Latest Word on Hive's Return

transistor child · gnome

The Hive was full of threads with e-books.
And there is probably a good reason they did not want to put up a static mirror themselves (security/anonymity/lack of time etc), still they gave the permission for others to do this.

The only similarities between synthetikal and the hive is that they both are forums.
I find it very hard to take a site like synthetikal serious because it has a front page full of spam/strange advertisement. I think it's great with diversity but if Synthetikal wants to survive as a interesting forum some stuff just has to change...

lurker4711 · Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:57 pm

jackoozzi · specialist

You keep talking about a server outside the us but no one ever wants to help find one that is competitively priced, syn and i have spent days and days looking for these and every time you think you have found one it traces back to the us

So instead of you all siting around talking about this why not put the time into actually trying to help its your community to

Guest · Fri Jun 10, 2005 8:24 am

How Synthetikal will survive,

As long as synthetikal has a good team of moderators, and admins,
Which it does, it will continue accelerating towards freedom of information.

We are not the only board to offer Rhodium, and hive files,
Maybee we were the first, but we really would like everyone to have their own copy,

Regardless of the amount of bitching going on,
We will keep chugging along,

The hive sold a book, erowid charges membership fees, yada, yada, yada
We Don't.
We use targeted chemistry contextual links, to support our site,

To be honest, we don't worry about the few that complain and bitch, with their agendas, as we freely state that synthetikal, is a community, not a hierarchial Snob Club,
Members are encouraged to become moderators, then admins,
We base a our judgements on compassion, and the enforcement of our ethos, but most importantly time spent on the site.

As far as who owns what, the members own their posts,
And since the hive was a portal full of members posts, then we feel that our supply of hive files, is justified.

We did the work, We made the cake, We baked it,
And all we keep hearing is all these complaints from people that want their cake for free,
And we even do that, we give away, all collected files.
We give all members copies of our Db files, and archives,.

We want people to feel comfortable, and if we can find more of the hive's old moderators, we will endeavour to re-intergrate them into our forum,

If any moderators from the old hive, want to assimilate, just pm Jackoozi, or myself, and we can earnestly try to make this a home for everyone.

syn

demorol · Fri Jun 10, 2005 3:39 pm

If you point your browser to http://www.the-hive.ws/, you'll notice something is going on. I get the mesage:"Under Construction
The domain (WWW.THE-HIVE.WS) is currently under construction". Hope it will be online soon.

mind · Fri Jun 10, 2005 7:29 pm

transistor child · gnome

lurker: Lack of time seems like a reasonable explanation to me. There is probably only 2 or 3 people that have access to the database.

And yes, I understand that the advertisements pay for the server BUT I would much rather donate a small amount instead if I found the site worth it (which I don't today), a dedicated server is pretty cheap these days even outside the US. But all you need really is someone reliable with a stable ADSL/cable-connection and a spare PC to run the software on. A forum of this size would run perfect on a 1mbit connection.

As I said before, diversity is good and I like the initiative to start Synthetikal BUT I personally think that if it's ever going to be a popular and successful forum for chemistry some changes have to be made.

jackoozzi · specialist

Its already popular and successful

java · Consumer

sle..........you left your sentence unfinished....what has to happen according to your expectations in order to see "success and popular" at this forum, of course expectations and requirements vary from member to member so it's important to hear as many opinions as possible.
The forum will be able to make those changes to try to accomodate as many members as possible, of course we know this is not a doable thing but it doesn't hurt to try and to hear ideas ..............java

transistor child · gnome

Well, the main issues I have is the very questionable advertisement (and I understand server/bandwidth needs funding, but it can be done by sponsorship OR let someone reliable host the connection on a fully encrypted server), also the logging of ip-numbers is very bad. The shop/point system just bloats the forum.

Those are of course my very own opinions, but I think that a combination of these things makes the forum look less serious and may not attract the knowledge it should.

It might be popular already, but still it lacks knowledge, it lacks activity, it lacks serious interesting threads (and I know I haven't contributed either, so maybe I shouldn't complain). What I miss from The Hive is the attraction to chemistry, the need to learn and teach. I pop in here once or a while, but it just doesn't catch my attention as The Hive did.

I never meant to offend someone by my critisism, as I said before I think this is a great initiative, that could lead to a forum that is better than The Hive was.

