A (Long Overdue) State of Sidosi (2017 Edition)

[Dan]

I will not sugarcoat things: the state of Sidosi is not great. I let things fall by the wayside and didn't keep up even basic maintenance of the website. This has been more recently seen with the spam overload on the forums. Although I've kept slightly altering the anti-spam mechanisms every so often to keep the spammers at bay, that measure has obviously not worked. With the spam and no obvious activity from myself, it is not surprising that people may consider the website abandoned. Well, I want to apologize for making anyone, especially our long-term members, feel that way. With that, I want to share my plan of action to make Sidosi great again!

Short-Term Plans

• Disable new user registration (temporarily) - This has actually already been done. Unfortunately, there is no other choice with the current anti-spam measures failing. This will, at least, prevent new spam.
• Update the forum software - The current forum software is woefully out of date (seriously, almost 4 years), and likely more vulnerable to spam and cyberattacks than it needs to be. I know for a fact newer versions include improved anti-spam features, so this will be a prerequisite to re-enabling new user registration. The difficulty is ensuring the updates go smoothly, as I have made some custom changes (adding the Solresol notes and colors, for instance).
• Re-enable new user registration - Obviously, this will come after updating, but then we'll hopefully see a drastic reduction in spam (hopefully to none at all).
• Remove the Wiki system - Something has gone awry with the wiki system (probably nothing major,
  honestly), but that software is also very out of date, and the setup is also very clunky. It wasn't used much, so I will redo the system in the future if there is demand.
• Take a more active role in Sidosi - This is really at the heart of the problem, and caused all of the above issues. I will detail how I will solve this problem more in the "Long-Term Plans" section below, but anything said on Sidosi will no longer fall on deaf ears.

Long-Term Plans

• Resource List - Probably my first big project after fixing the spam and out-of-date stuff will be updating and redesigning the Resource List. I tried to emphasize the original sources in the Resource List, but since many of those sources are now gone, it's just confusing people. I will also look at updating the list with new resources.
• Community Outreach - It's sort of a corporate-sounding word, but Sidosi is not the only community for Solresol. There is the Solresol Facebook group and the Solresol subreddit, but then there are several non-specialized conlang communities that most certainly have members interested in Solresol. It sounds vague, but I will do my part to build connections with these other communities, and see what mutual benefits come from them.
• Website Design - The website's design has stayed pretty much the same since it was launched. I have several years more of knowledge and experience, so I will redesign the website and forums to look and function in a more modern way.
• Solresol Translator - Oh, the translator. That lengthy roadmap still stares at me, but again, with more knowledge and experience in hand, I should be able to confidently take on that roadmap!
• Solresol Lessons - Building from what Garrison wrote, these lessons would serve as a sort of beginner's guide to Solresol, in the manner that many other languages are taught. I don't know if I will do this, if someone else will, or if it will be a community effort. I just want it.

Conclusion
Obviously, this is a lot to do, and it is why I broke things into two sections this time. Bringing a website "back from the dead" isn't easy, and doing everything else on this list won't exactly be easy, but I'm confident that my true return to Sidosi can bring a new age for Solresol and make Sidosi the premiere community to "learn".

[shanoxilt]

Thank you for your glorious return!

How can we contact you in case another problem arises?

[Dan]

Well, humorously enough, I've had several direct contact methods listed on my user profile page this whole time, but obviously that wasn't apparent enough. There were a couple of email addresses listed on there, but I removed them before posting this since they're outdated. Actually, the email address I'm registered under is kind of outdated as well, which is probably part of the problem. I will be making all emails I receive through Sidosi, whether it be via the forums or Contact page, more visible to myself, so I should not miss any future communications. I'll probably even make it so if you use the "Website Issue" reason on the Contact page, it'll ping my phone.

In few words, I'll be reworking the ways to contact me so I'll always know what's going on.

[shanoxilt]

Thank you muchly. Let us return to the task of language revitalization.