FORUM MOVED to NEW SERVER!

Bradley

Bradley

Admin/Operations
Staff member
We are now back online tonight after many hours of mysql database manipulation. The site and database has now been completely moved to our new webhost www.Powweb.com. The site will probably load faster, attachment uploads should be enabled as well now. Please make sure to let your friends know about The Laser Forum at www.laserforum.org!

Thanks
 
I attached a file...Lets see if it works.
 

Attachments

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New server for Forum a positive

The forum used to be hosted on a computer maintained by Winsite.com, the same computer that has also been serving the ILCA-NA Mailing List since 1994.

What a mess it was!!
The machine was purchased from the NA Class by Fred Schroth, the ex NA-Secretary, who later found himself in deep conflict with the current ILCA-NA leadership. It was then donated by Schroth to Mr. Will Sadler, the ILCA-NA volunteer maintaining the NA Mailing List since 1994. Yes, the one who openly sympathized with the well-known undemorcatic, censorist rhetoric of the new ILCA-NA Secretary (and the Owner of this forum) on the Mailing List.

On February 26, I had advised Brad that the correct path for this forum was to be independent of the Class (or any Builders or mechnadisers or dealers or OEMs) or any other persons who may have any political control on the governance of this public medium for exchange of Lasering information. I suggested having the forum hosted by a completely independent, commercial hosting company.

This step is now accomplished. I congratulate Brad for taking action.

Powweb.com, the company chosen to host The Forum now is also the one that functions as the Domain Name Server and Mail Server for "laserforum.org". Unfortunately, it is also the company which in early February, tried to stall taking any actions when this forum was in blatant violation of US laws - while obvious legal means actually existed. The insincerity and unprofessionality of powweb.com back then was of shocking proportions. There is no reason to expect now that they will perform any more honorably in the future.

I criticise Brad for his choice of the new host for our Forum. I understand the practicality of his choice.

In its aftermath, it is nevertheless a positive change. The "drLaser" web site will start offering links to The Forum from its "FAQ" section as of Monday, 16 June 2003.

Best wishes,

Dr. Shevy Gunter
Editor, drLaser
www.drLaser.org
 
Hey,

I finally figured out how to move the 22 MB database without SHELL access on the server. It was a painstaking process, which is why the move hasn't happened any sooner. PHP kept timing out, and a bunch of other problems. I ended up moving each table, one by one to the new mysql database. This took many hours last night/early this morning.

As for Powweb, the person who handled (or miss-handled) the situation in February is no longer with Powweb Hosting. I am not sure of his replacement, I do not believe one has been announced yet. I am not sure if that makes you feel any better or not, but just thought I would throught that out there.

Finally, I look forward to the links from your website, and am excited to hopefully see some new blood on the forum.

Thank you all for using The Laser Forum - Have a great weekend!
 
Ok.. There are a few bugs right now:

Your browser cache may screw things up...I haven't come up with a fix for this yet.

Some of the link colors are hard set in the templates and are not correct. So some things will look odd until it all gets worked out.

Thanks,
 
I think I'm having a problem. Whenever I go to laserforum.org it shows new posts in threads when I have already read them. Then I replied to one topic and it didn't show up. So I tried to reply again and both posts show up. And why is it green....:(
 
Your replies are going into the database BUT your browser was caching the old page on your hard drive. There was a misconfiguration in the HTTP Headers, this has now been fixed. I am working on the colors, I am trying to go with something brighter and more inviting---Just like Shell and BP are doing right now in the United States.

Also, reverted a lot of templates to the default. As the code was real messy from a bunch of hacks and changes slopply done, by myself of course. I am working on optimzing the forum so it will load faster.

Again Thanks for using the site comments and suggestions are welcome. Also, take a look at www.vbulletin.org if there are any additions there you would like let me know and I will consider installing them.
 
Update:

I changed my mind...I found a cool website with a lot of free themes. I really liked this one. Let me know what you think.
 
Re: Update:

Originally posted by Bradley
I changed my mind...I found a cool website with a lot of free themes. I really liked this one. Let me know what you think.
Click to expand...

THIS IS A NEW QUOTE BOX TEST
 
hmmmm, not bad brad, not bad.

Teh only suggestion i have is to put a few hacks up, like the quick reply. other than that, this is VERY nice!
 
I think it is great and I know you're doing your best Brad, like usual. The only thing I would change is the colors. I liked the old scheme because it was melow and the colors flowed nicely. Whis scheme, the colors are in sharp contrast, hard on the eyes and it make me squint. And now I have to learn what all the symbols in the left colom of the threads are again..:( Oh well, I'm sure I'll get used to it. Keep it up man!
 
TODAYS UPDATE:
- Some hacks that were removed are now back online, including the quick reply, which seems to have been a popular one.

- I have adjusted the colors to make them not such a drastic contrast, and set the default font to be larger.

- vB3 Beta has been released: What this means for us:
Right now the latest version of this forum program has been released. It is a complete rewrite and is a much better, and more powerful program. I am entitled to the upgrade. I have actually installed the beta (as a test version) and it is very cool. I can't post the address do to the license agreement. Once this beta is released as stable TLF will upgrade to it. This update will reset everything to the new vb style, whatever it may be---as it has not been released yet. Depending on how it looks I will keep it, or search out another design. To much is done to go back now on this new style, but whatever style I choose in the future will probably feature a light background, which some believe is better for a sailing website. As always, I welcome your input...This is your forum!

Best Regards,
Bradley
 
Do to popular demand on the board and via email I have decided to try a lighter board.

I am working on a new TLF Logo. If any one would like to help design it please email me.

Cheers,
 
Glad you like!
Also: I just installed a web statistics program this week, and I have been very surprised at the actual visit the site has recieved, especially since I filter out my own IP and hostname (which is static).

STATS UPDATE:
15 Jun 2003 00:00 -- 17 Jun 2003 14:23

Unique visits: 269

Total Visits: 552
(2.05 visits/visitor)

Page Views: 5016
(9.08 pages/visit)

Hits: 24555
(44.48 hits/visit)

Bandwidth: 59.01 MB
(109.47 KB/visit)

I will probably begin posting a month status update here on the forum Starting in July. Obviously June stats will only account for 1/2 of the month.

Also, for those who suggest the forum doesn't compare to the 1000's on the mailing list, I hope you will reconsider.

Cheers,
 
Hey, The new theme is ok. It better than the red, blue, and grey one for sure. Yet, I am not going to spend much time changing or 'hacking' this board, as vB3 is due out very soon. They have just released the first public beta for testing and use which means a release candidate and final can't be far away. Once the time comes, I will update our board and we will be on our way. The colors, and everything else, will be reset to the new vb3 style, then we can go from there on how to customize it just for us. I will probably put up a poll with a couple of color options I have chosen, and let everyone vote on a new thread.

Cheers
 
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