UBB.threads Forums General Interest Community Center Changes to GDC!

GermanDaggers.com has now been on the web for 10 years. About every 5 years, we upgrade the forum software. Well, it's time to upgrade again

At the end of June, we will be changing both our forum software and our host. We will be going to UBB7/8 forum software and to a new host. This change will give us several benefits:

1- We will be able to directly access the password files. If you change your email address and/or forget your password, we can get it for you. Also, NO MORE GROUPEE/LIVECLOUD!

2- You will be able to attach multiple photos to a post.

3- Photos should re-size automatically.

4- The system will automatically generate thumbnails when the photos load. The thumbnails of recently uploaded photos will be available in a gallery so you can quickly go to posts that interest you.

5- The new forum software supports multiple sub-forums, content islands, and RSS feeds. We can now have separate categories under each forum.

6- Admins and Moderators will get back the capabilities lost when we converted to EVE/GROUPEE.

Our plan is to do a straight conversion at the end of June. The only impact you should see is we will have to issue temporary passwords to break away from the current login system. Information on this process will be posted as soon as we have all the details. We want to make this move as painless as possible. We will then start loading several of the new features and make changes to the forum formats. Finally, we will start loading some of the "lost threads".

The new host will have 3 times the disk space and twice the bandwidth currently available so we should be good for the next 5 years Additional information will be posted as we get closer to conversion. The initial conversion is planned to be completed overnight, but we expect it to take around 24 hours. Please note that any web links into the forum will not work after the conversion. You will need to come in through the www.GermanDaggers.com homepage and re-save your links. Any concerns or problems can be posted here or emailed to Vern@GermanDaggers.com. Thank you very much for your patience and support.

Great news, Vern! Many thanks for all you do for the site.

Great !

Should provide some excitement for everyone.

One thing everyone needs to do is verify that your "official" email address (NOT the "Display Email in your public profile) is correct. To do this, click on the Live Cloud symbol on the right of the blue strip. See pic below.

The reason you need to do this is that when you first sign on to the new GDC, it will send a temporary password to you at the official email address. You then sign in and change it if you like.

Looking forward to the changes.

--dj--Joe

Does this mean there will be thumbnails to click on and wait for the photo to open, as opposed to just scrolling up and down as it is now? That wouldn't be an improvement.

quote:

Originally posted by Vern:
Finally, we will start loading some of the "lost threads".

Bringing back ALL of the "lost threads" is the only worthwhile feature that could be offered here - until then, any "upgrade" is really not worth mentioning . . . this "upgrade" seems to be nothing more than extra glitter being sprinkled on the cake.

This is all good news Vern!,,much thanks..,Gaspare

Ahhh, a long time and valuable project seems to come to an end.
I again (as done for long years) will sign up for premium membership to support our site!
Regards,

So I understand this right. All the lost threads will be restored from 2000-2005? Awesome I cannot wait since there is pictures in them that I no long even have. Thanks Vern!!

As I understand it, the restoration will be from old back up disks. The posts cannot be joined to the current active Forum, but will be like an archive that can be looked at, but not added to.

Dave

The thumbnails will be available in a separate gallery. The standard size photos will still load in the thread. As Dave said, the old threads will be loaded as an archive. A separate search function will be available. They will not be part of the existing forums.

Great to hear, Vern.

Excellent news!!!

Best regards,

yippee.

sounds good.

Sounds great!!

Interesting news! Good for all the membres.
Any early estimates Vern of the timeline?
1 month, 6 months, 1 year?

************* NOTICE ****************

Over the next week or so, the site may not be available for short periods of time. All of the current threads, photos, and member files are being downloaded for conversion. A test version of the site will be up in about a week, but will only be available to the admins for testing and verification. After testing is complete, another download will be performed for the final conversion and loading to the new ISP. The switch to the new ISP will be done then, around the end of this month. Over the following months, we will be updating various pages and functions on the new site, and converting the old threads. I'll post status updates as they become available. Initially, the only change you will see is that you will need a new password. After that, we will post information on site changes as they are installed.

The new forum is up in test mode and we're working through it now. We need to move our style sheets and some html code, but it's looking good so far. Some of the new features should be very useful. We can attach up to 10 photos per post. That limit can be changed if it causes problems. Admins can now copy and move posts, which we could not do under Groupee. We also have much more space for photos and will look at raising the limit on photo size. We can also set limits on inline photo display, so you don't have to wait for big photos if you're not interested.

Two points you need to be aware of - you will lose any links into the forum when we switch, so you will have to get to the forum from www.germandaggers.com on your first visit; and on your first login, you need to enter your login email address and click "Forgot Password". The system will send you a generated password which you can change later. If you no longer have access to your login email account, you need to change it as soon as possible. Switching over to the new forum is looking good for June 30, and may occur a few day earlier over the weekend, so now is a good time to check your email I will definitely post notice at least a day before conversion and post updates as they happen.

Sounds great Vern! Looking forward to it.

Fritziii

*************** NOTICE ***************

The test forum looks very good. Lots of configuration changes to make when we load the full forum and go live. Our ISP is looking a grabbing the data in the next couple of days, so this forum will go to read only when the data transfer starts. We expect the new forum to come up sometime on Monday. I'll post again when we start downloading data.