EMS Needs You!! Web Master Required.

[tuckstar]

Ok everyone.

 

After many years of giving up his time and sanity helping us run the forum, Craig is moving on. We wish him all the best and thank him for his hard work and patience.

 

But..... this does mean that we need a new webmaster to run the website. Funds won't allow us to pay for someone so we are hoping that one of you, the members, may be able and willing to step up to take over the running of the website. This is not an admin or mod role at the moment, this is taking care of the software and tech behind the scenes. 

 

Some things the new webmaster needs to be able to do (or needs to be confident to get up to speed on):

managing a web server via Plesk (they could instead use CPanel, or could even go without a panel if they prefer but I don't personally see the benefit of that option), including:

SSL certificates;

installing and updating new PHP versions, and migrating from older PHP versions;

managing custom re-write rules using Apache and NGINX (though you could dump NGNIX and take the performance hit);

configuring Apache and NGINX to get the most performance out of it (same note as above);

managing backups of files and database (this is mostly automated, but it does break);

managing and updating CRON jobs;

managing third party email providers (sendgrid) (though you could send it from our own server, but a lot of emails then get blocked);

managing domains;

managing and updating the website software (https://invisioncommunity.com) (this is the easiest part); and

maintaining third party addons and themes (and making amendments to these as needed).

 

Please message me if your interested.

 

Once this role is filled we will be looking for new moderators as well, but one thing at a time.

 

This is only for darksite members as we obviously need someone we can trust to have the sites best interests at heart. 

 

Unfortunately none of the present staff are able to take this role on, and if we can't fill the role then we will have to look at the future of the forum and how we continue going forward.

 

Regards,

 

The admin team.

Edited September 5 by tuckstar

[Astronomer, Reinvented]

Hi Andy,

 

Although I have my own website, I  run it through a hosting service, so do not have the technical knowledge. I may be able to help with admin/mod tasks but it depends on what happens on the job front. I am a pensioner but need to top up my earnings through employment. Unfortunately, most of the jobs in my sectors are full-time but should I manage to find a suitable part-time position, I can help out.

 

Best Regards,

 

Phil.

[tuckstar]

Thanks for the offer Phil,

 

Just looking for a webmaster at present. Then we will start to think about the rest.

 

Andy

[philjay]

All the best Craig, thanks for all the work youve put in.

 

Sorry but I dont think I understood a word of the work required, not techno savvy here at all so i wouldnt be much use

Edited September 6 by philjay

[+Ibbo]

Thanks for all th hard work Craig.

Like Phil I do not understand what is required.

[Doc]

I agree Craig has been such an asset and I wouldn't have a scooby do what to do, all double dutch to me.

[+RonC]

Yes a big thank you to Craig for all his hard work. I, like those above have not got a clue about webs and stuff!

 

Ron

[Craig]

Thank you, folks. That's very kind of you. 🙂

[Clive]

I had to search most of the terms on web and I'm still not sure what they all mean...beyond my software experience unfortunately.  I hope you find someone with the necessary skills.

[tuckstar]

Unfortunately no one has come forward to be considered for the new webmaster. It is with a heavy heart that I inform you all that the forum cannot continue in its present form without a webmaster and we will be looking to utilize the facebook page rather than a webpage. More info to come in the next week or so. 

[Doc]

Needs must but what a shame.

[+Bino-viewer]

Oh no that is sad news 😪

 

We've been going 13 years. Looks like i'll have to rejoin DDAS.

But a webmaster is a difficult role to fill i suppose.

We can only wish Craig well for the future.

 

Will this mean the ending of our 'dark sites' ?

 

[Bottletopburly]

That is sad news as rob said a hard role to fill , I don’t do facebook but i’am on Stargazerslounge, it’s been a great forum  to learn from with friendly peeps .

[tuckstar]

6 hours ago, Bino-viewer said:

Oh no that is sad news 😪

 

We've been going 13 years. Looks like i'll have to rejoin DDAS.

But a webmaster is a difficult role to fill i suppose.

We can only wish Craig well for the future.

 

Will this mean the ending of our 'dark sites' ?

 

We're still discussing darksites and possible refunds. We may be able to keep one going for a while. Once we have had further discussions I'll make an announcement.

[philjay]

Sad news indeed.

[+Ibbo]

What a pity.

Just shows what a great job Craig did for us.

[+Streetbob]

That is a shame.  I like the dark sites as well as the info and people I’ve met.

Yes Craig has done a grand job. All the best.

[Clive]

Is there any possibility of Craig mentoring someone for a short time to bring them up to speed?

[Sheila]

I don’t think those sort of skills come in a short time tbh. It is quite a job really. There is a lot more to it than was even listed I think

 

 

[+Bino-viewer]

As a thought could the role of Webmaster be 'sub-contracted out ?? 🤔

 

Obviously we pay someone to do it : they don't even need an interest in astronomy.

I'm guessing the dwindling number of darksite subscribers would not cover it.

But if it meant an increase in our subs to ensure the continuation of our EMS forum, i'd be happy to pay it, as i'm sure others would too

 

We also pay for two darksites which are basically never used, other than a few ad-hoc meets attended by a tiny few.

 

@Sheila Treasurer, what is the current state of our finances ??

[Sheila]

At the moment the dark site fees barely cover the website fees. Never mind the dark site rent and insurance. There are fewer dark site members now and as you say dark sites are not used.  the dark site users are the only income we have apart from the sponsorship. As I will retire in the next year or so the sponsorship would then cease. So as you can see there are more issues than just the webmaster here. At the moment funds are ok as we have previous surplus but this would get used quite quickly. The website is our largest expense

and the small amount of dark site fees would not cover paying someone to oversee the site. 
currently our expenses are about £1000 and the dark fees less than 1/2 of this 

 

hope this gives you an idea of where we stand   The increase in subs to cover all our expenses would more than double them and then you have the issue if folks drop out that would be even more. Folks are not going to pay dark site fees if we do not have them and I don’t think we can charge for just access to the website. 
 

not an easy situation hence the suggestion of the Facebook route or SGL. I suppose a group could get together themselves and fund a dark site privately via Facebook  ?

 

SGL have their site paid for by first light optics and have no dark sites so they do not have the same issues

[+Bino-viewer]

Understood.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

You paint a rather bleak picture, and it looks like 'the writings on the wall for us' sadly.

 

I've been on SGL (and CN) since 2007/8 but have much more presence on here with nearly 4000 posts since 2013.

 

I would very much like to keep in touch with my fellow stargazers (theres probably less than 10 of us now who meet up)

so hopefully we can fund somewhere where can get together for a session, whether that be via Facebook, WhatsApp or something else.

 

And i've just bought myself a new mount. I need to get out with it and enjoy it ! 😉

[+bryand]

From the sound of it, the site would have a crisis when Shiela retired anyway, so Craig’s departure just brought the inevitable forward.

Like Rob, I would want to keep in touch with other field astronomers and much though I don’t like face ache , I’ll use it if necessary.

Maybe interested parties could meet up with admins (e.g. Andy and Shiela) to work out what is involved in setting up a dark site.

[+Ibbo]

So it looks like a private group on face ache.

 

I think we need admin on there as well to approve posts, members and suchlike, is that correct?

[+Graham]

This is really sad news to hear.