Moving to bbs.elsewhere.cafe

Site Management
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This is just a heads up to let you know that I’ve started the process of transitioning the site from bbs.elsewhere.cafe to bbs.elsewhere.cafe.

In order to make this as painless as possible, I’ve taken the liberty of standing up a parallel instance of the discourse installation. So, for now, bbs.elsewhere.cafe will not point to here. It created an issue with getting the SSL cert set up, so I had to re-point the DNS. If it’s a problem during the transition, I can point it back temporarily.

With that out of the way, here’s the plan:

  • Set up Sparkpost
  • Set up a new instance of Discourse
  • Set up SSL for bbs.elsewhere.cafe
  • Get a recent backup from here
  • Restore the backup at bbs.elsewhere.cafe
  • Put bbs.elsewhere.cafe back into read-only mode.
  • Test the site out, make sure everything works:
    • Social Logins:
      • Google
      • Twitter
      • Facebook
      • Yahoo
    • Links:
      • Make sure nothing points back to bbs.elsewhere.cafe
    • Re-install Plugins?
    • Images?
      • I should hope they’re in the backup, it’s up to 1.3GiB now.
    • Make notes about what has to be changed after restore.
  • Pick a date for the changeover
  • Put bbs.elsewhere.cafe into read-only mode.
  • Make a final backup.
  • Restore the backup at bbs.elsewhere.cafe
  • Update all the settings based on the tests above.
  • Update DNS so that all domains point to bbs.elsewhere.cafe.
  • Profit!?!

As part of all of this, I’m changing to new accounts for Google, Twitter, and Facebook. This means you will almost certainly have to re-authorize your login.

Once everything is settled, I’ll shut down the instance for bbs.elsewhere.cafe. After people have settled in to using the new domain, we can discuss how much longer to keep it active before I offer it up to Happy Mutant LLC. If they don’t want it, I’ll probably let it lapse when the renewal comes up and we can move on.

I think that pretty much covers everything. Let me know if you think I’m missing something or if you have any questions. I’m sorry this has taken so long.

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I’ll have to rediscover what my password was.

And my username.

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Thanks for doing all this.

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I realize this has lots of things involved that would take me a while to fully comprehend, so I know it’s got to be good! Thanks for your efforts!

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Welp. I should have read this before I took actions on the live instance. Sorry for adding to the work pile.

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Instead of that, we should set it up so there’s a mass banning here and everyone goes there in protest

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looking forward to going “elsewhere”, huh? :wink:

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Maybe next year…

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What does this mean? What do I do? Should I boil some water?

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Yes but first run it through an activated carbon filter.

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Put together an evacuation kit with enough games and snacks to keep yourself occupied and entertained for at least 72 hours, and be prepared to log out at a moment’s notice. Plan a safe place to shelter until services are restored. For example:
http://www.lifewithcats.tv/category/video/cute-cat-videos/

Remember not to give in to despair This too shall pass. Your fellow mutants will still be mutants, and think of the stories you will have to share!

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One lesson learned so far: If you are restoring a backup, make sure that the user that initiated the restore will be present afterwards. I spent far too long waiting for the backup to complete because that user couldn’t get notified. :man_shrugging:

Google logins should be working, and maybe Yahoo since there doesn’t seem to be anything site specific to it. I’ll try to get Facebook and Twitter updated shortly, but I’ll need volunteers who currently use those login paths.

Once I check and tweak a few more things, I’ll be asking for testers. Please let me know if you’re interested.

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[prints out avatars of all users]

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No Activia?

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Twitter and Facebook logins should be working now, and Google should continue to work. I’ve disabled Yahoo since my brief test failed, and since there is nothing to configure for it I can’t really troubleshoot it.

Does anyone want any other login options? GitHub?

I’ve turned off read-only mode for the time being, but it is in no way live, and it contains data from an old backup anyway. Please take some time to kick the tires and report back on anything that seems out of place.

In particular, please make note of any of the following:

  • Social logins (Google, Twitter, Facebook) not working.
    • Make sure that the pop-up references Elsewhere.cafe, not HappyMutants.space
    • There should be a relevant logo, where applicable.
  • Browse around the site, making sure the following are working:
    • Links to posts should point to bbs.elsewhere.cafe
    • Images should be hosted at bbs.elsewhere.cafe
    • Basically, make note of anywhere that references HappyMutants.space instead of Elsewhere.cafe.
  • Anything else I haven’t thought of.

Report back anything you find to this topic. I’ll add it to my list, and I’ll work through them as quickly as I can.

My hope is to do the final cut-over this weekend, assuming no show-stoppers are discovered.

Thank you for your help, patience, and understanding.

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