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Well, I thought it might be fun to reveal some of the inside information about the coming changes in the forum. Rest assured that it is an active project. Although there is no tentative go-live date set, it shouldn't be too much longer. Alpha testing is about complete??? Beta testing is gearing up.
The new a project will be referred to as the Equis International Online Community (EIOC) to reflect the idea that it is more than simple BBS project.
One of the things that we will do is preserve the current content. That way, once it is imported into the new database, it will all become searchable. Personally, I think that will be the biggest improvement that we will see. Forget all of the bells and whistles; the ability to search is a core need. :)
Over the past year or so, Patrick scavenged what he could and became an advocate for new hardware. Thankfully, Equis has purchased a new server to handle our increasing need for speed! Wow! My experience has been that the new platform is at least 10 times faster than the current server in everyday tasks. However, understand that I'm not a Bell Engineer. The new hardware is expandable and sports dual Intel Xeon 3.6GHz CPUs with 2GB RAM. You don't want to know how outdated the current hardware is... :? Anyway, the official word is: "It's just plain faster!" and I totally agree.
Stay tuned for more updates...
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Rank: Advanced Member
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One of the neat things that we've been working on for the new forum is the updated Files Section. i.e., the Download section. It is a lot less cumbersome and functions mostly like the Windows File Explorer. You will have the opportunity to upload your own files to share, but they will still require administrative screening and appropriate bug detection. That much will stay the same. So, if you have any suggestions for files that you'd like to see in the new Files Section, please drop me a PM and I'll see what I can do.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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One of the incredible features of the new software platform is the ability to let members easily track the status of his/her original thread. As is stands now, the Moderator is basically working a lot behind the scenes having to decide whether or not the thread is [RESOLVED] and then editing the original post to reflect this decision. In the new forum, you will simply have to press a button to select the status of your thread. Of course, the Moderator will still be able to assist you in the event that you forget, but I see this as a huge step forward in terms of forum management.
Another feature that we will be trialing is the ability to rank posts. If for no other reason it will allow you to quickly spot the quality contributors. It's not too hard now, but it will be even easier in the future. Aside from this basic use, we might even be able to build a rewards system out of it. More to come...
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Rank: Advanced Member
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New profile menu! Lots of fancy options...
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Similar main forum menu... tweaked for performance... highly customizable by the user!
** Clipped Alpha menu; subject to change **
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Some of the standard forum features graphically revealed. :=)
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Another feature to be implemented with the new forum release will be the addition of a formal Blog area. The uses for this type of content are nearly limitless... I'm going to hold off on further personal comments for the time being... :wink:
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Rank: Advanced Member
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The Favorites Manager takes us from the stone age into the atomic age easily. It allows us to select and watch 1) favorite users, 2) favorite threads, and 3) favorite forum sections. I'm not sure of the cummulative limit at this time, but I'm researching it. Currently under phpBB2 it is about 150 threads only. I reached that max a long time ago, so I wound up seeking out alternative methods to store the favorites. With the new software, that will be a thing of the past. :)
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Rank: Advanced Member
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The files section of the forum will be nice. It has an Explorer style menu that responds to mouse clicks to show the files that are available. There is a method to rank the usefulness of the file too. That has been a rarely used feature of the current phpBB2 forum, but perhaps it will find its following on the new platform. More info on this feature will be released in the future.
p.s. It comes in all sorts of colors. Even the Sparklies amongst us should feel at home! :lol:
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Rank: Advanced Member
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The new software has a built-in RSS reader. One of the cool features is that it will show video feeds too. I'm still working hard to implement this feature prior to the go-live date.
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Just a quick update... we are in the process of figuring out the best way to transfer the existing database of messages and users to the new forum; the graphics updates are being tweaked; and, beta testing will start this week. It will be a busy week. I think you will be pleased with the progress that we've made, though it seems a long time coming. Once we go live, all users will have the opportunity to critique the new platform. This will just be the beginning. Later this year, the plan is to resume content development. Any thoughts that you'd like to share about that, please do so here.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Beta testing is underway... Lots of small things are being addressed. Still a couple of big items left to fix.
We are working on the upload feature now. In the new forum, you will have a more robust file management system to work with. Uploads/ Downloads/ Ratings/ Comments... similar concept to our present system, but better developed... just have to get it to work. :-k
The database migration is tentatively scheduled for early June and after that, we will go live. The beginning really is near! We are anticipating a down time of 2 days or less for the complete process. That is, both forums will be off-line while the transfer takes place. I'm sure that no matter what there will be some confusion during that time, but I'm here to help you get through it. You will also have your discussion group leaders to assist you.
What is a discussion group, you ask? Well, in the new forum, we are changing the old, but familiar term 'forum' to the nouveau, vogue term 'discussion group'. In fact, you will several new labels on the new forum. We will also be referring to the 'portal' as 'home'; and, 'RSS' as 'External News'. So, don't get worried if you don't immediately find what it is that you're looking for... it's probably there!
One of the things that I want to share with you is the new theme color palate. I've been trying to post pictures in different colors, but there are just too many to choose from! So, here is the entire palate. You will be able to choose one of the following colors to personalize your profile.
I mentioned earlier the ability to create blogs. This will stretch our boundaries some and hopefully build community interest. If you are interested in starting a blog on the new forum, give me a shout!
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Ok... one of the features that we are going to LOSE will be the 'Add image to Post' ability that we now have... well, almost.
The current 'Add Image' feature allows you to upload images to a temporary host address and then reference them in your posts here on the phpBB2 forum. The images are displayed as thumbnails to keep everything looking uniform. After a time of inactivity, they are deleted from the host.
In the new platform we will be implementing a different method of image referencing, but it appears very similar... at least on the surface. We will have a little more control of the volatility and will be able to make comments and rate the image's usefulness, if desired. We will also have control over advertisement suppression. It all looks really good. I think it is also a viable alternative to the feature that we had available in the old MS Community Chat application to upload images. So, in a way, it will expand or combine the forum images and chat images into one broad feature. The biggest difference that I see at the moment in functionality is that the automated reference code generated by 'Add Image', and placed into the body of your post, will have to be manually entered. There may be a way around this... I'm still looking into it.
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