Thread: Site move

Hi, everyone!

A long time due project.

We need to move from our current infrastructure because it's legacy at the hosting company. (Un)fortunately the forum software won't run directly on a current operating system and it's quite a bit of work to set up an environment from which it'll run, so what seems more reasonable to me is to go ahead and update the forum software as well.

We've been thinking for a really, really long time that xenforo may be a good option and we plan to give that a try.

In practical terms - we're thinking of switching to the new software relatively quickly - as soon as we have the basic day-to-day functionality working well, rather than waiting until we're almost completely done with everything set up the way we want it to be long term. Instead, we'd make the switch earlier in the process and continue to improve on the go.

In light of this, Bruno has offered to help with the migration and he is familiar both with the current and the new software. This work requires admin permissions, so I'm giving him those and I'll throw in the pink username for good measure.

BTW, the new software has these things implemented much better - the roles are distinct and separate. For example, the admin role and permissions relate to things like configuring and updating the software etc., the moderator role things like moving/deleting threads and posts, banning spammers. And both of these roles do not have included in them the role and permissions of a forum member, which means they can not post or start threads - they have to be explicitly part of the forum members group to be able to do that.
I don't know if anyone besides me cares about it, but I find it so much nicer and easier to work with than the current mess with at least three different places that issue and remove permissions.

Anyways, we welcome any comments, suggestions, etc.

Originally Posted by gugi

Hi, everyone!

A long time due project.

We need to move from our current infrastructure because it's legacy at the hosting company. (Un)fortunately the forum software won't run directly on a current operating system and it's quite a bit of work to set up an environment from which it'll run, so what seems more reasonable to me is to go ahead and update the forum software as well.

We've been thinking for a really, really long time that xenforo may be a good option and we plan to give that a try.

In practical terms - we're thinking of switching to the new software relatively quickly - as soon as we have the basic day-to-day functionality working well, rather than waiting until we're almost completely done with everything set up the way we want it to be long term. Instead, we'd make the switch earlier in the process and continue to improve on the go.

In light of this, Bruno has offered to help with the migration and he is familiar both with the current and the new software. This work requires admin permissions, so I'm giving him those and I'll throw in the pink username for good measure.

BTW, the new software has these things implemented much better - the roles are distinct and separate. For example, the admin role and permissions relate to things like configuring and updating the software etc., the moderator role things like moving/deleting threads and posts, banning spammers. And both of these roles do not have included in them the role and permissions of a forum member, which means they can not post or start threads - they have to be explicitly part of the forum members group to be able to do that.
I don't know if anyone besides me cares about it, but I find it so much nicer and easier to work with than the current mess with at least three different places that issue and remove permissions.

Anyways, we welcome any comments, suggestions, etc.

Damn the torpedo's, Full speed ahead!

All Greek to me. I'm sure you know what you're doing. I'm happy staying in my lane as I'm definitely an Indian not a chief. I guess I would only need to know how it makes things different every day as members.

......

I suppose it's long overdue.
Thanks to Gugi and esp to Bruno in this case for doing what needed to be done.
The old format has been like an old, familiar pillow for many moons. Change happens so let's all help one another to get our groove on.

As long as things don't "evaporate" I'd say let's do it.

No, things won't evaporate, most everything should be here, but may be with different names, like what we know as 'private messages' they like to call 'conversations'. Since we already have a whole forum section called 'The Conversation', I'm thinking of overriding the terminology and stick with 'Private Messages', or maybe compromise with 'Private Conversations'. Or if someone comes up with something I like better, he can have 'Godfather of _______' under his username (in pink color if it's really, really good).

Though, even staying with the current software has the same problem between major releases - I still remember a decade ago for some people the change from 'usercp' to 'settings' was super hard. But then again, we've seen fights over a single letter - is it a strop or is it a strap. In fact, I have my suspicions that the US Civil War may have been about how to pronounce the 'o's and the 'a's.

We have always have at least two, sometimes more backups done in different formats on different systems, at different locations, so the data is generally fairly safe. It's just how painful is a recovery from that data, if we ever have to do it - staying with the legacy infrastructure means it'd be painful and may be take a week of downtime. On a current infrastructure it should be few hours to a day.

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Get it done!

Originally Posted by gugi

...like what we know as 'private messages' they like to call 'conversations'. Since we already have a whole forum section called 'The Conversation', I'm thinking of overriding the terminology and stick with 'Private Messages', or maybe compromise with 'Private Conversations'. Or if someone comes up with something I like better, ...

Well since you mentioned The Godfather maybe you should call them "sitdowns"

More or less.
A long long time ago when I was still an admin here I offered to help move this place to a different platform because what it runs on now is the software version of a carton of buttermilk left in the sun for a long, long time.
And then there was the thing and I was out. Anyway Ivan approached me recently to ask if I still wanted to help.

My own forum runs on Xenforo which is what Ivan is moving to so , I figured it would make a big enough difference that I should.
I mean Xenforo is not rocket science but when migrating the old mess it helps if you know why things were the way they were or why certain decisions were made. I configured most of the structure and permissions setup which, due to all the software legacy, has the elegance of a watermelon shot at a wall from an air cannon.

And yes, things will get a new feel and look familiar but different. This is not the late 2000s anymore and SRP doesn't have a host of graphic designers and web wizards like it used to, or my participation wouldn't have made much difference. In case this isn't obvious, modern social media has decimated forum participation on all forums, across all hobbies.

So we'll focus on preserving historical data, getting the software to work properly on a day to day basis without hickups, and that's it.
If we do have people with software experience or graphics experience, I'm sure Ivan would love another helping hand. I certainly won't be touching anything in that regard because I'm the type of admins / developer for whom a grey form with a square button is still the end of my capabilities.

Incidentally I'll still be over at my own place.