Please use this thread for (and only for) alerting admins to moderation issues and for raising complaints arising from particular decisions. We remind participants that TSZ is a benign dictatorship, the property of Dr. Elizabeth Liddle. All decisions regarding policy and implementation are hers alone.
There isn’t any admin login that I know of. I just login as myself. My account is flagged as having admin capabilities.
OK. In that case, could you create an account for them and grant it admin privileges? And send the login info to them?
keiths,
It would be better for them to create an account and set a password. And then, I think I can grant admin privileges.
OK. I’ll ask them to do that, and let you know what their username is (in case you aren’t automatically notified when someone signs up).
They are now registered as username ‘fixrunner’.
keiths,
Assigned to “Administrator” role.
Thanks. I’ll let them know.
Still waiting for Lizzie to respond with the host provider login.
I would like to make Lizze an offer that she can’t refuse but I don’t want to run this site…If she agrees I pay the bills, I’’d like someone neutral to run it with authority and influence…
One thing we need is a better server. I get an error message each time I long in…
Lizzie replied to my email, and unfortunately, the URL she has for the hosting provider (tsoHost) is no longer working. I looked into it, and it’s because tsoHost is no longer in business. They transferred all of their customers to a new provider, so the old URL is obsolete.
Lizzie said she’ll try to contact them tomorrow, if she has time, but she’s at a conference and may need to wait until the weekend to deal with this.
I’ll let FixRunner know that there may be a delay.
You would struggle to find someone truly neutral on most topics discussed here, while knowledgable enough to adjudicate. It had become quiet until we started discussing Trump, who is an absolute goldmine.
ionos works for me. No problem for me to put TSZ there if Lizzie no longer wants to bother with it. The backup site is running fine except the app that saves files to my cloud has failed and I haven’t got round to reinstating it.
Alan:
Are you saying that the backup site is running, but that files aren’t actually being backed up to it? If so, I can add that to the list of things that Fixrunner addresses.
I personally think that it is not worth maintaining (the tech backend of) this website the way it is. This site should always have been a forum anyway, not a blog.
In my opinion, the best option is to find another backend where the current website can be exported to with as little loss as possible, and then maintain the result. WordPress always sucked and is never going to fix itself. Someone with enough willingness and tech knowledge should move this website out of WordPress on a better platform, better in terms of being more easily and more directly maintainable.
However, I’m not willing to participate in it in any way. It is just another casual comment.
Can’t disapprove of traffic.
Site is worryingly slow for me. Anyone else having issues?
keiths,
Yes
keiths,
It involves updating an app costing about 30$, if it is still available. I’ll have a look.
ETA it was called Updraft Plus.
Sounds like a lot of work. The easier option would be to save the current site in read-only form and set up a forum for those wanting to carry on discussing current events and whatever else is of interest. The demise of “Intelligent Design” was the logical time to mothball TSZ.
Alan:
Yes, but this isn’t unusual. It’s been happening a lot lately, which is why I was motivated to contact Lizzie for permission to hire a WordPress consultant.
Alan:
I’ll have Fixrunner look at the backup situation and see what their recommendation is. I’m sure they have a preferred app.
Alan:
And the easiest and least risky option is just to fix TSZ and continue as before. We already discuss current events and whatever else is of interest here, so what’s the point of starting a new site where we discuss those same things?
Except that TSZ was never intended to be solely about ID. Lizzie (in “About this site”) mentions discussion of “religion, politics, evolution, the Mind/Brain problem, creationism, ethics, exit polls, probability, intelligent design, and many other topics” as her motivation for creating the site.
Yes, mothballing is the easiest. And the easiest way to create a continuation forum is a subreddit.
Excellent aspiration. Unfortunately, the site is below critical mass now. Unless Trump falls down a very long line of stairs, bumping into Bibi on the way down, and Putin has a heart attack on hearing the news. That might enliven political discussion.
ETA: Lizzie coming back and wanting to tell us about her current research would also inject some life into the place.
Alan:
I’m not sure what ‘critical mass’ means. The site is active now, and people (including you) are showing up. You’ve predicted its demise more than once, and it has always bounced back. As long as people are getting something out of it, it’ll survive. Why would you want to mothball it when it’s serving a purpose?
It will also help when the repairs have been made and the site is healthy again. It’s annoying as hell right now when the system bogs down and you either get database connection errors or have to wait forever for a response. Being able to upload images again will also be nice, as will not getting breathless security warnings from browsers and extensions due to the lack of an SSL certificate.
We talk about a lot more than just politics here. On the front page alone, we have OPs on AI, evolution, consciousness, anti-vaxxers, animal intelligence, conspiracy theories, economics, irrational numbers, finitism in mathematics, and various religious topics including Pascal’s Wager, AIs debating theism, and non-Christian evidence for Jesus.