AN UPDATE AND GOOD NEWS ON THE FUTURE OF C B NING WEBSITE!

[thereallyniceman]

First of all I would like to thank everyone for being so understanding when I announced that I will need to close the website. I really appreciate your kind wishes.  I apologise for not answering posts and emails but I have not been idle. My son and I have been compiling archive back-ups of the data on the website and I am pleased to announce that my friend, site member, banjoist and Web Developer Russ Chandler, who is based here in the UK, has agreed to develop a new website for us.  Unfortunately the current (old Ning 2 version) of Classic-Banjo Ning would be impossible to simply transfer as it is, and for those who have offered to help/hosting etc. here is a brief breakdown of why a newer website version is needed. It will, of course, be down to Russ on how he wishes to proceed.

The Current Ning site runs on Ning 2 (which is being phased out) which does not provide somewhere to run our own server programming and databases. The music library, tutor books, recordings and various other sections therefore retrieve their content from a separate server, classic-banjo.com, using JSONP and JavaScript. Ning supplies the surrounding pages, while the other server supplies much of what appears inside them.

Our separate server uses an old German CMS (content management system), Redaxo 4, with custom programming accumulated over about sixteen years. Some of it is in German, and it has been patched around the edges to keep it working with newer PHP versions and various NING glitches. We learned as we went along, so each section has its own little ways. The recordings, for example, draw on an iTunes catalogue as well as the audio files, while other sections depend on database records, particular folder structures and carefully named scans. Copying the files would not, on its own, reproduce the working site.

We would not be comfortable handing it over as a system for someone to maintain, and we cannot take on supporting a transfer of the existing installation. It would be a poor thank-you for an offer if your first job were to spend months discovering why something only works when three apparently unrelated files are left exactly where they are.

What we can offer is the material itself, properly packaged so that something can be built around around it without having to excavate Redaxo first.

We are already preparing preservation archives containing the original scans, music, photographs, recordings and other files, together with the associated catalogue information in JSON. That includes titles, composers, arrangers, performers, captions and the links between records and their files, wherever those details are available. We are also preserving all the Ning material we can retrieve, including pages and public discussions, which is a separate job from exporting the Redaxo databases.

We are happy to provide all the data we can preserve in this form, including the metadata and enough explanation to make the relationships understandable.  Whether to retain Ning or choose another platform that the collections would no longer depend on it working in precisely the way we happened to arrange things years ago, is Russ's decision.

I am sure that Russ will post soon to set the wheels in motion.  I am so pleased that Russ offered as would hate to see my 16 years worth of scanning, editing, Photoshopping etc disappear. Please support him in any way that you can.

Ian

[Russ Chandler]

Thank you, Ian.

I'll wait until I've had a look at the handover and then we can get our collective heads together to think about what to do next. I think it is vanishingly unlikely we will stay on Ning.

But the important thing if all the wealth of knowledge on this forum, the magazines and tutors, the recordings  and the rest will remain available.

And most importantly our community.

Panic over!

[Jody Stecher]

Thank you Ian. Thank you Russ.  This is welcome news, indeed.

[thereallyniceman]

:-)

[Jake Glanville]

I was devastated when I heard the news about your ill-health and possible closure of the site.  It's the most interesting and informative one out there, and here I have to thank you for everything you've done over the years to make it so.  You've done a wonderful job, Ian, and I cannot thank you enough for all you've put into the world of classic banjo.

I'm so relieved to hear there's hope that the site may continue.  In the meantime I obviously wish you well, and trust there may be some improvement in your condition.

The Very Best of Good Wishes and Kindest Regards,

Black Jake of Norwich.

[Joel Hooks]

AMAZING NEWS!

[Andrew Paul Harris]

Thank you so much for you efforts on this site and going forward, I wish you all the best for the future and sincerely hope for improvements in your health.