Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

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Jupiter
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Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by Jupiter »

When the MAS website moved to a new host 2 years ago I helped get the message board up and running and even got us upgraded to version 3 of the phpBB software. But sometime since then my access to the MAS ftp was revoked... Since I no longer have ftp access, I cannot update the message board. As of right now we are 4 versions behind. We are on 3.0.4, but should be on version 3.0.8.

Now I have no idea who is in control of the MAS website these days, much less who is supposed to be the main admin on the message board. I have not been an official member of the MAS in almost a year, (never renewed in 2010, may not have renewed in 2009) yet I still seem to be the "go to" guy on the message board.

If someone could send me a PM to give me access to the MAS ftp I can update the message board software this time.... It would be nice if someone could take over the Admin of the message board and handle all updates in the future. I just don't visit the site enough and really should no longer be the main Admin of the message board. I can help out in a pinch, but we really need someone to be the "go to" person on the message board.


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Jupiter
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by Jupiter »

So..... Just before 10pm tonight, I just spent a few minutes typing up a response to this request that I asked about 3 years ago. I talked how the software was now up to version 3.0.12 and this place was really out of date. The version we were using before, 3.0.4, came out in 2008. Blah Blah Blah...

So after I finished, I hit submit... The board tells me that I am logged out and that I cannot access any forum.

Turns out that "clayton" was actually updating the software to the most recent version as I was typing out my response. My request was ignored for almost 3 years. I come back to post another warning and at the exact time clayton was updating the software. Very strange coincidence if you ask me!


Anyway.... I hoped you kept some of the old files because having them will make it a ton easier to get things back to the way this place looked before the upgrade.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by Jupiter »

Jupiter wrote:Anyway.... I hoped you kept some of the old files because having them will make it a ton easier to get things back to the way this place looked before the upgrade.
I still have many of the files needed to fix the color scheme back to how it was.... Most of it can be fixed in the /prosilver/theme/colours.css file. Looks like the image files needed are still in place.
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clayton
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by clayton »

Yeah.. the new website has kicked us into maintenance mode.

I think I've inherited forum Admin by default, but the Webteam Committee Chaired by Merle would be the owner.

The upgrade broke a few items which I'll correct hopefully soon. I have all the original files if a recovery is needed.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by Jupiter »

I just emailed the file that you will need to fix the theme problems. (hope it works)
Just upload it and replace the current file. Then clear the Theme cache.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by Ricola »

clayton wrote:I think I've inherited forum Admin by default...
Congratulations on the unexpected inheritance!?!

Thanks for all of the work y'all are doing to update our look.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by Jupiter »

Have there been any thoughts on upgrading this software to the latest and greatest?

phpBB is about to go final on version 3.2.0 but if we could at least get this place to the most recent 3.1.x version, this board would be much more user friendly. 3.1.x is MOBILE responsive and would make this message board much easier to use.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by clayton »

The forum administration has been way down my priorities. If there is a MAS member willing to join the Web team and wanting to devout the hours to safely moving this forum to a newer version I am open to them making the upgrade.

There is has been some debate about PHPBBS being the best choice but since there has been little movement on it I not inclined at the moment to jump ship.

There is a small chance that a Normandale student who has IT experience may take this task on but that program has just started and not sure of their area of expertise.

Fair warning to any that undertake the job. The last upgrade left crap code from the gallery that functionally broke the upgrade scripting. The images are there but the gallery MOD is broken and all that has to cleaned out or at least commented out . There is no gallery code that works that well with this BBS as far as I could find. One of the reasons for looking for another BBS.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by Jupiter »

I understand.... I just wanted to check in because the software is woefully out of date and a security risk. I have never moved from one software to another. With this place being so old, not sure how well a move would work. It would be bad to lose messages.

I believe when Mike Kibat initially installed this message board, there were very few free options available for message board software. Which is why he chose phpBB. But we have just rarely updated the software. I do not think upgrading to the most recent version would be a huge hassle, you just need to proper access to the servers in order to make it happen.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by tugger »

I have some BASIC phpbb knowledge (read: years ago) and this was considered for some of my volunteer time, and I'd help out anyway.

Few questions though:
Why 'upgrade'? Do we have the server space to start a fresh version of the forums and move over appropriate topics as needed? This seems like the 'easier' way to go instead of the haggle of 'upgrading' (read: it's been a few years since I've dealt with this). Additionally, if anything went wrong, the risk of losing anything is effectively zero?
Security risk - is there anything of value here that would be considered a 'security risk'? Perhaps you're referring to a takeover or something like that and the whole board being lost?
Mobile Friendly? I have an Android and have no issues getting to this board via Chrome. Are you referring to it being more 'compatible' with mobile browsers? It seems that versions of mobile browsers (Chrome is what I'm familiar with) are able to deal with the majority of webpages.

Again, I haven't dealt with this stuff in years but I'm willing to take the plunge and see what happens. That may not be very reassuring, but I guess it's better than nothing!
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by FF2Rydia »

One of the main reasons for upgrading rather than creating a new instance is all of the historical data (considered important by some in the Society). Another is needing functionality to remain, if at all possible. I remember the last upgrade, and it was chaos for the users, with things in different places, things not working right, and some things that had been considered essential becoming completely broken. I don't know if the new instance approach would affect the user logins, but requiring a change there would never fly with our users.

As for mobile friendly, the current one is nearly useless on MY Android using Chrome. Sizes are totally inconsistent, even within the same page. Editor nearly impossible to use because of zooming needs. The list goes on. So I use it with mobile only when absolutely necessary, and therefore consider mobile-friendliness to be an important feature.

I don't have any PHP exposure, much less phpBB, so I'm not suitable for the forum administrator, but would like to be on the web team.
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Jupiter
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by Jupiter »

I have used phpBB message board software on my site since 2003. I have done these large upgrades before. It would take most of an evening to upgrade, but it is not too tough. This upgrade should have happened a few years ago, along with minor updates. The longer we wait, the more difficult it will be.

The Upgrade:
What would happen is the raw database would be backed up and duplicated to make sure it is safe. All of the files and folder structure would be backed up as well. A clean install of phpBB would be uploaded to the server. Then the backend software would upgrade the database to the new scheme. That process takes all of the current users, posts, message board structure and permissions and converts it all to the new software.

Access Needed:
In order to do this upgrade. Full access would need to be granted to the host server. This is the main control panel for the entire MAS website. There you can get access to backend database via phpMyAdmin and FTP access to be able to upload the new files.


I have not been an MAS member in probably 10+ years. But I have continued to lurk on this message board to follow the MAS when I could. Back when this message board was created, I helped Mike Kibat keep it up and running by doing all of the software upgrades. So I still have full Admin access to the message board itself. But quite a few years ago the server structure changed and I no longer have access to the backend to do any kind of upgrade.

I am more than willing to get this place upgraded to the latest and greatest. I enjoy doing that kind of work in my spare time.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by clayton »

PM sent.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by Jupiter »

I do not have a PM... Not sure why, but I see nothing.
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Re: Forum Software Update Needed.... New Admin as well?

Post by clayton »

PM issue resolved my inbox was full. Craig has volunteered to upgrade the forum for us. We are tentatively planning on this post Public observing season to minimize the outage impact. We will post an announcement when we get closer to the date. Since the gallery software is no longer supported I would like some idea for what we want if any thing on the forums. A New thread will be started for that discussion.
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