Scheduled maintenance for Saturday 4th July

Updates on forum status, bug fixes, etc. If there's something new in here its probably a good idea that you read it.
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Quiff Boy
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Heartland will be down again on Saturday for more scheduled maintenance.

The maintenance includes an upgrade to the latest version of the forum software: phpBB3

"Finally!" I hear you all cry.

I expect to take the servers off line at approximately 10am to begin the server upgrade.

Why am I doing this?
The current phpBB2 software has not been supported by the phpB foundation for many years. Additionally, it runs on an old version of PHP (v5.6) which is no longer supported by the PHP foundation, and potentially contains security vulnerabilities. The new board will use phpBB3, and will run on PHP v7.2.

After the upgrade you will notice many new and improved things, including a new mobile-friendly look and feel, and lots more features. It should also feel a little faster.

Sadly, there will be a few things that I wont be able to migrate for "day one" of the new forum, including:

- all existing forum themes
- the image gallery
- user birthdays

The new site will only have a single theme for now, but I will be adding a small number new styles in the coming weeks (including a darker style for you goffix types).

I'll be working to migrate the birthday info ASAP. The birthday data won't be lost, but it will need converting into a format the new forum can use.

Unfortunately, the photo gallery is likely going to some time to migrate. There's no current way of adding the old system to the new site. Until I have managed to recreate it I'm afraid the gallery will be unavailable. Sorry about that.

When will all this start?
Saturday 4th July at 10am

When will it be finished?
I will endeavour to bring the forum back online as soon as possible, but the converting all the old forum data takes a little time, so expect it to be back sometime Saturday evening.

What to do if you have any problems
- Once you are able to log back on the site, if you spot any bugs please log them here in this thread.
- While the maintenance is happening, keep an eye on our twitter feed for updates: http://twitter.com/heartlandforum
- Likewise, if you are having any trouble getting back on after the move, drop us a message @ the above Twitter account

Hope this all makes sense, and once again, sorry for any inconvenience.

This is a necessary upgrade and is long overdue.

Thanks, as ever, for your patience.
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Charlie
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Ooooohhhhhhhh new tech time! Yay!

:D :D :D 8) 8)
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Swinnow
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Happy twiddling
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Being645
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Good progress at that ... :) ...
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Being645
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Btw, are you moving the SistersWiki as well? ... :eek: ...
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Quiff Boy
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Being645 wrote:Btw, are you moving the SistersWiki as well? ... :eek: ...
No :)
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Quiff Boy
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Small update:

I've managed to write a script that will migrate birthdays from the old forum to the new, so the new one will still have everyone's birthdays (or at least the 1500 or so of you who've set one) :D
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ROBBIE
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You do know that Von will take the opportunity of downtime to announce the new music release dates ;D :von:
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Pista
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ROBBIE wrote:You do know that Von will take the opportunity of downtime to announce the new music release dates ;D :von:
:lol:

Been playing with it a lot the past couple of days.
It's really slick & I haven't managed to break it yet. ;)
Cheers.
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Pista
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Reading that last post back, it takes on a whole other meaning :oops:
Cheers.
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Being645
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How about the PMs? :?:
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Charlie
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Pista wrote:Reading that last post back, it takes on a whole other meaning :oops:
:wink: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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emilystrange
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Will we be in the 20th century?

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY ON THE 7TH, JUST IN CASE IT ALL GOES WRONG
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iesus
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or 21st century? though i love hear 16th century greensleeves ;D :D
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Swinnow
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You are Ritchie Blackmore and I claim my ten shilling note.
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iesus
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ten brittish shillings are about two and a half US dollars right?
'Are we the Baddies?'...
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"Don't forget that most of the judges in witches trials had harvard degrees."
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markfiend
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iesus wrote:ten brittish shillings are about two and a half US dollars right?
:lol: I wish

Pre-decimal UK currency went like this:

Two farthings makes a ha'penny. Two ha'pennies is a penny. Three pennies make a thruppeny bit. Two thruppeny bits is sixpence. Two sixpences makes a shilling. Two shillings is a florin. A florin and sixpence makes half a crown. Four half crowns makes a ten bob note and two ten bob notes is a pound. Oh and a pound and a shilling makes a guinea.

Then they had to make it so fiddly and complicated with a hundred new pee to the pound.
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
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Pista
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Not to forget, a sixpence was also called a tanner :D
Cheers.
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Quiff Boy
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Update: the new version of the forum will have a second theme from day one.

It will be based on the new default theme (which is still red and white, but much shinier than this current one) but will use a dark colour pallet, for the goths out there, or for anyone that values their retinas.

After the upgrade everyone will be switched to the new red and white theme.

In order to activate the new dark theme you will have to go into your "control panel", select "board preferences" and then choose the dark option from the settings there.

Am I good to you? Or am I good to you? ;)
Last edited by Quiff Boy on 30 Jun 2020, 15:01, edited 1 time in total.
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iesus
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You are good, you are nice to all of us :notworthy: :notworthy:

Meanwhile i am trying to draw the old system and i fail to understand it with the fiorins, tallers, sixpence, thrupens, guinea pigs etc :roll: :lol: :lol: :urff:
'Are we the Baddies?'...
"Someday! Someday, everything you need, is just gonna fall out of the sky..." -A.E. Reading 1991
"Don't forget that most of the judges in witches trials had harvard degrees."
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Swinnow
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My parents used to extol the pre-decimal system because it was 'infinitely divisible' and my brother and I used to just glaze over. My Dad was originally an accountant though :lol:
....if I have to explain, then you'll never understand....
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Being645
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So the old PMs will still be there? Otherwise I will have to check through all those boxes before they disappear.
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Quiff Boy
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Being645 wrote:So the old PMs will still be there? Otherwise I will have to check through all those boxes before they disappear.
Yep they’ll still be there
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Izzy HaveMercy
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Stickified Jam~es has disappeared :|

IZ.
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.
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Quiff Boy
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Izzy HaveMercy wrote:Stickified Jam~es has disappeared :|

IZ.
Ah, sorry yes. I unstickied it yesterday in preparation for the forum upgrade.

It has been a number of years since James passed, and I felt that it was no longer as appropriate as it once was for that post to be a sticky post.

Personally, I felt is was potentially quite triggering for some older members, and slightly confusing for newer members, and that most folks had become somewhat "blind" to announcements and sticky posts because they'd all been there for 4+ years, thus rendering stickies and announcements less useful than they should be.

I hope folks understand the rationale, but feel free to DM me if you want to chat about it some more.
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