Parallax forum migration plan to new software (vBulletin)

Ken Gracey Posts: 7,418

2010-02-10 15:57 edited 2010-04-08 05:06 in General Discussion

Hey everybody,

Our forum migration team (internal people plus a couple of active forum members) are ready to migrate the forums to a new tool: http://www.vbulletin.com/. Our chief in charge is IT Guy (AKA Jim). Jim is a fairly quiet poster on these forums because he manages all of our internal systems, but he's very aware of the importance of the forums to everybody who uses them. Having been part of several migrations in the past (BBS => eGroups => YahooGroups => DotNetBB) I know that many of us will be very interested in what's about to happen before it actually happens, so I am here to tell you.

Forum migration occurs in two steps, starting February 16th

The forum migration will happen in two steps. On Tuesday, February 16th we will port a current copy of these forums to vBulletin. The vBulletin copy will be a read-only set of forums except for one additional test forum which is read/write. You could create a login and post in this forum. This will be a place where you can experiment, post glee and gripes, and give us all a place to interact with the various settings the vBulletin tool supports. During this period these forums (hereinafter "DotNetBB" forums") will remain as-is with read-write posting abilities.

About 10 days later we'll move entirely to vBulletin

After a few weeks pass, we will re-import a live copy of our DotNetBB forums to vBulletin. At that time, the DotNetBB forums will become read-only and vBulletin will be read-write. These DotNetBB forums will remain live for quite some time, as long as possible. Some of the ticking time bombs affecting longevity of the DotNetBB forums will include DotNet Framework 1.1 support. We imagine the copy will remain around for at least a year or maybe two.

Our individual accounts will be created through an e-mail which prompts a new login and password on vBulletin.

We think you will like vBulletin

But first, there are some gotchas! vBulletin has no e-mail distribution, but it does have e-mail notification of thread reply. A few types of attachments will not be imported, but 67 types will be allowed. Also, at present around 400 members on these DotNetBB forums have created multiple login names with a shared e-mail address. Perhaps this is because members who return infrequently find it easier to create a new login - or perhaps this system can't e-mail you a password - I'm not exactly sure. But vBulletin allows only one e-mail address to be attached per account on the whole system.

But the wins are big, in my view. In addition to being a real WYSIWYG editor, there are really nice features including a content management system, blogging, articles, etc. Our initial installation will be to version 3.8 and will then be upgraded to 4.0 once we're running smoothly.

We are expecting the transition to be a positive experience that benefits our forum members. Any comments or input you have to offer are appreciated. I cannot overestimate the importance of your contributions in this regard. You can post any comments/questions here or on the new test area in vBulletins. We'll do our best to answer questions, but some of them might require the help of the IT Guy who will be wrapped up in forum migration.

Sincerely,

Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.

Post Edited (Ken Gracey (Parallax)) : 2/10/2010 5:17:34 PM GMT

Comments

hover1 Posts: 1,929

2010-02-10 17:57 edited 2010-02-10 17:57

Fingers crossed!· Better search function?

Jim
Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091

2010-02-10 18:28 edited 2010-02-10 18:28

Fingers crossed! Forum Styles? MidnightBlue is easy to see for those of us with aging vision. [noparse]:)[/noparse]

OBC

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New to the Propeller?

Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.
Chris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406

2010-02-10 18:32 edited 2010-02-10 18:32

The vBulletin search engine is much more powerful allowing partial keyword matches, username partial and exact matches and you can even search tags. You can also limit the search scope to just forums, posts, groups, blogs, articles, etc. You can specify a time period and include all newer or older message from that point. And you can auto-sort your results Ascending or Descending by Title, Date, Username, etc.

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Chris Savage

Parallax Engineering
·
Jim Ewald Posts: 733

2010-02-10 18:41 edited 2010-02-10 18:41

The new system supports multiple, user-selectable skins. We have two skins ready to go now. We can create additional skins based on the feedback we receive.

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Jim

Parallax IT Dept.
Microcontrolled Posts: 2,461

2010-02-10 18:43 edited 2010-02-10 18:43

Will your post count, contacts, and signature be inported over as well?

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Computers are microcontrolled.

Robots are microcontrolled.
I am microcontrolled.

SX Spinning light display·

http://designedbymemicros.blogspot.com/
Jim Ewald Posts: 733

2010-02-10 18:48 edited 2010-02-10 18:48

Frankly, I have been focused on ensuring that the posts and threads make it across the ether intact. We're doing another test migration later today. I'll check the user accounts after the test and answer your question then.

