[Public-List] Alberg 30 forum

Tue Oct 13 20:11:34 PDT 2015

George,
Most Alberg 30 owners have had the benefit of your list and website for many years. It has also been recognized by the general sailing community as one of the best One-Design sites available.
The Alberg 30 community, and our boats, are unique in many ways, and do not have to follow the vagaries of a constantly changing world. The relationships in our family, some of which are decades old, and our boats, are a constant which we all can rely on. The A30 website is part of that dynamic. 
None of this means that there can't be improvement in how things are done, but it does mean that it would be ill-advised to jettison a long-term successful website format for a new, untested (and perhaps unwanted) replacement. Although some of those who support this change may be willing to commit to operating it for the next two decades, I, for one, would prefer to see the existing website (which is first rate) and the existing Administrator (who is first rate) continue to provide this sailor with the advantages for which the site is so well known.  
I know that you will keep an open mind about improvements, but web safety and privacy issues should always be in the forefront.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Jay Davenport 

      From: George Dinwiddie via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
 To: public-list at lists.alberg30.org 
 Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2015 9:53 PM
 Subject: Re: [Public-List] Alberg 30 forum

Michael, et al,

On 10/13/15 5:03 AM, Michael via Public-List wrote:
> They come and they go. The Alberg 30 list endures. Thanks George.

You're welcome. And thank you for lifting my spirits.

> Knowing at least one thing I am subscribed to can't install binary
> malware means a lot to me.
> Keep the subject line relevant to the discussion at hand and i don't see
> the problem with confusion (in searches or otherwise).
>
> MichaelGrosh
> #220
> I would like to see the collaborate/wiki doohickey pages used more.
> that's a tough nut to crack. lots of potential there.

You were, I think, the only one other than me to create pages in the 
"collaborate" section. Unfortunately, it's down for the count at the 
moment. A combination of years-long persistent onslaught of vandals, and 
an upgrade by my hosting provider that left me without a simple 
migration path. Until I figure out a way forward, it's defunct. Leaving 
it up was jeopardizing the rest of the website.

As of this morning, 376340 different IP addresses have tried to create 
logins for it, I presume these are mostly automated bots. I gave up many 
months ago blocking IP addresses after blocking over 100000 of them. The 
CPU usage just to refuse their connection was overwhelming when there 
were several per second. When I was actively fighting this problem, I 
was spending a dozen or so hours a week on it, for months. I had to 
throw in the towel. The spammers are quite persistent. Even though it 
hasn't worked for about a year, there were 883 attempts to create an 
account in 24 hours yesterday. At least it's slowed down a bit.

People complain about not being able to send photos on the mailing list, 
and suggest a web-based solution to that problem. They ignore the fact 
that the alberg30.org website already has the ability to post photos. 
I've mentioned this numerous times on the list. It does require a login, 
which I will gladly create, but that keeps out the spam bots that have 
infested the wiki. Very few people have contributed. You can visit 
http://www.alberg30.org/gallery/ to see what's there.

Yes, I know there are newer things than email lists. Web forums are so 
terribly new, however. Some of us remember Compuserve forums, and find 
web forums to be a pale reflection of them. When I was an assistant 
sysop on Compuserves sailing forum (a.k.a. the Online Yacht Club), it 
was considered poor taste to troll another forum to entice members to 
leave it for some other forum. There are things newer than online 
etiquette, too.

I'm not terribly interested in what's new and what's obsolete. I note 
that sailboats have been an obsolete form of transportation for a very 
long time. Yet they provide me with a certain amount of pleasure, and, 
with care, safety. Pleasure and safety are my goals with the website and 
mailing list.

I've been running the mailing list for over 17 years, now, and the 
website for 20. I've been especially careful about security. I started 
this list on one-list, which was bought by egroups, which was bought by 
yahoo. Yahoo started adding webbugs to the emails so they could track 
who opened emails when. I didn't like that, so I left the free email 
services and ran my own list. This seems so quaint today when large 
corporations lose millions of credit cards at a time, but I still care 
about providing a safe environment for people who want to focus on 
sailing rather than web security. As a sailor, I've seen how a little 
inattention can suddenly become life-threatening.

I'm comfortable with the choices I've made. If others want to make other 
choices, that's up to them. I really do appreciate the kind words of 
support. There have been many days when I've wondered why I'm still 
doing this, and those words remind me of the answer.

  Fair winds,
    George

-- 
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  When I remember bygone days                        George Dinwiddie
  I think how evening follows morn;            gdinwiddie at alberg30.org
  So many I loved were not yet dead,          http://www.Alberg30.org
  So many I love were not yet born.                          also see:
                'The Middle' by Ogden Nash    http://idiacomputing.com

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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