Brad Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 The forum will be closed on Sunday, June 30th beginning at 12pm ET (9am PT) while we switch forum software. The process should take around 5-6 hours total. We hope to open the new forum back up by 6pm ET (3pm PT). We'll be switching the forum software from vBulletin to IPBoard. We know that the change will be somewhat disorienting at first given that we've been using the same software for the 9+ years we've had this forum, but we've been working hard behind the scenes to keep things looking as close to the current board as possible. Some answers to possible questions you may have: Will I have to register again? No. Your username and password will remain the same. Will we lose any important data? No. All forums, threads, posts, PMs, etc... are going to be transferred. What about my avatar & smileys? The smileys will stay. If you are using a custom avatar, it will be transferred. If you are using one of the "stock" avatars, you'll have to upload a new avatar as the new software doesn't have stock avatars. Anyone can create a custom avatar - no minimum post amount needed anymore. If you have one of the stock avatars that you want to continue, we'll let you know how to do it. Why are we switching? The new software is much more modern, both in terms of what you'll see and the behind-the-scenes areas that myself and the mods use on a daily basis. We've been patching and updating the current software for 9 years and it is showing its age in many ways. What's going to be new? Lots of things. New cleaner interface, new notification system, new PM features, new integrated chat room, the ability to "Like" posts if you find them useful, optional Facebook integration, better spam protection & more features coming soon. I've spent the last week going over every part of the new software to make sure it'll meet our needs. We've had some of our mods and regular members test it out so far as well and the response has been very positive. I'll create a thread on the "new" board where you can ask questions such as "where do I do this?" or "what does this do?". As with any major conversion like this, there is a small chance things could go wrong. However if that happens we'll just keep this board running until we can get those issues ironed out. We're not touching the current board until we know the new one is working perfectly. I've already done a test conversion and all the data transferred properly, so I'm not worried. If you have any questions, feel free to post in this thread. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Pam Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Regarding custom avatars: Will we be able to upload animated avatars ourselves? Or will we still need to go through you if we wish to rotate through various seasonal animated avatars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted June 29, 2013 Author Share Posted June 29, 2013 Regarding custom avatars: Will we be able to upload animated avatars ourselves? Or will we still need to go through you if we wish to rotate through various seasonal animated avatars?Yes, you'll be able to upload animated avatars. There are some places where a thumbnail pic of your avatar will show up that won't be animated, but next to posts they will be. Of course that's as long as everyone doesn't switch to annoying headache-inducing flashing avatars 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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