The forum in the upcoming weeks

[Martijn Meerts]

Reputation is basically just a counter of how many likes/dislikes someone got on their posts. It can be taken further (and the new software has the features for it) by allowing people to report posts and even warn users when they messing up .. Based on someones reputation, you can adjust that person's permissions. (for example, only people with say +50 reputation can create polls, and those with -100 reputation aren't allowed to post attachments) ..

 

We're not likely to use such a system though, it'll just create unnecessary tension and we're far from big enough to nee such a system.

 

 

The forum usually pretty much runs itself, but in recent weeks we've gotten several problems coming together, resulting in a bit of work. Part of it is our own fault for not keeping the current forum software more up-to-date. We'll definitely be a bit more on the ball once the new software is up.

 

Progress is pretty good actually. As it looks now, we might be able to perform the conversion in about 2 or 3 weeks, although it might be extended a bit if the current server issues can't be fixed.

 

 

Also, 2 more shots of the new forum. The first one shows the tag system, as well as the quick toggle to follow/stop following a topic. Also, if you look in the 'search' box up top, you notice it changes form searching the entire forum, to a subforum, to just searching in a specific topic.

 

The 2nd one show the bottom of a topic with the 'quick reply' text editor, as well as 'related posts' based on the tags from the first shot.

[Densha]

While I honestly think it looks very good, aren't the "Advanced Member", "xxxx posts", "warning points" all reputation based stats? If it's just in there because you are logged in as an admin or if it's just pre-release version things pretend I've never said anything. ;)

 

Also, if you're doing social network integration wouldn't it be better to only include the really popular networks? Recently I've only seen people using either Twitter, Facebook or Google+. I wonder if other networks than those will actually be used. The less the better is my policy, so I can't help it.

[bill937ca]

I presume the number of posts are going to be suppressed so we don't get into the problems we've had in the past.

[Martijn Meerts]

I'm currently concentrating mainly on the design and getting the conversion to work, so there are some features visible on the screenshots that won't be there once we go live. Things like post count and the reputation system etc. will be disabled.

[Densha]

Good, then pretend I've never said anything.

Keep up the good work!

[Martijn Meerts]

Just a quick update ..

 

I'm close to the point where I need to do some testing on the actual server. If that goes well we can then reinstall a clean version of the forum and start converting things like permissions and other bits and pieces that don't change much. We can then also set up the new version like we want them and check what we need to fix. (Post count for example is something that needs to be removed from various templates, there's no system wide setting for that)

 

I've also done a quick test with automatically converting old links used in the current forum to new ones. All of that looks to work, which means any internal or external links to specific posts should continue to work. The only thing really left is the gallery, which shouldn't be much of a problem considering we have a basis to work off of.

 

Of course, once we do go live with the new system, there are likely going to be bits and pieces we missed and things that don't work as they should. We'd really appreciate it if you can report any issues you come across, and we'll see what we can do :)

 

 

I'm likely going to do the test on the live server sometime this weekend, so things might be a bit slow. I will of course run a backup before doing anything =) Not sure when the final conversion is going to happen, but I'm tempted to wait with that at least another 2.5 weeks, considering I should have about 2 weeks off from work then :)

[cteno4]

Martijn,

 

Hey thanks for all the hard work you have been putting on this, it's really great of you and above and beyond the call!

 

Jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

Jeff, it was about time for some change .. Or rather, it's long overdue ;)

 

 

I've just fixed a couple of rather annoying visual issues and managed to hide the post counts where I could find them. The admins and moderators will still be able to see the post counts though, so we can have some internal fun about who has no life to speak of 

 

I do hope people are going to like the new version though. The design will be very similar, but obviously the entire underlying system is different.

[Densha]

Yay, I have more whining to do. :P No seriously, will we be able to see our own post count numbers? I don't have any trouble with seeing post count numbers on profile pages either, but in forum topics it's rather annoying.

[KenS]

I presume the number of posts are going to be suppressed so we don't get into the problems we've had in the past.

 

I'm with Bill on that.  I think reputation systems are just a way to build cliques, and discourage new people from joining conversations because they see all these people with "2000 posts" talking and feel intimidated (or maybe that's just me  ).  I like the "level playing field" we've cultivated on the forum over the last few years, and don't want to see that change. And, of course, giving status for volume just encourages people to post "me too" on every discussion.  I like the higher signal-to-noise ratio we get here.

 

That said, I'm looking forward to the new system.  Not because I dislike the old one, but it's definitely beginning to creak around the edges (disappearing "like" buttons, etc).

 

I do hope you keep the ability to embed photos in a post.  Not everyone has an easy way to put images on another system, and most of those other systems get rid of stuff too quickly.  I can't count the number of old posts I've seen with "this image removed from photobucket" placeholders where I want to see something the post is describing.

 

And please don't archive old posts.  A lot of good material is out there in those old posts, and sometimes we restart a thread that's been dormant for two years rather than re-inventing the wheel.  I see that as a positive thing.

 

But count me among those who say "meh" to social links.  I'm not opposed, since I think they're useful to some/many people, but they often seem to be more than just links, and slow page loading down while they try to load and/or run some script.  My laptop's firewall actually blocks facebook.com just because its spyware links embedded on every page in creation kept slowing my browser down when their servers were busy.  The Internet runs much faster without facebook. 

