“And no, we are not going to throw out our software and rewrite it and no we’re not going to move on to some other database system. There are no guarantees that any other system can do a better job and not without hiring a staff to build and maintain it and that’s for sure. And we don’t have the financial wherewithal to do any of that anyway.”
Sirs, please consider that there is another possibility: Start an open source project.
Remember the advice Moses got when he tried to do everything himself: You have to delegate to others so you can keep your sanity.
There have got to be FReepers who are PHP programmers who would volunteer to create an open-source system that would take the community forward. And there are open-source databases like PostgreSQL that are designed for heavy loads. There are also new databases coming that are “cloud” friendly and scalable.
I am just now getting into PHP so I’m not ready to volunteer, but I know that as large as FR is, we already have dozens of capable people willing to contribute time and code. This is the Open Source era — you don’t have to pay for programming if you’ve got a good cause that will attract coders. And FR is one of the best causes out there!
The look and feel of FR wouldn’t have to change (I really hate all that Javascripty moving menu garbage). A code base could be developed that looks like FR and feels like FR, but is ready to adapt to changes.
There is an excellent open-source project called Symphony CMS ( http://symphony-cms.com/ ), an XSLT-powered open source content management system. It’s lightweight, configurable and capable of heavy loads. The programmers have done a good job making it future-proof. All data comes in as XML and is turned into HTML using XSLT. The codebase is small and learnable.
Symphony is the first CMS that doesn’t make assumptions about how you want your data presented. It could be adapted to look like Freerepublic. It currently runs off MySQL but version 3.0 will allow more databases, and there is talk of adapting it to use some of the cutting-edge databases that are being developed.
Sirs, I would encourage you to consider asking the family for volunteers. The coders are out here.
“Start an open source project.”
I’d could get on that. But take into consideration that, even with a released platform, moving the existing system would still be comparable to pulling a yatch with your teeth.
“...who are PHP programmers...”
Now you’re talking nonsense. We’re attempting to get out from the (alleged) mess in a Perl project. PHP would be no better.
“...open-source databases like PostgreSQL that are designed for heavy loads...”
Maybe an improvement beyond MySQL, if that’s what’s being used right now (I don’t remember having read about the current DB setup). But, as pointed out before, there’s no reason yet to say that’s the defining factor, and changing DBMS “just because” is the epitome of silly.
“...It’s lightweight, configurable and capable of heavy loads.”
Yeah, everybody says that. Most don’t really know what a “heavy load” is until it hits them in the head.
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
However, IIRC . . .
there have been some trust issues and severely burned fingers from trusting folks in the earlier years . . .
I mostly don’t blame him for wanting to keep things in the family.
However, there should be a way to filter out to a handful of truly trustworthy skilled folks to help.
I’d think that Laz could pull together a handful of folks that Jim would find tolerable to work with.
However, I recognize that such a line could be difficult to cross for Jim at this age and stage.