California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer and Biker Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez at Laughlin River Run 2007
Actually, the title of this article should be that the Biker Law Blog is in the process of being converted. You see I am in the process of switching the Biker Law Blog to a different software platform.
The Biker Law Blog has literally become a beast of a website. The website, articles, media, and database on the website amount to almost 1 gigabyte (1,000 billion bytes) of data.
On top of that, I am getting about 1 million hits per month on the Biker Law Blog. The total data transferred each month is about 10 gigabytes of data, or 10 – 1000 billion bits of data per month. Further, we keep growing.
The Biker Law Blog has turned into a recognized motorcycle industry publication, and not just a law blog. For those of you who read the blog you know what I am talking about.
The software that the Biker Law Blog has been rock solid ever since I started the blog about 4 years ago. However, it has many limitations with respect to customization, and the ease of creating articles.
Many would say, it the software the blog is running on is not broken, why mess with it?
The answer to this question has caused me much grief. You see the guy who I paid to do the original customization of the Biker Law Blog is basically not around anymore. I have tried on numerous occasions to contact him, with no response.
Super Guru Ed B., the second customizer of the blog has gone on to greener pastures, and has told me that he has disassociated himself from the software that runs the blog due to an ethical conflict with the software’s creator.
Basically this has left me with a couple of choices. Do I stay with software that has worked for me, but that requires professional’s to upgrade and customize, or do I take a chance and go with a different platform that may not be so reliable (only time will tell), but that would make my job much simpler?
I have opted for the simple approach.
I am hoping that with automated daily backups using the new software, if something happens, I can simply restore the site.
The new software should be easier to customize, easier to do postings with, and will hopefully streamline the Biker Law Blog into a more manageable site.
As we speak, I have a test site up on a hidden domain.
I am trying to find a way to automatically get the posts, comments, and registered users from the existing Biker Law Blog software, into the new software on the test site. Since there is no current script to get this done, it may not be possible. Unfortunately, the current software that I use has no way to export the data, so it can be imported into another type of software. The designer’s rationale is that if they spend so much time creating the software, they do not want to help people leave it.
This is one of the big reasons I am leaving the software.
If I cannot automatically transfer the data to the new platform, I will literally have to manually transfer each post, comment and registered user to the new platform, one by one. This will take weeks since there are hundreds of posts, and thousands of comments.
Once the data is transferred to the new platform, we will then do the customization of the Blog to make it look sharp, be easier to use, and to make it simpler for users to register.
Registered users will no longer have to deal with the rampant spam that we have been hit with recently. I am sick of having to ban spammers on a daily basis manually.
Because of the changes that I am making to the new Biker Law Blog, and the time that it will take to transfer to the new platform, my postings will decrease temporarily until I get the new Blog done. Hell with a busy law practice, it is hard enough to write a blog as it is. Once the changeover is done, I can concentrate on blogging, and not software issues.
If you are a registered user of the Biker Law Blog, you will be receiving email updates to let you know what is going on.
Please be patient during this time of change.
By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © June, 2010
Welcome, my name is 
hey biker lawyer, been enjoying the blog over the past few months (once I stumbled across ya) and seeing someone have technical hurdles due to some tyrant programmer always heats the pipes. I’m a Linux engineer by trade so my daily duties deal with LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) environments.
looking at the link at the bottom of this blog concerning what powers it currently, the b2e platform is dependent upon the MySQL RDB (Relational DataBase) software.
As long as you have a username/password to get into the DB’s (your blog wouldn’t work without it) that you OWN (since you’ve paid for the service), you can perform the data backups yourself.
I was going to list the commands but here’s a better link that provides a good detailed approach on what you’re wanting to accomplish.
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/07/21/how-to-backup-and-restore-export-and-import-mysql-databases-tutorial/
best of luck on the upgrade/migration
If I can be of assistance, please let me know. If b2evolution uses a database, the information should be able to be dumped into a spreadsheet. Then hopefully with some adjustments to the spreadsheet it could be imported to the new system. It would take time, but not weeks hopefully.
I’m in the middle of standing up a new site myself (shopping cart, forum, gallery), so I’ve been looking into many CMS and social media packages lately.
Your site is VERY valuable to the Biker community and I’ll do whatever I can to assist! I look forward to your new look!
Thanks Sean, I may take you up on your offer. I will let you know.
Norm
Thanks for the advice tx_sporty_rider. It is not just a matter of backups, it is a matter of overall usability, customizability, and overall functionality.
B2evolution is a great rock solid platform, however, it has its limitations.
I just hope everything goes OK.
Norm
Here’s a jury trial scheduled for next week in Knoxville TN, of a judge sued for $1-million libel.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/jun/09/2008-trial-date-set-for-lawsuit-involving-judge/
Read the 400-page court file in Wendy Rose vs William K Swann, Docket C:06-346406, Knox County Circuit Court, trial date 26 July 2010 in Knoxville TN.
http://www.archive.org/details/WendyRoseVsWilliamKSwann
As a result of that judge’s deposition testimony, the TN Court of the judiciary sanctioned the judge for extorting “campaign contributions” from lawyers in the middle of their trials.
My brother the lawyer was jailed 10 days in his own divorce case, so he ran against the judge in the next election. My brother’s former client is the one suing the judge for libel for comments the judge made in that election. My brother spent $120,000 in 6 weeks in GOP primary, according to the judge’s deposition, funded by all the folks the judge sent to jail in divorce court.
My brother’s $35,000 8-page political advert was censored by the daily newspaper monopoly, which cost him the election, and is the root of the million-dollar lawsuit:
http://piratenews.org/knoxvillecityview.html
http://dragonaters.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-sue-judge.html
Same judge also is sued for $6-million for signing search warrant for a SWAT raid on Outlaws MC club New Years Eve cookout.
http://www.bikernews.org/wtn/comment.php?comment.news.10529
Same judge is a convicted deadbeat dad, married 4 times:
http://terryfrank.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/swannsong.pdf
Judge was a professor at Yale. I asked a dominatrix to investigate him for an alleged S&M sex tape. Now she has disappeared and is feared murdered. She was a candidate for US Senate at the time, and a former candidate for governor of Nevada. She had written a book about her sexual liaison with our former mayor/ambassador of Knoxville having a gay affair with his roommate and fellow cheerleader at all-male Yale, George W Bush.
http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&tbs=isch:1&&sa=X&ei=LTBCTKqgBYL-8Aar5-WXDw&ved=0CCEQvwUoAQ&q=Leola+McConnell&spell=1
http://web.archive.org/web/20070317212002/http://www.lustfulutterances.com
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/piratenewsrss/message/366
FYI
Norm there is something new to look forward to each and every day!! I hope all works out well. Got 2 emails today from your email address…two sent at the same time telling me the same thing!! Good luck my friend. I love this blog.
I don’t know why it sent out two emails. Thanks Sandie,
Norm
I wonder what the new software will be? I wonder if I can talk you into letting me have a look?
ED I switched my blog over to the new software. There are some new things I am getting used to that I took for granted in B2 Evolution.