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Jim

Parallax IT Dept.
jcwren Posts: 44

2010-02-10 20:42 edited 2010-02-10 20:42

Total elimination of stupid dancing emoticons? PLEEEEEEASE?
Chris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406

2010-02-10 22:40 edited 2010-02-10 22:40

By default the vBulletin software doesn't have any animated icons. These could be added manually, but another feature of vBulletin I like is that you can limit the number of pictures/icons/smilies per post. This prevents posts with 10 pages of every (animated) smiley available. vBulletin can also allow signature line graphics, impose a limit on the size and restrict animated ones. Another feature I like.

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Chris Savage

Parallax Engineering
·
Chris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406

2010-02-10 22:45 edited 2010-02-10 22:45

Oh, I almost forgot...POST icons...on this site they're mainly smilies...we can have post icons on vBulletin like a bug icon, a cog icon or a life raft as an example. These tell more about the post than smilies IMHO. I have been experimenting with this on my own website/forums which is running vBulletin Suite 4.0 w/CMS.

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Chris Savage

Parallax Engineering

Post Edited (Chris Savage (Parallax)) : 2/11/2010 4:51:16 PM GMT
Zoot Posts: 2,227

2010-02-11 00:18 edited 2010-02-11 00:18

It's still a little unclear if we will have to create new logins at the new forum, or if old logins will be imported.

????

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST

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1uffakind.com/robots/resistorLadder.php
Jim Ewald Posts: 733

2010-02-11 00:32 edited 2010-02-11 00:32

Some details from each login (user account) are copied over to the new forum during the transition. As it is right now, the passwords are not included in the conversion that vBulletin provided. The new system has a password reset feature that send a link via email to the member. We may use that feature if I can't fix the password conversion issue.

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Jim

Parallax IT Dept.
Whit Posts: 4,191

2010-02-11 15:40 edited 2010-02-11 15:40

I look forward to seeing how this works.

@Jim - Good luck in the transition!

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Whit+

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
Alex41 Posts: 112

2010-02-11 17:13 edited 2010-02-11 17:13

I'm guessing these new forums will be PDA/phone/mobile device/iPhone/ friendly?

I personally read the forums on my iPhone as I travel a lot.

Alex
Peter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383

2010-02-11 17:26 edited 2010-02-11 17:26

I second Alex41 .. mind my palm centro works ok this version as it is ..
Peter KG6LSE

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"Carpe Ducktum" "seize the tape!!"
peterthethinker.com/tesla/Venom/Venom.html
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway. —Tanenbaum, Andrew S.
LOL
jazzed Posts: 11,803

2010-02-11 19:20 edited 2010-02-11 19:20

Chris Savage (Parallax) said...
By default the vBulletin software doesn't have any animated icons.

Yiippeeeee! UUUGH!

Thanks.
Microcontrolled Posts: 2,461

2010-02-11 21:14 edited 2010-02-11 21:14

Chris Savage (Parallax) said...
By default the vBulletin software doesn't have any animated icons.

NOOOOOO!!!!!

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Computers are microcontrolled.

Robots are microcontrolled.
I am microcontrolled.

SX Spinning light display·

http://designedbymemicros.blogspot.com/
kuroneko Posts: 3,623

2010-02-12 01:53 edited 2010-02-12 01:53

What will happen to exiting thread subscriptions (email notifications)? Will they be transferred or should we start making a pen-and-paper backup? [noparse]:)[/noparse]
P!-Ro Posts: 1,189

2010-02-14 03:45 edited 2010-02-14 03:45

Will the unused accounts be added automatically, or will it require the person's input to make it?

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PG
Jim Ewald Posts: 733

2010-02-14 04:03 edited 2010-02-14 04:03

We're going to bring all member profiles (a.k.a. user accounts) over to the new site. There are a few twists and turns to overcome, but we're getting there.

For example, the new site will require a unique email address for each profile. The current site allows one to create a number of profiles with the same email address, so we needed to make an adjustment to overcome the restriction. In those cases where a member does have multiple profiles attached to the same email address, we have to change the address on the least recently used profile(s) in order to make them unique. This will affect at most about 800 methe forum adminmbers. If you are affected by this change, please email the foum moderators and we can work with you to keep your alternate profiles active.

