The previously proposed deletion list was based on the idea that those topics were destined for on-line oblivion (any archiving being off-line only). With the advancement of the idea of an on-line zipped archive, that has all changed.
Now, I am proposing that the topic database be filtered as follows, to select the topics destined for zipped on-line archiving (and deletion from the standard list of available topics):
1) All topics which have not been active since before 9/1/02.
2) All currently closed topics, regardless of recent activity.
3) All topics with 200 or more messages, regardless of existing status.
4) All the topics that are on my previous list of proposed topics, plus some that just missed make the list of "the doomed 90".
Running this filter on the database results in:
516 (of 994) topics proposed for archiving.
15,695 (of 30,475) messages proposed for archiving.
In a trial of zipping the first William Scott flood topic, I found that the zipped version of the 31 pages were of a file size 20 percent of the sum of the unzipped pages. Therefore, I am estimating that the new message space created would be - 15,695 x 80% = 12,556 messages.
So far this year, new messages are being posted at a rate of about 80 per day, or 2400 per 30 day month.
The bottom line is, I have calculated that the proposed archiving should make room for about 5 to 6 months worth of new messages, before we're up to the same as current amount of server storage space requirements.
As a footnote, I add that there could be other advantages:
1) The zipped file format would enable the easy downloading of a lot of material. Although the choice of preferred zipped file size is still to be determined - the William Scott example, by itself, was 696 kB. I would certainly accept suggestions for a general file size target. I anticipate that most of the zipped files would contain quite a few topics.
2) I am thinking of grouping topics into ones of like nature. This would include filing the "Great Debate" topics into more appropriate forums, and also filing other topics into more appropriate forums. There may well be sub-areas within the larger areas (i.e. "Geology and the Great Flood - TB's crackpot ideas", "Evolution - SLPx's cranky themes", and "Misc. - Brad McFall's topics"
- Guess which one(s) of these I'm seriously considering, if not as titled). I will need to have an index page, to tell where to find a specific topic.
The following are links to:
1) Topics proposed for archiving -
http://www.lakenet.com/~mnmoose/archive.htm
2) Topics not to be archived - to remain as is -
http://www.lakenet.com/~mnmoose/not_arch.htm
Future editions of list 1 will (hopefully) include proposed topics groupings.
Suggestions can be made, for topics that should cross over from one list to the other. Also, there are several active topics that are flagged for strong consideration for closing (and thus for archiving).
Enough for now,
Adminnemooseus
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{
mnmoose@lakenet.com}
[This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 01-31-2003]