Where in the world is Killer Cabs?! UPDATE

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:42 pm

OK, so I get the impression Tone has had enough. I'm only going on second hand information here but thought I'd be open about my opinions from a day one member and one time admin point of view.

It sounds like Tone doesn't want to go to the hassle of restoring a forum he's wanted out of for a while now.

Here's where I'm at. I'm happy to help re-launch "a cab forum" under a new name. I happen to own www.arcadeotaku.com which I think is a pretty pimp title.

I can transfer the domain and will gladly pay to set up hosting. All I want in return is to run it with one or two other peeps I know and have some input on admin decisions. This will not be a business, the forum will be owned by the people who post there.

Here's where the problems arise - I haven't a clue about the technical side of things. I can find my way around an admin panel but we need someone with experience in on this to help set it up. One person springs to mind, but he gave up on KC last year.

So that’s where I'm at. If someone points TJ to this post and it turns out he plans to resurrect KC, that’s great news. I'm really not looking to tread on anyones toes here. This is just a contingency plan I had in my head and want to be upfront and share because I’m a little worried that I haven’t heard anything.

As for the database, that’s Tone’s call. We can always transfer the full thing or just tech info if its only going to go to waste. If he wants paying for it however, I’m less easy about that out of principle.

Thoughts?

Post by **system11** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:01 pm

Actually I have an unrelated question - do you think anyone will be picking up the torch so to speak, and importing Japanese cabs?

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:04 pm

Now theres a question

One step at a time!

markedkiller78 · Post by **markedkiller78** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:11 pm

I want you to know you don't gotta
stay. If we're not going to make
it, it's got to be you that gets
out. I'm not capable
(a beat)
I'm fuckin' Irish, so I'll deal
with something being wrong for the
rest of my life.

Name that movie.

I agree that no news is not a god thing here. If you do start something Joe I’ll be happy to help in any way that I can.

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:13 pm

I was looking in to doing the importing arcade machines as karoshidrop.com But for me its just not got what i need

No spare free/cheap storage

not enough cabinet know how to help people and restore them if needed

and the cash flow. As you need to really order in about 10+ units minimum to make it worthwhile.

I really cant see killercabs being down for long. if not killercabs something with the same spirit and similar feel of it.

xenepp · Post by **xenepp** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:19 pm

markedkiller78 wrote:If you do start something Joe I’ll be happy to help in any way that I can.

Seconded.

I've experience with phpBB too so just give us a shout if you need to.

-Joel

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:21 pm

I think we need to hear from the horses mouth before doing anything, but I'm just putting my cards on the (Aero) table. Plan B is there if we need it.

mastercello · Post by **mastercello** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:36 pm

SuperPang wrote:I think we need to hear from the horses mouth before doing anything, but I'm just putting my cards on the (Aero) table. Plan B is there if we need it.

I think the same way Joe, lets way until we know that kc will not rise again.

But there is indeed a big need to have something like kc.
A lot of tech infos and knowledged people on one forum

kernow · Post by **kernow** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:43 pm

I doubt it's been 'pulled' on purpose, what about peoples pending deals and problems / responses to threads etc.

fair enough he wanted out, but that seems to selfish for him to pull the whole place. I doubt he'd do such a thing.

oh well, we-play-games has enough tech people for that kinda thing, and no NSFW section either

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:48 pm

He didn't "pull" it

kernow · Post by **kernow** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:49 pm

Yeah, wouldn't have thought so.

I guess the payments just haven't been renewed, and the host switched it off, I can't think of anything else - apart from it being hacked.

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:53 pm

mastercello wrote: But there is indeed a big need to have something like kc.
A lot of tech infos and knowledged people on one forum

^ this
While I can get my fix from various other forums, theres definitely a need for a candy cab forum.

mastercello · Post by **mastercello** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:55 pm

SuperPang wrote:
mastercello wrote: But there is indeed a big need to have something like kc.
A lot of tech infos and knowledged people on one forum
^ this
While I can get my fix from various other forums, theres definitely a need for a candy cab forum.

Yes, 100% agree

thegreathopper · Post by **thegreathopper** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:05 pm

kernow wrote:Yeah, wouldn't have thought so.

I guess the payments just haven't been renewed, and the host switched it off, I can't think of anything else - apart from it being hacked.

How much does it cost to host a site like Killercabs?

kernow · Post by **kernow** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:08 pm

Same as any other site would be I guess, not much really.

A set fee per year. its only a domain and a tiny bit of webspace with PHP and DB support required.

soundwave · Post by **soundwave** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:13 pm

Lordstar wrote:I was looking in to doing the importing arcade machines as karoshidrop.com But for me its just not got what i need

No spare free/cheap storage

not enough cabinet know how to help people and restore them if needed

and the cash flow. As you need to really order in about 10+ units minimum to make it worthwhile.

I really cant see killercabs being down for long. if not killercabs something with the same spirit and similar feel of it.

I'd thought about something similair but I'm the same if not worse boat then you...I have zero knowledge of cabs or how they work so would be as much use as a chocolate teapot to be fair.

What I do know about is importing

10 years in the import trade so know kinda what's required that side.

So has anyone heard anything from Tone at all??

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:23 pm

kernow wrote:oh well, we-play-games has enough tech people for that kinda thing, and no NSFW section either

Most the people on we play games is cool but i dislike the forum layout its a fuck to use and its a chore to post. I joined there on start up but its just not got that much people going though.

I think a not safe for work thread/section is a good thing. were all adults and the vast majority of us are over 18 (most over 21) so i dont see a problem with it. with no NSFW section your asking for trouble. I had porn posted in my shirt sales thread and I often got derailed to the point i had to restart. with a NSFW section its contained and controled.

if you dont like it dont read it.

