My two cents.

[DriVer]

Originally Posted by Jestme13

Where do we gain access to the chat rooms ?

Steve, It's still where it was ....:

http://irv2.infopop.cc/eve/chime

Use this link to get access to the chat room. You may have to login again on the "Eve" side. I don't know how long that Chat Room will be allowed to remain open.

[NLOVNIT]

I performed more checking on why my forum screens are scrolling so slowly. There is a significant difference between our desktop (lots of processing and graphics power) and the laptop (less processing power). The desktop scrolls smoothly, while the laptop takes over 10 seconds just to page down one screen. While I am waiting, the CPU utilization on the laptop zooms to 55-65%. Other web pages (except the forum) scroll smoothly (even with lots of graphics).

Lori-

[Barbara S.]

I found the ADVANCED tab and I like it! This new set up takes some getting used to, but as I fumble my way around it is getting better.

[Tech Admin]

Originally Posted by RedneckExpress

I also note that it took 2 days to do an overnight swap, perhaps a 1 day total. Now, I do this sort of thing for a living, so I have some experience with migration of data, so my opinion is a tad biased. For smoother migrations in the future, running twinned systems is the recommended method of migration, this allows you to beta test everything with a copy of the existing active sites data before you do the big swap, and tends to result in less admin/user headaches.

Just a quick intro, my name is Jeff and I help out Andy, Janet and the rest of the team with many of the technical aspects of the site. I was not really part of the migration, but will be here for the tweaking.

For a standard migration, I will a agree with you. Without getting into too much technical details, I will say that this was anything but standard. First, we had basically no access to the eve servers. We just get the data and that is it.

Second, the software running on eve is completely, 100% different than Vbulletin. There are so many key data points that nailing it perfectly is next to impossible.

Considering the massive amount of options, beta testing will never cover everything. There are many options here that did not exist with the old software or were different. Certain assumptions had to be made. The system isn't perfect, nor can it reasonably be expected IMO.

I understand those who are wary of the changes. I myself used to use different forum software years ago. In the end I fell in love with VB and I think many of you will to. We do have some bugs to iron out and also have to get this up on the big network to balance out the load and ease the congestion we will be feeling this first week.

Thank you all for your patience!

- Jeff

[YosemiteBobR]

Yep, the more I use it the more I like it

[RedneckExpress]

Originally Posted by Tech Admin

Just a quick intro, my name is Jeff and I help out Andy, Janet and the rest of the team with many of the technical aspects of the site. I was not really part of the migration, but will be here for the tweaking.

For a standard migration, I will a agree with you. Without getting into too much technical details, I will say that this was anything but standard. First, we had basically no access to the eve servers. We just get the data and that is it.

Second, the software running on eve is completely, 100% different than Vbulletin. There are so many key data points that nailing it perfectly is next to impossible.

Considering the massive amount of options, beta testing will never cover everything. There are many options here that did not exist with the old software or were different. Certain assumptions had to be made. The system isn't perfect, nor can it reasonably be expected IMO.

I understand those who are wary of the changes. I myself used to use different forum software years ago. In the end I fell in love with VB and I think many of you will to. We do have some bugs to iron out and also have to get this up on the big network to balance out the load and ease the congestion we will be feeling this first week.

Thank you all for your patience!

- Jeff

Far from wary, just more of a head scratcher. Since I'm unfamiliar with what Database backend the eve servers were running with their cold fusion driven chatroom app, I cannot comment on the ease of the construction of a set of conversion algorithms for the migration to rename table values to match the php/mysql back end that VB and IVPB use, so I can imagine there was an added degree of headache.

And I totally agree with, based upon your description of the situation that with the great differences between the two databases, that there was no way to get everything perfect until you, as I put it, "Threw it to the Wolves." There's no greater QA agent that the general user, they will always find the bugs that you never even considered possible.

My comment on the amount of time more pertained to my experinece being more in the business area where down website = sales lost, so we must endeavour to get it as perfect as possible, with the very minimum amount of downtime between the two versions of a site to migrate. This usually has always entailed making a dump of the active sites database and working out scripts to automate the migration as much as possible (usually these just consist of an array with a series of SQL queries in them to changed field types, values, and names). Depending on the database back end, this isn't always easy, especially if the DB system in question does not have a dump utility accessible to make as close as possible to pure SQL flat file of the database.

[chasfm11]

Today is the first time that I've been able to log onto the forum since the change. I kept getting error messages and no response to my attempts to make contact about them.

It will be interesting to see if this works better or not. I'm always optimistic about changes. It might take me a while to figure out exactly how to use all of the features that come with the new format.

Charlie

[Hitchhiker]

Originally Posted by RedneckExpress

I also note that it took 2 days to do an overnight swap, perhaps a 1 day total. Now, I do this sort of thing for a living, so I have some experience with migration of data, so my opinion is a tad biased. For smoother migrations in the future, running twinned systems is the recommended method of migration, this allows you to beta test everything with a copy of the existing active sites data before you do the big swap, and tends to result in less admin/user headaches.

Hi RedneckExpress,

The big difference here is that none of the administrators or moderators who handle this stuff gets paid to do it. We're delighted that you made a living at it but here we're all volunteers who do this as a pastime. I made my living in a totally different field.

We're sorry you were disappointed with our efforts and apologize for our shortcomings, but we try to please.

[RustyJC]

Originally Posted by max49

Hmm, interesting. How do you do that without a host site?

The little 'Insert Image' tag asks for the URL

You don't use the "Insert Image". You use the "Attach File" below the text block when you're creating your post - click on the "Manage Attachments" button. You'll notice one option is to Browse your computer to select the file.

Using this feature, I've attached a photo of some integral engine/compressors our company builds.

Rusty

[RedneckExpress]

Originally Posted by Hitchhiker

Hi RedneckExpress,

The big difference here is that none of the administrators or moderators who handle this stuff gets paid to do it. We're delighted that you made a living at it but here we're all volunteers who do this as a pastime. I made my living in a totally different field.

We're sorry you were disappointed with our efforts and apologize for our shortcomings, but we try to please.

My only reason for commenting on the swap over Hitch was to offer advice for future changes so that you guys have to spend less time mitigating issues and more time enjoying posts. I had not meant my comments to be a direct put down of your efforts, but they do come across as harsh, and I apologize, they were only meant to be to the point and constructive.

I know none of you get paid to maintain this site, I don't get paid to do the root admin work for the camper forum I belong to. If the option had been available, I would have been more than happy to have helped with the migration.

[bimmerz_vn]

I am seeing messages with a 4:28PM Today time stamp which is not in any reasonable time zone that I can see. It is currently 10:49AM MST in Phoenix. We are not on DST. This equates to 1:49 PM EDST.

[Fossilhog]

Whne I view peopple posts they look norma, avatar and signitures seem correct, but when I view one of mine, the avatar on the left is huge, cut off. Is it a problem on my end?

[TXiceman]

Boots,

Have you set yout time zone correctly? Under <UserCP>, slect <Edit Options> and scroll down to Date and Time. Here you select your time zone and whether you want Daylight Savings Time of not.

Ken

[RustyJC]

Tim,

I resized your avatar.

Rusty