Forum software change & maintenance

[RobT]

Good afternoon,

over the next few the days the forum will be moving offline for a software upgrade and general maintenance.

I'm also in discussions with a number of interested parties concerning the future of the forum.

Any questions please post and I will look to reply assap

Rob Tavendale

 

[Drayton]

Thanks for letting us know, if it had just vanished I would have feared the worst! Be interesting to see what's decided.

 

[88v8]

Thankyou for the warning.

I'm sure the chaps at Lemon Fool would still be happy to give it a home if you've decided to hang up your hat, though whether that's the best place for it I've no idea.

As an aside, I've always felt that given how useful the forum is, there should be an option to make donations.

Ivor

 

[a twig]

Could we make it a community endeavour? Sure we could whip up enough farthings to keep the thing alive as a cooperative

 

[malcolm]

Rob has agreed to let me become the new custodian of the forum. This forum and community has been of enormous help to me which is a reflection both of the hard work Rob and Simon put in and the excellent members on here.

The software change is needed in a hurry because the forum software has become period and the current host is threatening to stop supporting it at some point this month. I'm planning to update to some more modern software (Xenforo). Everything on here should move across to the new forum. The new software will make things like uploading photos much easier, but might feel a little unfamiliar at first.

I'm hoping to do the update at some point this weekend should some issues with the current web host be resolved. If it goes normally the forum will temporarily close with a message explaining what is going on. A few hours or maybe a day later the forum will reappear looking a bit different. You'll get logged out during the move but the same login will work to get back in.

I've got the data so at worst there might be a blackout then the forum will reappear in a day or two. In any case we'll be back.

 

[a twig]

The kings are dead, long love the king! Bravo Malcolm, well done, happy to pitch in if/where needed to assist with either the interregnum or the new regime

 

[noj]

Thank you

 

[Drayton]

Thanks, Malcolm

 

[malcolm]

I think I'm ready to give it a go. The first removals company broke all the pictures but the new one seems good. I've found a bit of old paint in the PPUK shed to decorate the new forum but there is still some touching up to do.

I'll close the forum at this end to make sure I pick up all the posts and private messages (that we'll call conversations in the new place). The move is quite quick but it is accompanied by a server change which normally takes up to 24 hours to propagate around the internet. Normal service should be resumed by Sunday 17th July.

 

[malcolm]

We're on the new software now. I should probably check if posting still works. There is a new reply box at the bottom of the page. Still some broken stuff to fix. If you click on your username in the bar at the top right then click on the big colourful letter beside your name it lets you upload an avatar. It's not fussy about resizing. Mine is my house from about 4 years ago.

After a move it's a big relief when someone else posts something. Please someone lessen my worry.

 

[RobT]

Well done Malcolm on a smooth transition. Before passing the forum on to you I've run the site for 20+ years and I'm glad a new custodian has been found. Good luck.

 

[malcolm]

Thanks Rob.

It's not completely smooth - I forgot to order the SSL certificate and https doesn't work. A new one should arrive as soon as the host wakes up. Plain http works for now instead of https.

 

[Me!]

Hello again.
Congratulations to Dr. Malcolm on a successful transplant operation.

 

[88v8]

A big thankyou to Rob and Malcolm.
Not a small job, running a forum.

Onwards.....

Ivor

 

[Cubist]

Many thanks to Malcolm for taking this burden on and to Rob and Simon for all the effort they put in over the years.

Its nice to have a new (updated) toy and some of the new smileys will be useful but... it looks like I need to work out/understand how to 'quote' a correspondent. I'll get there.

Cheers Fellas,
Cubist (aka Steve)

 

[a twig]

Its nice to have a new (updated) toy and some of the new smileys will be useful but... it looks like I need to work out/understand how to 'quote' a correspondent. I'll get there.

Cheers Fellas,
Cubist (aka Steve)

Like this?

 

[Cubist]

Errr...

Like this?

Ok, I may have got that. Lets see if my short term memory has improved.

 

[RBailey]

Congratulations / Well done

 

[Cubist]

Checking.....

 

[Cubist]

Checking.....

Ok, got it. Maybe.