D · Post by D » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:27 pm

I guess the most important thing now is if there's a backup somewhere?
If anybody has a backup of all threads, please step forward.
My biggest concern is that ~5 years of knowledge has gone down the drain without anyone (including me) ever taking the moment to 'save the entire site'. If it is lost it will hurt the arcade community.
I just tried way back machine, but no threads were recoverable, also cached through google doesn't work anymore.

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:30 pm

D wrote:I guess the most important thing now is if there's a backup somewhere?

there is one, Tone has it.

EDIT:
Well i think he does thats what ive been told.

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:33 pm

all i know for sure is while killercabs is down im losing sales.

kernow · Post by **kernow** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:53 pm

Lordstar wrote:with no NSFW section your asking for trouble. I had porn posted in my shirt sales thread and I often got derailed to the point i had to restart. with a NSFW section its contained and controled.

WPG has no NSFW section, or any NSFW posted, I guess the audience is more mature.

if you dont like it dont read it.

I don't, theres plenty of porn sites on the net for that kind of thing.

In all reality if KC had no NSFW section and no sales section, you'd get a lot less people there, talking about cabs and maintaining / fixing them is 'boring' to some people I guess.

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:04 pm

I dont own a cabinet anymore but I would ask questions if I wanted stuff to know how to do stuff. I am getting a nice new candy next year and I know I will be looking to do stuff to it when i do.

Im not going to get in to an argument about maturity But I would not call all the WPG members mature. They have there "characters" just like every other forum but KC just has a difrent feel to it as does WPG shmups and Cave STG etc.

I dont hate WPG but I dont like posting there as theres not a lot of people and its an unusual forum layout. This place, neo-geo and KC have nice easy to navigate forums and have a fair ammount of people posting a lot of the time.

EDIT: as for the sales section is think is one of the best bits of thing about Killercabs. I have gotten so many bargins on there and traded what stuff for stuff which just does not come up on ebay. The vast majority of people list everything at fair prices and ive made some really good freinds through trading on there. Just PM and then they are added to MSN and then next thing you know your going round to there place to play games. You would not get the conversations happening in public but you would not feel the need to PM someone. So yeah what im saying is thought trades Ive made some great friends.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Retro boy G and markedkiller79 and I would rank them as high as some of my friends I see frequentley. Hell I do see them frequentley right there on the forum.

Post by **system11** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:09 pm

kernow wrote:Same as any other site would be I guess, not much really.

A set fee per year. its only a domain and a tiny bit of webspace with PHP and DB support required.

You'd be surprised.

It starts off nicely enough - you find a webhost that gives (usually) Cpanel access to an account on a shared server. They don't cost much at all, $30 a year in some cases, free in others if you're ok with adverts. Then as you get bigger, you start hitting problems. Ours were:

1) Rogue sites on the same server crippling us.
2) Backups were difficult due to copying files being a pain, and due to PHP script execution time limits being reached - end result a failed backup. I had to upload scripts to back it up on a timer any time I wanted to do anything.
3) Eventually the host usually oversells their capacity, and because everyone pays the same amount, they go after the slightly bigger sites. From our old shared host I had numerous account closure threats, I was told we were using too much CPU time and too much memory (1gb - yet the DB is 240mb).
4) In our case, the forum software was provided by the host - and they didn't do a very good job of keeping it up to date.
5) Eventually we were told to move to a much more expensive offering.

Thing is, this forum isn't actually very big and doesn't actually need much in the way of resources...

That was the point at which I decided I was sick and tired of the endless hassle and just bought my own server, and sent it to a co-lo site. Nobody will ever whine at me about memory, disk space or CPU limits, and administering it is simple as I can just log on to the machine.

The shmups forum currently costs around $140 a month to run. The money comes out of my pocket. I'm fine with that because I give a shit about it.

kernow · Post by **kernow** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:13 pm

Thats a fair amount, jesus it adds up eh?

keep up the good work , this is a great site.

Post by **system11** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:14 pm

Only way to provide a level of service I'm happy to be associated with. It used to piss me off every time we had an issue at the old shared place, because there was usually nothing at all I could do about it except say 'sorry guys'.

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:17 pm

bloodflowers wrote:The shmups forum currently costs around $140 a month to run. The money comes out of my pocket. I'm fine with that because I give a shit about it

And your doing a great job dude. Hell im still here so you must be doing somehting right.

invzim · Post by **invzim** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 4:27 pm

Invzim here, and just found this thread.

I think it's pretty bad manners not to put up a message on killercabs.com about what's going on - or at least post a message somewhere.

Moving on.. I have a personal dedicated server, in a nice colo with unlimited storage & bandwidth, and can host whatever I want as long as it's non-profit. I'd be more than happy to host killercabs, or the son of killercabs if kc is authoritatively dead.

v8pete · Post by **v8pete** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:01 pm

Hi guys - just thought I'd mention that the Yahoo cache of Killercabs IS still there , eg :

http://72.30.186.56/search/cache?ei=UTF ... 1&.intl=uk

Grab anything you can remember how to find that you need asap. Anyone know how to rebuild a forum entirely from a search engine's cahce ??!!

Pete.

kozo · Post by **kozo** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:22 pm

Lordstar wrote:And your doing a great job dude. Hell im still here so you must be doing somehting right.

Yep, what he says.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:34 pm

And your doing a great job dude.

group hug, best site on the internet

shmups.system11.org

Where in the world is Killer Cabs?! UPDATE

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