[S] A Conversation About a Backup Plan

[xo maho]

Note: This is a thread to talk about the possibility of what would happen to Soquili if Gaia shut down, and if there is a plan to rebuild elsewhere. There is no indication that Gaia will be shutting down any time in the somewhat close future - this thread is here to start coming up with ideas and possibly enacting them in case something happens.

It's come to my attention that Gaia has been having a lot of glitches lately, and every one of them has made me wonder if my Soquili will go down with the ship, should Gaia eventually die. So rather than sitting and fervently backing things up and hoping for the best (which I'll be doing anyway), I thought it might be a good idea to have an open discussion about what Soquili's back up plan is if Gaia is suddenly gone one day.

A few points I've thought about that might be a good idea to address are:

• Is there a plan to rebuild Soquili elsewhere? Will we continue if Gaia dies?
  
• Maintaining a private AIM/email tree for those who are comfortable with it
  
• A new site to transfer the lore and open new forums on (Google Sites, a domain of our own, a new place to be a mini shop?)
  
• A pet recovery protocol in case users lose their pets and need certs/uncerts from the PB (pretty much like a certing thread that hunts things down)
  
• Attracting newbies - will they find us?
  

Here's a bit of elaboration on each of the points for consideration:

1. Is there a plan to rebuild Soquili elsewhere? Will we continue if Gaia dies?
   
   
   • First and foremost, will the shop even be rebuilt if Gaia shuts down someday, or will it simply end?
   
   
2. Maintaining a private AIM/email tree for those who are comfortable with it.
   
   
   • Run by either a volunteer or a staff member who would be comfortable with the added workload?
     
   • Possibly kept on Google Docs or another site with sharing so if one person goes MIA, others can send out the mailing list
     
   • How to go about collecting emails, AIMs, and other IM usernames.
   
   
3. A new site to transfer the lore and open new forums on (Google Sites, a domain of our own, a new place to be a mini shop?)
   
   
   • Where could we go? Create our own website or be a mini shop somewhere?
     
   • Maintaining a site - if one goes up, would users be allowed to begin transferring their data in the near future? (Roleplays, teepees, plot threads, etc.)
     
   • Would we have forums like our guilds with a main thread among them, or an entirely new format?
   
   
4. Attracting newbies - will they find us?
   
   
   • Will we aim to attract more newbies? If so, how would they find us - ads, Google searches...?

Please post any ideas you might have and discuss! I'll append them to the bottom of the post. :3
 

[Anabis]

There's a few different 'free' forums that Soquili could set up with. I dunno a lot but my friend (off gaia) set up an RP forum on Jcink, it seems pretty simple so not much hassle there as far as getting the needed space. And my friend is part of a forum-based RP Group called RPG Directory, it's basically a forum made of nothing but ads for different kinds of RP Forums, From Wolves and Dragons to X-Men OC things, so newbies could come in from there. I've seen ads for a few horse-RP sites on RPG-D already.

If moving to be a mini-shop on another gaia-like site there'd need to be a way to tell everyone who currently has Soquili and Familiars where to find the new site. I personally don't know of a lot of other sites like Gaia where Soquili could set up, so if Gaia ever went down I dunno where I'd go.

I hope Soquili would stay open somewhere if Gaia ever shut down o.o so many awesome people with awesome characters and ideas @.@ heart  

[ATh e a r t]

I don't think we've had a solid back up plan, but I'm pretty sure we'd like the shop to be continued xD; Both staff and non staff~

As a general... Staff have a group chat on AIM as is (and some of us have each others' FB). Beyond that... I think our community is linked enough that if something does happen, if word gets out if/when/where we do re-open, I'm prett sure that... everyone that's interested will find out XD

Though! Short term thing is to have a general FB group, but yeah... IDK.  

[JetAlmeara]

Oh a facebook group would be good and it would be simple to set up and have running. That way should anything terrible happen we'd have a convenient place for everyone to check in and know if/where Soq relocated.  

[Angelique DelaMort]

I would totally join a Soq Facebook group (I like you guys that much)

And a back up plan sounds smart - I really love this shop and all the creativity that flows around it. I would be very sad to see it disappear if something happens to the site.  

[Uta]

As Heart said, I know we've talked about all the scary 'what-ifs' . . . . And trust us, I don't foresee us going down with the ship, if the ship is indeed sinking.

