Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

If all goes to plan, yes.

It had been said that the old vBulletin software was so corrupted and old (2007?) that they would have to start from scratch, but the people implementing the new software are the same people who wrote the old software.

They've obviously found a way to transfer all the data across. I was told the name of the new software, but I'm afraid I can't remember it!

They are to introduce 'Jail Time', where instead of short term bans, people can still post but not create threads.

I think a similar scheme of points is to be used in a similar way to Cableforum.

Also, a system of 'likes' in a similar way to Facebook is to be introduced. I know this could be viewed as pandering to the millennials, but sometimes people just want to agree with a post and not necessarily comment.

Some people were doing '+1' as posts, so some years ago a minimum character requirement was introduced.

+1 is regarded as bad etiquette on here, but I don't think it's disallowed.

I hope that DS will be reintroducing training to their moderators, as I think that this has what has led to the overreaction and inconsistencies that have led to say many members leaving the site out of choice or otherwise.

Hopefully we will see an end to people being pulled up for calling a strike breaker a 'Blackleg' as it's deemed to be 'racist', asking what an abbreviation means or being offensive about the queen :erm:

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

the forums back up.

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

Thanks.

Looks like they are having problems to me.

They were talking as though the last few days of it being read only were because of the migration to the new software.

Now it's returned with the old software amidst talk of learning important lessons about things that need to be ironed out before the "next migration"!

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

I think reading the post from today was that they wanted to see how a mass migration would go, they found some bugs and are now working on finding fixes for those before attempting again. Personally, as frustrating as DS can be at times, this is the right approach. Why move, with bugs that annoy everyone? This way they know what the bugs are that need to be fixed and then when they DO move over it should all be smooth.

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

They are running vBulletin 3 (same as we are).
However, they are still on a much older version (3.6.8), while we run 3.8.11.
Software does not "corrupt" as it gets older, but they would need an old version of PHP to be able to run it properly.

It sounds like they will be moving to Xenforo, since that is written by some of the old vbulletin developers [from 2007].

(Btw, I work part time for vBulletin).

---------- Post added at 00:07 ---------- Previous post was at 00:02 ----------

Its the wrong approach, and sounds like they are trying to paint a failure in a rose tinted manner.
You test migrations using a copy of the database, in private, on another server. You dont take down your live site for two days to run a "test".

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

Used to be a frequent visitor of Digital Spy and its predecessor satellite, tv news and cable:news sites and before that it was newsgroups like alt.tv.satellite.europe, UK.media.cabletv (or whatever the hell they were called).

So, as far as being interested in anorak subjects like the colour and size of a DOG (digital on screen guide) aka channel logos, or what Tony Illsley (former cableco boss) was doing, or a argument (one of many!) about the BBC, DS and its predecessors was the place to go.

I don't know why James sold the site to Hearst, does anyone know? But since then, its been downhill all the way. And then when the ads increased and the colour/forum makeover happened, that was it for me and came here instead!:)

Clearly, there is still an interest in anorak subjects such as cable tv and media in general. I've been known to visit other anorak sites which may (or may not) include people standing on bridges with notepads as trains come in, as but one example...

Where it all goes wrong, is money. Business' exist to make money. I don't blame them for that, that's what they do. I'm not a socialist, quite the opposite. But no one really has come up with a way to monetise the anorak and perhaps never will, so these subjects will probably always remain outside the commercial sphere.

Which gets me onto my point, finally..... I am sure I have said it before here, but I'll say it again, there needs to be a site which does have a meeting place for us anoraks interested in subjects like satellite and cable tv, streaming, broadcasting etc And the solution appears obvious to me....

I have some ideas which I would quite like to discuss and happy to do so on this thread. I know nothing of running websites or how much servers cost, or anything like that. But I do have a bit of time and a few pennies to spare.

Frank used to own this site, who does now? How do I get in touch with the bossman (or lady) to have a chat?

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

PM Mick or Paul M

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

Does Mick accept PM's, could be wrong but I think he has then switched of sometimes iirc

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

Digital Spy is going read only from Tuesday 21 February; they don't know when they will return.

Users have been advised to check out their passwords before this time as it may be the case that they will not be able to retrieve them after Tuesday.

Apparently, the delay was because they didn't want to cause any disruption during Celebrity Big Brother.

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

What a load of bull. (mod edit)

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

Its just the forums though not the whole site.

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

That is the real problem. Businesses should exist to do/make/supply something. If they do it well they will make money. Put another way, profit should be a result of business not its goal. There are many good companies out there where profit is not ignored but isn't the prime goal, some are very successful and long lived and some even in the financial arena.

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

Not sure what you mean, apart from the forums the rest of the site is read only anyway :erm:

Totally agree.

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

I know an ex-mod from DS, she reckons the place has been sinking for months and this move is likely to be a last effort to reboot interest in the site.

Re: Digital Spy may be closed or downsized.
 

well the news pages(If you can still call them that) are still going to be updated. Some people may take read only to mean the whole website is never going to be updated again.