The Old and HUGE FiatSpider.com data/forum posts

[Site Owner]

To all:
I have all of the posts from about 2000 and on. I have everything intact and backed up in three different places. It is safe, secure and is guarded like the treasure that it is. The problem is that it is in ASP from ASP Playground. It used MSSQL as the back-end database with ASP as the middle language.
This new forum runs on UNIX using mySQL as a database and PHP as the middle language. Converting the old to the new is a tremendous challenge. There are more than 80,000 posts on more than 10,000 topics related solely to the Fiat Spider. If I could wave a magic wand and put it all in this forum, I would do it today. It aint that easy I'm afraid. I don't know how to do this . . . yet. And I'm not ready to tackle it right at this moment either, I just have too much going on right now. BUT, we need to get our heads together on this and figure it out. So start thinking. In the meantime, just know that it's here and it's safe and I intend to share it if it's feasible to do so.

Just wanted you all to know the status of this most important archive.

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[XSIVEJEFF]

http://asp2php.mikekohn.net/
MS ASP TO PHP CONVERSION SOFTWARE

http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/010601-1.shtml
Easy conversion to PHP for the ASP developer

The above links might help the process a bit. If you'd likesome help with the project, let me know. I'd like to see that data available to the public again.

[Site Owner]

Unfortunately Jeff, it's a lot more complex than you might think. We're not talking about web pages here. Don't get me wrong - I know you're trying to help, but those two links don't even come close to the issue.

We're talking about a BBS/Forum conversion with two entirely different approaches and two significantly different database schemas (the radically different schemas is the main rub). PHPBB.com has tons of information on conversions, and there are lots of conversion scripts and programs out there - but I have yet to find a straight forward conversion from ASP Playground's version forum to PHPBB. I don't think one exists. A manual rebuild would be extremely time consuming for even an expert (I know, I've talked to a few about it).

I'm hoping that someone will come up with a specific conversion script for these two very different forum systems. I have all of the data in a database, but getting it into this forum is another matter.

Once again, I appreciate the thought, but it's a lot more complicated than it may seem.

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[Danno]

ok, i've been thinking about this. I'm trying to work the steps out here, could this process work?

1. Convert ASP to HTML, or XML, or something
2. Convert that file using a mssql to mysql converter
3. convert the new file to PHP?

i dunno. maybe you only need to do the first two steps and it could be some searchable database at that point.

only problem is that I can't find anything FREE. I found a $50 shareware mssql to mysql converter here

[Site Owner]

Danno -
It's possible that something like that could work. The real issue is figuring out how to handle the major differences between the overall structure of the two forums. They are very different. Good News / Bad News Dept:

Good News - I am absolutely slammed right now in my business. Pretty much working two shifts most days.

Bad News - that means I have very little time right now to look into this.
Heck - I barley have time to post this message - lol.

I think things will back off a little in about a month and I can spend some time on it. Right now though, I'm out of bandwidth workload-wise.

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[ChrisLayton]

I have convereted MSSQL (2005 and 2000 version of the MS DB server) data to MYSQL data and into phpBB2 (http://fluforum.italiancarclub.com) so I know how much of a royal pain it can be. If you decide to press forward with it I might be able to offer a few pointers. Too bad your data isnt already in MYSQL already as that would make things a TON easier...

I dont know if you remeber me but we chatted on the phone briefly when you first took the site down and hung up the for sale sign. Glad to see the site back in action

[flyboy]

New member here...
I picked up a '78 spider about two months ago and found the archives on the site indispensable for attempting to get the car road worthy (still working on it!). Unfortunately, when the site was updated, all that knowledge vanished. All my bookmarks dead, my searches returning nothing.

Instead of integrating the old posts with the new, is it possible to put the old system up as an archive only system? One could search and learn, just not post new replies. I don't want to pester everyone with a bunch of questions that have already been answered (of course, this bunch seems like they would be happy to help out again).

Looking forward to fixing all the fuel leaks and the clutch (look for a separate post on the clutch topic soon) and getting out with the top down.

[Danno]

Flyboy, just wanted to ask about the archives you keep mentioning. I want to make sure you are actually talking about the OLD fiatspider.com forum. The old forum hasn't been around for about 2 years now, and I noticed that you JUST got your spider. that means either A. you've been researching it for a REALLY long time B. You are confusing Mirafiori with this forum. or C. When you say the old forum you mean the different version of the current forum (that was updated just a couple of weeks ago).

If it is C (probably) then those topics/info are still there, but when we updated software the forum url changed just a little bit, so go up to search, type in the keywords and you should be good to go.

[flyboy]

Hmmmm...
You are correct, I have not been researching for 2 years! How about 2 days before my purchase.

I am unable to find any of the topics I previously searched upon. For example, the common oil leak from the distributor issue I had book marked here: http://www.fiatspider.com/forum/viewtop ... istributor

Now when I search for "oil leak" in the search function, only 2 items are returned, one of which is my post. Even searching for "oil" only returns 12 replies. Same deal for a few other items. Maybe I am not searching correctly? I have tried highlighting all forums and highlighting no forums and get the same results either way.

Any help would be appreciated because the information I was finding a few weeks ago was wonderful.

[Danno]

remove the word "forum" from your old web addresses and insert "f08" (that's a Zero in there)

lets try: (ingnore the spaces, that's so the forum software doesn't truncate it--for learning purposes)
http ://www.fiatspider.com/ forum/ viewtopic.php? t=1748&highlight=oil+leak+distributor

now can be found at
http ://www.fiatspider.com/ f08/ viewtopic.php? t=1748&highlight=oil+leak+distributor

also, doesn't matter for bookmarks, but the "&" and everything after isn't necessary, so technically your link could be:
http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?t=1748

(try that last one to see if it works!

[flyboy]

That last link does work!

why aren't my searches aren't turning up the information though? Example: search for oil and the thread for which you provided the link doesn't come up.

Thanks for showing me how to access those threads that I already had marked. That is a big help.

[Danno]

why aren't my searches aren't turning up the information though? Example: search for oil and the thread for which you provided the link doesn't come up.

That is a very good question for which I have no answer. Evan took the site down a little over a week ago and I thought he was fixing that exact problem. I guess not! I'm sure Mark is watching this thread as it goes and will help us out!

[Site Owner]

MY BAD -
It's my fault, I forgot to kick off the indexing process a couple of weeks ago. This is going to take maybe 3-6 hours, so I'll do my best to remember to kick it off tonight and let it run overnight. Once I do this, the search will work.

Again, sorry. Oversight on my part.

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[Danno]

Shame on you, Evan. I'll be reducing your forum paycheck by 50% this month.