# Future planning/musing **URL:** \ **Category:** Roll20\ **Created:** [November 5, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634 "2018-11-05T23:33:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/insomn14/32/5949_2.png) [@insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/insomn14)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/61 "2018-11-15T15:51:30Z")
For what it helps, I got an entirely different error message trying to register. ![](https://forum-menagerie-team-assets.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/original/2X/2/296b8a00cd1ec5e9137ca326e07abcab868bba2d.png) This was following trying to enter info to register and clicking sign up (I removed all my info from the fields for security reasons). author: Mike url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6967884](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6967884) ---
**Author:** ![insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/insomn14/32/5949_2.png) [@insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/insomn14)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/62 "2018-11-15T15:59:49Z")
Got in after Doyce sent out the invite. Everything seems to be working so far. author: Mike url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6967894](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6967894) ---
**Author:** ![Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/dave/32/6344_2.png) [@Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/Dave)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 4:49pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/63 "2018-11-16T16:49:06Z")
Is there a relatively painless way to extract stuff from the Roll20 forum? I mean, I know I could go through each post I want to save and to a print-to-PDF of it or something, but … (I don’t expect this forum to go away any time soon, mind you – but I’ve also had that three-years-later oh-shit-its-gone moment before, and there’s stuff here that I don’t want to lose.) author: \*\*\* Dave H. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970697](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970697) ---
**Author:** ![garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/garrett/32/3_2.png) [@garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/garrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/64 "2018-11-16T16:59:21Z")
I literally scrape the entire forum every day, it’s not hard to do something other than build a search index with that data. author: Bill G. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970712](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970712) ---
**Author:** ![insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/insomn14/32/5949_2.png) [@insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/insomn14)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/65 "2018-11-16T17:05:14Z")
> _[Bill G.](https://app.roll20.net/users/118980) said:_ > > I literally scrape the entire forum every day As always, thanks for all the work you put into this Bill! author: Mike url: [Community Forums: Future planning/musing | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970725) ---
**Author:** ![Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/dave/32/6344_2.png) [@Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/Dave)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/66 "2018-11-16T17:09:31Z")
I figured as much. I’d certainly be interested in some sort of extraction tool (or, for that matter, just dealing with a big extract and pulling out the stuff I want). I do NOT want this to be any major effort on your part, Bill, unless you already have similar intent. I also want to be respectful of other folks’ stuff. author: \*\*\* Dave H. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970731](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970731) ---
**Author:** ![garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/garrett/32/3_2.png) [@garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/garrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/67 "2018-11-16T17:22:13Z")
What is a convenient form? HTML and associated images for a whole thread, one thread per file, in a zip? Markdown conversion? Something else? author: Bill G. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970753](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970753) ---
**Author:** ![Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/dave/32/6344_2.png) [@Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/Dave)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/68 "2018-11-16T17:57:50Z")
Purely from my perspective, RTF files are probably a bit more convenient than HTML, both as file and as formatting, but HTML works (or even Markdown). Associated images definitely worthwhile. One file per thread would be great. author: \*\*\* Dave H. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970819](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970819) ---
**Author:** ![doyce](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/doyce/32/15_2.png) [@doyce](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/doyce)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/69 "2018-11-16T18:09:44Z")
To be fair, Once you have it in markdown, you can turn it into pretty much any other format with any of a couple dozen programs… author: Doyce T. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970838](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970838) ---
**Author:** ![Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/dave/32/6344_2.png) [@Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/Dave)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/70 "2018-11-16T18:11:48Z")
I have no doubt, but then I have to track down those couple dozen programs. I’m happy with Markdown if that is easy to do and of use for others. ![Image result for im flexible gif](https://forum-menagerie-team-assets.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/original/2X/5/5f8e0c68a05f42c6140815620900652506c92b1f.gif) author: \*\*\* Dave H. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970844](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970844) ---
**Author:** ![garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/garrett/32/3_2.png) [@garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/garrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 6:36pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/71 "2018-11-16T18:36:41Z")
> _[\*\*\* Dave H.](https://app.roll20.net/users/418114) said:_ > > I have no doubt, but then I have to track down those couple dozen programs. Here’s easy mode: [https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#options) Installation: [https://pandoc.org/installing.html](https://pandoc.org/installing.html) author: Bill G. url: [Community Forums: Future planning/musing | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970895) ---
