ALERT: Site Upgrade Notice.

Everyone, please take a few minutes to read this post it contains important information about changes to your GIRS account and access to our website.

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I will be performing some long overdue/major site upgrades between 12/26 and 12/30.

Unfortunately, the nature of these upgrades will require me to take the site down for an extended period. This outage could last up to 24 hours but will hopefully be much shorter. I will probably do this portion on either December 26th or 27th.

I will bring the site back online as soon as the core pieces, like forums, are working properly. Once the site is back online, there will probably be some pretty major wierdness on the site as I complete the rest of the changes. This weirdness will probably last for at least 3 or 4 days while I get the existing site content moved around, old content removed and new functionality installed, but rest assured that it will all make sense in the end.

The upgrade will also affect accounts in a few key ways. Please read the following items carefully:

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[*]Private Messages - We will be moving to a different private messsage system. Unfortunately, there is no tool to convert old PM's to the new system so your PM box will be empty on the new system. I will TRY to provide a TEMPORARY link to the old PM system if possible. However, if there is information that you want to retrieve from your inbox, I suggest you do so ASAP and I can not guaranty that it will not be lost.


[*]Profile Pictures/Avatars - Everyone will need to re-upload their profile/forum avatar. Unfortunately, the conversion tool does not bring these across properly.


[*]Friends Lists - Friends Lists will be reset. We don't rely on the friends list for anything, so this shouldn't affect anyone very much, but feel free to recreate your friends list. We may use them more in future upgrades.


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So what new stuff does this upgrade bring? Here is a quick, and probably not complete, list:

• Some minor forum upgrades including the return of the "Insert Image" button.
• Better PM system
• Better integration with social features and the activity journal on the home page
• Better regional group functionality including news and events
• Member profile enhancements.
• Member Blogs (integrated with profile and regional groups)
• Member Galleries (integrated with profile and regional groups)
• Better news system. (with less chinese comment spam, hopefully)
• Reefer Q&A - I'm really excited about this feature, I think everyone will enjoy it. Earn reputation for asking and answering questions related to reef keeping.

Some of this new stuff will replace older functionaliity that we already have (like the News Archive, Galleries, etc). I will provide links to all the old legacy content so it will not be lost.

Thanks and please let me know if you have any questions.

-JB

 

Additional forums are something we've considered before and I'm sure we'll do so again. It's kind of a delicate balance between having too few and too many forums. If a breeding/propagation forum is something that a lot of people want and would participate in, then I'm sure we could make it happen.

The same applies to a DIY forum, however I'm of the opinion that member blogs are a better tool for documenting DIY projects. We'll just have to see how things shape up once the new site is up for a while.

Thanks for the input.

-JB

 

Bump. This is the thread I'll point everyone too later this week when they start complaining that their Avatar and PM's are missing... /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif

 

FYI, My plan is to start this upgrade process tomorrow morning.

If all goes well, the site should be back online later in the afternoon or early evening.

-JB

 

Thanks, it's getting there. Hopefully by tomorrow night I'll have the rest of the site in place and operating.

-JB

 

Banned! /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/wink.gif