found that non-MS technology is cheaper for monthly hosting fees.
Pole, keep in mind that you don't have to re-invent the wheel: there are many, MANY Open Source Content Management Systems to choose from; in fact the hardest part is just the selection process itself. I have been looking at these a *LOT* lately, and my current top picks are, in no particular order, (and please don't flame me if I don't mention your favourite):
Mambo (www.mamboserver.com)
Xoops (www.xoops.org)
Xaraya (www.xaraya.com)
Drupal (drupal.org)
Another interesting one I just found today which might take a bit more work to set up (compared to the above), but is more flexible than the others and allows you to easily create custom "content" containers (which may be very helpful in this project):
Jetbox (jetbox.streamedge.com)
Here is another one I discovered yesterday. Not a CMS, rather it is an application framework for fast Web application development, in Ruby (???) (so I guess you'll need a host with mod_ruby -- not a problem if we're talking about a dedicated host, but that puts monthly cost up to ~$80-120/month, unless you can find a cheap virtual host which features ruby support).
Ruby On Rails (www.rubyonrails.com)
Another option is to do it as a "Wiki" -- but unlike a true wiki, where anyone can change a page, lock it down so only approved members can add/edit pages. The MediaWiki application should scale well (it is used to drive the Wikipedia project):
MediaWiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki)
Caveat: The strength of a Wiki application is also it's weekness for our needs; it is up to the page editors to maintain good organization but they are free to build and create any page they want and *EASILY* link those pages together (which can lead to a mess in some cases); whereas a CMS (or better yet a CMF: Content Management Framework) is more about a site architect initially designing a rigid framework and then just filling in forms to provide data into that framework. Also, it would likely be nearly impossible to convert the existing data into a WikiWeb format, so that is not good; whereas I'll bet a knowledgable coder could export into a carefully designed CMF very directly.
Anyhow, just my $.02
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BrendaCloutier
Kent, setting up a personal paypal account is free and there are no charges to accept money on a free account when accepting money from another paypal account.
From there you can download the money to your checking account.
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Elsewhere
Kent... just let us know when the paypal is ready and the email address.