archBOSTON Update: A New Dawn

I think this is good news. Its good to know that someone who contributed a lot to the discussion and obviously loves the city will play a crucial role in moving us forward.

However, Briv, if you are reading this, you were once very gung ho about leading the new forum over a decade ago. That is why we all left SkyscraperGuy and migrated here. If you lost interest that is fine but you should have just handed it over to the members or at least not sold what you never had to buy yourself. Years ago people offered you money and help but you said it wasn't a problem. People offered again when you obviously lost interest
 
datadyne007 is now a Moderator along with vanshnookenraggen.

Baby steps.
 
So Chrome has now crashed twice while I've been trying to post how the ads are now crashing Chrome on my super-cheap commuter laptop. Totally understand the need to fund, and I wouldn't take them off on account of my complaining, but it has been a definitive negative experience on my visiting the site.
 
@Arenacale,

Have you tried an ad blocker? I'm not blocking them personally, as they don't create any issue for me and I like the idea of the site having a funding stream. That said, anybody who can't visit the site due to adds would certainly be reasonable in selecting an ad block.
 
Well I'm trying Edge today, so we'll see how that goes. So far, no issues, other than the T's anemic wifi.
 
Hi all,

Just a quick update. I am in the process of putting together a work plan with Ed to map out what needs to/can be done and when. Thanks for your patience.
 
Thanks for your update, data. I'm pleased to know that you're involved in the promised site improvements.

That said, I read posts almost every day, but I won't be posting anything of substance until Ed actively communicates his proposed terms of service and content ownership guidelines, and I read, understand, and agree to them.

That's me. Y'all do whatever you want...
 
Beton Brut said:
Thanks for your update, data. I'm pleased to know that you're involved in the promised site improvements.

That said, I read posts almost every day, but I won't be posting anything of substance until Ed actively communicates his proposed terms of service and content ownership guidelines, and I read, understand, and agree to them.

That's me. Y'all do whatever you want...
Click to expand...

The TOS matrix from post 174 is also in the works:

datadyne007 said:
Hi guys,

I just spoke with Ed on the phone. First off, Ed assured me he is in this for the long haul and I assured him the same. For now, the two of us are going to work on putting together a plan showing the path forward and steps to: selecting moderators, upgrading the forum to modern, secure software (think no more Viet spam bombs), hosting photos locally and implementing the project database. These things will take some time to fully implement, but we want to lay out a plan in as transparent a fashion as possible.

Also, I felt it was important that we work to answer all concerns about privacy/TOS. I will be compiling a Q&A matrix of all the privacy/TOS questions raised and will work with Ed on addressing them.

I will be the day-to-day community liaison for the time being, as Ed has his own life in Toronto as well. He will be helping with the visioning and implementing the features, but he'll be needing help on the day to day side of moderating and making sure the site is running smoothly.

Best,
-Tim
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Arenacale said:
So Chrome has now crashed twice while I've been trying to post how the ads are now crashing Chrome on my super-cheap commuter laptop. Totally understand the need to fund, and I wouldn't take them off on account of my complaining, but it has been a definitive negative experience on my visiting the site.
Click to expand...

I can't access this place from work anymore, it loads as a blank page with just the archboston banner. Something is not jiving with the security settings and I think it's the ads. Oh well. But can someone check to make sure they aren't doing something really invasive? My work computer does that to sites for security reasons, I'm DoD.

Actually, did this site used to have an SSL certificate? I don't remember seeing that warning next to the URL that I see now while browsing at home.
 
Jouhou said:
I can't access this place from work anymore, it loads as a blank page with just the archboston banner. Something is not jiving with the security settings and I think it's the ads. Oh well. But can someone check to make sure they aren't doing something really invasive? My work computer does that to sites for security reasons, I'm DoD.

Actually, did this site used to have an SSL certificate? I don't remember seeing that warning next to the URL that I see now while browsing at home.
Click to expand...

I'm behind a pretty robust filter at work, though not quite at DoD level I imagine. I've never had a problem seeing the site, though I can't see a lot of content depending on where people post from. No Imgur, but Flickr is fine. Why? Who knows.
 
Just a quick update. Planning work is proceeding.

1. Moderation is currently being considered. Currently me, Vanshnookenraggen and DataDyne. A few more will be added.

2. Upgrading forum software planning is being done. Will be moving to XenForo. Better and very much up-to-date (compared to the existing aB vBulletin). Will be much safer, will have some great new features and will be mobile friendly. Timeline still TBA but within the next few months.

3. Forum upgrade is TBA due to other considerations that are larger in nature. For example adding a database that will make it very easy to add photos. This will be expanded upon in the future.

Thanks for the patience. Changes are coming that will improve the experience here significantly.
 
Sounds good thanks for the update.

Can anyone more advance describe the upgrade process—will we lose anything or will one day we log in and the same usernames and posts are still there?

Thanks
 
palindrome said:
Sounds good thanks for the update.

Can anyone more advance describe the upgrade process—will we lose anything or will one day we log in and the same usernames and posts are still there?

Thanks
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Will add my thanks for the info. I'm especially excited for the photo hosting and mobile site features.

I can take a stab at answering your questions, palindrome, as I used to own a board that transitioned from vbulletin to xenforo. There is a data migration tool, so when done properly, the new forum software will retain the existing database -- all threads, user accounts, etc. Although it's possible that the current database is too corrupt for such an easy migration, I suspect the plan would be to bring the old data in.
 
The plan is to lose nothing content wise. Nor lose post counts, account info etc.

XenForo was built by former vBulletin people. There will be a slight learning curve as it isn't exactly the same but that shouldn't be too big of an issue. I went through this process when we moved UrbanToronto from vBulletin to Xenforo.

It will mean turning the forum off for a few hours or more depending on how difficult the transfer is. Advance notice will be given when the process is set to roll.
 
Thanks for your patience guys. I'm excited to be working with Ed on this. We're going to do it right from the get-go and not piecemeal it together. The photo and project database will be powerful tools for our community and will help preserve the records we've so diligently been keeping here for Boston's development. Imagine being able to easily find building data, renders and construction photos without sorting back through 400 pages.
 
Once again, I would like to submit a request that consideration be given to the colors and font in regards to readability and accessibility.

"looks cool" and "can be read easily" are rarely the same.

The font weight and contrast here is perfect.
 
jass said:
Once again, I would like to submit a request that consideration be given to the colors and font in regards to readability and accessibility.

"looks cool" and "can be read easily" are rarely the same.

The font weight and contrast here is perfect.
Click to expand...

Yes, you have been heard. We will work on getting an accessible high contrast theme in Xenforo when we transition.
 
datadyne007 said:
Yes, you have been heard. We will work on getting an accessible high contrast theme in Xenforo when we transition.
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Great thanks. There was a lack of replies before, which worried me.
 
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