Have you ever spent money for a service online and the company went belly up?

[Harold Mansfield]

I just had this experience with a client. She has an old forum on Wowbb, and wants to import the content into the new V-Bulletin forum that I set up.

Unfortunately Wowbb seems to have gone belly up, or at least have abandoned the platform since there is no support or contact with anyone anymore.

Upon checking the "Whois" I found out that they are in Turkey (not good), and have found other complaints around the web about how they have seemed to disappear.

This really sucks, but such is the web..here today and the talk of the town and gone tomorrow.

I have had this happen many times, mostly with scripts and software. Most times I assume it to be a possibility and almost never sign up for any ongoing service outside of hosting...unless I know the company..well.

However, for most "normal" people who's life is not the web..it's almost impossible to be sure who you are dealing with. I always take the location of the company into consideration.

It sucks , but you have to profile who you do business with around the world based on others that have come before them...economics of the country, cultural differences, and that country's trade environment.

It seems these days you have to be a mini world economist to do business on the web.
Who has the time ?

[KristineS]

I've never had this happen, but I've worried that it might a time or two. Some things are such flashes in the pan that's it hard to know what will stay around and what won't. All you can do is try to make the most educated decision you can.

[vangogh]

Sorry to hear Harold. I know it means more work for either you or the client. This hasn't happened to me either, though it could really happen to any of us. I tend to choose companies I think I can trust over those that offer the lowest price. That probably helps keeping me from finding myself in the same situation.

[dynocat]

I realize you aren't asking about how to get the old content.

I'm curious though if you can you find your client's old forum content on the wayback machine?

[Harold Mansfield]

I realize you aren't asking about how to get the old content.

I'm curious though if you can you find your client's old forum content on the wayback machine?

I did come up with a plan (rather ingenious if I say so myself) to try and import the content and settings.

The admin functions in the Wowbb control panel are limited but there is an option to download a back up to your computer.

Wowbb offers 2 options, leasing..in which they host the forum and you get a subdomain, or self hosting. Client has the leasing option , therefore doesn't have database information..however, if I were to obtain a copy of the forum software (which means that we would have to purchase it) , I could install it on a different domain and use the back up to populate it.

Then I could run the V-Bulletin import script (since I would have the database information from my own install) and import the content into the new forum.

As I explained to the client, this is risky because since wowbb looks abandoned, after plopping down a CC for the script, there is no way to know if the download link is still active and if anything goes wrong, there is no support to call on.

Also, I have no idea what condition the database is in for the initial download..I could get a bunch of gibberish..although the old forum is still functioning fine, so I would have to assume all is well.

I think it has a 75% chance of working, but everything has to go according to plan.

So far we have opted not to try it and just start the new forum from scratch, and possibly copying and pasting important information that she wants to pull over.

[billbenson]

Have you looked for a copy of the program on any of the p2p sites to download?

[Harold Mansfield]

Have you looked for a copy of the program on any of the p2p sites to download?

The thought crossed my mind, but since she put the kibosh on the plan for now, I just stopped investigating.

[Harold Mansfield]

There have been times when I've personally purchased a Twitter script or something for 10 bucks and I knew the guy wouldn't be around long...but I didn't care, as long as the script worked and I could mess around with it for a while to keep it going.

I'll take those kind of chances on cheap BS stuff, but getting into a steady payment with a new company, or worse yet ( I always check 'who is' to see where they are, or where it is hosted) one from Yemen or somejunk who could disappear in months...that's really not my style.

Neither is not having control over something.

I am very mistrusting of companies that aren't in the U.S., Canada, U.K, AUS, or the E.U.
I may communicate, even collaborate but sending money....? I don't think so.
And I realize that my feelings may be prejudiced or unfair, but...it's my money.

On the flip side, I don't get too many calls from Kazakhstan either...I think many people are wary of doing business with countries that they don't know.

[vangogh]

I think many people are wary of doing business with countries that they don't know.

I think that comes from the protection you might have if something goes wrong. If you buy from a U.S. company and live in the U.S. then you know you can take the company to court if it comes to that.

When dealing with another country you don't know your rights as well. If you're doing business with a company in China for example who takes your money, but doesn't deliver your goods, where do you go to get your money? Who do you call? Not that a business in China is necessarily any more likely to rip you off than one here in the States, but living here you have a better idea of the channels you can go through to get your money back.

By the way this thread is a good example of why it's very important to build trust if you want to do business online.

[nighthawk]

Then I could run the V-Bulletin import script (since I would have the database information from my own install) and import the content into the new forum.



typically when you do a backup from forum systems, it will simply create a text file containing SQL instructions to recreate the data. This text file can then be imported directly into the database, or imported using any database admin system, such as phpMyAdmin. If this is the case then you do not need to buy a copy of the software to restore the database, you can do it directly.

I know you have abandoned the plan to restore now, but it may be useful for others.

[Harold Mansfield]

typically when you do a backup from forum systems, it will simply create a text file containing SQL instructions to recreate the data. This text file can then be imported directly into the database, or imported using any database admin system, such as phpMyAdmin. If this is the case then you do not need to buy a copy of the software to restore the database, you can do it directly.

I know you have abandoned the plan to restore now, but it may be useful for others.

But, if I understand it correctly, that will only work if you are going between the same platform. The settings in V-Bulletin are vastly different from Wowbb.

Also V-Bulletin offers the import script to work with about 75 kinds of forum software and the 'read me' on it states pretty clear that you can't import with just a database backup...you need to connect directly to the database with the database name, user name and password...which are not on the back up files since the original forum was not self hosted.

[nighthawk]

Also V-Bulletin offers the import script to work with about 75 kinds of forum software and the 'read me' on it states pretty clear that you can't import with just a database backup...you need to connect directly to the database with the database name, user name and password...which are not on the back up files since the original forum was not self hosted.

What it means is you cant just convert the database backup, ie the dump file you downloaded to your hard disk. You need to load that backup into a database, then it can connect to that database and retrieve the data from there. You can create the database yourself and use any username and password you wish.

You dont need to buy the original software to do this.

[Harold Mansfield]

What it means is you cant just convert the database backup, ie the dump file you downloaded to your hard disk. You need to load that backup into a database, then it can connect to that database and retrieve the data from there. You can create the database yourself and use any username and password you wish.

You dont need to buy the original software to do this.

Hmmn, interesting. That does make some sense. I may give it a go. Thanks Gavin.