Dear all,
you'll probably not believe me, but I'm close to
actually finishing the development of the new site. I expect to be done by the end of this week.
We will have a single, fully integrated system with a single log in for the forum and for members (the system keeps track of full memberships). Access to the Wiki, the forum is all through that log in. Editors who need to modify the front pages (e.g. the common content, featured car etc) will have a web based interface to modify content there also.
The membership fee system will be completely automated: users are reminded of membership expiry and expired automatically. People who join or renew through PayPal will be activated automatically. The membership administrator gets e-mails when this happens, telling him to send out a welcome package. Moderators / administrators can still modify all aspects of membership manually if needed. And payment by snail mail is still possible, albeit discouraged.
MigrationMigration basically shall go as follows.
A new internet provider will be selected to host our new software. The domain name
www.sl113.com will be pointed there immediately. I transfer all new software and so on there.
After that is completed, at some point in the near future I shall shut down the site
www.sl113.org for about a day. All data is transferred to
www.sl113.com (and a backup copy to my server). All database content is transferred to my own server, and moved to a new database platform. There a lot of conversion software is run and the new database is built.
Then the new database is transferred to
www.sl113.com (at which point that site will become operational).
Finally
www.sl113.org is changed to point at the same site as
www.sl113.com, and essentially the new site is available to all. It may take a little while (mostly a day, but sometimes even 10 days, depending on
your internet provider) for these so-called Domain Name Server changes to trickle through to your neck of the Internet woods. Clearing your cache or Refreshing your browser may help.
When logging in for the first time, the log-in will fail (that's because passwords are stored in encrypted format in the database, and therefore could not be converted accurately). You can request a new password to be sent to your
stored e-mail address (which is why it is so important that e-mail addresses are accurate on this site to begin with), reset the password and then continue to use the new site. Then you can modify your personal settings (board layout, personal preferences, signature etc).
This is likely to happen within the next week or two.
Please follow these instructions if you have not done so yet:
- All members: Update your forum profile. Ensure your e-mail address is up to date, and that your first name, last name and location are correctly filled in. This will help tremendously if we have problems after the move, in helping you log in again.
- Full members: Update your full membership profile. Specifically, please ensure that your e-mail address is exactly the same as the e-mail address in the Forum profile. Please check and double check this. We need this to be the case as we will be attempting to provide a single-log in facility, so that we do not have the confusing multiple identities any more. That is why we need to be able to match your full membership and forum membership accounts. Additionally, can you please ensure that your postal address is still correct.
- Full members and inactive full members: Check your membership expiration, and please renew if you are due to expire in the next two-three months. Due to the move our reminder service may not be operational.
- Please read this index.php?topic=7050]topic[/url] for help.
If you have any questions, suggestions, concerns or issues, please post them on the Forum. Your cooperation in this is much appreciated, and we hope to be able to keep the forum running as smoothly as possible.
Peter
