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PFAF website - problems ?
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gil
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Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 9:54 am    Post subject: PFAF website - problems ? Reply with quote
    

I heard this morning that the Plants For A Future website is 'falling over', possibly due to funding running out.
It was suggested that a good thing to do while the site was still up and running would be to pay to download the database.

Anyone else heard owt about this ?
What d'you reckon about the d/base ?

I use the site, though not on a hugely frequent basis these days.
Others who are more into survival-type foraging might find it more of a loss.

www.pfaf.org

Last edited by gil on Thu May 29, 08 2:26 pm; edited 2 times in total

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 9:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Ain't opening up at the moment.

If this is true, if its really falling over, then its a massive loss.

OP



Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 4661
Location: Yorkshire
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 9:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I think Tahir may have some info on this.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've noticed it's not been working for a day or so, although you can still view the pages cached in google. I've got Ken Fern's "Plants for a Future" book that's very good although the site is very, very handy.

Anyone know about their funding issues, Tahir do you know anything?

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've got a paid for copy of the dB, haven't spoken to Rich for a while, last time I spoke to him he said he was trying to transfer everything to Wikipedia. Will email him, it's far too useful a website to die, I'm more than happy to help if it's a funding issue but I think he's just found it a hard slog.

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Bugger, mail's bounced. Will try and find his phone number.

cassy



Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 1047
Location: South West Scotland
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It would be a great loss. I have used the site at least weekly for the last 2 years.

Is there anything we can do to help?

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

tahir wrote:
I'm more than happy to help if it's a funding issue


Its a resource I'd also be happy to contribute to. Too important to let it die.

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

This just highlights the fact that I really should do something with that blinking DB of mine. Just too busy, a bit strapped too, need to build a house....

Funny enough I'd been thinking about this last week and thought the best way to approach it was to have a wikified "PlantDB" that allowed species and cultivar entries.

I think as a commercial project it'd be around £25k. Orangepippin, what'd you think?

At that kind of figure I'd be happy to kick start funding/fund raising if there were others here that'd help. I'm guessing we'd need to create an ownership structure of some kind to ensure that it didn't belong to a single person.

OP



Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 4661
Location: Yorkshire
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I saw the PFAF data structures some time ago courtesy of Tahir, so I could help with deciphering them. However I am less clear on what PFAF does because it is a while since I have looked at it. It sounds like we need some kind of outline of what the PFAF MkII should do - especially the collaborative wiki stuff. You can definitely count me "in" if I can help in anyway.

hedgehogpie



Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've been trying to access it over the last few days for some research I've been doing & wondered why it had been offline intermittently. It's a very valuable resource & I'm frequently pointing people towards it, if it dissapears it will indeed be a massive loss.

Please keep us posted, if there's anything that can be done to help keep it online I'd like to contribute.

Last edited by hedgehogpie on Thu May 29, 08 10:51 am; edited 1 time in total

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

tahir wrote:

I think as a commercial project it'd be around £25k.


You anticipate making a profit or staying afloat by selling access to the database?

OP



Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 4661
Location: Yorkshire
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 10:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That is a good question - we probably need to put together a quick functional specification and also a business model.

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 11:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Not for profit, but to do it properly it's going to need to be done as a proper commercial enterprise (development & maintenance) to keep it running properly.

vegplot



Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd
PostPosted: Thu May 29, 08 11:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

What format is the current database in?

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