SierraVault to Sierra Gamers Migration

[Andy Roark]

Cross posted from Sierra Forums:

Hey all,

It pains me to say it but this may be a few months warning that SierraVault is going away. I am hoping and trying to avoid it but I lost my job (and am scrambling very hard to find a new one) but the economy is brutal right now and I am having to radically cut back on anything that isn't essential.

When I launched SierraVault I intended to archive and make available everything I had in relation to Sierra totally free to the fanbase across the Internet. I've seen good traffic coming through for the last two years and have taken a great deal of personal pleasure in watching the bandwidth usage on the site consistently click in. I've put a lot of Sierra material in a lot of fan's hands and it's been a great ride. I made a decision early on to not attempt in any way to profit from these efforts. The Sierra material isn't mine and I never wanted there to be any excuse for someone official to come after me with a takedown notice or, god forbid, a lawsuit.

A few days ago I decided to try and recoup my costs by putting Google Adsense ads on a few pages on SierraVault and I will continue to leave them there. As a funny side note, I didn't think they were working because I use Firefox with Javascript disabled and the ads weren't showing up on my screen - much as it is I suspect with all of you. Ads are annoying after all! Long story short, I doubt that is going to do it and I am coming up on the webservice renewal period in April. If I can't find a way between now and then to make SierraVault at least free for me to operate I'll have to cancel the service and take the site down.

I am so sorry to have to do this guys but times are tough and I'm afraid we all have to make decisions. I wanted to give everyone time enough to make a final few runs at the content before it comes down. After that I'll still happily give it away to anyone that contacts me directly and covers my costs (shipping of a hard drive, CDs, whatever).

If anyone knows the magical internet secret for how to turn bandwidth usage into money, let me know. At this point I'm open to trying anything.

Thanks,

Andy

[Tawmis]

Andy, I can give you space on my personal site (or even the LarryLaffer.net site for that matter) - if Collector doesn't have room or offer.

I'd hate to see your hard work go away.

[Collector]

I hate to see a Sierra resource go away. How much space are we talking about? A subdomain could be setup for you to move things to. We could also setup a subforum for the Vault.

Tawm, do you have the 300GB package for larrylaffer.net?

[Andy Roark]

Guys, that would be amazingly wonderful. I'd happily take either of you up on the offer.

Let me figure out how much space the whole thing is taking and I'll get back with you. The arrangement would be short term - as soon as I am back up on my feet fully I'll start back up my own service and rehost it there.

:: wipes brow :: You guys just made my day.

Andy

[Andy Roark]

Sometimes all you have to do is ask for help. I posted my message over at Sierra Gamers and Ken Williams indicated he would be willing to let me take over that site for him and migrate the material there. At this point I think I'll do a little of all - depending on time. If I can get things migrated and moved before the shut down I'll do it that way. If the shutdown is looming I'll move SierraVault as it exists to the server space you guys are offering and keep on with the migration.

This is one great community.

Andy

[AndreaDraco]

I'm happy to hear that your wonderful work will continue to exist, Andy!

[Andy Roark]

Thanks. In reality I believe I have just agreed to undertake new work to get the Sierra Gamers site up and running and something to be proud of.

But I need your help (everyone, that is).

Look at SierraVault. Tell me what's wrong. To transition that material over to Sierra Gamers I am going to have to do some pretty extensive building. Beyond that I believe there to be a great deal of material over at the Sierra Gamers website that has been uploaded over the years I will have to find, catalog and reintegrate. If you were me, what are the things you would make sure the Sierra Gamers site had once it was complete?

My first brush pass is that I would very much like to integrate all of the various content (Hint Books, Articles, Game Box Scans, Links to others great work at Sierra Help and Quest Studios among others) into one single source for each game in addition to having the specific groupings maintained. Maybe each game gets a page. History, Scans, Hint Book, Articles, Links, User comments. Something like that?

What else needs to be there?

What would make Sierra Gamers high on your list of sites to visit?

Andy

[Tawmis]

Glad it's working out! Just let me know if you need any space. I think Larrylaffer.net is unlimited space.

[Collector]

How about a catalog/encyclopaedia approach, maybe something a little like MobyGames, only more intelligently and more aesthetically designed? An entry for each game with the resources of the Vault and the resources on Ken's site for that game available from that page. Make it so that members can contribute any missing resources. Make it a reference as well as repository of scans, PDFs, etc. Include links relevant each game, such as the SHP entry for technical help. You could have a download link of a zip of all the materials for that game. Also, try to keep whatever design that you use flexible and open ended to allow it to evolve.

[Andy Roark]

I've gotten some testbed pages up at Sierra Gamers that do pretty much what we were talking about here.

http://www.sierragamers.com/aspx/blob2/ ... gid/577672

If you haven't taken a look at Ken's site in a while, I've done a lot of work there over the last week and it's coming together. Still a lot more content to bring in but I'd love any constructive feedback. What don't you like so far? The Talkspot interface, while easy to use, is still new to me so I may or may not be able to execute but I can sure try.

Andy

[Tawmis]

Are the INTERACTION magazines ever going to be available in PDF format?

[Andy Roark]

Heh. Nice.

Your humor both amuses others and makes me smirk. It's the reason people like you. That, and your pirate hat. And cool friends.

http://sierra.gracenroark.net/index.php?pr=InterAction
Moving to
http://www.sierragamers.com/aspx/blob2/ ... gid/629714

Two a week going up on Sierra Gamers - one on Monday, one on Friday.

Andy

[Tawmis]

And that my friend is why you're awesome!