What happened to M3Forum

[BeerHat]

repost from https://forum.e46fanatics.com/

Yesterday, 02:19 PM

#432

Obioban Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Malvern, PA Posts: 1,418 My Ride: 05 M3, 01 M5, M3iT View My Garage

So, bad news... Last night I got a message from the M3F admin, saying that he can't find the out of date backup file he thought he had on his computer. So, that means we're starting out from scratch. The forum is not yet set up as cleanly as we'd like, so assume it'll look progressively better over the coming weeks/months/years. Right now it's pretty much a pretty generic, unchanged vbulletin install with the advertising engines removed. That said, there's a reason to rush this out- the google cache of M3forum seems to be rapidly disappearing, so we need everyone to get archiving ASAP. Basically, if there's a thread you've found useful in the past, get it moved over! If it's not a thread you originally made, please give credit where due at the beginning of the thread. Liam is currently working on a spider program that, if pointed at an M3forum thread cached on Google or the Internet Archive, will automatically recreate it on the new forum. But, IMO we should start acting faster than waiting for that to be ready for use- because of the disappearing Google cache. So, now everyone has their project while trapped in their homes! Forum URL: https://nam3forum.com/forums/index.php Our new home: __________________ -Ian To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Replacement for M3forum.net: To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by Obioban; Yesterday at 02:20 PM.

Just wow. It's really not that hard to keep good backups, even fluid databases. Dump your binlogs once a day and leverage open source tools to save your a$$ -- something like rsnapshot running on a separate host can be your best friend. Your backup scripts should mount the CIFS or NFS volume containing the binlog dumps, perform the backup, rotate, then unmount. Hardware is relatively free these days. No excuses.

If I would have known the site was in such a way, I would have happily volunteered my time to fix it before it became a problem. I'm sure some of us here are Linux geeks like myself, network architects, and DBAs.

A good lesson to those running these sites, reach out to the masses here for expert advice if you need it. Thousands of contracting dollars could perhaps be satisfied by lifetime membership status.

Dan

[Boost112]

...wow...well that sux...damn...how long has m3forum been around...thats like vwvortex having to start all over....

[golgo13]

I'm done with forums. I mean, I had a three year build thread going on that site. Not going to start over, especially since this car isn't a new project.

[Hova]

Just wow. It's really not that hard to keep good backups, even fluid databases. Dump your binlogs once a day and leverage open source tools to save your a$$ -- something like rsnapshot running on a separate host can be your best friend. Your backup scripts should mount the CIFS or NFS volume containing the binlog dumps, perform the backup, rotate, then unmount. Hardware is relatively free these days. No excuses.

If I would have known the site was in such a way, I would have happily volunteered my time to fix it before it became a problem. I'm sure some of us here are Linux geeks like myself, network architects, and DBAs.

A good lesson to those running these sites, reach out to the masses here for expert advice if you need it. Thousands of contracting dollars could perhaps be satisfied by lifetime membership status.

Dan

Literally anything above would have worked. Rsnapshot could have done this with no input, automatically, free... Pickup a separate host for really cheap, or hell even a computer at home.

Hardware is dirt cheap, you're right there isn't an excuse.

I mean hell, Vbulletin has their cloud hosting which is hosted on AWS now. Talk about bullet proof hosting. Just too many easy ways to make a sound website these days, there shouldn't be issues like this.

[DrftKingIII]

I'm done with forums. I mean, I had a three year build thread going on that site. Not going to start over, especially since this car isn't a new project.

Don't do it. You don't have to quit entirely, just continue on from where you're at. You had a great thread goin.

[golgo13]

Don't do it. You don't have to quit entirely, just continue on from where you're at. You had a great thread goin.

I appreciate it. I'll probably just post my stuff on IG. Much easier than uploading to an image host and then dealing with forum formatting.

[Braymond141]

I appreciate it. I'll probably just post my stuff on IG. Much easier than uploading to an image host and then dealing with forum formatting.

Does this help? https://www.mforum.net/forum/member-...-of-m3f-thread

Make an account and a journal section post. I'll edit your post with what I was able to recover from Google cache data for you.

[golgo13]

Does this help? https://www.mforum.net/forum/member-...-of-m3f-thread

Make an account and a journal section post. I'll edit your post with what I was able to recover from Google cache data for you.

