MacGregorSailors.com

Russ wrote: ↑Mon Oct 03, 2022 10:11 am Thanks Drifter.

All good points.

When ownership of the site changed, it got moved to a new server. It was running on a very very expensive dedicated server. Waaaaaaay too much for the traffic it gets. We are now on a shared server with unlimited storage and bandwidth on one of the SSD premium VPS servers. Just not a dedicated server which is perfect for the traffic it gets. However, we do get a LOT of traffic. Mostly lurkers apparently.

It's on the same hosting company now as previous (inmotion). They offered to help move it. However, their tech folks couldn't move all the databases for some reason. I didn't really buy their excuse but whatever. I didn't expect them to anyway.
Moving the site required a bit more work. It also required sorting out years of customization that just got clunky. And it required updating PHPBB to the latest build. It also has several extensions that add functionality and spam protections.

The main database is over 1 Gigabyte!! Which becomes a problem with importing using mySQL manager. It times out with such large files. I had to find an import script that could handle gigantic files and parse them into chunks. Then undoing some custom forum themes so the new PHPBB build wouldn't break.
The indexes seem to be holding integrity well and the search is snappy. So maybe 1GB database isn't that big for PHPBB.

*Sigh*

Lastly...the Mods and Classified sections were not working when I got it. Previously these were tied to the forum user database. Lots of custom php code and 3rd party addons that didn't make sense to try and revive. They were seriously broken. There was some value linking to the user table, but not worth trying to fix the whole mess.
So, I found some open source PHP scripts that would provide the same functionality. Then imported/converted the mods database into them. Whew! Getting the mods back online was a biggie. There is so much valuable data there. And photos! Lots of conversions.

Lastly, I installed a simple classified script and made it free to post ads. Previously ads were for pay and problematic. The macgregor site offers totally free $ classified ads and asks if they bring fruit to the seller, that they consider making a donation. So far, no donations, but hopefully someday. We have unlimited storage so it's not adding cost.

We have the absolute BEST moderators for this site bar none. We all belong to other sites that do poorly at moderating. Spammers are a constant problem as are some members who push outside of the bounds of the rules. Without these great moderators, this site could easily get polluted with bad. They also email/call me right away when things break. For example, the other day the SSL certificate went stale or something causing alarming browser warnings. Kevin pinged me and we got it fixed straight away. Last month, the mods section was getting dozens of spam registrations per minute. Keven rang me up and I was able to stop it in minutes. How great to have admins on the ball.

Drifter, you seem to be knowledgeable on this stuff. Perhaps we could tap your expertise in the future for this site. Since you aren't out sailing PM if you have any interest or skills you are willing to lend.