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#210699 - 2015-09-05 05:36 PM KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down
rclarke Offline
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Well, long time no post ... and when I do finally come back it is to be the bearer of bad news \:\(

I have hosted KiXforms.org with a commercial hosting provider for nearly 13 years now, but the last 8 years have been very quiet with minimal traffic other than the odd person using the forum to look up legacy support material. My hosting provider used to run a quality operation, but times have changed and their servers are being constantly re-listed on Spamhaus blocking lists as their support org fail to weed out the spammers. This Spamhaus blocking is severely disrupting my private email which is hosted on the same package as the KiXforms site, so it looks like I need to bite the bullet and move to a new hosting provider. That being the case, I think it makes sense to retire the KiXforms.org web site rather than expend considerable effort reinstating it somewhere else. Unless there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth at the potential demise of KiXforms.org then the web site will close down some time in late November when my current hosting contract expires. As they say, it was good while it lasted \:\)

Rod.
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#210700 - 2015-09-05 08:02 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: rclarke]
Glenn Barnas Administrator Offline
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Hey KORG!

I have a pretty robust infrastructure here at home - 50M commercial Internet, Server 2012 web platforms, ESX 5.5 Enterprise servers, and I already host a few sites. What I don't have is a lot of time right now. If anyone is interested in helping, I'd certainly be willing to host the KF site - at least until a decision is made to integrate it into KORG or not. If it's currently a LAMP based system, maybe we could transfer the host images directly to my VM infrastructure?

Anyone interested in helping? I can do the security, VM configs, and other infrastructure stuff - I could use help with the migration and ongoing management (which, based on recent history, should be minimal).

Glenn
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Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! \:D

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#210701 - 2015-09-05 09:50 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Glenn Barnas]
Lonkero Administrator Offline
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Make it so.
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download KiXnet

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#210702 - 2015-09-06 12:34 AM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Glenn Barnas]
rclarke Offline
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Registered: 2001-06-08
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Loc: Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
Hi Glenn,

Thanks for the offer; however, my personal email account and several others are KiXforms' addresses and therefore I need to retain full control over those domain names for now.

Rod.
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#210703 - 2015-09-06 05:01 AM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: rclarke]
Allen Administrator Online shocked
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Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but why do you have to lose control of the domain or email if someone else hosts the website? Its just some DNS changes.
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#210704 - 2015-09-06 03:22 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Allen]
Glenn Barnas Administrator Offline
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Indeed - we don't need to transfer the domain (and I had never considered that, actually), just change the DNS references for WWW.

If that works, we could start before November by using a non-WWW host on my current domain for deployment and testing, and then simply re-point the domain to the new server when you're ready to transfer.

Glenn
_________________________
Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! \:D

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#210705 - 2015-09-06 03:35 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Glenn Barnas]
rclarke Offline
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Registered: 2001-06-08
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The new hosting package I had selected is email only with no domain forwarding functionality for web traffic. TBH guys, considering that over 99.9% of all traffic to KForg in the last 7+ years has just been search crawlers, I think it is time to let it go. Anybody who still uses KF will know about this site, so it is no great loss.

Rod.
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#210706 - 2015-09-06 05:25 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: rclarke]
Allen Administrator Online shocked
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I hear what you are saying Rod, but here's the thing, that information about how to use Kixforms is still valuable, and Glenn is offering to host the site for nothing. I'll be honest, it would be no big loss to me because I have never been a kixforms user, but if I ever had to do a project, I can't think of any place I would go to first.

The forwarding that you mention is not necessary. All we have to do is adjust the dns record for www to point to Glenn's server. Most Domain Registrars provide dns now, so it would be a simple change that you or one of us could make. In fact, your email requires the DNS settings too, so somewhere you will have access to these records, in either a web portal, or a phone call.

