What's the point of locking off the archives "from public view"?

[Dustin2128]

It's still going to take up the same amount of space, right? I found a lot of my solutions in the archives, and I'm sure plenty of other people have.

[Joeb454]

Much of the information is out of date, and for unsupported versions of Ubuntu.

As you correctly state, it would take up the same amount of space, but this allows us to look at removing it in future if needs be.

[Dustin2128]

Why wouldn't you just slap a banner on it saying "advice may be out of date, may not work in current versions of ubuntu" if you're still going to have it on the server?

[bodhi.zazen]

It's still going to take up the same amount of space, right? I found a lot of my solutions in the archives, and I'm sure plenty of other people have.

It would be ideal, IMO, if some of this gems in the archives were converted from the Forums -> Ubuntu wiki.

wiki pages are easier to maintain.

[youbuntu]

I think we should put it to a vote - let your community decide

Just because advice is out of date, doesn't mean people will blindly follow it; you're talking to a massive collective of rather intelligent beings, not plonkers Why go through all the effort of Wiki-ising it, when it exists here, and can be read for prosperity and sentimental value even!

Please, shall we vote?

DON'T burn your legacy

[grahammechanical]

Hi glossywhite

you said

you're talking to a massive collective of rather intelligent beings, not plonkers

I am not so sure. Have you not noticed the mess that some people manage to get into? There should be an opening splash screen on the Live CD that says in large letters - Not for Plonkers.

Regards.

[kevdog]

I really think this is a bad idea -- unless the only problem is lack of server space -- however this would seem hardly plausible. The archives contain a wealth of information and it would be terrible to see this information "wiped out". Imagine if the library worked this way -- all books older than 40 years are to be removed from public view. What a mockery that would be!! In much the same way I believe removing the archives would be a waste. As a personal contributor to many tutorials in the past and with many of my tutorials now in the archive, I feel somewhat slighted given the time I put into the composition of the tutorials. The Ubuntu forums is built on community. To slight the members of this community in the name of "moderness" is in my opinion reprehensible. Yes wikis may be a better way to maintain the information, however that just adds another layer of work to the process that really no one has stepped up to the plate to do. From the date of the postings, it should be obvious to the end user that some of the information may be dated and not work completely, however many of the older tutorials often do it the "old" way. In most cases the "old" way is not sophisticated but it still works. Try switching to an android device for example and messing with the wireless driver from the command line -- same way in Ubuntu as in android if the wireless tools extension commands are strictly obeyed.

I think I've made my point -- for whatever good it does??!

[Chimes]

many a times in linux my hide has been saved by some ten year old tutorial that definitely wasn't up-to-date, but was the only thing anyone had written on my problem. Maybe it was my specific hardware because I didn't have the newest computer, or some unlucky hardware or software combination, or something even more arcane like a specific programming bug. Most bugs have the same cause and solutions now as they did years ago, but there are a lot of really obscure problems out there.

That said, I'm cool with the cafe's posts being archived. God knows we don't need all those details about our personal lives hanging out like dirty laundry for our grandkids to read.

[Philsoki]

That said, I'm cool with the cafe's posts being archived. God knows we don't need all those details about our personal lives hanging out like dirty laundry for our grandkids to read.

Are you kidding?! The cafe archives must be forever preserved!

[LewRockwellFAN]

I really wish you wouldn't do this. Make it harder to get to if you feel you must. Add a gateway of some sort that requires reading a disclaimer and points to search for the current forum perhaps. You could even make it a separate site if you think you have to. I don't see any need to change it at all really. I've found worthwhile material in the archives frequently. I hope they remain open to google's bot and to us meat people. They CAN'T take up that much space; they are essentially just glorified text files, right?

Of course, it's your hardware, your bandwidth, your money. So I don't presume to tell you what to do. But I wish I could convince you this would not be at all nice of you.