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Jim

Parallax IT Dept.
Jim Ewald Posts: 733

2010-02-18 17:58 edited 2010-02-18 17:58

After several false starts, the migration process for the new test server is churning away. The Parallax forums (fora for some) response time will increase while this process runs. Think of it as a giant data brown-out while the data is copied.

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Jim

Parallax IT Dept.
boeboy Posts: 301

2010-02-18 18:13 edited 2010-02-18 18:13

Can't wait I am sure the new forums will be well worth the wait. Thank you parallax!

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My computer made with the propeller, http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=630466
boeboy Posts: 301

2010-02-21 01:42 edited 2010-02-21 01:42

Ok slightly OT question, how many GB of drive space does the forums take? And how many GB of data is sent and received in an average day?

Thanks, BoeBoy

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My computer made with the propeller, http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=630466
Jim Ewald Posts: 733

2010-02-21 20:10 edited 2010-02-21 20:10

Well, that was fun. Date conversions are just a little more involved than we first imagined. Now that we're past that, the new forum test site is available at :

67.104.29.59/

The Parallax Forums (RC1) is really close to the final product. All of the forums have been migrated to the new site. These forums have been set to Read-Only on the RC1 site to avoid posting on the wrong site. There are a pair of new forums available on the new site. You can post your thoughts and suggestions in the Comments or try out all the new toys available in SandBox II, the sequel.

There are still some details that need work. For example, there are certain HTML combinations that get translated into different smiley face characters. Amusing, but not what we want.

The password component of each user profile was not copied to the new system. That means that, on the new site, all the user accounts are in a suspended state. You will need to request a password reset from the site. We're working on getting a link on the home page to do the request. In the meantime, you can request a password reset after you attempt to log in.

We will monitor both forum sites (RC1->Comments and Forums->Support for Using This Forum), so feel free to comment. Thanks for your support.

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Jim

Parallax IT Dept.
boeboy Posts: 301

2010-02-21 20:23 edited 2010-02-21 20:23

Ok something that I saw on the new forum software is it uses my logon name and not my user name. Why is that?

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My computer made with the propeller, http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=630466
Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514

2010-02-21 20:32 edited 2010-02-21 20:32

When I log in, I'm still getting a message that I've been banned. I have cookies enabled, but there are no session cookies set.

-Phil
hover1 Posts: 1,929

2010-02-21 20:45 edited 2010-02-21 20:45

Thanks for the update Jim. Sounds like your putting in some overtime on this.

Jim

Jim Ewald (Parallax) said...
Well, that was fun. Date conversions are just a little more involved than we first imagined. Now that we're past that, the new forum test site is available at :

67.104.29.59/

The Parallax Forums (RC1) is really close to the final product. All of the forums have been migrated to the new site. These forums have been set to Read-Only on the RC1 site to avoid posting on the wrong site. There are a pair of new forums available on the new site. You can post your thoughts and suggestions in the Comments or try out all the new toys available in SandBox II, the sequel.

There are still some details that need work. For example, there are certain HTML combinations that get translated into different smiley face characters. Amusing, but not what we want.

The password component of each user profile was not copied to the new system. That means that, on the new site, all the user accounts are in a suspended state. You will need to request a password reset from the site. We're working on getting a link on the home page to do the request. In the meantime, you can request a password reset after you attempt to log in.

We will monitor both forum sites (RC1->Comments and Forums->Support for Using This Forum), so feel free to comment. Thanks for your support.
hover1 Posts: 1,929

2010-02-21 20:52 edited 2010-02-21 20:52

Ditto......

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) said...
When I log in, I'm still getting a message that I've been banned. I have cookies enabled, but there are no session cookies set.

-Phil
Jim Ewald Posts: 733

2010-02-21 21:32 edited 2010-02-21 21:32

I am working on the issue where you receive this message when you attempt to log in:

You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.
Date the ban will be lifted: Never

When you see this message, is it after you requested a password reset from the new site?

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Jim

Parallax IT Dept.
Jim Ewald Posts: 733

2010-02-21 21:39 edited 2010-02-21 21:39

I "think" I found the problem. It's a default setting from the data migration that essentially marked anyone who belonged to a group on the old site to be banned.

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Jim

Parallax IT Dept.
Jim Ewald Posts: 733

2010-02-21 23:52 edited 2010-02-21 23:52

The "Banned Forever" issue should be resolved now.

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Jim

Parallax IT Dept.

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