Re: CalSky closed

You are witnessing a phenomenon that will increasingly happen: people can
easily set up websites, and just as quickly drop them. This is a downside
of modern web technology.

And often, there is no long term strategy to at least maintain the software
behind it, and so the community loses precious resources.

Other examples of interesting sites that are or could drop out without
warning:
- https://transit-finder.com/ is a great site, but looks like it is dying
- Frank's fer3.com/ is a precious site, but the day Frank pulls the plug
for whatever reason, the data is lost

(Future) site owners should think of following:

1. a way to open-source their website code so that it can be salvaged, and
maybe set up again (not easy, but code versioning goes a long way here)
2. a way to export the data so that the community can recuperate it; as a
minimum, ensure that the site will be archived on https://archive.org/web/
3. how to maintain a site in the longer term (eg regularly update the user
interfaces to follow the tyranny of modern standards )
4. a backup system that can be trusted (I've known sites that lost part of
their data because their backup system was bad)
5. how to deal with intellectual property once the site is closed... what
to do the day the site can no longer be maintained

We have all seen far too many good sites disappear for various reasons,
usually funding. Think of external pages that were referred to in older
messages on this site, and now those - very interesting - external pages
are gone. Recently I asked someone here about a page that no longer existed.

Just do the exercise: assume satobs.org goes down for good; is it possible
for the community to recuperate at least the archive? Is it possible to
find back all the valuable web pages? Is backup in place? Is the archive
readable in simple ways (text rather than complex and/or binary formats
such as XML and worse)? What will happen when the owner pulls the plug?

rgds


On Sun, Oct 11, 2020 at 10:22 PM pstewart--- via Seesat-l <
seesat-l_at_satobs.org> wrote:

> If the issue is funding, I wonder if some form of better financial
> support can be generated.
>
> On 2020-10-11 3:44 pm, Debasis Sarkar via Seesat-l wrote:
>
> > Did you find Calskty responding? Great. Here from India I am getting a
> > message <<< Its done. The website is no longer operating.>>>
> >
> > Calsky was just uncomparable, especially for satellite observers.
> > Debasis
> >
> > On Sun, Oct 11, 2020 at 2:37 PM Patrick Schmeer via Seesat-l <
> > seesat-l_at_satobs.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Okay, two of the three other websites are responding again, but
> >> https://albispass.ch
> >> (technical contact: Arnold Barmettler) reports an 'Unknown Error'.
> >> So all(?) his own websites may be gone.
> >>
> >> Patrick
> >> -------
> >> Am Sonntag, 11. Oktober 2020, 10:13:12 MESZ hat Patrick Schmeer via
> >> Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org> Folgendes geschrieben:
> >>
> >> Not only CalSky.com, but Arnold Barmettler's
> >> other websites have also disappeared:
> >> https://www.astronomie.info/
> >> https://www.barmettler.com/
> >>
> >> Three other websites that were linked on
> >> his homepage do not respond either.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Patrick
> >> -------
> >> Am Samstag, 10. Oktober 2020, 17:40:57 MESZ hat Frank E Reed via
> >> Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org> Folgendes geschrieben:
> >>
> >> I saw a notice at calsky.com a few days ago saying that the site would
> >> be closing soon. Checking just now, in fact, it is closed. Myself I
> found
> >> the interface a little cumbersome and rarely visited there (maybe once a
> >> year), but I'm aware that some satellite watchers found it uniquely
> >> valuable. Could anyone share a short list of unique features that were
> >> provided by calsky that are no longer available?
> >>
> >> Frank Reed
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
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