Nice salvage. I wasn't able to find any of the Google cache data, but I didn't look too hard

[crqflier]

I just went to mf.n to try and figure out what you're doing and how a "rebuild" can happen. For those of us interested, can you give us a step by step? Like are we creating accounts yet? Or just grabbing cached pages that we care about and you're taking it from there? Or? Thanks for trying to fill the gap.

M3forum was more active and had overlapping interests with other cars I owned (E46 M3). Just a different atmosphere that I would like to have back again.

Ultimately users will decide which sites will continue on. There is a void that needs to be filled from M3F going down. Might as well try to fill it.

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[Braymond141]

I just went to mf.n to try and figure out what you're doing and how a "rebuild" can happen. For those of us interested, can you give us a step by step? Like are we creating accounts yet? Or just grabbing cached pages that we care about and you're taking it from there? Or? Thanks for trying to fill the gap.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

Pulling cached data, which isn't always complete.

You can do it yourself or I can assist. Either way, you need to register with the forum and make an intro post so I can edit it and help you populate that cached data.

[scootter82]

This makes me sad. I'm a data center engineer. I could grab a server out of the trash and donate it to upgrade those old as F servers....seriously....just pay for the shipping

[Gregarious7]

Seems like it would be a waste. The owner is ignoring us. Plus, Braymond is our leader and he wants to make money off of sponsorship with his new forum. Probably why doesn't want to use Bimmerforums, even though it's way better looking and has history.

[pbonsalb]

I would say that given the previous owner’s failure to maintain the system that was largely built through the time contributors spent adding content, you should not be helping him. He was happy taking sponsorship money, neglecting to reinvest it in maintaining the site, and effectively wasting the hard work many put into adding content. The least he could do for all the members he has let down is transfer whatever content he has or can reasonably access to Braymond141 or someone else who will take over. But from what I understand, he has become non responsive and is not likely to help anyone. It is sad the way he is letting down the m3forum community, but that just goes to show what can happen on the internet.

[Braymond141]

Seems like it would be a waste. The owner is ignoring us. Plus, Braymond is our leader and he wants to make money off of sponsorship with his new forum. Probably why doesn't want to use Bimmerforums, even though it's way better looking and has history.

Can you please stop spreading this lie. I have no intention of using the forum as a money maker and I’m not your “leader”. Mirza (Terra) planted that seed to get you all riled up to not sign up. Three other M3F members are all part of the new forum creation, not just me.

[notMpowered]

Seems like it would be a waste. The owner is ignoring us. Plus, Braymond is our leader and he wants to make money off of sponsorship with his new forum. Probably why doesn't want to use Bimmerforums, even though it's way better looking and has history.

Yeah I'm sure he's going to make millions off of it. The forum is there for a benefit to enthusiasts, not the owner. If you would like to go somewhere else I'm sure no one will notice.

[GG///M3]

I would say that given the previous owner’s failure to maintain the system that was largely built through the time contributors spent adding content, you should not be helping him. He was happy taking sponsorship money, neglecting to reinvest it in maintaining the site, and effectively wasting the hard work many put into adding content. The least he could do for all the members he has let down is transfer whatever content he has or can reasonably access to Braymond141 or someone else who will take over. But from what I understand, he has become non responsive and is not likely to help anyone. It is sad the way he is letting down the m3forum community, but that just goes to show what can happen on the internet.

This.


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[pbonsalb]

Maybe we should get our virtual pitch forks and go after him. Years of our lives in forum posts have been lost. It is scary to think that can happen in a day. I probably had thousands on M3forum given that I have over 23,000 here. I had to work hard to catch up and pass GG///M3 on the post count.

[Roofus]

I would say that given the previous owner’s failure to maintain the system that was largely built through the time contributors spent adding content, you should not be helping him. He was happy taking sponsorship money, neglecting to reinvest it in maintaining the site, and effectively wasting the hard work many put into adding content. The least he could do for all the members he has let down is transfer whatever content he has or can reasonably access to Braymond141 or someone else who will take over. But from what I understand, he has become non responsive and is not likely to help anyone. It is sad the way he is letting down the m3forum community, but that just goes to show what can happen on the internet.

