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Here is a chronological list of the progress: (---> see the Latest)
- 29 AUG 2013
Kramtoad posts notice of shutdown - due to spam and lost current admin
- 30 AUG 2013
Kramtoad updates to 04 SEP 2013 for the shotdown
- 01 SEP 2013
1st backup of secure.kramtoad.com (39,606 items / 255 MB via wget)
- 02 SEP 2013
Efforts to see who will do something - and find a new name
Stukka expands his kramtoad tumblr with more info & spreading confidence of future
2nd backup of secure.kramtoad.com (46,782 items / 305 MB via wget --mirror)
- 03 SEP 2013
New name is found: Scaffies
Web sites registered (.com/.net/.org/.eu/etc) - lock in the name
Tumblr account for Scaffies set up (lock in the name)
Facebook page set up (lock in the name)
Disqus account for Scaffies set up
Hosting purchased - Premium for high bandwidth, Hosting Location picked: London (privacy ..)
E-Mail account set up (stukka@scaffies.com) for starters
Initial simple single page published on the website (whipped up quickly to be ready for next day)
Coordination with Mr Kramtoad on terms, what he will say on his farewell, what we say here
Transfer of 740 MB Kramtoad site (status 2 years ago) from Mr. Kramtoad’s server
3rd backup of secure.kramtoad.com (refresher to get last changes via wget --mirror)
Stukka set up more information on his Kramtoad tumblr: expands from 1 to 4 Kramtoad pages
- 04 SEP 2013
Mr. Kramtoad announces shutdown will be around 8pm Eastern Time
Chat options researched: IRC chat picked, tested, “How to” added to single web page
740 MB Kramtoad tar.gz file does not unpack - checking with Mr Kramtoad
Mr. Kramtoad shuts down pointer to abandoned site at 8pm EST
Mr. Kramtoad leaves lenghty farewell notice, posts a picture of him, and e-Mail address
Ww are watching the #Scaffies IRC chat channel - people find it quickly and it populates
- 05 SEP 2013
Scaffies.com single web page replaced by a complete website with sub-pages
Tips & Tricks for the Chat are added on the web site
Interactive Feedback Forum is added to the website (Disqus)
Kramtoad farewell logo (with the red bar) posted
“Old Contacts” list transferred from Stukka’s Tumbler, several contacts added
“Other Sites” page added, content transferred from tumblr, email for SneakerBB added
Visits counter on the web site (script) expanded from 7 to 9 digits (just in case ...)
Google Analytics account for “Scaffies” opened and code implemented to track
More Tips added to Chat page
Stukka deletes pages on his kramtoad tumblr, so all info is only in one place (i.e. here)
Some fine-tuning of the website Scaffies.com (Look & Feel)
Fabio created a cool, new, very subtle logo and posts it on the feedback page
Logo is promptly implemented on the web site ---> its great!
New logo updated on Tumblr and Facebook page
Facebook OpenGraph Meta Tags on the web site updated (2nd time today)
Registered IRC User Scaffies and registered #Scaffies IRC Channel with password
At the end of the day, the Scaffies.com web site has been visited over 2,500 times
- 06 SEP 2013
Survey added to find out priorities and feedback - will publish interim results: 1st on Monday
Added the tiny ‘favicon’ - logo shows in the URL and on the Tab (takes a while to display)
Added the “Kramtoad gone” logo also on front page - 1 picture say more than a 1,000 words ...
Added a page with Video Links - for visual emergencies :)
Successfully un-zipped and un-tar’ed the file from Mr Kramtoad (almost 1 GB)
Been looking through the data and file structures of all 3 backups
Picture Scan Tools run across the Backups to help catalogue
Will post & email to volunteers the specific projects where we will (!) need technical help!
Added IRC Command help for Registration of Nickname to the Chat page
At the end of the day, the Scaffies.com web site has been visited over 6,000 times
- 07 SEP 2013
Added age specs for the Scaffies FB and Tumblr pages on the ‘Other Sites’ page
Renamed ‘Polls’ to ‘Survey’ and added hintthe survey no longer shows when it’s been filled out
dreamwraith02 suggested a yearly Scaffies meet & greet weekend for 2014 in the chat :-)
Order of the pages changed - hope this makes it easier for all you guys!