Please forgive me if you know all this, but many of my customers THINKS that they have to give control of the domain to the web hosting company before said web hosting company can host the website. If this happens to be something that someone has told you, this could not be further from the truth. Having your domain at a Registrar (Godaddy as an example) means that you have control of the domain, and you can specify the records to where they point to. Your website, email, etc do not have to be at Godaddy, even though the domain could be registered there. This also works in reverse, you could have services with GoDaddy, but have the domain registered at ENOM. DNS does all the work. If and when you need to move the web site hosting, email server, etc, YOU can make the changes to DNS to new servers, and not have to transfer the domain.
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#210707 - 2015-09-06 06:18 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Allen]
rclarke Offline
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Registered: 2001-06-08
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There are two issues here. The first is that there is absolutely no pressing need for KForg to point to another server as nowadays the number of real person visits to KForg is miniscule. If you know about KiXforms then you know about KiXtart, which means you know about kixtart.org. Second is that I think it has been assumed that I will simply hand over a full data dump of the KiXforms site to someone else to do with as they please. Due to various privacy issues and concerns (especially with forum member data and archived private messages), that will not be the case. If your prime worry is losing useful KF data then KForg has been fully crawled by the Wayback Machine (archive.org) and therefore a record of forum posts has already been preserved for posterity. Incidentally, I did contact Shawn a couple of years ago about shutting down the web site due to inactivity and his response was "sure, go ahead, it has run its course".

Rod.
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#210708 - 2015-09-06 06:27 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: rclarke]
Allen Administrator Online shocked
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Registered: 2003-04-19
Posts: 4549
Loc: USA
I get the privacy thing, but that was not brought up to start with, and I was simply trying to provide advice on moving the website if it was an option.

Seems you've already made the decision. Sayonara Kixforms.
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#210709 - 2015-09-06 11:33 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Allen]
Glenn Barnas Administrator Offline
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Loc: New Jersey
Guys,

I have the web-html files for classic and dot-net, as well as the download packages. I'll add them to the Kix page on my site so that reference material will be available.

Really, all we need to do is add a KF forum to KORG if we want to maintain a separate place for Q&A, if not use this forum (COM). (I'd prefer a separate KF forum, personally.) Add the KF packages to our download page and we're good to go. Yes, we'll lose some good info from the posts, but as Rod pointed out, that information is quite old.

If we use a separate forum, we could grab some of the example threads and post them on KORG.

Glenn
_________________________
Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! \:D

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#210710 - 2015-09-07 12:27 AM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Glenn Barnas]
Allen Administrator Online shocked
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Posts: 4549
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I think Lonk is the only active member that has permissions to add forums.
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#210712 - 2015-09-07 01:24 AM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Allen]
It_took_my_meds Offline
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I for one am very disappointed to hear this. I am however not surprised. I've invested many years writing KiXforms code and I don't really visit KiXforms.org because I know the library so well (and much more than is actually documented in the help file). That is not to say I don't ever reference the help file however...

What disappoints me the most however is Shawn's comment "sure, go ahead, it has run its course". Shawn, I have asked this before, now I am pleading. Would you please host the source code on github or sourceforge? That way KiXforms won't die and can be upgraded by the community to support features of new versions of Windows. Otherwise not only will it lose relevance, the apps we have written with it will too. For me, this is many years of effort and 10's of thousands of lines of code.
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#210713 - 2015-09-07 11:04 AM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: It_took_my_meds]
rclarke Offline
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Registered: 2001-06-08
Posts: 178
Loc: Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
As I made clear in my original post, Shawn's paraphrased comment to me was specifically about the KForg web site, and NOT the actual KiXforms library.

The truth of the matter is that I have kept KForg limping along for over 8 years after its heyday. As I PM'ed with Allen yesterday, I too have invested countless hours of effort, in building and maintaining the KF site and it is personally very sad to see its demise, but you have to face facts that us KiXtarters are dwindling in number. Furthermore, over the last 13 years I have spent nearly $2,000 on hosting and domain name fees, and received just $75 in donations, so maybe it wasn't as highly valued (in that sense) by as many as you may think. If it makes a few people happy then I can think about keeping the old girl running for another year or so for old times' sake, but is it actually achieving anything?

Rod.
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#210714 - 2015-09-07 12:01 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: rclarke]
It_took_my_meds Offline
Hey THIS is FUN
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Registered: 2003-05-07
Posts: 273
Loc: Sydney, Australia
Rod, your commitment is highly commendable and I am extremely grateful. I really want KiXforms (and KiXtart) to stay relevant, that is all. And... for what it is worth, I donated to your website. Although $20 or so (I can't remember the exact amount and it was in Australian dollars) is nothing compared to what you yourself have contributed. I think open sourcing could really reinvigorate things.

