Sixth Vanguard
Board Flunky, aka Site Admin
Hi all,
I have been working on upgrading the board for the past few weeks.
Good news
I have been able to figure out a way to combine all the users, posts, and attachments from the two previous board systems so that ALL posts ever made at SAG will be in the new board.
Still working on getting all the PMs imported as well, but it may not be possible... we shall see.
As for the two previous photo galleries, no luck so far but I will keep looking to see what I can do.
The new board is based on the very user-friendly and very well put together system called XenForo. I think most of us old timers should have no problem navigating the new board.
I haven't had time to look into styling the board with a 'SAG-style' yet, but I can work on that while it is live, so I am not letting that hold us back from moving on.
The new board will not have a photo gallery as I find the post attachments system in XenForo to be more than adequate. XF does have a very nice and supported 'Media Gallery' available at a reasonable price, so if people really want that we an always add it. I kind of like the idea of having 'albums' dedicated to topics, such as Shermans or Tigers, but honestly they got rarely used when we had them before.
One last thing, posts and PMs made after about the 4th of March 2023 will probably not make it onto the new board as I used a snaphot of the data at that time to create the new board, and it took a REALLY LONG time to get all that data converted to the new format. I will see if I can capture the few additions made after that date, but no promises.
I am really excited I was able to save the historic posts. Many of the posts were made by members no longer with us and I hated the idea of them being lost. I know nothing lasts forever, but if we can give them a little more time to exist I think it is worth it.
I am also excited to open the board to new member registrations again. Maybe we will find some new enthusiasts to join in the fun.
Lastly, HOPEFULLY all current members will be able to login to the new board with their existing passwords. If not, and if their emails address hasn't changes, the password recovery system should work.
NOT looking forward to dealing with spam accounts and spammers again; it has been ice not to have to deal with that; but they are part of the price we pay to be online these days.
I am also looking into some simple way members can help out with board costs. The costs moving forward should be significantly less than before because we are using up-to-date and secure software which lessens hosting costs. I am leaning toward using Patreon as it is easy for the members and also protects member privacy better than other systems I have looked into. There $3 a month 'donation' level looks to be the most beneficial, and people can easily join or leave as many times as they want at will, so it isn't a long term drain. We'll see.
If anyone has any questions or concerns do not hesitate to reach out to me. Email is the easiest for me track. sixthvanguard @ gmail .com
I have been working on upgrading the board for the past few weeks.
Good news
I have been able to figure out a way to combine all the users, posts, and attachments from the two previous board systems so that ALL posts ever made at SAG will be in the new board.
Still working on getting all the PMs imported as well, but it may not be possible... we shall see.
As for the two previous photo galleries, no luck so far but I will keep looking to see what I can do.
The new board is based on the very user-friendly and very well put together system called XenForo. I think most of us old timers should have no problem navigating the new board.
I haven't had time to look into styling the board with a 'SAG-style' yet, but I can work on that while it is live, so I am not letting that hold us back from moving on.
The new board will not have a photo gallery as I find the post attachments system in XenForo to be more than adequate. XF does have a very nice and supported 'Media Gallery' available at a reasonable price, so if people really want that we an always add it. I kind of like the idea of having 'albums' dedicated to topics, such as Shermans or Tigers, but honestly they got rarely used when we had them before.
One last thing, posts and PMs made after about the 4th of March 2023 will probably not make it onto the new board as I used a snaphot of the data at that time to create the new board, and it took a REALLY LONG time to get all that data converted to the new format. I will see if I can capture the few additions made after that date, but no promises.
I am really excited I was able to save the historic posts. Many of the posts were made by members no longer with us and I hated the idea of them being lost. I know nothing lasts forever, but if we can give them a little more time to exist I think it is worth it.
I am also excited to open the board to new member registrations again. Maybe we will find some new enthusiasts to join in the fun.
Lastly, HOPEFULLY all current members will be able to login to the new board with their existing passwords. If not, and if their emails address hasn't changes, the password recovery system should work.
NOT looking forward to dealing with spam accounts and spammers again; it has been ice not to have to deal with that; but they are part of the price we pay to be online these days.
I am also looking into some simple way members can help out with board costs. The costs moving forward should be significantly less than before because we are using up-to-date and secure software which lessens hosting costs. I am leaning toward using Patreon as it is easy for the members and also protects member privacy better than other systems I have looked into. There $3 a month 'donation' level looks to be the most beneficial, and people can easily join or leave as many times as they want at will, so it isn't a long term drain. We'll see.
If anyone has any questions or concerns do not hesitate to reach out to me. Email is the easiest for me track. sixthvanguard @ gmail .com
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