Changes are Coming!

[Dan]

Folks,

You may have noticed a brief outage yesterday as we were beginning the process of making some upgrades to the PL site. Over the next couple of days you can expect to see some periodic outages - hopefully announced in advance - that are all aimed at migrating to a faster and more secure site.

In the process of upgrading we will gain some features and capabilities, and we will lose some. For example, the Arcade, TopSite, Reviews, Quotes and News links that you see in the current site will soon no longer be available. Considering how very little those links are used, I doubt if anyone will notice if not for this announcement.

The Image Gallery may take a short time to have fully functional, and we plan to significantly improve its ease of use.

Other features will be added, and you are bound to notice a dramatic increase in the speed of the site once it is fully-migrated.

More information as it becomes available.

- Dan

[dennislevy]

Dan
Thanks for EVERYTHING you do to maintain P-L!

With grattiude
Dennis

[thekfc]

So far, I like what I see.

[InnocentVixen]

I like it too!!!

[fathertime]

Hey Dan, thanks for keeping the site up and running and the infestations out! jajajaaj

Fathertime!

[Dan]

Looks like there are going to be a large number of broken links in the posts. If you encounter ANY broken links - please use the "Contact" link in the top menu to report them.

- Dan

[piglett]

I hate change!!!
maybe we can all just send smoke signals
 
 
pig

[thekfc]

I hate change!!!
maybe we can all just send smoke signals
 
 
pig

We? haha, just you. 

[fathertime]

I hate change!!!
maybe we can all just send smoke signals
 
 
pig

don't worry bigglet, once you get used to it you will like it.  you gotta get that avatar back up with the red boots though!


Fathertime!

[michaelb]

Avatars, "her country" (perhaps better to call it "partner's country"---naw, that sounds gay, maybe "spouse's country"....but what if they aren't married? "country of interest"? just throwing out suggestions), status (and time in status) are coming back, aren't they?

[Dan]

We are working on Avatars and Attachments. They should be back.

Also checking to see if the Profile information is saved or must be re-entered.

- Dan

[fathertime]

i've been meaning to ask Dan or somebody in the know.  Who is "DEWED"...is he a co-owner of the site?


Fathertime!

[Dan]

i've been meaning to ask Dan or somebody in the know.  Who is "DEWED"...is he a co-owner of the site?


Fathertime!

Dewed is the person responsible for the extraordinary technical support here at PL.

- Dan

[Ray]

 
Dan,
 
I know you aren't just doing all this extra work for your health, so there must be good reasons for the changes.
 
As long as IV likes the new format and piglett hates it, then I guess you're doing a good job... LOL!
 
Ray
 
 

[Dewed]

Dewed is the person responsible for the extraordinary technical support here at PL.

- Dan

Well... I would not quite go "extraordinary"..  how about we settle on persistent? stubborn?  refusal to be outwitted by a pile of silicon ?

We've just undergone a pretty major transformation. Not just a forum upgrade (a major upgrade for that matter, from 1.x to 2.x) but the old portal software has been completly replaced.

As with any upgrade/transformation of this scale, there are bound to be hiccups, but I think the general consensus was, when the forum works, let you folks access it. We can work out the kinks behind the scenes.. which is what we're doing.

No data or files have been lost.
In fact the database and files from the old version of the site are copied to 3 different locations.   However, much of the data from the old site was used by add-ons to that older forum sowftare, add-ons that we haven't installed yet on the new version, possibly because it isn't compatible, or we simply have not gotten to it yet.

Anyways, I will continue sleuthing for solutions to our migration issues, and will do my best to get your avatars and attachments working, however it is 1AM here, so I hope you all understand if it needs to wait until after morning coffee.

[Dewed]

Ok 2:30 AM..  my avatar works      

now for a test of attachments .. crossing fingers





This concludes this test of the emergency avatar system. If this had been an actual emergency my penguin would be wearing appropriate attire to combat the matter at hand.

[whitey]

Dan, Dewed (and whoever else) ... thanks for all the work you guys do to keep this site up and running for us!  We're lucky to have this great resource ...