Thank you sincerely.
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#210715 - 2015-09-07 12:20 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Glenn Barnas]
Mart Moderator Offline
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 Originally Posted By: Glenn Barnas

....

Really, all we need to do is add a KF forum to KORG if we want to maintain a separate place for Q&A, if not use this forum (COM). (I'd prefer a separate KF forum, personally.) Add the KF packages to our download page and we're good to go. Yes, we'll lose some good info from the posts, but as Rod pointed out, that information is quite old.

....


Agreed.

To be honest I visited kforg sometimes when I just started using kixforms but the last few years it became less and less. I still use kixforms for some apps but I just do not need to kforg sire anymore. Adding a separate section (I guess this is called a forum) for kixforms would be great as kix and kixforms are related it makes sense to have it all on one site.

I also need to agree with "meds". If Shawn has no time (or interest) anymore in maintaining the code then it would be great if it could be made public somehow.

Thanks for all the years of support and keeping to site up and running Rod.
_________________________
Mart

- Chuck Norris once sold ebay to ebay on ebay.

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#210716 - 2015-09-07 01:15 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: It_took_my_meds]
rclarke Offline
Starting to like KiXtart
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Registered: 2001-06-08
Posts: 178
Loc: Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
 Originally Posted By: It_took_my_meds
Rod, your commitment is highly commendable and I am extremely grateful. I really want KiXforms (and KiXtart) to stay relevant, that is all. And... for what it is worth, I donated to your website. Although $20 or so (I can't remember the exact amount and it was in Australian dollars) is nothing compared to what you yourself have contributed. I think open sourcing could really reinvigorate things.

Thank you for both your comments and your donation ... you can consider yourself a proud member of a very select club as there were just five "donaters" over the years \:\)

I completely agree that open sourcing could invigorate the whole KiXtart/KiXforms world, but whether that will happen or not rests entirely with others. Sadly, I stopped using KiXtart/KiXforms back in 2008 when the company I worked for was acquired by another and my role changed, but I learned a hell of a lot about web technologies and OOP along the way which has stood me in good stead since so I don't regret the journey one bit \:\)

Rod.
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#210717 - 2015-09-07 03:38 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: rclarke]
rclarke Offline
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Registered: 2001-06-08
Posts: 178
Loc: Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
 Originally Posted By: Mart
Thanks for all the years of support and keeping to site up and running Rod.

You are very welcome Mart \:\)
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#210718 - 2015-09-08 12:45 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: rclarke]
Arend_ Moderator Online sleepy
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Registered: 2005-01-17
Posts: 1895
Loc: Hilversum, The Netherlands
Although I find it sad to see kf.com go, it is time I suppose.
I remember working with Shawn on parts of the code trying to incorporate some .net libraries which has been very interesting to say the least and fun most of all.
However, that time has long since passed.
Even in my job as a Systems Engineer for a large company I use KiXtart less and less, only for the quick results I still use it.
The last time I actually used Kixforms was almost 8 years ago to write a LDAP browser in kixforms.net and that was only because I was bored.
And the last time I actually referenced kix.com I can't even remember.
And how many times did we joke about Shawn actually mentioning something here on the forum and then being AWOL for months/years again.

So what I'm trying to say is Thank You Rod, for keeping it alive as long as you did.
I do believe in making the kixforms code open source on github or codeplex so people can learn from it. I don't think it is a viable solution for people to maintain the code as it is smarter for new users to learn PowerShell for forms-based scripting.
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#210719 - 2015-09-08 03:08 PM Re: KiXforms.org Web Site Closing Down [Re: Arend_]
Glenn Barnas Administrator Offline
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Registered: 2003-01-28
Posts: 4396
Loc: New Jersey
Wow - if you guys think that KixForms is just about forms, you're missing the boat! I can't tell you how many non-GUI apps that I have rely on the KF DLL for event-driven and timer-driven code. Not to mention so advanced math and communication capabilities...

I've got 5 different apps that use KF just for Socket communications.

Glenn
_________________________
Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! \:D

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