I pay for the PB so I know we'll still have all of that in case people wind up missing pets or missing certs. I don't think it would be troublesome getting people images they might not have, though there are some that genuinely have been lost to the ages. They're mostly older soquili that either never got uploaded or got deleted back in the day.

It's possible, if people were really concerned, we could start moving information to a Google Doc for simple safe-keeping. I know I'm desperately trying to consolidate things -- closing down unnecessarily subforums, consolidating the rules, making sure the rules say everything in the spots they're supposed to, etc. etc. and if we get that done we could probably just move stuff over.

As for a similar Gaia-esque shop, there is that Re Color Me place. A few of us scoped it out and it is very Gaia-esque, but like . . . . when Gaia started up. They don't have guilds, so we'd have to go back to the early days and things weren't so easily consolidated. But, I think we'd make do if we had to, even temporarily.

I could get behind a facebook or something . . . just as a way to stay connected and up to date. :3

So, yeah, we don't really have anything set in stone, but it has been talked about, and has been something that I think has crossed all of our minds. Soquili isn't going to die or fizzle, even if we wake up to find Gaia unplugged. I remember that happened to me years ago when the Internet was young and new, and two of my RP forums and tavern-style RPG rooms shut down without warning.

You'd be amazed how many people stay connected and reached out to help others find their partners and migrate together to a new venue. I have hope soquili would do the same, if we were all caught off guard.  

[mistalina13]

If you guys were to get your own domain/space/etc a PHPbb style forum isn't difficulty to install, mod and maintain. I've done it myself a few times. That way things could be set up exactly as you wanted. (I'd gladly offer my help if this becomes the case.)

edit: I've read the ideas below and edited this a bit.

As far as Facebook I'm not as comfortable with that sort of option, too much personal information (not to mention I manage things for work through it), and making a second account really isn't something I want to do. I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but lets be honest, I don't know anyone here well enough to feel comfortable sharing said info. AIM info on the other hand I would merrily give out for some sort of contact list because RP is what I made it for all those years ago. I know I'm being a stick in the proverbial mud about it, but its how I feel on the subject.

Personally, I'd rather another forum somewhere (or AIM chatrooms even).

If we collectively ended up joining another site, you would just have to look into the rules for adoptable things on the respective forums as some of them are stricter than others.  

[ATh e a r t]

Mist; you wouldn't have to necessarily say who you were on FB. In a sense, you could be just another name on a list if/when we have announcements :3 <3  

[tefla]

If it came down to setting up somewhere else ... might I suggest a site?

I'm part of a Castle community on a forum site and it has it's occasional downtime but I think that it might be an okay replacement if the time comes to find another place to go.?

(( https://www.proboards.com/ ))  

[JetAlmeara]

I don't even think you wold have to join the facebook or follow it in order to check it out for updates, I am not a member or follower of Lord of the Rings online Facebook page but I can still search it up and look at it to read updates.

So..you wouldn't have to compromise your privacy but you could still know where the community had migrated to and join there if you wished,.I think Facebook was just mentioned in place of say a mailing list, since it something that's easy to set up and anyone can check through a search on their own for news.  

[Niyaru Delacroix]

Whatever happens, I still want to be a part of Soquili if Gaia does go down. (I should say if and when..because at the rate things have been going I wouldn't be surprised x3)  

[Jackariah Beckett]

I like the facebook idea. Like Peaches, I only use it for spam and games lD. And I upload old family photos but its easy enough to set those to 'family' only =3.

I am weary about email because I hardly ever go on mine. I would say the same about FB, but my phone cell tells me when I get notifications, even though I no longer have a service provider -whatismoney?-

I don't mind giving my aim if someone were to make a list. I'm pretty sure half of Soq already has it anyways x'3.



Oh gawd, you guys are making me itchy and want to copy all my Namiah journal info to a Word document e__e.

Uhm, silly question I am sure, but how does one create a google doc nwn;;? Is it easy to read/format/access? -not sure shes ever used one-  

[RuIerr]

If you aren't comfortable with the Facebook idea, you could always create a Facebook specifically for this purpose. I know I'm friends with a few Gaians on Facebook that are "character" Facebooks for communication with their online (primarily Gaian) friends, because they're also private people. The profile picture is an art piece or a favorite Pogey and the name is usually something reminiscent of their Gaia username. Just a thought! :3 It would be a pain to log into, yes, but you wouldn't actually have to log into it unless, as we've termed, the ship went down.

Also, yeah, AIM would be another way to go if we wanted to compile usernames and create some kind of a group or whatever. ^^