What is the oldest thread that can still be viewed on the SDMB?
Logically, I’d think it would be this one:
but that doesn’t seem like a likely candidate.
How about the oldest thread that’s still active? (i.e. people posting to it)
Ah, on reflection I see the thread I linked to was only the oldest since the switch to vBulletin.
Although the following link shows a much older thread:
Odd.
I’ll bet 10 bucks it’s this one:
OK I lose 10 bucks to myself, this one is a few minutes older 
And in a totally unintentional triple post, you’ll note that someone there actually refers to it as “The oldest extant thread” on the board, so there ya go
So, why the wild disparity in thread numbering?
Anyone?
Bueller?
Bueller?
Maybe the older threads didn’t get moved over to vB until some time after the switch? That’s just my guess.
We didn’t start out on vB, we were a UBB board for the first couple of years.
When we converted the old board to the vB bulleting board software, the old posts transferred as you see them . . . not perfectly, as the systems are not the same and the way they handle information is different.
Mostly it’s best to just let old threads stay right where they are. Start a new one.
your humble TubaDiva
Additionally, even within a single thread, the individual posts in some cases were not recreated chronologically.
That about sums it up - thanks for the info. Is any of the content archived from the AOL days? I’d be interested in seeing how the ‘zeitgeist’ of the SD has evolved over the years.
If we had access to the source for vBulletin, it’d be fun to have a dynamic thread containing current stats - number of open threads, most active thread, most viewed thread etc. I think I’ve seen that on other BBs.
As someone who has been here since the first day the doors opened (on both AOL and here as well), while the community has evolved over time, it’s still essentially as has been described . . . “the smartest, hippest people on the planet, plus a few total dipsticks.”
AOL content? I have approximately 50 Zip disks worth of AOL message board material. And I suspect I am your only source for this; it’s not on AOL, that’s for sure.
If I remember correctly, Jerry did try to convert some of the files from AOL . . . and it didn’t work.
One of these days I hope to figure out a good way to transfer this material to pages here . … and put them up on a regular basis. Maybe on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the days I don’t do Threadspotting/Weird Earl.
This might be a good project to get Dopers involved in, those of you with some technical expertise. The content was saved as straight text files, I think; I just opened a thread and copied 'em over through the AOL download manager. Any good ideas as to how to best present this material? I don’t want to put it in vB, the system is overloaded enough as it is; in fact, we need to find some way to archive older material and get it off the current database . . . but that’s another project altogether.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
There’s some stats on the front page of the message board, towards the bottom.
Threads: 321,705, Posts: 6,469,132, Members: 54,732
Welcome to our newest member, blackgust17
Hope that helps.
your humble TubaDiva
Holy carp that would be awesome. And here I thought my days of staying up until 4 in the morning reading archived SD/SDMB material were all long behind me.
Happy
Tuba,
Can you maybe post a bit of that data so we can get a look at it? Mostly of interest would be several consecutive posts, and especially the stuff between posts, to find delimiters and structure, and if there is anything to parse against.
That is assuming you have a bunch of flat text files, if they are encrypted or encoded, can you upload one of the entire files? If need be let me know, and I will see if I can host one so other dopers can look while we figure it out. It shouldn’t be too hard given the brains we have here.
I’m in the middle of an outside project right now, but should have some time next week.
I also need to clear this with the Reader first, as this entails putting more content on the Reader server. (Not on the board, not through vB.)
I think these files are text, though I’ll have to dig up the box of disks and look at them to be sure. Might be some wacky AOL thing.
These graphics were on the old site and could possibly be used again:
Former throbbing brain in a jar
your humble TubaDiva
PS Speaking of extra content, y’all are aware teemings is back, no? If you wanted Euty to start again, you could talk to him about going forward and see what he has to say about it.