[Researcher]

      I like the changes.Everything seems to be working well even with mobile devices.

    Researcher

[Dan]

Avatars, "her country" (perhaps better to call it "partner's country"---naw, that sounds gay, maybe "spouse's country"....but what if they aren't married? "country of interest"? just throwing out suggestions), status (and time in status) are coming back, aren't they?

The good news is the Profile fields are again available. The bad news is they need to be filled-in again. The further good news is that in the future, the script *should* retain this information so that it will not need to be re-entered in the event of an upgrade. And one more bit of good news is that these fields are now sortable - that is, you can sort/select on the data in the fields - something we could not do in the previous version.

If you guys have suggestions for NEW profile fields that we should offer to everyone - let me know. The immigration sites like visajourney have a fixed set of event milestones that they use to enable their members to follow the visa progress at various centers. If that, or something like it, is of sufficient interest, we can set it up pretty quickly now.

- Dan

[Dan]

Dan,
 
I know you aren't just doing all this extra work for your health, so there must be good reasons for the changes.
 
As long as IV likes the new format and piglett hates it, then I guess you're doing a good job... LOL!
 
Ray

Ray,

In one important respect, these changes ARE for my health - and that of Dewed.

You see, at GoodWife we have been battling a persistent and recurring infection from a rogue file that was injected months and months ago through a vulnerability in a popular script. We do not use that script here at PL, but have learned a valuable lesson to be certain that all the scripts are up-to-date - AND - to be vigilant with protecting the site.

Our previous script was getting long-in-the-tooth, and the developers are now, after many MANY months, readying a 'gold' release of the script to version 2.0. We are transitioning to the Release Candidate just prior to its going 'gold' and I feel confident of the feature-set and security.

The portal 'wrapper' we were using previously was abandoned by the developers more than a year ago. Thankfully, Dewed has kept us kludged together and fully operational - though it gave him nightmares at times trying to keep everything together.

We have left behind a number of piece-meal scripts that were either not very popular with our members, or they exposed us to security risks that we needed to eliminate. My bet is that we will not hear a single peep from anyone about those features we lost.

There are two features to be restored to the site - the Image Gallery and the Chat facility. Those will be coming soon - as will the return of our header graphics and such.

Due to the layout of the script being somewhat different than previously, I made some tweaks to the advertising placements. Since they are new, most of you will notice them for a time - and then, like before, they fade into the background of the site UNLESS you are in the market for those services.

The new script has quite a number of changes - not the least of which is the WYSIWYG post creation.

I am keenly interested in everyone's thoughts, feedback, criticisms and suggestions.

- Dan

[Bob_S]

I fear change.
I'll go cower in a corner till I convince myself that this is how it looked all along.
    

[robert angel]

Dan & Dewed:
 
The new design look cleaner and nicer. Tastes great--less filling! The image gallery had become pretty clunky and I was amazed at how little if any, use the 'chat room' got--the few times I tried it, no one was there. Hopefully we can see more use there.
Now regarding: "My bet is that we will not hear a single peep from anyone about those features we lost."
What features?? (joke)
I'm sure all this took more work than we realize, I'm glad it was all on the 'up and up'--I was a bit worried that perhaps some misguided cyber snook had compromised the site.
Thanks!
Robert

[InnocentVixen]

I feel guilty for not knowing who Dewed is and there he is doing all this much needed work to upgrade until late hours.... Thank you mr. Dewed and nice to meet you


I like it that is now "spouse country" because it doesn't feel so much like is a men-only site, but like Michael said if we are single we can't really use that, I always thought "her country" was simple enough, except the option should change to "his country" if the member is female.


Oh and also in relationship status, maybe adding something between looking and committed (committed means engaged no?) because when I was in a relationship I had to change to "no selection" since I was no longer looking but I wasn't engaged either, something like "in a relationship" or "not looking"

[Researcher]

         I like the number of trips part.I don't think that was there before.



          Researcher

[Dewed]

Certainly no issue if you don't know me, I'm a bit of a recluse.. no strike that, I'm a hermit with a broad band internet connection.