In short, for success (according to me Smile

:
1) Drop the advertisement/questionable links
2) Skip logging of IP-numbers (which easily could be done in 5 minutes with the phpBB-code)
3) Active moderation
4) Drop the "fun-mods" (ie point/shop-system etc)

( 5) Get a custom theme ) Very Happy

I like forums that are easy to read, easy to post, and easy to find your way around.
What I really don't like are pages like this: https://www.synthetikal.com/top15/oils.html

Smile

Guest · Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:26 am

Sle,

I agree about the top 15 Essential Oil Links,
They are jus remnants of the early days, when we were all learning,

I will happily remove that link, and the pharmaceutical link,
As I do agree, in part, and am willing to LISTEN, and REMEDY,

Something that we pride ourselves in, which has been happening since day one.

I am not opposed to removing all ADDS, if we can get the same financial support, which I seriously doubt.

Maybee you sle, would pay a small donation, but would you regularly pay it, and would you feel happy about comprimising your identity, to get funds to us,

You see, the model we are using, is a new one, and definately Out-there, and experimental,
BUT it works, and it works well,

I'm not here to battle peoples logic, and I don't see any point to really argue our case, as it is not broken,.
But I am open to opinions, and I will give them the thought they require, as to whether they will be good for synthetikal.

Sle, I do understand what you are aying, but there is also many skins to this cat,

The average cost of a good offshore dedicated server is around 300-500US/month, and this is if you shop around.

We are not an average website, we store lots of data, and that costs money,
We filled up 5gb in less than a month,
And we are being very carefull before our next move, which is currently postponed at the moment.

Over 2000 hours have been donated by myself, jackoozi, java, Indole_amine, and many more, and the risk for all of us is high.

The majority of members like the mods, so our hands are tied, but we are always assessing this.

Sle, this site is really only concerned with the chemistry,
We are a bit different to the hive, as we especially do not tolerate arrogance, or belittlement, which was rife in the hive,

With or without the old hive mod's we will grow and learn to not make the same mistakes the hive did,

We are very happy with our relationship with Sciencemaddness, and Wetdreams, and can't help but feel, the new age of hobbyist chemistry is here,
It is akin to all the great revolutions, and I feel very proud to be a part of this,

To examine the old models, and to right the wrongs, really is a tremendous feeling, that all the members here are enjoying,
We don't take shit from anyone, we preserve the fundamnentals for emotional & intellectual happiness, and it's longevity, for everyone.

I am sorry that we couldn't be more egotistic, and self serving, like alot of boards that are run for mainly egocentric reasons,
We apologise, that we won't be-little anyone, or make members feel insignificant,
We also must then apologse for the collective community that is woven into these fine threads, that we call synthetikal,.

Synthetikal, is not just a website, oh my, it couldn't be farther from the truth,

We are a community, a group of brothers and sisters, that just had enough of all the bullshit.

Syn

biobrew · Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:39 am

amen......

Guest · Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:52 am

Just to show you, we mean what we say,

Essential Oils Link, and Pharmaceutical Pharmacy, are now removed.

To any members that used our pharmacy, it is still there, you will just need to keep your bookmark for it,

pm me, if you have any problems.

syn
I say bring back Asteroids, please Primathon?

2spun · The Resistor

((syn
I say bring back Asteroids, please Primathon?)))

that would be way cool
much thanks

transistor child · gnome

Dedicated servers in europe with 100gb+ transer could be had for 70-150USD a month. But still, the best solution might be to have someone reliable to set up a encrypted server and host the forum. It doesn't require more than a cheap PC and a ADSL/cable connection.

Some sites I've found:
http://www.rackcheck.com/dedicated/index.html (from 59EUR p/m, inc 600gb traffic)
http://www.nethat.com/dedicated_hosting.php
http://www.t-hosting.biz/

Sure, it's not cheap but it's far from 300USD.

And yes, if I found SYnthetikal to be a forum i visited regularly (which I think it can evolve too) I would have no problems in contributing to server costs regularly. Where I live, bank transactions can be done anonymously so the only identity that has to be reveealed is for the one who receives the money (and that's already done here, when you get the payment for the advertisement). I'm not interested in donating 100USD per month, but let's say thats the total cost and we have 100 active members then everybody just have to donate 12USD to keep the server running for a year. That's a sum almost everybody can give up.