Looking for volunteers to maintain the Polaris PWC Knowledge web site

[Zach3697]

This site is greatly beneficial! Helped me a ton. Alot of the links that reference fourm posts do not work. I see the post # in the address bar but just redirects to the forum homepage. I assume this is becuase of a change to the fourm system on greenhulk. Is there still a way to update these links with the post ID number?

[RWT98]

Until the site links are fixed, just use the links at the very bottom of the web pages

The download prompt is an error.

Was using last night but as of today link is broken again Thanks for continuing to support the wiki!

[K447]

… click on any of the links to your website, Safari prompts me to “download” it. Which I’m a bit hesitant to do? Is there a workaround?

Until the site links are fixed, use the sidebar links to navigate within the site

The download prompt is an error.

[blackwater99]

Hey all, new here and just got 2 SL 1050’s for free. They have 20 hours on them and haven’t been ran in over 13 years. Stored in a heated barn. I really want to dive in and learn everything I need to do prior to running it. For some reason whenever I click
on any of the links to your website, Safari prompts me to “download” it. Which I’m a bit hesitant to do? Is there a workaround?

[K447]

… did you pull the plug?

Google switched off the ‘classic’ version of the PWCknowledge site in May 2023 and I did not notice until now.

The auto-migrated by Google version of the classic site should be back online now.
But it still needs a bunch of work to correct broken links, mostly linking into specific GH threads and posts.

The core content should be there but some of the navigation may be limited to the site menus.

[sdlvx]

I have a dump from 2021, I ripped the whole site but I don't have it hosted anywhere. I do have some spare servers, if it's really down forever I can rehost it somewhere but it's gonna take some work to convert it to an actual website instead of the google sites thing. Maybe I could convert it to a wiki and make it edit only for admins that I choose to give edit perms to? Anyone interested.

I'll do it for a pro 785 crankshaft, even one that needs a rebuild. I fixed my white Pro but the black one, that was a basketcase I bought off some guy in Florida needs one. He did something awful to the crank case where it was chattering. No one is willing to fix it because it was chattering and they think it'll just blow up again.

[RWT98]

http://polarispwcknowledge.shorturl.com/

This link should get you into the Polaris PWC Knowledge web site.

Within the web site use the links shown in the very bottom footer on each page if/when the mid-page inter-site links do not work.

Site Search should also work, top right corner

Hey was coming back to the site but seems it does not work, did you pull the plug?

[K447]

http://polarispwcknowledge.shorturl.com/

This link should get you into the Polaris PWC Knowledge web site.

Within the web site use the links shown in the very bottom footer on each page if/when the mid-page inter-site links do not work.

Site Search should also work, top right corner

[K447]

- Starting this morning, however, none of the shorturl.com links work for me, including the one hidden in your signature. They simply result in a "too many redirects" error.

This includes http://polarispwcknowledge.shorturl.com ...

Further investigation will be needed.

DNS caching and future DNS cache refresh/expiries may be adding to the confusion regarding what works and what does not work.

At tap on the above link still works for me, on my iPad at least.

I will not have time to delve into the problem with any focus until tomorrow at the earliest

[K447]

Just wanted to update... all of the ".shorturl.com" links are dead, including the one that leads to the manuals.

Polaris PWC Knowledge (google.com) will get you to the knowledge site, and I would be happy to PM anyone the link to the manuals.

The core shorturl.com link does work.

The problem seems to be with linking into the sub-pages of the site

[pascoea]

Yeah, I certainly appreciate the concerns. Not looking to make noise or anything, just another method to consider. However you want to get after it, I'm willing to help out.

[K447]

There was a previous suggestion on this thread to turn the site into a WIKI style page.

It would be nice to be able to allow community edits, with the control of a couple of overlords.

I am not innately adverse to a Wiki-esq implementation. Someone has to plan, manage and probably implement that transition.

And then manage the ongoing changes that Wiki people make/add/delete. If some of the contributors cause degradation then the wiki moderators must quickly reverse the changes or make edits. That ongoing watchkeeper function is an overhead the current 'web site' method avoids.

If there is to be a limited community of 'wiki editors', that is not much different from having a group of editors authorized for the web site.

The current 'web site' structure has the downside of allowing(requiring) a small number of gatekeepers to update/maintain and make changes to the content. And when they are not making changes, the thing remains the same.

Greenhulk.net can (and does) act as the Wiki, of a sort, so the external site can link into that resource as new information arises. That was the original basis. Some info was concentrated or replicated within the site but the majority of the info was simply posted within GH, then linked to from a group of organized 'web site' pages.

This is why many of my own GH posts are more expansive and inclusive, beyond merely directly answering the question or problem posed by an individual GH member. By including the background context and explaining how and why the diagnosis or repair would be done, others who may see it much later can still use the posted info to do their own diagnostic and repair.

And the external 'web site' can link to that thread and those posts, adding an 'index' entry that hopefully leads from the query to the information.

[pascoea]

Hi Keith,

I am not sure if it applies to the pwcmanual site as well, but the "classic" version of the PWC Knowledge page will go offline January 30th, based on a little bit of research. I don't know what is involved in allowing access to edit, but I would be happy to get my eyes in there and see what the options to migrate would be.

Ryan

There was a previous suggestion on this thread to turn the site into a WIKI style page. It would be nice to be able to allow community edits, with the control of a couple of overlords.

[K447]

- I'll shoot you a PM.

What type of skill is needed to maintain the site? ...

There is the ongoing task of maintaining the operational structure of the site. Fixing broken links, updating the site page layout, and so on.

This is mostly web tech kinda work.


Then there is updating the actual Polaris PWC Knowledge information. Pages where the posted info is now out of date or incomplete. Adding new links from the Knowledge site to less old GH posts, especially where the newer GH posts have better info.

In some places the existing Knowledge site links point to info that is now incorrect. Of the posted link is simply broken as the GH site itself has changed how outside links are formed.

This would be where deep historical understanding of the Polaris PWC world comes in.
Being able to recognize that some existing info is incorrect, or that better info has been posted somewhere. Then find that better info on GH, crib the relevant web URL link, and add it into the Knowledge site, in a useful place. With some words of context for the new link.

BTW, it is entirely OK to include links to other places online that have useful Polaris PWC info.
Some of the other web sites from 'back in the day' still include interesting and useful Polaris info. If a proper external link can be formed that will reliably jump to that external info, I have no problem with including it within the Knowledge site.


About two years ago Google changed the way Google Sites work, and the Knowledge site has not been updated to conform to the current requirements. Google forced a change which broke some of the sub-page organization. Almost no effort has been done to re-jig the Knowledge pages to fit the new Sites rules.


So there is a mixture of work to be done.
Identify what is currently broken.

Figure out how to restructure the site to work well.
Hopefully without breaking many of the commonly used outside links (posted into thousands of old GH posts) into the Knowledge site.

Review the posted Knowledge and identify what info is now incorrect, incomplete, or has broken links.
Make a plan to work through the site and improve it.


Effectively whoever becomes the new chief editor will get control of the entire Polaris PWC Knowledge web site. They will have passwords and inside info on how the pieces fit together. Depending on how the details work out, I may lose control of the site entirely.

[pascoea]

I'm not just here to annoy you guys with dumb questions, I'm actually a computer nerd by trade. Happy to pitch in, I'll shoot you a PM.