Announcement: New forum coming soon

Post by **Matt** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:50 pm

I would like to give everyone a heads-up that we will be changing to a new forum soon.

My reasons for doing this are the following:
A: Reliability. The new forum will be on the JDsleds.com server, which has been very reliable through the years I've used it. Currently, it is hosted by a remote service. They've lost our attachments several times now, and done nothing to restore them. I'm sure that one of these days, they'll loose our posts again too.

B: Ability to customize: With this forum, it is against their terms of service to modify the software. With the new one, I can install various features that will work for us, and request features. For example, on the new forum, any new member registrations will require a Location. I know a lack of location info for many of you is a pet peeve.

C: Backups: I am not currently allowed to back up our own data. So when the service looses our posts or attachments, there is nothing I can do about it. With the new forum, everything can be backed up, to my own computer, and my own backup drive.

D: The functionality that goes along with the forum will allow me to add other site features, such as photo galleries, maybe an online store, etc.

The new forum will already have all members, forums, and posts imported. We will be able to pick up right where this one will leave off. I'm still working on it, but it looks like you may have to manually move your signatures over, but that should be it.

When I'm ready to do the conversion, I'm going to shut this forum down, so that posts don't get lost between the old one and the new one. Everyone will get a PM, with a password to the new forum, but your previous user name will be the same.

S_Kyle · Post by **S_Kyle** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:02 pm

I really like the location change you are going to do.

Post by **ICCSF 108** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:05 pm

Hey whatever is easiest for you Matt I'm ok with.
Thanks for the heads up..

Kenny

79 Spitfire · Post by **79 Spitfire** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:18 pm

Good deal Matt.

Jim

JDFanPa · Post by **JDFanPa** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:24 pm

Matt you are our leader we will follow haha. Now seriously what you have outlined sounds great and thanks for your efforts.

wycrumb · Post by **wycrumb** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:26 am

Will all of our PM history move over too? Also is there a similar looking form somewhere that we could look at? Sounds like a good move though!!

Sprailfire340 · Post by **Sprailfire340** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:45 am

If the pm's don't move you do have the option to download them. Go to your inbox and on the right side under "manage messages" is an option to download messages. I just saved about 6 months worth to my pc and it only took a few seconds.

Hawkeye · Post by **Hawkeye** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:50 pm

Matt, thanks for all the great work on keeping this one up and running and all the work your doing to make it better for all of us with the new one. A thankless job for sure, but I am reasonably comfortable saying that most everyone on here appreciates what you do.

Post by **Matt** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:24 pm

Wyc, good question, I had to check, but PM history will not transfer over.

79 Spitfire · Post by **79 Spitfire** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:41 pm

Matt what date roughly will this move start?

flames4555 · Post by **flames4555** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:19 pm

Matt,
Thank you for all your efforts and continued commitment to continious improvements . Protecting the great info which has been shared by the users over the years is reason enough to change .

thanks again

Kevin

Post by **Matt** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:27 am

I think we'll do the change over some time next week. If you would like to see a preview, here it is: http://www.jdsleds.com/phpBB3
NOTE: YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LOG IN YET BECAUSE YOUR OLD PASSWORD WILL NOT WORK. IF YOU REGISTER A NEW NAME, AND MAKE TEST POSTS, BE AWARE THAT WHEN I DO THE FINAL CONVERSION, EVERYTHING YOU DO THERE WILL BE ERASED.
Forums are not quite in order, as I will have to arrange the sub-forums back to the way the were here after the final conversion. I also have to re-set all the forum permissions, install smilies, and fix a few avatars.

Post by **WinnipegStPaul9** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:07 am

Wow! Real nice. Good work Matt. DA

Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:54 am

I really like the new look. Great work, Matt!

wycrumb · Post by **wycrumb** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:22 pm

Another question, will you still have the link at the bottom of the main page for "active topics"? I love that link!!