UniLang

Abavagada wrote:I don't know if any of the forum moderators have access to it.

I doubt it.

As I again have more time, I'm back as a server admin.

Wth has happened to site maintenance? It seems all the developers bolted from their posts... I suppose all good things must come to an end, especially in the Age of Facebook and Reddit. RlP UniLang: 2005-2017.

2005? Just look at my join date

Anyway, is there something in particular you're complaining about? Feel free to contact us directly.

Michael wrote:Wth has happened to site maintenance? It seems all the developers bolted from their posts... I suppose all good things must come to an end, especially in the Age of Facebook and Reddit. RlP UniLang: 2005-2017.

Don't be so quick to nail the lid on the coffin of UniLang! The site still seems quite active to me. And I'm not sure if the developers have bolted from their posts, or if, like the rest of us, they've just gotten busy with life and haven't had as much time lately to work on UL. Plus, what type of development were you hoping for? Any particular improvements? Or are there specific areas that you've noticed are in need of maintenance? If so, what are they?

Michael wrote:Wth has happened to site maintenance?

There's a git repository now. Maybe try reading proycon's latest posts.

Which still needs developers. Or at least people who know what their doing.

Anyone who wants to volunteer is very welcome to. We have to be a bit careful about who is allowed what access though, since we sit on information that could ruin lives. And I'm not talking about stuff the American/Russian/Chinese etc. governments are interested in, but non-straight and non-cis people who might find themselves homeless or out of a job if the wrong person were to find out.

Honestly, what kind of site do you think Unilang is?

I can answer that for you: It's owned by a Dutch software developer who administrates it in his spare time. He even hosts the site on his personal server in his own home! As for all the forum administrators, global moderators and forum moderators? Again, we do it in our spare time, as does our second server admin.

That being said, things have been a bit slow lately on the development side, and we have noticed. The thing is, no one who has complained has ever said "I have enough knowledge to resolve at least part of this, can I help in any manner?" At least not since I became a forum admin in 2011, unless you count a few people who already had their chance and blew it.

I'm a software developer, but I don't know how can I help, maybe because I don't see any issues with Unilang. Except having too few active users, and I don't know how to attract more.

As far as access, I assume your talking about the GitHub thing? I was under the impression it was opened to just about any developers or something. As in even one's not nessicarily on this site, or interested in it. Or at least that's how it sounded to me back when it was first discussed.

As for my chiming in, I don't see any major issues with the site either, short of the language list. And Luís is actively working on that now, so my complaints are retracted.

księżycowy wrote:As far as access, I assume your talking about the GitHub thing?

That's not how I understood what she said at all tbh. I'm more inclined to guess that she means basically that they don't want just anybody to be able to access any private information of ours that's available here (e.g. in the general forum that's only visible to users who are logged in), insomuch as that's avoidable.

As for what issues UniLang currently has, well, one thing I just noticed is that I can't access the "Resource Archive" (in the bar on the top of each page, linking to unilang.org/resources.php) if I click on it. Am I the only one who can't access that?

I was actually talking about the GitHub thing, even if it's opened up development to anyone who wants to help, it still needs to be approved, and no one who can't tell working code from broken with any sort of confidence wants to do that. A few things go even deeper, for example upgrading the phpBB version.

On the other hand, yeah, it has made the whole "Unilang lags behind on the development side" even more ironic, since very few of those who complain say anything about using GitHub and their improvement not being pushed through.

Some stuff requires access to things that could screw with people's accounts, or identify them by IP. and yes, that mostly applies to global moderators and forum admins, and to a lesser degree to language forum moderators, but it's still a consideration. And sure, normal users can probably find out who I am from the info anyone who's logged in can see, not to mention what I've written on the forum, but that isn't the case for everyone.

księżycowy wrote:As far as access, I assume your talking about the GitHub thing? I was under the impression it was opened to just about any developers or something. As in even one's not nessicarily on this site, or interested in it. Or at least that's how it sounded to me back when it was first discussed.

The actual code is freely available on GitHub. Anyone can look at it, study it, make a copy and even change a few things. However, that doesn't mean everyone can deploy changes into production, for obvious reasons. Access to sensitive data is even more restricted, as Johanna mentioned, but that's not located on GitHub.

So it is freely accessible (at least on a coding level), it just comes down to any changes getting approved before they are officially implemented. Gotcha.

I do seriously wish I could help, but I know nothing about coding. I have a friend who knows some, but convincing him to get involved is another matter.

księżycowy wrote:So it is freely accessible (at least on a coding level), it just comes down to any changes getting approved before they are officially implemented. Gotcha.

Exactly. Otherwise it would be hard to prevent some ill-intentioned person from, I don't know, erasing everything or messing around with the site in some other way. Like Johanna mentioned, we had at least one bad experience in the past. Of course, people who contribute regularly can be given a free pass.

That's basically what I had thought when we were originally discussing it then. For a second there I thought Johanna meant that people would need approval before they could do anything. My mistake.

So can anyone else access the resource archive?

vijayjohn wrote:So can anyone else access the resource archive?

I can.

Years ago I volunteered to help moderate one or more of the language fora (something I have considerable experience with) and was shot down. Fool me once...

linguoboy wrote:

vijayjohn wrote:So can anyone else access the resource archive?

I can.

I can too. When you hover your mouse over the "Resource Archive" link, what's the URL it's pointing to? It should be http://unilang.org/resources.php.

linguoboy wrote:Years ago I volunteered to help moderate one or more of the language fora (something I have considerable experience with) and was shot down. Fool me once...

I remember that brief time I moderated the English forum, I wondered why you weren't a mod of it already!

dEhiN wrote:

linguoboy wrote:

vijayjohn wrote:So can anyone else access the resource archive?

I can.

I can too. When you hover your mouse over the "Resource Archive" link, what's the URL it's pointing to? It should be http://unilang.org/resources.php.

linguoboy wrote:Years ago I volunteered to help moderate one or more of the language fora (something I have considerable experience with) and was shot down. Fool me once...

I remember that brief time I moderated the English forum, I wondered why you weren't a mod of it already!

Edit:

księżycowy wrote:I do seriously wish I could help, but I know nothing about coding. I have a friend who knows some, but convincing him to get involved is another matter.

I think that's part of the challenge UL faces. Those on here who know enough about PHP and using GitHub and all usually have careers in programming and so don't have the time per se to do more coding work when they get home. And those on here who might have more time don't usually know enough or anything about PHP.