Changing forum software

rick

I want to update everyone on the issues we've been having with the vBulletin software. We have been trying to work with vbulletin but due to unforeseen circumstances, we are stuck with the current version because of an issue with the PHP version on our server. I'm not going to get into the details, but basically it doesn't make financial sense to upgrade our server's PHP and our retail website, just to install a new version of vbulletin that we don't even know if it's going to address the issues we're having with the forums. It could end up being a huge waste of money. So we believe it makes a lot more sense to migrate our forums to a new platform. We will be moving to a software package called Vanilla. It's very highly rated and it will preserve 100% of our vbulletin users, passwords, avatars, and posts. If everything goes according to plan, we shouldn't lose any data and we will gain a lot of functionality and features. We don't have an exact timeline established yet, but we're guessing it will take about 3 weeks before the Vanilla software goes live. As we get closer to the migration date, I'll keep everyone posted with all the details. We did a lot of research into the various forum software available on the market and we're really excited about this transition. We think everyone will really like Vanilla.

Rick

BB.

Thank you Rick for the update... I know you guys have been working hard in the background to try and get things working right.

-Bill

westbranch

GREAT NEWS. 8) Fingers crossed for a relatively smooth transition... it sure can't be worse..

thanks for the concern

SolarPowered

Does Vanilla support mobile applications well? I believe that was one of the many issues that needed to be addressed.

rick

Based on what we were told, the forum should be 100% accessible from mobile devices. You won't have to install a mobile app to access the forums; just navigate to the forums URL from your mobile device's browser and you should be good to go.

vtmaps

That's great news! Maybe Cariboocoot will participate again and I can be on thin ice again

--vtMaps

vtmaps

I have a question about the current vbulletin software. Of course, my question my soon be irrelevant after the switch to Vanilla...
Today I have received a "follow request" from a forum member. My choices are to ignore or accept. What is a "follow request"?

--vtMaps

BB.

I accept, but I am not sure I saw anything different.

-Bill

rick

I want to give everyone an update on the new forum software. Sorry about the delay from my last update. We hit some bumps along the way that were not anticipated. But I think we've got them resolved now and things are moving forward again. The migration process involves a lot more than we had originally anticipated, but things are starting to come together. We've just about finished our testing phase of the new software and we're about to have a design team work on customizing the theme. We don't want to deal with any issues like we saw with the new Vbulletin and the new color scheme, so we're taking our time and ensuring everything gets done correctly. Thanks for your patience everyone. I know it's taking a little longer than I had said, but we're dedicated to making this forum great again and it's taking a little extra time.

inetdog

vtmaps wrote: »

I have a question about the current vbulletin software. Of course, my question my soon be irrelevant after the switch to Vanilla...
Today I have received a "follow request" from a forum member. My choices are to ignore or accept. What is a "follow request"?

--vtMaps

Basically, the follow option should allow the following member to be notified whenever you post anything. Analogous to the Follow feature in other social media platforms.
Just what the notification looks like, I do not know

rick

Hi everyone. We have finally set a date for the final migration to the new forum software. It will be on Tuesday, September 15th. Leading up to this date, I'll start a new thread with any pertinent information like expected down time and any potential issues. During the migration, the forums will be offline. We'll also be updating our DNS settings for the forum, which means that when the new site comes online, everyone may not immediately see it. In the United States, you probably won't notice any delays, but it can take up to 24 hours for the DNS settings to propagate around the globe (in rare cases, up to 48 hours).

Once the new forum is active, either BB. or myself will start a new thread for everyone to report any errors or problems that you may encounter. We think we've worked out all the bugs, but there may be a few minor issues that we didn't catch during the testing phase. Hopefully it all goes as smoothly as possible.

Photowhit

Thank you!