All Please Read: Important Information Regarding some major changes forthcoming...

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Semper Fidelis

Semper Fidelis

2 Timothy 2:24-25
Staff member
We just moved to a dedicated server. You should notice an improvement in performance. The site has been re-hosted again to a dedicated server in anticipation of another improvement.

**READ CAREFULLY**

Top Secret work has been going on behind the scenes to migrated the PuritanBoard to new forum software.

It's not really Top Secret because that would represent a grave threat to National Security and I would go to prison for revealing Top Secret information to all you non-cleared people. It's really just a small secret.

Anyway, we're going to move this site to vBulletin software vice XMB. XMB is the forum software that has powered this board since its inception. It's free and has the features and security and support that attend its price. vBulletin is the leader in forum software on the Internet. Compared to XMB, there is no comparison. XMB is an AMC Gremlin compared to the vBulletin Mercedes.

Why the move? Well, I already told those who care not for the technical reasons but for those who demand a more precise answer: XMB is a huge headache to administer given the peculiar restraints of trying to keep this a Reformed Discussion board and not allowing Casino Spammers and others on the board. Most of the stuff we do to secure the board are called "hacks" that enhance security but are EXTREMELY time-consuming to implement. All the features we need are standard in vBulletin.

Well, what will this mean to you? As my Commanding General notes: if you get comfortable being uncomfortable then when difficulty occurs you are accustomed to it.

I'm a Communications Officer, though, and I am not accustomed to making subscribers' work uncomfortable. I've been doing my best to test the migration process and eliminate "friction". There will, however, be some friction.

The good news:

1. your username and password will be the same
2. all posts will migrate
3. all U2U's will migrate to the new Private Message system (PM).
4. The URL will be the same (http://www.puritanboard.com/forum)
5. vBulletin has some really cool feature you'll like.

The {somewhat} bad news is:

1. Attachments will be lost (more later)
2. U2U's that were previously deleted mysteriously re-appear in your Private Message inbox and you have to re-delete them.
3. Forum URL's change so if you bookmarked a certain URL it won't be found (more later)
4. It looks different (in case this freaks you out)
5. Avatars won't migrate over.

Some mitigating factors to the {somewhat} bad news:

1. I'm going to keep an archive version of the old site online and available for you to get into and get to any attachments that you want to find and re-upload into certain threads you really want to have the attachments back into. The old thread will be read-only and non-postable.
2. You're just going to have to deal with this one. I'm a Marine after all and I'm only going to tolerate so much whining.
3. See 1 above. The archived forum will allow you to find the thread title so you can use the search function and find it in the new forum.
4. See number 2. Have I mentioned that I'm a Marine?
5. Just put them back into the new system. See number 2.

This is going to happen in the next few days. Please do me a favor and clean out your U2U's if you've been putting that off. If both the sender and receiver delete the U2U then the whole "why am I seeing old U2U's" is mitigated.

Oh, by the way, I neglected to mention that all your favorite Reformed smilies will be joining us on the new board. Semper Reformanda (even when that means we need to reform the software we use to talk about it!).

[Edited on 10-16-2006 by SemperFideles]
 
"3. Forum URL's change so if you bookmarked a certain URL it won't be found"

Does this mean that old posts like "we discussed this, see this thread" where "this thread" has a link will no longer work?
 
Scott,
I assume so; remember the original board and it's original hyperlinks will still be available for reference. So, in that way, you can still refer the poster or whomever to the thread or link; it just wont work in the transition from old PB to new PB. It will be garbled or whatever. It is possible that the links can be manually fixed as we go along. As posters see the error, they can feel free to repair the links or place a post with the corrected hyperlinks.

[Edited on 10-16-2006 by SemperFideles]
 
Originally posted by Scott Bushey
Scott,
I assume so; remember the original board and it's original hyperlinks will still be available for reference. So, in that way, you can still refer the poster or whomever to the thread or link; it just wont work in the transition from old PB to new PB. It will be garbled or whatever. It is possible that the links can be manually fixed as we go along. As posters see the error, they can feel free to repair the links or place a post with the corrected hyperlinks.
Click to expand...
Sorry about that. Ever mean to click quote and you click Edit. :doh:

I'm giving this whole link thing another thought. Discussing it with the owners about a better course of action so we don't lose all the old links...

[Edited on 10-16-2006 by SemperFideles]
 
I like the new look a lot, and I like vB; my concerns are these:

In the old threads HTML was activated and -- by some -- used; I used it to indent, but now it's not active and the carefully formatted indentations are gone. When I have gone back to replace the HTML with vB I found that the amount of characters allowed is much smaller, and I have to cut out a good bit of the post to change the formatting.

The only other thing is that Word "smart quotes" and apostrophes from the old thread come out garbled in the new, and if I go back to repair them I again find that I am way over "characters allowed" and either have to forget making changes or cut a portion away.

Any remedy for these things?

I am not into "perfection" as regards sanctification (acknowledging "remaining corruption"), but I am a perfectionist in my writings, as a diamond-cutter is in perfecting his gems.

Still and all, the changes are great!

Steve
 
I think vBulletin will allow HTML code. It's set to allow HTML BB code but I'm not sure if that means some things will have to be re-formatted to look right.
 
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