Hi folks,
this is a reminder to please weigh in on the poll started by James Heilman here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Travel_Guide/Launch
Essentially, we can either attempt a migration this week (and the transfer of files to Commons will have to continue from wikivoyage-old.org, with images showing up as red links until it's done) or we can defer it.
Deferring it means potentially delay by 60-90 days or longer (see below).
The domain name transfer was initiated last week, so that part is taken care of (we're just pointing it back at the old sites for now).
I've just spoken to Hans about potential dates for a later transfer. Hans is travelling for a pretty long time. We might be able to arrange for a stop in Mexico around January so he can work from there to do the database backups. But the only definite thing I could say is that we'd be able to do it in February/March 2013 before he returns to Germany.
Alternatively, we could work with Stefan and Roland on the modalities of the transfer, but I'd have to confirm their availability and comfort level first.
So my recommendation continues to be to enter a public "beta" with a prominent sitenotice saying something along the lines of:
Wikivoyage is in beta as a Wikimedia project. - Please help transfer images from wikivoyage-old.org - Learn more about consolidating your user account - Report bugs - View this page on the old site
By having a prominent "View this page on the old site" link, we can ensure that readers will always find the full content.
We'll make a decision end of day today based on the opinions expressed here and in the poll.
Erik