Forum Software Update - PHPBB 3.0 -> 3.1

[alex]

Everyone -

Sometime this weekend I am going to update the forum software to PHPBB 3.1. This will probably take the forum out of service for a couple hours while the upgrade takes place. If the SQL indexes for search have to be rebuilt it also could cause some delays or inaccuracy's in searches taking place.

As part of this the "batblack" profile that some people use (black background with white text) is going to go away. This is because the differences in style updates between PHPBB 3 and 3.1 will not support the continued use of batblack.

We are working on some additional changes to the forum that likely will happen slowly over the summer to improve the Batboard experience. Please bear with us as we go through some technical changes.

We are also aware of the email challenges where sometimes email is delivered and sometimes it is not. It's been a long standing issue with our host, Dreamhost, which limits the number of emails per day that the forum can send. We are looking in to other solutions to support the SMTP traffic the forum generates and to increase reliability.

Alex

[Will]

Alex,

Thank you for all your hard work.

[Andy Brinkley]

Ditto what Will said.

Many thanks for the work you put in on this board.

[alex]

Hey everyone:

Was able to get most the updates done over the last hour or two. If you happened to be sending a PM or doing a post and do not see it here between approximately 12:00 and 15:30hrs Eastern Time there is a remote chance that it may have gotten lost in the shuffle. The original database update didn't go as planned and I had to do the update on another server, test, and then shift the data around again.

There are a couple of notes:

* http://batboard.batlabs.com/ucp.php?i=165 -> For those of you who are used to "BatBlack" I installed another style called "Digi" which uses darker contrast than the normal proSilver theme that Batboard defaults to. You can change it by accessing the link to the left and then choose using the drop down next My board style the Digi theme. It's not perfect and certainly not Peter's BatBlack that we loved. The only downside is the forum rules do not really contrast that great (see below).

* Forum Rules - You can now click the "X" in the top right to make them disappear. In theory you have read them several times over and already know them. Why not give you a chance to remove them yourself.

* Forum additions/changes - We added a bunch of forums and re-arranged some. In a few cases you may notice that the old forums are setup for no new topics and replies only. In a month or two we will likely switch them to fully locked to encourage discussion in the right spots. Feedback good / bad is always welcome.

If you find issues throughout the forum with the update feel free to let me know via PM or by replying.

Alex

[d119]

THIS is FANTASTIC! Exactly what we need going on here - some freshening up and forward momentum.

THANK YOU ALEX for working on this!

[RFguy]

Looks good! Thanks.

[Jim202]

Since you have done the upgrade, I don't see the nicely sorted by date all the posts that we had before the upgrade for each of the topics. Kind of looks like one of the older radio pages that I haven't been on in a couple of years. It's like you have not signed in, yet you have and the web shows that you have.

Is there a setting that I don't have correct?

Jim

[alex]

Jim,

At the start of a lot of the forums (especially the ones that have been around for ages) there are a large number of posts which are stickied meaning they don't get sorted with the rest of the messages. This is mostly a byproduct of information that's good that we wanted to highlight when it was created/discussed.

What I typically use to see what is new/changed on the forum I bookmark this link: http://batboard.batlabs.com/search.php? ... d=newposts which will list all the posts which are new since you last visited. Usually they will stack if you visit a few times over a day or two. Makes it easy to see what is posted and new since your last visit.

Alex

[kcbooboo]

Two things that I ran into on another BBS that also upgraded to 3.1:

1. add a separate LOGOUT menu item next to my login name. Yes, I've learned where to find that command, but if I don't see a way to log off, I won't. This will soon become a security issue. Apparently this is easy to add/fix.
2. find a way to get rid of that stupid black screen that appears after I click the "mark all forums read" text. There's nothing I can do after clicking that command, so why put up a screen telling me that I did it? Just like the login now automatically puts me on the main screen, that's all that this command should do. I'm not sure what bozo engineered this "feature" into 3.1.

Bob M.

[alex]

I will take a look at it and make some changes but in all honesty I want to keep template changes to a minimum as there is a cost [time] involved in every upgrade. If I do get complaints from a bunch of people that they want it I will dig in to it some more and see if I can add the link. I know it is not typically hard to do but I have two templates to maintain (and that does not include the now "mobile" templates which also can require some adjusting to add it.

As an FYI: If you do not click "Remember Me" then closing the browser effectively logs you out anyway as that will kill the session. You can use this page: http://batboard.batlabs.com/ucp.php?i=u ... login_keys to manage your auto-login sessions and remove ghost sessions or sessions that maybe have been sitting there for a long time.

Another easter egg may be that email is working much better but I'd like to give that a couple of weeks and see if it is better or not.

Alex

[escomm]

There is an arrow in the upper right hand corner that will log a user out. Is this what is being asked for?

[kcbooboo]

No, the user is asking for a separate and always visible item that says "Logout", just like there's a separate item that says "Login". There's plenty of room. I shouldn't have to go hunting through a menu, no matter how simple it is, to find something to click to log me out.

And just because almost every other program on the planet has (stupidly) gotten rid of the logout item doesn't mean it's right. This is my opinion. You can agree or disagree.

Bob M.

[p47r4ck]

Ok, I'm probably completely dense here, but is there some indication that I'm just not seeing as to whether a post has been read or not?

I was one of the ones that used to old "black" theme where it was stupid-simple to tell if a post was read or not because the unread ones were neon-yellow, lol.

Sad to see the theme go, but totally understand (and agree with) the desire to move forward with a newer version of the board software.

I tried "prosilver" and and "Digi" and didn't notice anything obvious.

I'm also color blind if that means anything...

TIA

[miodek1987]

I use prosilver and it looks good.

[k5hdm]

Great work!!

[mogman]

Thank you Alex for all you do.....