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Might make SBS readonly: thread

I'm considering sunsetting SBS and making it readonly

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haloopdyCreated:
haloopdy#1
Hello, site operator here. There's not much happening on SBS these days, and that's OK; people move on, etc. But I still have to host the website, of course. Nearly every single new account request is a bot. Honestly, it's getting tiresome to get 3-4 requests every day for a new account. Beyond that, the website is made significantly more complex, requiring vastly more resources and attention, to still allow new content/edits/etc. Because of the extremely low usage these days (the first page of activity goes back 8 MONTHS), I would like to make the site readonly soon. I don't know when, maybe sometime early next year. This will remove most of my maintenance requirements for this website, and also remove the reliance on a very large, cumbersome service that is taking up resources on the server and costing additional money in the form of "need a bigger server to host". I know that there's still some activity here in the form of documentation edits, etc. I feel bad removing that ability, so I wanted to hear some feedback before I go through with this. Again, this is only going to make the website readonly; all the content will still be available. I'm very tired. I don't want to deal with the web anymore; dealing with companies and costs and people trying to break in all the time and just bad people in general doing bad things. Making the website readonly is the first step to removing my reliance on all this stuff and reducing my stress. I greatly appreciate all the lovely people and interactions on this website throughout the years, and I don't want to just remove all that. But nobody's really using the website anymore. We've had the new version for over 1 and a half years, and we had a mini-revival for a bit, but I think it's time to let it go.
Sam#2
Makes sense to me Rip SBS 🫡🫡🫡
Mrremrem#3
Hey there, thanks for letting us know what's going on. I totally get where you're coming from with making the site read-only. As someone who still pops in now and then, I really appreciate having had this place to grab content and share my little program. Man, it must be a real pain dealing with all those bot accounts every day. I can see why you're tired of it. And yeah, keeping everything running smoothly for just a handful of active users probably feels like overkill at this point. I think you don't have to deal with the web anymore if you don't want to. I remember y'all had the new SmileBasicSource running and y'all were going back and forth with which site y'all want to run (and which site is easier to manage). I would go for leaving the site as read only for as long as y'all want to
Minxrod#4
I would like to finish the documentation, but I have been pretty inconsistent with it. I'm not sure how I would feel about it being read-only, yet. But the motivation to do so makes sense to me so I would accept it anyways.
haloopdy#5
Replying to:Minxrod
I would like to finish the documentation, but I have been pretty inconsistent with it. I'm not sure how I would feel about it being read-only, yet. But the motivation to do so makes sense to me so I would accept it anyways.
Ah I can wait until you're done. Alternatively, I can supply a backdoor of sorts for select trusted users to modify existing content if you still want to make contributions into the future.
kantackistan#6
Replying to:haloopdy
Ah I can wait until you're done. Alternatively, I can supply a backdoor of sorts for select trusted users to modify existing content if you still want to make contributions into the future.
Modifying existing content would work for me. Being able to adjust existing posts for submitted projects is likely all I would need.
CrystalTikal#7
A bit sad to hear. I know I'm a newer member, but the site's been super useful for my SmileBASIC projects. Though because of my ADHD, those are several WIPs. 😅
Amoura#8
Thank you all for everything & I'm sorry for the troubles I caused.
haloopdy#9
Replying to:kantackistan
Modifying existing content would work for me. Being able to adjust existing posts for submitted projects is likely all I would need.
Ah see, it's a lot harder to leave general edits open. Doing just documentation is one thing. I'll have to see; maybe I'll just disable some features for now but leave the rest open so people can finish up whatever they were doing.
haloopdy#10
Thank you all for the input (and don't worry Amoura, you're fine). If there's things you want to finish up before it happens, please feel free to. I'll move the date for actual readonly mode a bit more into the future, and just start stripping some features. These are the features I'm planning on removing in the coming weeks, in order:
  • Site registration This is complete: there is no more registration
  • Image uploads
  • Up/downvotes (the ability to create them)
  • User modifications
Later, I will make an announcement when new content can no longer be added. I'll probably wait until minxrod finishes the PTC documentation, or if we start coming up on the actual deadline for our server renewal. Then, if I have some major code in place by that time, I will keep the ability to edit and the website will get off the old heavyweight service. If not, I will simply make the entire website readonly.