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Grex > Garage > #49: Grex.org top page and user web pages | |
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papa
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Grex.org top page and user web pages
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Jan 2 07:23 UTC 2018 |
Yesterday mijk made a post on party that brings up several issues that I
think deserve to be discussed here in the Garage conference. With
apologies to mijk for copying his party post:
> mijk: Hi guys, i just made a homepage here at Grex:
> http://grex.org/~mijk/ I was thinking of asking cross to add it to the
> list on the Grex webpage, but going through that list, i see none of
> us here (including cross) is listed. Having a browse through some of the
> pages, none of them were current, most were over ten years old, and
> some were not modified in nearly 'twenty' years. Along with cleaning up the
> rooms in party, so maybe some of us would make use of this feature in
> future, how about archiving some of the userpages so maybe the current
> userbase might put up a page (pointing to the gopher server ;) ) ?
I assume mijk is talking about the list of Grex user web pages at
http://grex.org/users.xhtml.
It is a bit of a graveyard, but I would prefer to keep the old user
pages on-line and accessible since Grex's long history is part of its
charm.
I propose that we improve the web site with two scripts.
1. Regenerate users.xhtml with a link to all user web sites with files
under their ~/public_html subdirectories. Run weekly or monthly. This
would ensure that new members' pages are linked from the Grex home
page in addition to the current vintage user pages.
2. Scan all user ~/public_html directory trees for recently added or
updated files and generate a list of links to the new content,
similar to the Daily Batch script I'm running on the gopherspace.
Could be run daily or weekly depending on the volume of new or
changed pages.
I completely agree that a link to Grex's gopherspace should be added to
the grex.org top page.
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| 20 responses total. |
butiki
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response 1 of 20:
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Jan 2 07:52 UTC 2018 |
Should be easy to script; I think I'll try to write one this evening.
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tfurrows
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response 2 of 20:
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Jan 2 20:42 UTC 2018 |
I second (or third or fourth, wherever I am in line) papa/mijk's notion. As
much as the internet is a mess, if that page is getting indexed, it can only
help grex to keep it current.
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cross
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response 3 of 20:
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Jan 4 04:43 UTC 2018 |
There's a script to generate users.xhtml; I can't remember the last time it
was run.
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papa
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response 4 of 20:
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Jan 4 06:52 UTC 2018 |
Would it be possible to put the users.xhmtl in a cron job. Running it once
a month would be enough to get new users' pages listed without too much wait.
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kentn
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response 5 of 20:
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Jan 5 00:58 UTC 2018 |
Grex has lots of things like this that need maintenance occasionally.
For those of us with lives, the time to do things like this is in short
supply. The script that Dan talks about generates the web page, then
we check it into subversion and from there update the web site. We
could cron job it, but it still needs to be updated in subversion.
Perhaps all that could be scripted.
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papa
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response 6 of 20:
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Jan 5 02:17 UTC 2018 |
I don't know of a reason why the subversion update couldn't be added as a
step to the page generation script, and then the whole thing automated with
cron.
Looking at the list, I have two questions:
1. In addition to the link from the user name to the user's web page, each
entry has a short text description, the user's full name, web site title,
organization name, etc. How does that description get set?
2. (Possibly related to 1.) The web page indicates that users can have their
pages added to the list by e-mailing webmaster@grex.org. Does anyone still
check that inbox to process page add requests?
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cross
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response 7 of 20:
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Jan 6 03:11 UTC 2018 |
It could be done from cron, just that no one has gotten around to it.
That's sad, but it's reality.
Hmm. I don't know who's reading webmaster email these days, if anyone.
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papa
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response 8 of 20:
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Jan 6 05:40 UTC 2018 |
How important is the opt-in feature of the current (non-functioning?) system
of having Grexers apply to webmaster to have their pages added to the list?
Writing a script to make a list of all user web sites on the system is easy,
but it would list each page whether or not user wants their site publicized.
The current system lists only the pages of members who have explicitly
indicated that they want their site listed.
If the opt-in is important, the current system could be improved by automating
it, either with a procmail job to handle requests e-mailed to webmaster, or
a shell script to allow users to add their sites to the list by themselves.
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tfurrows
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response 9 of 20:
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Jan 8 14:36 UTC 2018 |
From my perspective, if I'm putting up a public ~user page, I expect anyone
to be able to find it if they wish. I wouldn't be offended if it showed up
in a generic list of usres pages, nor would I be shocked.
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cross
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response 10 of 20:
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Jan 12 03:13 UTC 2018 |
resp:8 Not important at all. I think I actually have such a script; it
just doesn't get run that often.
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mijk
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response 11 of 20:
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Jan 25 17:34 UTC 2018 |
I obviously have no objections, and i cannot see the logic in objeting to
having a publi web page -- put online . But i imagine it would be a good idea
to have, like was suggested, an option to list your own website via a shell
script , and have this script runable from the main menu. It would seem
logical to then have a cron job automate the updating of web pages that have
been submitted by users to be listed.
This would take care of user permission/opt-in, and i supose it would be safe
to add all the current pages listed online, as these would all have asked,
via email, to have themselves listed (?).
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cross
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response 12 of 20:
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Jan 26 04:32 UTC 2018 |
Well, that script has historically just run across the filesystem and
found all globally accessible www dirs and added them. I don't think
it's ever been opt-in.
An easy modification would be to check for either an opt-in or opt-out
file ('.dontlist' or something) in that directory to control the
behavior.
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mijk
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response 13 of 20:
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Jan 28 06:33 UTC 2018 |
That sounds good. So, would their be an option for a user to add thier
webpage, or would the webpage be added to the main Grex list automatically
upon creation somehow?
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papa
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response 14 of 20:
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Jan 28 09:33 UTC 2018 |
It would be easier to make a script that includes every user's web site by
default, with an opt-out mechanism like cross suggested, instead of having
an opt-in sign-up mechanism that users have to do before their site gets
listed. Human interaction always makes a program messier. ;)
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mijk
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response 15 of 20:
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Jan 28 17:31 UTC 2018 |
Yes Master!
I shall remember to keep human interaction to a minimum,
and one day i will write the program,
which guides the machine - without making it blush.
Until then i will keep human interaction to a minimum!
<zazen-on a comfy cushion :) >
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jmahoney
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response 16 of 20:
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Mar 30 17:59 UTC 2018 |
I am curious if anything has been decided regarding methods to update the list
at http://grex.org/users.xhtml .
What is the currently preferred way to be added to the list?
Incidentally, this is, I believe, my very first post on the Grex Conferences.
I am using the 'bbs' client, logged in on grex.org.
Cheers!
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papa
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response 17 of 20:
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Mar 31 00:56 UTC 2018 |
resp:16
Welcome to FrontTalk, jmahoney!
I have been working on a couple of programs intended as substitutes for the
user page list, but haven't had the time to get them into good enough shape
to show everyone. Nothing has been decided by the community.
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