Forum Storage Location(s)

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joedf
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

23 Oct 2013, 17:40

True that...
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jballi
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

29 Oct 2013, 19:52

nnnik wrote:You know I don't want to say that the same thing is going to happen with this new forum but you know everything I stored in Copy/Dropbox is still there, my autohotkey.net files are all lost.
It took a while, but I think we learned a few thing after the AutoHotkey.net catastrophe.

First of all, nothing, I repeat, nothing is permanent. Whether it be Google.com, Dropbox.com, or ImOnlyAroundUntilChristmas.com, nothing lasts forever. For an active site like AutoHotkey.com or AHKScript.com, members are the most fleeting commodity of all. Losing the data on AutoHotkey.net was tough but finding out that some of the data was lost forever because some of the authors were long gone was even more of a blow.

Dropbox appears to be a great solution (I'm using it for now) but it is just one of hundreds, maybe thousands, of companies offering the exact same thing. It seems improbable right now but Dropbox will fall off the face of the earth, eventually. With the large number of competitors out there, it may be sooner rather than later. Another possibility would be for Dropbox to convert to a pay-only model or reduce the free accounts to an unusable small size.

Next, people make mistakes and stuff happens. After the AutoHotkey.net data loss, we discovered that there was no viable backup. Whether it was because of irresponsibility or other reasons (Ex: corrupt backup), we'll probably never know. An AHKScript.net solution runs the risk of the same problem. Periodic backups should reduce the risk but all solutions depend on people and people make mistakes blah blah blah.

I wasn't doing it a first but I now use a two-tier method for publishing stuff on the forum. I move a copy of whatever file I'm posting to a separate and unique folder within a "AutoHotkey Forum" folder on my hard drive. I then copy that file to whatever file service I'm using at the time -- AutoHotkey.net in the past, Dropbox.com for now, and AHKScript.net or ???? in the future. I then create a post with a link to the file. If the file is permanently lost or the file service goes away, the file can be reloaded or copied to a new service. The only thing that needs to change is the link to the file on the post. Since the file copied to the file service is a point-in-time copy of the original file that was created specifically for this reason, nothing else needs to change.
just me wrote:What about attachments?
I think attachments are limited to 250K. This is plenty of space for most scripts but not near enough space for project files that may include scripts, documentation, image files, etc.

Them be my thoughts.
just me
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

30 Oct 2013, 00:20

I think attachments are limited to 250K.
Just curious, is it per thread or post? Is it documented?
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joedf
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

30 Oct 2013, 01:03

true... hmm i think total??
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

30 Oct 2013, 09:41

just me wrote:
I think attachments are limited to 250K.
Just curious, is it per thread or post? Is it documented?
post and i can change it up to 32 MB which the limit configured in php on this server. there are nightly backups and a 2 day turn around on restores. but i dont like the idea of allowing large file uploads and downloads from the same host as the forum lives on. but i only yesterday learned of the final blow to autohotkey.net. Give me some time but one idea would be to allow the uploads but then have the forum automatically use a configured account and back up and link the file to one of the other larger services. while this would add some overhead it would have the benefit of putting the upload on at least 2 places that are backed up and reduce the likelihood of permanent loss again
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 01:28

I'm currently working on the help page on using BBcode for this forum.

I would like to include some hints on best practices about file/image storage locations in this guide. Within this thread there was a discussion on best location on (permanently) storing images for forum posts. Attaching images (as attachments) to the post and using those attachments as image source was mentioned as an option.

What should be the official recommendation on this (for images as well as other files)? (External provider (potentially loosing images/files on permanent inactivity of user) or attachment (increasing storage needs, other restrictions (like size) - but existent as long as this forum exists ...)?)

What do you think?
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tank
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 07:06

As a site administrator I'm willing to commit to support allowing users to upload images into the site. As well as scripts but the later can get large and some thought abou max size per upload needs conideration. I would like to hear more input about the needs before taking action
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hoppfrosch
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 07:40

I personally almost have no need to upload files to forum, as I'm used to host my files/ahk-development on github.

I don't know the possibilities of handling attachments within this forum:
* It looks like that there is a configurable limitation upon max size per upload
* Is there a quota on the complete size of all uploads? (might make sense to avoid server overload)
* Is there a possibility to update/delete attachments by user? (assuming I've uploaded V1 of my compiled script and want to replace it with V2 - would be helpful to avoid server overload)
* Is there a possibility to restrict the upload of certain filetypes to certain subboards only? (i.e. ZIP/EXE-Files can only be uploaded to "Scripts and Functions" Subboard - would be helpful to avoid large Offtopic-uploads ...)
* ...

Given answers will influence the choosen solution as well ...
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tank
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 08:16

Awesome questions. We have no space limitations to consider on a 250 GB HOST. I don't have ready answers to the current state for the others. I can say with time I can make those realities but I really only want to support image, script, documents, and compressed file types I explicitly intend to prevent web content except in compressed files
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hoppfrosch
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 08:45

You might consider some self-imposed limitations to keep for example backup or roll-back reasonable ... Some other limitiations (like quota) might also make sense to avoid misusing the server as (offtopic)-file hosting service
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DataLife
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 08:57

hoppfrosch wrote:I personally almost have no need to upload files to forum, as I'm used to host my files/ahk-development on github.
We all know there is no perfect solution, but the main priority when deciding forum storage location should be avoiding dead links that cause scripts to be lost forever. In addition dead image links on the old forum are all over the place.

1. I think it should be encouraged for users to post their code in code boxes and attach pictures to their posts.

2. If the script is too large then add it as an attachment also.

3. If the attachment is too large then post a link to it.

Using an external hosting site for your scripts and posting links in the forum seems like a great idea. But what happens if the user disappears from the forum and their github, dropbox, copy.com, imgur, ETC... account becomes inactive. Then the hosting site has the option of deleting your content, thereby removing it from the ahkscript.org forum.

I think we should do what it takes to prevent dead links in the forum.
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tank
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 09:21

part of the agenda behind this forum is to make it so that the domain and hosting becomes owned by an entity not a person. that foundation would have a charter to protect with backups files it hosts no matter who is currently in charge. an organization vs a person decreases the risk of what we have encountered so far
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joedf
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 10:26

@hoppfrosch nice help page there! ;)
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DataLife
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 10:40

hoppfrosch wrote:I'm currently working on the help page on using BBcode for this forum.
This would have been nice to have when I was a new user.
Check out my scripts. (MyIpChanger) (ClipBoard Manager) (SavePictureAs)
All my scripts are tested on Windows 10, AutoHotkey 32 bit Ansi unless otherwise stated.
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hoppfrosch
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Re: Forum Storage Location(s)

31 Oct 2013, 13:59

joedf wrote:@hoppfrosch nice help page there! ;)
DataLife wrote:This would have been nice to have when I was a new user.
This page is mainly the original help file from phpBB. I just added some special commands (strikethrough and center) which extensions installed by tank.
My intention is to provide a "best practice" on formatting forum posts - any help is welcome ... ;-)

I'm not quite sure whether I agree with DataLife's summation on attachments. While I would like to recommend it to forum posters for the same reasons, I probably won't give up hosting my code on github, as I love the advantages of a version control system for developing purposes...

I personally would distinguish between hosting images on image hosting services - and github. Whereas deleting images after a period of inactivity is part of business conditions on most image hosting services, I consider github as a more durable storage location (have to study githubs business conditions though) ...

Nevertheless I think, the help page should recommend using attachments as DataLife described ...

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