Second version of the Scaffies logo with the link in the picture
Scaffies Tumblr has the updated logo on it - updated description (NSFW/NC-17) and new pics ...
New Discussion Board on the Kramtoad page - we are adding multiple (focused) feedback areas
Renamed Feedback! to Public Feedback! - this is a general feedback forum
Added “Who are we?” page - fight anonymity :-)
Added Redhead Buster’s NutSmashing blog with the cool drawing to “Other Sites”
New “Master Plan” page ... with separate discussion board for what’s good and who will help
Some content adjustments on the Home page - to reflect current status / comment boards
Added the “R.I.P.” to the Kramtoad Page button
Added the “Click on Nicks to insert (IRC)”tip on the Chat page
Added a page for Stories - should be no character limit, and can be edited by poster!
Re-grouped page bottons once again, by History --> Content --> Feedback & Plans --> Others
Posted a few stories on the Stories page - for a start, some old favorites of mine :)
Added a reminder of recommended Browser and Ad Blocker to all Disqus discussion boards
Added MashinGrapes.BlogSpot.com to the “Other Sites” page (also refence on the Stories Board)
Added a new moral supporter (Scott / Boxers456) on the “Who are We?” page
Added a new moral supporter (Riley / Gumaer) on the “Who are We?” page
Added several contacts to the “Old Contacts” page
It seems people are finding us from Kramtoad: over 10,000 hits at the end of the day
- 08 SEP 2013
Two new Supporters on the Who are We page (thanks guys!)
Three adds to the Old Contacs List
We are out of responses on the survey free account! :-) we stop it rather than pay, and here is the result
--> immediate result to the survey is a new discussion / sharing board on the Video Links page
Added BB’s Yahoo Group with several hundred ball busting stories to the “Other Sites” page (and -> Stories)
@Scaffies - Scaffies is now also on Twitter: easy to stay on top of developments!
“Prettied Up” a little with a few icons / graphics - best is the nutkick round on the Public Feedback we think ..
Added a Pictures page with an explanation on how to view, comment, and submit (!) on Scaffies tumblr
--> so we now covered all “Media”: Stories, Pictures, and Video boards :-)
Added a picture to the Chat page - seemed many had trouble to find the Private Messages
- 09 SEP 2013
Added another xtube link(Sam’s ffzs) to the Video Links page (and cleaned it up a little)
Added a new “protect your IRC nick when you are away” command on the Chat page--- doesn’t work :-(
Spent a couple hours on an IRC bot to keep the #Scaffies channel safe and auto-op it (with help from someone)
Introduced Scaffies Chat etiquette (introduction)
We had to ban the first user off the Chat channel - ‘Haggar’ clearly a troll posting f-words dozens of times -
--> but illustrates the IRC channel has a lot of options previous chats didnt have (woohoo)
- 10 SEP 2013
Did some data digging in the multiple copies of old Kramtoad sites. Trying different tools to prep data.
Looked into Wordpress and Wordpress Plug-Ins, as suggested by a supporter. Still unclear what to do best ...
Happy to see over 20,000 hits on this website in the ast 6 days - the Kramtoad --> Scaffies switch works!
Think we may need to do some more simple polls as to which options to follow.
Pictures & “Wouldn’t it be fun?” possibly on Picasa with comments? Would allow easy upload of old pictures, too
- 11 SEP 2013
Too weird a date to do much today ... [Cooper is from NYC -- was 11 then and only a few blocks away]
Added a new “how your IRC nick is protected when you are away” comment on the Chat page
Updated Front Splash Page
- 12 SEP 2013
If you are on LinkedIn, you can follow Scaffies.com there, too, now
Spend a few hours this morning looking through file structures and HTML code of the old, saved, web sites
Still waiting for community feedback on the forums - so far only very generic pointers ...
We are looking at a variety of Social Media site tools - we plan to set up sort of a ballbusting-mini-facebook :-)
Added the ‘jumper to the latest news to make it easier to get right here with one click :-)
Lots of research, reading comments and reviews, comparing features and recommendations ...:
---> with the help of David / LunarBevel we made a decision for the future of Scaffies - see the “Master Plan”!!
