Comments | highlander_lj: The Central Archive question.

hmpf in highlander_lj

The Central Archive question.

Jan 23, 2006 02:28

Forgive me for posting this; I'm sort of new to the fandom (or rather, really old and recently returned to active status), so it may not be my place to start such a crucial discussion. ;-) But I have an offer to make ( Read more... )

Comments 15

davechicken January 23 2006, 01:52:03 UTC

I run an efiction archive for my personal website Penumbris, and I'd be more than happy to help set a similar one up, and maybe help moderate it, if you need the help :)

I don't know what efiction is - hmpf January 23 2006, 01:55:11 UTC

just asked killabeez about it in some other thread. :-) But if it's an archiving software or something like that and if it doesn't take up a whole lot of space - sure!

Provided the fandom as a whole (or rather, the people on highlander_lj reply favourably.

Just realised we'd need a domain, too. I have already used up all the ones that came with my account. But then, a domain shouldn't be too expensive.

Re: I don't know what efiction is - davechicken January 23 2006, 02:01:41 UTC

efiction is an automated archive. Once you set up the MYSQL database, you can customise the layout and graphics, and then set up categories, ratings and characters so that authors just select the options and paste in the text of their story. The admin/s can then have it set to automatically post the story, or they can check to make sure it's well-edited/in the right category. Once it's set up it's very user friendly, and you might want to look at www.wraithbait.com for an example of different fandom's multi-user archive. Hope I make some sense :) Domain and hosting stuff I am less genned up on, as I only run my site for me and my friends.

Re: I don't know what efiction is - fides January 23 2006, 16:29:47 UTC

Have you concidered looking into what/how much it takes to get hoasting of squidge.org? That has a couple of fairly large fan archives and being a fan site you don't need to worry too much about T&Cs (which tend to be quite unsupportive about anything adult and potentially infringing).

Just a thought.

:-)

Fides

darthhellokitty January 23 2006, 02:16:10 UTC

I'm really glad to see this happening!

I wonder if, in addition to the archive, there could be a page of links to other archives (group or individual ones) so that it would be sort of a one-stop shop for HL readers/writers?

amonitrate January 23 2006, 02:50:09 UTC

All brilliant ideas. I have no technical know-how, but would be willing to help research/write copy (links etc) if needed and donate to the cause.

adonnchaid January 23 2006, 02:52:22 UTC

Well, for a page of links, there are the pages kept up by the masters of the ROG-L list, and I know it's maintained pretty regularly to make sure links are good and to add new ones.

http://wordsmiths.net/ROG-L/index.html

For an archive, the efiction software works really well. An archive I post to (in another fandom) has recently updated to the newest version and it's a very user friendly interface for both readers and authors.

helsmeta January 23 2006, 07:37:45 UTC

I would love this. I'm not knowledgeable at all about software, alas, but if there's anything I could do to help, I'd be glad to!

fides January 23 2006, 11:34:46 UTC

I helped set up/administer two archives based on a heavily re-written (by me) version of the old Storyline code. I don't have a massive amount of time on my hands but I am willing to help out. I also have the improved code if you want it but these days I expect efiction is a better bet.

The other alternative is ePrints which is generally used for academic papers but has been used for a whole bunch of other stuff as well. I know the guys who are working on that and they once offered to help me set up a fan fiction archive with it just to see if you could. The downside is that is requires a Unix/Linux server running apache and mySQL which would pretty much mean us running our own server. This might be arrangeable however if we wanted to go that route.

Anyhoo, willing to help.

:-)

Fides

killabeez January 23 2006, 13:39:52 UTC

The Kirk/Spock archive that I run (with help from Robin at Slashcity) is here:

http://ksarchive.com/index.php

It's set up using eFiction. It does have a couple of limitations, but to a large degree I've been satisfied with it, and people seem to be using it successfully. The main issue I've had with it is that it is somewhat browser sensitive. Also, it's not possible for a person with only one email address to register under more than one penname. Other than that, it seems to be doing the job well.

I would be happy to do this for Highlander, but I would probably need help with the financing over time.

Well... concerning financing... hmpf January 23 2006, 15:15:18 UTC

... my offer of donating my webspace is meant quite seriously. I'm paying for that webspace anyway, and I'm not using it. Granted, it's 'only' 160 MB, but that should last us at least a couple of years, I'd imagine. And my provider has a tendency to upgrade accounts every once in a while - when I started out I only had 70 MB, and they've since increased the space to 250 MB. I'm sharing my webspace with ailanreanter, so I can only claim half of that space, though. Hence the 160 MB offer - I'd like to keep 15 MB for my own websites. Chances are my provider will upgrade my space again before we run out of space. It took Seventh Dimension quite a few years to pass the 3000 story mark, after all, and by my estimates - if eFiction doesn't turn out extremely large files - around 2000 story files should fit on my currently available space.

Re: Well... concerning financing... ailanreanter January 23 2006, 16:21:55 UTC

If you need an excessive amount of space, tell me in time, for I might move my content to another server,then, but I need to keep the domain. ;)
I will check how much space I really need for just the websites I have there
and I can likely let you have more than just half of the webspace.
Will check and get back to you.

Re: Well... concerning financing... killabeez January 23 2006, 16:38:56 UTC

You are definitely right that it doesn't take a ton of space. The KSarchive site has about 500 stories in it, and the whole thing is only 12Mb so far. The crucial issue for me, though, is that although I can do HTML and know how to administer the archive itself, I don't know anything about how to get the archive software installed and configured properly. That's the part that Robin did for me. She also registered the domain and got it resolving, and has helped with other minor tech issues as I was getting it set up. So it would need the right kind of server, and someone who could configure it.

Slashcity hosts all my sites, and they are the ones who recommended eFiction to me, as it's compatible with the way their servers are set up. It could be that another host would be better suited to a different archive solution (such as the Automated Archive astolat wrote). You'd need to talk to your hosting provider and see what kind of scripts you can run on that server, and they or someone else would need to do the initial configuration ( ... )