News Major Forum Upgrade 10/29

[Admin]

As many long-time members may know, the forum software we use here at Car-Seat.Org has been obsolete for some time. It has not been updated in years and is now replaced by two newer versions. As such, it is also incompatible with the newest server hardware and software, leaving potential security issues as time passes.

So, I am going to finally have to make the upgrade to vBulletin version 4.2 in the next few months, possibly even vBulletin 5. vBulletin 4 is the most likely choice, as it will retain some of the same look and feel and also some of the plugins we use here, such as iTrader, "Thanks" and a few others.

Unfortunately, other plugins will not be compatible and will disappear, as will many of the custom forum styles we all love. If any members are fluent with either vBulletin and/or CSS and would be willing to help copy and re-create some of the current styles, please let me know.

 

[CTPDMom]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

I'm having Y2K anxiety flashbacks.

We were drilled for months in advance of the New Year that year, as we had no idea what would happen with our emergency communications equipment and had to be prepared for paper/pen/tin can on a string phones. It was nerve-wracking!

Hope this upgrade goes well!

 

[Admin]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

Lol, I have been dreading it for years. I did test the upgrade a while back and it went fine. I had asked for input but I don't think I received much, if any, from the community. I was able to preserve some of the look and feel and all the posts and threads. It really works pretty much the same as this version, but will require some tweaking to get the colors and styles back, which is not my forte unfortunately.

One loss will be the old forumrunner mobile app. It's broken already and likely a security risk as well. Tapatalk will continue to work as it is still supported.

I am still investigating vBulletin 5. It's much newer with more features, especially social media integration. It would likely mean losing iTrader and "Thanks" and nearly every other addon, though. It's also an added cost, so I have to learn more about the new features.

 

[MotoMommaNH]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

If it meant social media integration, hopefully that would make up for losing "thank " feature and others.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

 

[Admin]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

I'm not sure what exactly the social media integration features are, sadly. It's not entirely clear to me. I know vB4 has facebook login, but I understand it is quirky.

 

[joyride]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

Good Luck!

My Forum ist still on 3.8, but i changed some Source Code and it runs with PHP 5.6 and MySQL 5.6 (Debian Jessie/Stable, so no compatibility issues)

I just dont want to make the Change...

 

[Admin]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

Good Luck!

My Forum ist still on 3.8, but i changed some Source Code and it runs with PHP 5.6 and MySQL 5.6 (Debian Jessie/Stable, so no compatibility issues)

I just dont want to make the Change...

Me neither, but with Paypal and Google sending me warning notices about obsolete software recently, I guess it is finally time. vB4 is basically at the end of the line, too, but still supported and vB5 seems like a big change. Decisions, decisions.

 

[TechnoGranola]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

I'm not sure what exactly the social media integration features are, sadly. It's not entirely clear to me. I know vB4 has facebook login, but I understand it is quirky.

As long as the social integration doesn't make it so we are our real names on anything here. The thing I like about forums is that I have my cute name to be behind. I HATE Facebook groups with a passion unless they are groups where people are supposed to know me (groups for kid's activities for the parents to communicate, etc.)

 

[littleangelfire]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

You mean I'll seriously have to stop using the old app?!?! Ugh. So far still mostly good for me so I haven't been using Tapatalk.

 

[Admin]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

As long as the social integration doesn't make it so we are our real names on anything here. The thing I like about forums is that I have my cute name to be behind. I HATE Facebook groups with a passion unless they are groups where people are supposed to know me (groups for kid's activities for the parents to communicate, etc.)

At least in the vB4 test, facebook login/connect was optional, and if you did use it, you could keep your facebook name private.

You mean I'll seriously have to stop using the old app?!?! Ugh. So far still mostly good for me so I haven't been using Tapatalk.

It will likely be going away by the end of the year regardless:-(

 

[cookie123]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

Can't there be a new app? I don't understand Tap a Talk! My kids say the app logo looks phallic so maybe it's a good thing for it to go away. Lol.

 

[Admin]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

Can't there be a new app? I don't understand Tap a Talk! My kids say the app logo looks phallic so maybe it's a good thing for it to go away. Lol.

Lol not the first time I've heard that. I blame Shellebelle;-)

 

[CaseyRN]

You mean I'll seriously have to stop using the old app?!?! Ugh. So far still mostly good for me so I haven't been using Tapatalk.

Same here!

 

[Admin]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

Also I believe the mobile integration of the new software is much better than the mobile style we use here, but I suppose that will be subjective as everything else

 

[Yoshi]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

Same here!

Me too. The app still works perfectly for me. I refuse to use tapatalk, I looked at it once and decided it was not user friendly so I won't access the forum on my phone which is no big deal for me.

 

[TechnoGranola]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

Me too. The app still works perfectly for me. I refuse to use tapatalk, I looked at it once and decided it was not user friendly so I won't access the forum on my phone which is no big deal for me.

It's gone through several revisions so it may be different than when you last looked at it. It's great advantage is that you view many forums in one place without needing a separate app for each one.

I find it easy to use. It is just different. Can't hurt to try it and if you don't like it after a week, delete it.

 

[CTPDMom]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

I agree with Techno.

I resisted for a long time, but when I finally DL'd Tapatalk and started using it, I was able to find a way to set it up so it was 'familiar' like the old app after some trial and error.

I only use it for CSO, but I can see if I was on multiple forums I might enjoy that too.

 

[Admin]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

vBulletin, the maker of the Car-Seat.Org forum software, issued a small security patch for Forumrunner. I updated the forum a few moments ago. I do not believe there were any feature or compatibility updates, only a fix for a security flaw.

I was not aware that vBulletin4 has integrated forumrunner. So, it is possible that forumrunner will continue to be available when I do the major forum update. My current timeline is to do the update in late September or October, as this tends to be the lowest traffic period of the year.

 

[Admin]

Re: Major Forum Upgrade

I hope to complete this at some point in the next few weeks. Likely, it would be done early morning and take a few hours of downtime at minimum, but there could be unforeseen issues leading to a longer downtime. I will post here and on the facebook page with updates.

 

[Admin]

This upgrade is tentatively scheduled for next weekend. I estimate that downtime could range from a few hours overnight, to 24 hours in a worst case. Most likely, I expect to shut it down on Friday or Saturday evening, as late as possible, and hope it will be up again before noon the next day, so perhaps around 12 hours or so.