- 13 SEP 2013
It has begun! We are setting up the new site in parallel, and when it is ready, we just switch (the backend).
We bought a second hosting package with a LOT more bandwidth as we have right now with this.
In sizing the hosting for the new site, we found this site had 2.4 GigaByte of traffic in 10 days (and <30k hits) !!
David Lunarbevel is installing WordPress already (in progress)
On the new Scaffies site, we are reserving the No 001 account for Kramtoad, of course :-)
People have asked if we plan to set up something for donations - we likely will, since people are wanting to contribute
(so far we spent a total of about €400 = ~US$532 - we register and host in the EU, that’s why it is in € Euros)
If/when we do that, we will list every expense and every donation next to each other --> transparency!!
But that will be totally optional - we are doing OK on that end :-)
The Scaffies Team got a very sweet & nice E-Mail from the last Kramtoad Admin; he offered support and help.
We offered him to join the Scaffies Team and asked if we could share his message with all.
We (C+S) are thinking of us all as a Team by now, not C+S with help from others - we just started it
The “MashinGrapes” Ballbusting Story Blog from Bruce Lee is gone - crossed it out for now (Sites / Stories)
This weekend is Pride in Dallas, and Cooper’s birthday is tomorrow - so do not expect too much this weekend!
- 14 SEP 2013
Added NutSlugr to the Old Contacts page
Added NutButter to the Old Contacts page
- 15 SEP 2013
Added LondonBalls to the Old Contacts and Video Links (Xtube) pages
- 16 SEP 2013
David finished the setup of WordPress & BuddyPress with PlugIns on Sunday already
Updated the HomePage, MasterPlan page here (clarification, clear outdated info --> “lean & clean”)
Working on Configuration of new site (page layouts, fields, etc etc)
David and Stukka have been real busy today - the new Scaffies Social Media Site is running rudimentarily!
We need to make a decision on the theme, and then we will start on details and layouts
--> in other words: we are making great progress! :-)
- 17 SEP 2013
We got a promising draft for a Square Logo from someone who prefers not to be named
New Social Media Site Updates:
Spent several hours messing around with different Word/BuddyPress Themes to find the “killer” one
--> we think we found a good condidate!
Configured and tested the new chat, changes options etc etc - Chat works fine!
Forums and Groups also work fine. User Profiles will get some additional extensions to be ‘rich’
Had a weird database problem around noon, which was on the hosting end, and was promptly fixed
--> Next: decision on Theme, then building pages.
For those, who follow here closely, the last Kramtoad site is now available (non-working - purely an archive!)
(due to overwhelming demand, with a blurred and timeline-marked logo, to respect Mr Kramtoad’s wishes)
--> see comment on the Kramtoad R.I.P. page - we have nothing to add to that - in fact, we even removed the board to write public ‘tributes’ to Mr. K’s past work --- as a result of, and comply with, his message.
- 18 SEP 2013
SInce it came up: *this* site will remain available as archive for the future (in a static link off the new site)
Yesterday’s final news about “a certain site of the past” triggered a storm in our e-Mail boxes - in fact, the constant ‘ding’ ‘ding’ for new messages woke us up at this ungodly hour (5 am). In asking for feedback on the new Scaffies in surveys, comment boards, etc, nothing has come even remotely close to the volume this one bit of news has triggered so far - thus this lenghty comment. We did not want to post it on the ‘K’ page, as not to give this comment more weight than it should have; instead let Mr. K’s message stand for itself there.
The choice to make is Mr. K’s - not ours. He is obviously fully aware of everyone’s desire to keep it, be able to peruse through it, etc - and made his decision in light of that knowledge. We will have to understand he really wants this cut / deleted / discontinued, and put the 10 years behind him.
We respect Mr. K’s decision, and hope you will, too (we will remove all reference to the past at the end of this month completely, as we had committed to), because we also want everyone to be able to find Scaffies through Mr. K’s farewell message, since he shut the site down, and into the future, as long as he keeps his one-page site up (else you would likely not even know Scaffies existed -!!- ).