[Martijn Meerts]

Ken, post count is already removed in my test version, it's only the admins/mods that can see them. We don't really have to see them of course, but it's really just out of interest.

 

No posts will be deleted or archived. Content wise, the new version will be a 1:1 copy of the current version (minus the blogs, wiki and similar seldom used features). Might be a few posts go missing during the conversion, but we're talking about a fraction of the posts (my test database, which isn't the newest one, has 75660 posts, and during tests maybe 10-15 of those went missing)

 

Also, embedding/attaching images to posts will remain an option, and it'll be even easier to do. There's also some other nice features included in the new attaching system. Also, there's going to be a brand new gallery option, and you'll have the ability to link to gallery images in posts. Even though we have the gallery option now as well, it's a bit cumbersome to use, and it doesn't really look good. The new gallery will be much improved.

[Martijn Meerts]

Quick update.. Didn't manage to get around to doing a test conversion just yet, but I have been able to spend some quality time with the gallery conversion script. I think I'm about halfway there. It imports all the images and regenerated various sizes of the images etc, but there's a few bugs still to work out (album owner's are wrong, categories get set to 0, things like that)..

[Martijn Meerts]

Good news! 

 

 

We have installed the latest version of the new forum system, ran a full test conversion of all emoticons, members, forums, posts, PM's, attachments, gallery images etc, and all converted well. There were only a few minor issues, such as PM's not importing because either the sender or receiver has since deleted his/her account. Some posts wouldn't convert either, but we're talking about 0.001% of the posts, so negligible really.

 

I have also updated the JNS theme to the latest version, and just uploaded that to the test site as well. It's not 100% complete yet, but I don't think there are any major issues with it, definitely nothing that would make the forum unusable.

 

We'll be doing some testing, and then proceed with installing and setting up a clean version of the new software, and then run the final conversion. We don't have a time frame for the final conversion yet. I initially was hoping to get it done before christmas, and make it sort of a christmas gift to everyone, but that might be cutting it a bit close. We'll definitely get it done before the year is over though.

 

 

As a heads up, we may (have to) ask for another round of donations. I have personally paid for the forum license, and I don't expect (nor accept for that matter) any cash for that. Buying the license is my donation for this year. However, there are recurring cost for keeping the license valid which I would love to be able to cover with donation money. The costs aren't high though, they're around 10USD per month.

 

I'll have to discuss with Don about the funds we have left from the previous donation drive. Obviously we don't like asking people for donations, but unfortunately running a forum isn't free.. Well, unless you want it hosted on a slow server that's down half the time and throws random, annoying flash ads at you left and right =)

[nik_n_dad]

As a heads up, we may (have to) ask for another round of donations.

 

The value we get from the forum is incredibly high. Let us know what you need, we're happy to throw in.

[POMU]

I'm ready to get my donor badge.  Thanks to the Admin for all the work they do.

[Martijn Meerts]

I'm ready to get my donor badge.  Thanks to the Admin for all the work they do.

 

 

 

That reminds me, I still need to add the donor badge to the new system =)

 

 

If we decide to do a round of donation, we'll post about it once the new software is up and running.

[CaptOblivious]

FWIW, we have about USD55 in our coffers remaining—enough for two month's hosting fees. Ya'll have been amazingly generous. We'll revisit the funding issues with the new year. Thinking about moving to a new host to improve our forum's uptime.

[Densha]

What are you actually going to do with the blog and wiki data?

[Martijn Meerts]

We're keeping the original database alongside the new one, so nothing is lost, but we're not converting that data, as neither feature is used much, and the wiki actually caused some major headaches at some point. Should there in the future be requests for a blog/wiki feature, we might look into it again, and it's likely we'll eventually get rid of the old data completely to keep the database clean ;)

[Densha]

But the old forum will go offline right? Not like the older version someone found a while ago. (wouldn't that slow the site btw?)

How much data would those few pages and posts be? Couldn't you import them somehow so that they could be placed as a PDF or topic something? So far as I can see most articles are from wikipedia and there are just a few that are really written for the JNSwiki but can't find an overview of them. Just a brainwave, not more.

[Martijn Meerts]

The old forum will go offline yes.

 

We have a plugin for the new forum which allows us to create custom pages as well as database, so it would be entirely possible to move the wiki/blog articles we want to keep to the new system.

 

Other things that could be done with the pages/databases system is for example create a place to store decoder install manuals, loco servicing manuals, how to open up trains to get to the internals, etc. etc. It also has an option to allow members to add/edit the content themselves, pretty much like a wiki. I haven't looked at it in much detail yet, but it's definitely something to look into once we've got the forums themselves up and running on the new system.

[Densha]

Sounds interesting, but placing it into a sticky should be sufficient for that right?

 

Anyway, I'll just wait and see how it works out. :)

[Martijn Meerts]

Depends on how many decoder install/ servicing manuals people write, if there's say 100 such pages, you'd end up with 100 stickies in one of the sub forums, which is a bit much :)

 

The pages/database system also allows categories, tagging, commenting, rating, searching and more. It should be quite nice :)

[Densha]

I was more thinking about a sticky "Decoder installs" for each manufacturer or something but I don't see much of those yet though.

Having all information more organized would be nice, but that's difficult when you have so many information stored in the forums already I think.

[Martijn Meerts]

We'll see. We needed the plugin anyway, so I'll play with it a bit and see if it works well for decoder installs and such. If it gets too weird, we'll go the sticky route ;)