Forum Upgrade Incoming

[Ashley]

Hi all,

You may have noticed (*ahem*) that the forum has been a bit creaky lately.

Speaking to Shorty we have figured it is high time we a) move to a new server and b) update the forum which we've let slide.

There's no guarantee that it will fix everything (or even anything), but it is certainly worth a short.

He's playing around with a different instance at the moment and sent me a link and it is certainly snappier.

However as the forum software has updated the design is a little different. Nothing huge, just a modified/updated design. We've agreed that we think its best if we just do the upgrade and release it and then tweak things afterwards due to the speed issues we're currently facing.

We don't currently know exactly when it will take place but we will try and do it soon, just dealing with some admin stuff beforehand and obviously it needs to fit around other demands on Shorty's time.

It will also involve some downtime but we'll try and keep that to a minimum.

I will keep everyone updated and do appreciate people's patience during this slowpoke period.

[Shorty]

New server, new OS and new forum software all seemed to spin up and migrate quite smoothly in testing. The roadblock we've actually hit is more to do with a third-party service that has some sort of painful reset to its billing cycle that's keeping us locked out of an important step for a few days. Once we're over that hurdle I'll bring the forum down late-ish one evening so that no content is lost in the transfer. Then it'll be a case of "once you can see the new (basically temporary/unthemed) look, you're on the new server".

In all honesty this is a bit of a "clean slate" approach as opposed to digging in and working out what was going wrong in the first place, but that should put is in a more futureproof state, even if a little is lost and has to be figured out again along the way.

[drahkon]

Thank you for all your work

Hope everything works out fine without any hiccups!

[Dcubed]

Can't come a moment too soon! The poor old thing is creaking at the seams.

As long as I get to keep my smilies, and can still read the old archived posts, I'll be haps 

Thanks for all your hard work 

[Jonnas]

Thank you very much for everything! Let's hope the upgrade goes smoothly.

[Julius]

Thanks guys for getting this sorted, it's really appreciated  especially the transparency around this stuff! 

With the issues in recent weeks, I'm still just glad everything seemed to run super smoothly when the Direct was on last week! There's nothing quite like the reactions of N-E in a live Direct thread  

[darksnowman]

Legends.  

[Shorty]

For the like... 2 people still using it ( @Sheikah @bob ?) - I'm sorry to say that Tapatalk won't work after the forum is updated. They have shown no interest in updating the plugin to work on 4.7 from what I can gather. On the plus side, the latest version of the software works smoothly as a progressive web app - i.e. it should feel close to an app experience on the web.

[Sheikah]

For the like... 2 people still using it ( [mention=2464]Sheikah[/mention] [mention=229]bob[/mention] ?) - I'm sorry to say that Tapatalk won't work after the forum is updated. They have shown no interest in updating the plugin to work on 4.7 from what I can gather. On the plus side, the latest version of the software works smoothly as a progressive web app - i.e. it should feel close to an app experience on the web.

Ahhh. That's a shame. I still use it and haven't encountered the issue before like bob mentioned where there were ads/problems.

[bob]

18 hours ago, Shorty said:

For the like... 2 people still using it ( @Sheikah @bob ?) - I'm sorry to say that Tapatalk won't work after the forum is updated. They have shown no interest in updating the plugin to work on 4.7 from what I can gather. On the plus side, the latest version of the software works smoothly as a progressive web app - i.e. it should feel close to an app experience on the web.

That's ok, I finally deleted it last week. I've been using the web version of the website ever since Tapatalk started introducing unskippable video ads, which was the final straw. 

 

I feel like an abused spouse who's finally managed to break free from their ex.

[Ashley]

7 hours ago, bob said:

That's ok, I finally deleted it last week. I've been using the web version of the website ever since Tapatalk started introducing unskippable video ads, which was the final straw. 

 

I feel like an abused spouse who's finally managed to break free from their ex.

Ah but now you've told us how we can defeat you!