Migration of ExifTool forum

[Phil Harvey]

I'm thinking forward to my eventual retirement from Queen's University, and wondering about alternatives for forum hosting.

I've found a free SMF host (SMFNew) and set up an account with the same basic structure as the ExifTool forum here.  Does anybody have any opinions/experience with SMFNew, or any suggestions for alternatives?  I think I should be able to maintain all of the existing user accounts and posts if I migrate to another SMF forum.

I have experimented with the possibility of using the SourceForge discussion feature, but SourceForge has proven to be slow and unreliable since I created that account.  Also, there seems to be a general dislike of SourceForge in the open software community, and there would be a problem migrating existing accounts and posts to this host.

- Phil

[FixEUser]

Just don't switch to the fancy Discourse... PLEASE!

I really like the slim, very fast and clear SMF forum style.

[Phil Harvey]

The new forum would look exactly the same except that there would be ads.

- Phil

[Hayo Baan]

Hi Phil,

Why don't you just host the website at a webhoster? That way you can also get your own domain (e.g. exiftool.org it seems to be available still!). This shouldn't be too expensive (where I live, less than 75 CA$ a year) usually with (almost) unlimited mail boxes and subdomains and a number of database instances. For instance, my own (SMF) Forum is hosted on my own (sub)domain. Setting everything up is easy (you probably already did so anyway).

Cheers,
Hayo

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Hayo,

Thanks for the tip.  I'll look into this.  Can you recommend a good one?

- Phil

[StarGeek]

(e.g. exiftool.org it seems to be available still!).

I don't know if he owns it, but Exiftool.com redirects to the main exiftool page.

I do have have a web hosting package with Dreamhost.com in which I can make web space available to host the forums.  While I've pretty much abandoned my own websites, I won't be giving up the account any time soon, as several discussion lists go through it as well as all my email.  Literally several hundred email addresses, as I make a separate email for each and every website I register with. 

[Hayo Baan]

Thanks for the tip.  I'll look into this.  Can you recommend a good one?

Hi Phil,

I don't know any Canadian webhosters, but I do know a couple of good Dutch webhosters

Like Stargeek, I could temporarily host the forum as a subdomain on one of my domains too. But that would be far from ideal since then the top domain would still be mine. Better to have a dedicated exiftool domain.

By the way, exiftool.com is registered by godaddy.com, but that is just a webhoster itself so doesn't tell us much about who really owns the domain... That said, godaddy.com is probably also available in Canada, not sure how good they are though and neither whether they actually provide the necessary support (database, php) at a good price.

[Alan Clifford]

Raspberry Pi on a shelf in your spare room.

[Phil Harvey]

It's not the computer that I need -- I've got one of those.

It's the reliable permanent IP with good bandwidth.  My home internet is not sufficient for that.  It is far too unreliable and sometimes very slow.

- Phil

[StarGeek]

Just to clarify, I can provide a long term host.  Dreamhost allows me to create a user account that has shell and sftp access.  You would be able to do what you want with it.

But an account with them is pretty cheap.  About $10/month if you buy for the full year.  I'm going monthly at the moment so it's a few dollars more.

Do you own the domain Exiftool.com, Phil?

[Jom]

ExifTool must be on its own domain.
http://sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ or https://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/ — these are unclear addresses, no logic.. I was very surprised when I saw them. I didn't even know where I was going and kept looking for the site of ExifTool further.
Must be:
exiftool.domain
forum.exiftool.domain
I am also confident that the ExifTool forum has the potential to grow into a larger community than it is now.
ExifTool touches many areas of activity from photography to software. You can make threads on the forum more target.
Then you can attract advertising that will pay for hosting, domain and even tea with a bun... two bun...
Time for change is the best time to get better.
ExifTool is the best solution in the world and should have its own domain.
This is only my opinion, which I decided to voice. But maybe Phil has his own way of thinking about this.

[obetz]

a good hosting provider with shell access is also my recommendation.

The provider should be selected thoroughly.

In addition to shell access, they should offer SSL and a good spam protection like Cyren eXpurgate. In Germany, we get it for much less than 50EUR per year.

[Phil Harvey]

Thanks for your suggestions/comments.

I don't own the exiftool.com domain.  An ExifTool user has registered this on his own.  I should be able to get the rights to this if I can contact him.

I agree that if I want to grow and make money from this, then exiftool.domain obviously makes sense.  If I had wanted to make money I would have written ExifTool in C++ instead of Perl.  But this is a hobby for me, and I don't want it to get too big because then I wouldn't have enough time to decode new types of metadata and add cool new features, which is what I enjoy most.  Right now it is a good size for me.

@StarGeek: Your offer is very appealing.  I'll message you about this.

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

Just to close this thread off..

The ExifTool forum and web pages are now at exiftool.org, hosted by dreamhost (thanks StarGeek for help with this).  I got no response when I tried to contact the person who registered exiftool.com, so I registered exiftool.org instead as Hayo suggested.

I think the transition has been very seamless for ExifTool users, and was easier than I thought for me.  The most work was finding and replacing all of the URL's to the old web sites in the forum database and ExifTool documentation, etc.

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

Just one more note regarding the implications of my upcoming retirement (planned for April 1, 2020):

After I retire I will have more time to devote to working on ExifTool, so that is one good thing.  However since I won't be sitting in front of a computer all day, my responses to forum posts won't be as fast as they are now.

- Phil