On the other hand, we all know that everything that has ever been on the Internet, cannot completely go away (technically) - there are archives and time machines, in which you can read UseNet news from the 1980s, and whatever else - and of course, in *this* community “the name” is embossed in pretty much everyone’s mind. It is similar to telling people not to say “google this or that” anymore. So what to do? Name, appearance, etc are completely off limits, and we will use an innocent term for the unspeakable, *if* we have to make any references --- the content of past contributors of the site, however, can occasionally be posted on Scaffies in the various forums (videos, pictures & contests, stories) - Mr. K set the example for that himself with the 1st stories on the Scaffies story board here: so not all is lost.
Thus picking “best of” items and adding them in a special section, must be an acceptable way without making any obvious reference to where it came from. Since most of you have kept their original names, we can even re-link previous authors and contributors to new Scaffies profiles for content credit - this makes it the individuals’ personal history, not the history of certain past web presences (which come and go, as you remember: “In The Bollocks”, the gutpunching and ballbusting sites on Ning, etc).
These new contributions would be individual posts (i.e. work-intensive to post, not bulk transfers) to spice things up, when it is slow (or a weekly thing, who knows at this point) - in this fashion we think it will make everybody happy (including Mr. K) under the given circumstances - and thus quieten the ‘howl’ of the last 12 hours ... we hope.
At the same time, it shows we can learn from those past 10 years and do some things better as a result: think about the Anonymity part, or the approach: instead of a single person (K, admin 1, admin 2) bearing the load to run it, and having the right to pull the plug (which happened 3 1/2 times), we are trying to make it a self-sufficient community ownership with a broadly spread admin team - so we look towards the future, not the past, trying to be as open, transparent, and accessible as possible.
P.S.: this will be the end of all K-related discussions - his decision was made, and it is final. Let’s move on.
Back to the now: a decision on the future appearance (“theme”) of Scaffies has been made (it is a tricky thing, if you know anything about WordPress/Buddypress). It will be “sick”, to quote David :-)
We just bought the “DynamiX” theme ($55 License + transaction fees = $57), and now continue working on putting the final designs and touches on the new (and permanent) Scaffies full social media ballbusting site. We feel quite confident to get everything ready and running on schedule (before Sept 30th)
We had another big database crash on the hosting service side, worse than yesterdays’ failure. Completely unreachable for two totally different services, both of which are based on DBs. Getting slightly worried about reliability :-(
- 19 SEP 2013
The database problem on the new site still isn’t fixed after 3 tickets and a call to Australia :-(
We came to the conclusion that we no longer feel comfy hosting there, so we cancelled that contract
We are buying different hosting elsewhere with an even bigger company... sigh, lost several days work there
3 am CDT: answered a somewhat aggressive public post on the feedback forum about K with a lenghty message
We concluded buying new hosting - this time it is in the US, not in the UK (sorry privacy!)
--> but at least it is unlimited bandwidth (!) and cheaper (just hope we do get the ~$450 back like they said)
... sleepy time - we need to set everything up from scratch again (which is not tooo bad, most time was spent on research and learning)
11 am CDT - The 1st hosting company we chose has now admitted they can’t figure the database problem out (oops!)
--> so it was a good choice to follow our gut feeling and to cancel it. They did cancel both hosting products (and confirmed the refunds for both), which is why this web site has temporarily been moved elsewhere (you shouldn’t notice the switch other than the different URL and the temporarily missing Disqus boards).
This deleted “stukka@scaffies.com” as well though - we changed the feedback address to Stukka’s Gmail - but all incoming emails are lost in that account :-(
The new hosting provider is German 1&1 in the US (Premium package) -- we do not expect any problems with one of the largest global players.
Despite this little setback, we should be well on our way to get the new site running and open for you guys on time.
Added a new site to the “Other Sites” page: ManDownBallbusting on BlogSpot - submitted via our FB page.
7:30 pm CDT - the domain switch is in full swing - with the cancellation of the hosting to the new one. By sometime tomorrow everyone should land here. I hope you can live for a few days without the discussion boards, so we do not have to move it one additional time. Thanks for your patience!
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