Hey Guys, As many of you can tell (duh) we have released the new forum software on our live server. While we had planned to have everything up and running easy peasy sometimes it isn't so simple converting a forum (with over 9000 posts and 2000 members) from one format to a completely different one. You tend to run into a snag or two so it is going to take a week or more to get everything ironed out. There are bugs in the system that will need to be looked at and those take time. Next, there is going to be some data missing. The reason for that is simple; the vBulletin database we converted to SMF format was dated from the 12th of June. Why not grab one from today? Because it took several hours to change a bunch of stuff around once it had been converted; we had to make entirely new user groups and permissions, move existing benefactors over to their usergroup, beta test all the permissions settings for each usergroup, fix up some of the posts, verify that things were working, clean up a bunch of stuff in terms of aesthetics. I only want to do that once! For real! Talk about a pain in the butt! Despite all those hours of work there are still a few hiccups in the system and we will outline the problems and solutions below. MISSING FEATURE #1 - Voting System Missing Yep, it's missing. We have the module and are working on it. In fact we have it working (mostly) on our sandbox server but we are waiting for someone with more skill to come in and fix up the layout for us because it is a mess. Verbosity is going to be doing that sometime in the next day or two I would imagine then we will put it up, test it over there and then deploy a working copy over here. MISSING FEATURE #2 - Splash Page Missing Yes, there is no splash page which shows all our recent news, links to here and there etc. We have the materials for it we just haven't implemented it yet as that is something we will be doing over the coming few weeks. Aedon leaving MWO kind of bent us over a barrel there and it will take time to plod our way through it. For now any time you type in the main domain of MechSpecs.com you are redirected here. Solution: There is none required. That is on our end and we will get to it when we can. POSTS PROBLEM #1 - YouTube Link But No Video You found a post with YouTube videos that don't display anything but text code that looks like [video=http://www.blahblahblah]? The reason for that is that when we converted to the new system it didn't automatically parse YouTube links. The convertor wasn't designed for that anyways; it just translates everything literally. Solution: If you run across posts, that aren't yours, that have this issue, just report them to the moderators and one of us will get to them and fix those individual posts. If the post does belong to you then you can simply modify it, delete the weird code and paste just the YouTube video link. That's it, that is how YouTube videos are posted in the new system; just the link. POSTS PROBLEM #2 - Oversize Images Images don't seem to display correctly. They are way too big and seem to be cut off? This again is a parsing issue; when we converted images weren't parsed in their new post format they were just copied over directly. Solution: If the post is yours simply hit "modify" at the top right and then click save. It will then parse the images in your post properly. Viola your images are now lightboxed. If the post isn't yours just report it to a moderator and we will eventually fix that. POSTS PROBLEM #3 - Potential Spam We had our first Viagra spam this morning. You guys reported the thread and one of the moderators got to it and deleted it, then I banned the user account. Solution: Aedon's idea of "Just have a secret phrase question" didn't work, we had 8 spam bots register this morning bypassing that little question section easily, so we installed the KeyKAPTCHA system. That is the one where you have to match up the images using that little slider interface? This cut our spam down to almost nothing on the old forum software. So, in closing, if you have any questions, comments or require a little bit of direction feel free to post stuff here and someone will answer it when we can.
Loving the new format! I look forward to seeing our missing features return to us with a vengeance! Keep up the great work guys!!! ...also... first? Saaaay whaaaaaaat?
I have to hit a format button before I can compose a post on mobile. The font size also changes from post to post within a thread. However, the mobile site is gorgeous and easy to read. I love the new look.
I am not sure if that is the WYSIWYG editors fault (this is a third party one) or if it is the forum itself. I have tons on my plate right now getting the voting system up and running properly but will investigate this. Freeware eh?
Hey Michael, Site is looking real good. You may want to take a look at the Payson addon/script. I wanted to jump onboard today and donate but I cannot logon to Payson through the donation process. I can access donations process fine on other sites or Payson directly, doublechecked.
I've just looked across the internet (like Google and everything LOL) and I could not find an SMF Forum system plugin that allowed Payson.se payments. This is a "paypal" type company that is for Swedish folks. We use Paypal because it is for like "the entire world" folks and not just you Sweeds Thank you for the donation offer however; the thought does count!!!! [quote author=Archwright link=topic=1726.msg10332#msg10332 date=1371325415] I have to hit a format button before I can compose a post on mobile. The font size also changes from post to post within a thread. However, the mobile site is gorgeous and easy to read. [/quote] This should be fixed now by reverting to the stock editor!
The new format is pretty good. Not quite so easy to navigate, but it will probably take some getting used too. The login counter is great though. I tend to take a while to type my posts, so knowing how long I have to type stops me from being quite so wordy
Images have been resized. If you should come across one that I may have missed, please don't hesitate to bring it to our attention.
Love the new format as well, cant wait untill all the features can be implemented! Keep going mod team, you're doing great work.
I really like the new format as well. It is very functional and while it may not have bells and whistles it is clean and gets the job done and I like that! +1 from me!
Congrats on the new software deployment. I am sure the community will embrace this well. Well done guys!
I love the new system more than the old one actually... It seems to run faster and cleaner for me and I like some of the features here that the other one didn't have like the Team Page. That is kinda cool and I also like how that when I read something it STAYS read LOL it doesn't pop up as NEW again if my browser crashes and what now. Once you get the voting system in you should be back up and running at a run. In fact I am looking forward to revisiting a lot of older builds and casting my vote on them. Fun stuff FOR the people BY the people as you once said Michael
I think it's actually a good thing that the votes that were cast were wiped out. Granted, it's a bit of a pain to go through it again, but builds that were 5 star 6 months ago, may not be worth a darn now. So it will be good to retest a lot of the older builds and see which ones are still viable.
Hail, Performance is really good, like the layout and scheme. Do visit on a regular basis and tweak my ever growing Smurfy database.
