The future of Apolyton

[Robert]

Hello members of Apolyton,

Ever since Apolyton got hacked in many ways, a couple of weeks ago, I have been thinking about the future of Apolyton, and if it has or should have any.
For the uninformed, our site and forums were hacked and many backdoors were installed. Only because of Solver's assistance we could repair most things. But up till this day we are still having a disfunctioning homepage. Unfortunately the communications between Martin Gühmann haven't been the best last couple of months either.

Then there is more, Civilization V has not brought to Apolyton what we had hoped and expected.
Most polytubes weren't very happy with the way Civ5 turned out and continued to play civ4, civ2 or just retreated back into the off topic forums. Truth has to be told, neither did Civ5 have much impact on me, which obviously has been reflected by a lack of enthusiasm in keeping up a lively civ5 environment at Apolyton. Unfortunately, because back at the launch of Civ5 we were very enthusiastic and were able to even release some unique interviews with Firaxians and discover some scopes about the game.

So now what about the future of Apolyton?
I'll be open and plain with all of you.
I am not interested in running Apolyton all by myself, neither do I have the technical skills to maintain the servers and the site. I have always been the non-technical guy on board.

There are some options I'd like to get some feedback on:
1. Would there be anybody on Apolyton who has the technical skills to maintain the server and the software, and is fully reliable? I know people who have the skills and I know people who are reliable. Keep in mind that this reliability is very important to me.
2. What is the general opinion about asking Solver, who helped us so good during the hack, to jump on this ship? He's got the skills and he is one of the most reliable guys in the Civ-universe. Yet he's also the co-owner and admin of weplayciv.
3. What would be a good procedure to close down Apolyton. It's clear that this is not something we can from one day to another. Some of Apolyton's content has value to the Civ-community in general. Some sites may want to take it over from us. Yet as well our forums host some activities that is valuable to some, just because it covers their day to day life. Perhaps Apolyton can move into an online archive in a couple of months, just to stay that way for another couple of months, followed by deletion. What are your ideas?

A 4th option could be to transfer the ownership of Apolyton to someone completely new.
I put it down here though I must admit that I'm not a big fan of that option. Apolyton contains a lot of very sensitive private data that I do not trust into the hands of someone I hardly know. This contains both my private data, including banking accounts, etc. and of course all those 100,000+ user profiles stored in our databases.

Fortunately this is not a matter of financial issues. Apolyton is not making any profits but neither is it costing us too much money, if it is losing money at all.

Apolyton is currently owned by Robert Plomp and Martin Gühmann, both own 50%.
I reach out to our community because communications between the both of us have been lacking and decisions need to be made.

Robert

[Solver]

A couple of notes...

Sensitive personal information should never, ever, be kept on a forum. It's a very bad medium for it. Even vBulletin, which is the best forum package, is not that secure. Unless you take serious steps to enhance security, it's not that difficult to get read access to the database, and even best-case security for a forum is pretty bad. Just had to mentioned.

One thing I definitely do not wish to see happen is for the site to be deleted entirely. There is too much quality content. A lot of material is simply better than anywhere else, like the Civ3 stuff, and a lot more just does not exist at all elsewhere. Civ2 scenarios, CtP stuff, and so on.

I think in the worst case, I could just make the entire site into an archive, physically hosted elsewhere. On my behalf the only notable investment would be taking over the domain name, and while I do not like that it's at GoDaddy, it's still a negligible investment. That would ensure that the old content of the site and forums remains in place, accessible to all.

[Nikolai]

I agree there is much content that should not be allowed to disappear. So the content need to stay. But I don't feel the site has much of a future either, to be honest. All that is left is the offtopic, where negativity roams free.

[Maniac]

I for one welcome Solver as our new overlord.

[Wezil]

Turn it into a full time Dead Pool site.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Though I would not want to see it happen, if you do end up shuttering the site please talk to me first. I have contacts in various archival groups that would be very interested in maintaining the content here indefinitely. They're trustworthy, have a great deal of experience in rescuing site content, and also have an interest in preservation of old games/software (some of them with Civ specifically). It wouldn't be run as an ongoing forum at that point though, so it's an option of last resort and I'd definitely encourage you to keep looking for other alternatives first.

I'd offer to help with the tech side myself if I had the time to do it, but realistically, I don't.

[Dinner]

I have absolutely no technical skills what so ever but I'm willing to read a websites for dummies book.

[Felch]

All that is left is the offtopic, where negativity roams free.

Embrace the dark side, and you will be stronger than any Jedi wuss.

[Aeson]

The site has plenty of value on it, and plenty of opportunity going forward if taken care of properly. Don't close it up or archive it. You shouldn't have to transfer any of your personal data if doing so.

[Asher]

I'd be happy to consult with anyone who needs help running the site, and I offer my services on a voluntary basis. But work is incredibly busy for me lately, so I don't wish to be the owner nor chief of anything...I'll help when I can, but I can't be a reliable and consistent help.

[The Mad Monk]

I agree strongly with Aeson. I would be willing to contribute financially, and, if necessary, take up some custodial duties. I am a manager IRL, so I have some experience in planning and seeing things through. That said, I have no experience managing any kind of website.

[Dr Strangelove]

Would Civ Fanatics be interested in taking over the site?

[Solver]

Aeson, under whom?

The point here is, there's nobody to really run the site. Running the site requires a minimum level of technical proficiency. Basically, you need to avoid a situation where the owner doesn't know how to restart the database server or upload some files to overwrite old ones. I won't mention interest in Civ, that's a given.

I think if there's a reasonable chance of finding someone good for the position, I could take over as caretaker owner, with an eye towards fixing some of the more egregious stuff (like the homepage being down), and keeping this alive day-to-day while someone else prepares for the job. Or, like mentioned, just archive.

[SlowwHand]

The site has plenty of value on it, and plenty of opportunity going forward if taken care of properly. Don't close it up or archive it. You shouldn't have to transfer any of your personal data if doing so.

I have the same hope.

[Legend]

Would Civ Fanatics be interested in taking over the site?

No.

@Robert: I think that multiple communities are a great thing for giving fans a choice, a bit of friendly competition (inter site demo games etc) and driving more fan content. Apolyton is the oldest community - really would be a shame to see its goes before the civilization franchise goes.

Aeson, under whom?

The point here is, there's nobody to really run the site. Running the site requires a minimum level of technical proficiency. Basically, you need to avoid a situation where the owner doesn't know how to restart the database server or upload some files to overwrite old ones. I won't mention interest in Civ, that's a given.

I think if there's a reasonable chance of finding someone good for the position, I could take over as caretaker owner, with an eye towards fixing some of the more egregious stuff (like the homepage being down), and keeping this alive day-to-day while someone else prepares for the job. Or, like mentioned, just archive.

There is another solution. I am not a "technical guy". I only know enough to avoid making stupid technical mistakes, and manage the vbulletin control panel side. CFC uses a comprehensive hosting service that manages the servers, software, email server etc for us, taking the need for detailed technical knowledge away from us. Obviously it has limitations (cost is a big one) but it is a robust solution.