**Author:** ![garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/garrett/32/3_2.png) [@garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/garrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/72 "2018-11-16T18:40:17Z")
### Next Steps So we’ve seen slightly tuned demos of two forums: Vanilla and Discourse. There’s demo sites out there for things like phpBB as well, and more socially tuned or experimental sites like kune.cc. Do people feel like we’ve found a winner in one of those two? Do we want to look at some other project? If so, I can stand up a server for a couple days, if it’s not something Doyce can just cpanel into existence. Do we have a favorite, but still have reservations about it that should be explored? Have we decided Roll20 is okay after all? The weekend is coming up, and if I’m going to do any work on something like this, the Saturday would be great for it. If we’re still thinking about it, that’s also cool. author: Bill G. url: [Community Forums: Future planning/musing | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970905) ---
**Author:** ![Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/dave/32/6344_2.png) [@Dave](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/Dave)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/73 "2018-11-16T19:06:22Z")
Roll20 forums bring no value or synergy to Roll20 (vs any other forum), and given their known limitations, I’m good with bagging them. Between Discourse and Vanilla, I lean more toward the former. It has a few weirdities, but I think they can be worked around (or, from what you were saying, Bill, there are mods which can deal with them). I don’t know that there’s another platform that’s significantly better (I’m sure each has its strengths and foibles), such that we need to research more. So I vote Discourse (but without passionate fervor that this is the only possible choice I can live with). author: \*\*\* Dave H. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970969](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6970969) ---
**Author:** ![insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/insomn14/32/5949_2.png) [@insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/insomn14)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/74 "2018-11-16T19:45:17Z")
If we’re voting, I’m throwing in with Discourse as well. author: Mike url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971049](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971049) ---
**Author:** ![doyce](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/doyce/32/15_2.png) [@doyce](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/doyce)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/75 "2018-11-16T20:17:10Z")
Copy all above. Discourse good. author: Doyce T. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971112](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971112) ---
**Author:** ![garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/garrett/32/3_2.png) [@garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/garrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/76 "2018-11-16T20:18:11Z")
> _[Doyce T.](https://app.roll20.net/users/39462) said:_ > > Copy all above. Discourse good. Okay. Do we have a preferred domain name, either in existence or something I can register? Something that’s not totally likely to be blocked by oppressive work firewalls? author: Bill G. url: [Community Forums: Future planning/musing | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971113) ---
**Author:** ![garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/garrett/32/3_2.png) [@garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/garrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/77 "2018-11-16T20:28:53Z")
Here’s my work items for the forum. If you’d like to see a feature that’s not in the list already, let me know: [https://trello.com/b/d7F3j5k0/forum](https://trello.com/b/d7F3j5k0/forum) author: Bill G. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971141](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971141) ---
**Author:** ![doyce](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/doyce/32/15_2.png) [@doyce](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/doyce)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/78 "2018-11-16T20:54:39Z")
Menagerie.team is not currently blocked, by virtue of not being registered as anything at all with the not-so-great firewall - it still gives me a warning when I first hit the domain that it isn’t registered, isn’t to be trusted, and that all traffic there will be monitored, but… That’s true of all sites, all the time so whatever. Unless it’s reddit, there’s always a chance IT will eventually block it. Randomaverage does the same thing, really. So whatever. I can test out any other domains to see if any of them go by without drama. author: Doyce T. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971249](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971249) ---
**Author:** ![garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/garrett/32/3_2.png) [@garrett](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/garrett)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/79 "2018-11-16T20:55:52Z")
I’ll go with menagerie.team by tomorrow (no subdomain, I’ll just use that SLD), unless you or someone else comes up with something else then. author: Bill G. url: [https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971253](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971253) ---
**Author:** ![insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/user_avatar/forum.menagerie.team/insomn14/32/5949_2.png) [@insomn14](https://forum.menagerie.team/u/insomn14)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634/80 "2018-11-16T20:57:50Z")
> _[Bill G.](https://app.roll20.net/users/118980) said:_ > > I’ll go with menagerie.team by tomorrow (no subdomain, I’ll just use that SLD), unless you or someone else comes up with something else then. ![](https://forum-menagerie-team-assets.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/original/2X/2/282f941004f67d37f0c796234eddddb72465af61.gif) author: Mike url: [Community Forums: Future planning/musing | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop](https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6971255) [Previous page](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634.md?page=3) [Next page](https://forum.menagerie.team/t/future-planning-musing/634.md?page=5)