This is the part I don't understand. If the previous owner doesn't want anything to do with it anymore, who cares. But why would his host not have a backup and why would he be opposed to either selling or giving that backup to someone who wants to restore the data? Seems really petty if that's what's going on.

[Braymond141]

This is the part I don't understand. If the previous owner doesn't want anything to do with it anymore, who cares. But why would his host not have a backup and why would he be opposed to either selling or giving that backup to someone who wants to restore the data? Seems really petty if that's what's going on.

You missed the part where he isn’t responding to anyone. The owner lives in Asia. For all we know, he could no longer be with us. But to be CLEAR, at this point he’s just not in contact.

[JitteryJoe]

Seems like it would be a waste. The owner is ignoring us. Plus, Braymond is our leader and he wants to make money off of sponsorship with his new forum. Probably why doesn't want to use Bimmerforums, even though it's way better looking and has history.

Where did that come from? Crikey.

[MParallel]

The site was not accessible for me for a couple of hours every day.

Thought this is where backupping was done.

[ScotcH]

Has anyone tried to contact the hosting company and seize control? There should be ways to do that, like if the dude has died or something.

[GG///M3]

Maybe we should get our virtual pitch forks and go after him. Years of our lives in forum posts have been lost. It is scary to think that can happen in a day. I probably had thousands on M3forum given that I have over 23,000 here. I had to work hard to catch up and pass GG///M3 on the post count.

LOL The kiddies have slowed me down in more ways then one I guess.

Hi 5


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[ProRaceCarDrive]

Oh man. TheDoogan will not like to hear this. He was by far the most widely respected and influential poster on that forum. His build threads were nothing short of ground-breaking, and the helpful tips and mods he came up with are still being analyzed by the BMW Motorsport division in Germany.

As a real professional race car driver, I am the best there is. Nobody has beaten me. That is: nobody except for TheDoogan. You all said that he was a fool for putting so much money into a convertible. But in the end, it has been proven that only the M3 convertible makes the most sense.

Well, nobody thought he was a fool because, as I said, he was the most widely respected poster on that forum. But some other people thought that.

I also saw TheDoogan in the locker room once after football, and he was totally shredded. He had an eight pack.

- - - Updated - - -

PS - TheDoogan said his car didn't sell in 5 months. Not for 35. Not for 30. Not for 25. And not for 23.

So he's BRINGING IT HOME. He's keeping it. Ohhh Yeaaaaaah.

[TerraPhantm]

The site was not accessible for me for a couple of hours every day.

Thought this is where backupping was done.

It was, but the owner is the only one with access to them, and no one has heard from him since December or so. Last update from the former admin

Right now, I have no idea. I'm still working with our host trying to figure out wtf happened. Last they told me, they have no records of m3forum being on their servers for four years and the whois info shows registrar info for the domain to be another hosting company. The only account they have points to my3series.com (our ad server -- which was also hosted by the same company). Which makes no fucking sense since I had to get shit fixed back in December on the same host.

I'm still trying to get a straight answer from them to figure out if I can at least take over the account, pay any hosting fees or renew the domain (I honestly think it expired this year and wasn't renewed). If ANYTHING, I need about two hours of backend / ftp access so I can pull the database as a backup.

But, to be honest, I'm very concerned about Frank. When we talked in December, he made no mention of shutting the forum down, told me to contact him if I have issues witth the host. We double checked contact info too. He even mentioned him and an friend started a company years back and were doing and IPO sometime this year. So, maybe he's stuck somewhere without contact... or worse. He has a family and kids....

Edit:

Just got this from our host:

The currently active server with us (my3.my3series.com) does not have any account information for the domain [m3forums.net].We suspect the account and content for [m3forums.net] may have been on another server belonging to this hosting account which is [m3f1.m3forum.net]. As mentioned [m3f1.m3forum.net] appears to have been cancelled and the data on this server is no longer accessible.

.... I think. It's all gone.

Apparently, the drive with M3forum on it still exists. Now, getting it either mailed to me or installed into a server is another story. It can be done, but it requires the account holder that has billing access... which isn't me. Still working on it...

The primary issue right now is trying to convince them to allow me or someone else to pay for this. I only have theories about what happened to Frank. I have no way to prove where he is, if he's even alive... etc. That'll be the hurtle I think.