Preparing for another forum upgrade...

[John Barresi]

Hi all,

Just giving a tiny bit of advance notice, as we'll be upgrading the forum software sometime in the next month.

We've done this periodically as small updates become available (v3.1, v3.2, etc) and is pretty unnoticeable, but the forum software we use has reached another full version (v4) and the general appearance will change pretty significantly.

Core functions will be the same, just a matter of looking for buttons in slightly different places and getting used to the new layout... Plus, there will be some added functionality.

The core of this upgrade comes down to stability and security, just like if you don't upgrade your computer operating system for too long, it bogs down and is more susceptible to malicious attack... Our last major upgrade like this was probably 3-4 years ago, so it's high time.

For a few weeks after the upgrade, I'll be tracking down any plugins and functionality that may need to be upgraded as well - feel free to let me know if you see anything missing and I'll do what I can.

Of course, you can ALWAYS reach out for support by replying to this topic (preferred) or sending a PM or email to me directly via info (at) kitelife (dot) com

Thanks so much for your patience, ever onward!

[SparkieRob]

Hey mate.

Not sure if it's a "thing" or any but when I just posted to a thread my post count went up only on the new post not on any of the preceding posts in the same thread. It went to the correct amount on all when I refreshed the page.

Hope all is good bro.

[John Barresi]

Aye, when you add a reply using "quick reply" at the bottom of a topic, it will only append your new post and doesn't update the whole page (saves loading times)... If you used the "More Reply Options" or any reply where it comes up on its own page, then the following page would be fully updated.

All good, although I'm bittersweet about 4 events upcoming (in a row), especially without a team behind me... Seems I've lost some of my zest for the festival circuit, really going to focus on NW local, grassroots U.S. education and overseas events in 2016.

Anyway, back to topic - thanks for letting me know about the oddity.

[John Barresi]

Side note... The KiteLife front end (magazine/articles) was running slow, giving us memory errors and failed page loads, so we've just doubled our resources (along with our monthly server costs) - I'm hoping you all find the website is running MUCH faster all around, certainly seems quicker on my end.

A good test URL for this is the full index of all articles on the main KiteLife website (over 6800 items listed on a single page):

http://kitelife.com/magazine-archive/

This upgrade / speed increase should affect the forum equally.

Let me know what you find?

[Wayne Dowler]

Just scrolled to an article from 2010 and it loaded so fast!! No hesitation at all!!

[makatakam]

Whatever you did, John, kicks ass! Keep up the most excellent adventure.

[RobB]

I never thought the forum ran slow, there are many corporate websites that run slower. A good portion of my job involves getting users connected with big corporate websites & implementing the fancy functions of their websites, and I would say that Kitelife has better response, compatibility, and stability.

[John Barresi]

Just refreshing this topic...

Hoping to do the upgrade sometime in the next couple weeks.

I've been waiting for someone to update our subscription module, but it looks like the particular addon we use might not be updated for compatibility with the newer versions of our forum software - if this is the case after all is said and done, we'll likely be migrating subscription functions to a new module that is native to the forum software.

Anyway, sorry for the tech-babble... Short version?

Forum will look different, subscription functions will look different, but we'll still be here chatting away.