Good news on the OVF forum update

[robf]

Hi folks,

 

Good news so far...

 

The OVF server now has all the right settings and software to upgrade to the new InVision forum software.

 

I was a bit worried that making changes could break the existing VBulletin forum software but it seems to be holding up.

 

The next steps are going to be as follows:

 

1. The new software will be installed soon - possibly this weekend.

2. There will then be a short time (hopefully a couple of days) while:

a. I tweak the settings, add our logo, menu and so on...

b. The moderators will also get an opportunity to get to grips with the moderating system

3. The next step will be a minor inconvenience but will be as follows:

a. The existing forum will be shut for a day so no more posts can be added.

b. At this point I will be migrating all user profiles, posts, PMs etc to the new forum. We have a lot so this may take some hours and the forum will be unavailable for this time.

c. Once everything has migrated and is (hopefully) working seamlessly, the new forum will be switched on and you can enjoy the new features. You will simply log on to the new forum with your existing username/password.

 

So, I'll be working in the background on the new forum. If all goes well, expect an announcement on what day the forum will be closed to accomodate the update. Hopefully it will be a 24 hour or less outage but the time the site is down will depend on how long it takes to migrate the information over.

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

ps. Some new features which you may enjoy when the new forum software goes live:

 

1. The return of user avatars.

2. Built-in notifications (so you can get email notifications of PMs / replies to threads etc). You can customise what you get if you'd rather not get these.

3. User ignore feature (plus I will be looking to add an "ignore quoted text from your ignored users" plugin as well)

4. Thanks / Like posts is built-in. The most thanked/liked user for each day also gets a badge showing they are the "most thanked of the day" etc. There are benefits to being nice on OVF!

5. The forum is automatically responsive (so it will display well on desktop and mobile devices). This is a big one for me as previously I had to develop different themes for each device.

6. The new software is also compatible with the Tapatalk app for those who use it

7. Better advert integration. I still need adverts to meet costs but there should be less and they should be less intrusive as this new system has built-in advert slots to integrate the adverts better

[robf]

Test, please ignore...