The Big Update - New Site Software!

[ElectroMaster]

Hello Members,

Over the past few months I have been working on migrating the Electro Tech forum from using phpBB forum software to the much more efficient and feature rich vBulletin forum. This new software will benefit both you as a member and our most of all our moderators who keep this site clean.

And now I am happy to announce that the testing has been completed and therefore today is the day that I will make the change. Within a short period of time I will upload the new software and once installed you will be able to utilize many new features.

So let me get started. I'll report back here once I have completed this transition.

~phil

 

[Someone Electro]

Cool!

Your still alive?You havent ben here a long time

 

[ElectroMaster]

Cool!

Your still alive?You havent ben here a long time

Yep I’m always around. I do alot of work behind the scenes to keep spammers and hackers away.

It seems that the migration has been successful with a few minor glitches. Some 30 odd attachments were not imported corrected and had to be dropped. But its not bad considering there were over 7000 over them!

Another problem I've had is avatars and PMs. I will work on getting these back but it may take me a day or two.

I would like to reassure everyone that the site is running smoothly and you can post as normal however if you do notice a problem please do let me know and I will promptly correct it.

Also if you have any suggestions or feedback please let me know, as I will be making many modifications over the next 2 weeks.

 

[justDIY]

old account disabled

Hello,

my old account, justDIY appears to be disabled for some reason. I went through the change password process and entered the numeric code I was sent in email... however, when I click the link that says click here to edit your profile and change your password, I'm directed to another screen that says an administrator disabled my account or that I need to wait 24 hours.

I'm not sure if I've done anything wrong, but I certainly don't think so. If it's possible, can you reinstate my old account "justDIY" ... or I suppose I can continue using this one, until it gets disabled?!

I also sent an email using the "contact us" button, but I'd mistaken my old-old username for the one I was actively using ... so the username I want to use is "justDIY" not "glmclell".

Thanks for your assistance in this matter,
Gordon "justDIY" McLellan

 

[ElectroMaster]

Hello,

my old account, justDIY appears to be disabled for some reason.

This was because of the merge. While we processed the database we did not want any new posts from old members else there would have been a conflict. I do appologize for not informing everyone about this however I am happy to say all access has been granted again.

 

[DirtyLude]

Thanks for switching to vBulletin. I, and I'm sure the rest of us, appreciate all the work you've put into this site.

 

[ElectroMaster]

Thanks Mark!

There is so much to learn I've got many ideas to impliment!

 

[DirtyLude]

I've been running a vBulletin site for a little over 3 years now.

All I can suggest is try not to do too much hacking. The frequency of software updates is high and it forces you to move them forward or even rewrite them on major updates. Many times, it's just not worth it. I have a few custom modifications on my site that can be a real pain to keep working during updates.

Also, take note of your bandwidth. I don't know if you have a limit or anything, but vBulletin generates alot of HTML for each page served up.

 

[bloody-orc]

a few questions:
1) as i see there are no longer any avatars right?
2) wha tis th epoint of the calendar? are users birghtdays goint to be marked there (would be cool) or update dates etc?
3) is there any way to change the skin of the forum. i personally liked the oldone kinda better. it was smaller. more text and less scrolling (those huge "nametags" betwean posts ara IMHO too much. it was better when they were on the side.

but well this is only my opinion and i hope you don't mind answering my wuestions.

 

[DirtyLude]

Personally, I like the legacy postview as well. The names/avatars on the left. You can change it in (vbull options->style and language settings)

I would also get rid of the description when within the forum (vbull options->forum display)

 

[bloody-orc]

so i cant change the theme my own. would be nice so those who like it like this can keep this and those who prefere the old one could change the theme to old one(ish)

 

[JimB]

At the risk of appearing to be a miserable old git, I also preferred to look and feel of the old format, it was much easier to read in my opinion.

However, this is a great site, thank you for all the work you put into it.

JimB

 

[ChriX]

About time this forum used a decent bit of software, phpBB2 was getting a bit old!

Nice one.

 

[lord loh.]

I was bothering Nigel via email asking him about what happened...

And I do not understand how Profile Picture is different from avatar. Could we have some skins... I have got used to the rounded phpbb skin. and the legacy type view... But I think I shall get used to this one too... Advantage... There is more horizontal space for post content.

 

[lord loh.]

One more thing... I do not see any way to "report as spam" my own posts.... I have done this bofore whenever I accidentaly made dubble posts and wanted the moderators to delete one...

 

[Roff]

My forum bookmark used to take me to My Posts. I can't find that option on the new system. Is it still available?

 

[ElectroMaster]

Seach engine friendly urls have just been added...

Ron this mod should allow you old urls to be redirected to the new ones.

 

[Roff]

Seach engine friendly urls have just been added...

Ron this mod should allow you old urls to be redirected to the new ones.

I already changed my bookmark. What I would like to know is, can I see a listing of all threads that I have recently posted to, as you had in the old format?

 

[justDIY]

oooh SEO ... spiffy

and the url is readable too, not a bunch of seemingly random letters and numbers that some seo formatted urls offer

any chance RSS feeds are coming?

 

[ElectroMaster]

RSS Feed is a brilliant idea!!!! Im going to get onto this!

Ron, Regarding your bookmarks they are now called subscribed threads and are visiable from the User CP link up top. You should have this thread in there (if not please let me know because something will be wrong).