[vs-Admin]

Dear Community Members,

Over the past year or two, there have been updates to the environment that have introduced challenges in usability and performance. Efforts to improve the technology, user interface, and site performance has revealed weaknesses in the platform and outdated software this site uses. This has made it increasingly difficult and frustrating to support and upgrade to more modern reliable standards that users deserve. Our advertising experience and certain ad partners have further degraded the functionality of the site. This is not the experience we want for the members of this community.

Members want a fast site that performs well across all devices, to be able to find relevant and interesting content, and easily share through text, images, video and messaging on a secure platform. Our goal is to provide this ultimate user experience to all members.

We will be implementing a new platform to better meet the needs of this community and allow us to provide support more efficiently. Our focus is to create a sustainable platform that performs well, and loads faster on all devices, while offering seamless ways to search and connect. Technology is constantly innovating - by creating an environment that we control we can maintain the site with more frequent improvements and maintenance updates.

Although change can be difficult, we are here to support you through the process. We make every effort to review existing settings and make the changes needed so the migration goes smoothly. If you notice something doesn't seem correct once the site goes live, don't panic! We'll have a dedicated person monitoring as the site goes live to answer any questions and provide support through this change.

What's next?

I bet you're thinking, "What does this mean for me and the community?" It does mean change, but it will help solve a large majority of the issues that this site may have been experiencing. We have reviewed reported issues, site statistics, traffic data, and user feedback to help us prioritize the changes and improvements. Uploading an image or video will be easier and streamlined. Ad formatting will change with a new site layout. The site will be more responsive - there is no need to use a mobile skin or special app! Security and user privacy will continue to be a top priority.

When will this be happening? Soon! We recognize the user experience is slow and there are bugs from the outdated software. The sooner we can change that the better we can make the experience for you. You'll start to see activity related to cleanup in preparation for migration very shortly. We will post an announcement to the community prior to starting the actual data migration. Once the migration begins, the site will go into maintenance mode and will be read-only while data is being migrated.

We appreciate each member's contribution to this community and look forward to an improved experience for you all.

- Community Support

 

[Mr Modifier]

Is there a planned timeframe for this? Soon can be quite indistinct and moveable.

That aside - good news! Looking forward to it.

 

[RikoRocket]

An important part is not lose the pictures/photos that are in the older threads. Please ensure this is a priority, we use the older threads as guides to new members when they ask how to fix things, how to chip a car, how to run in a motor etc etc

 

[tifosi]

Great news but PLEASE do not lose the old/archive stuff, they are a huge resource for new and old slotters...

 

[GRAH1]

Thank goodness this will be happening posting over the past few years has been stressfull

 

[Kevan]

The #1 thing needing improving is posting images via mobile and I'm sure that's one problem being addressed.

 

[portals999]

What is the new 'platform' you're moving the site too...??

 

[Dopamine]

implementing a new platform ...

We'll have a dedicated person ...

activity related to cleanup in preparation for migration ...

 

[Autoavia]

Please don't lose any of the threads info etc from the current site.

I was a member of what was regarded as one of the best historic aviation forums on the web which the publisher decided to migrate to a new platform. The migration was a total disaster. All the archive was lost and everyone lost their PMs as well.

Over 2 years later major problems still persist including the forum not recognising user names and passwords at times. As a result that historic aviation forum is a shadow of it's former self. It has gone from dozens of new threads each day to a couple of new threads a week as all the members who made the most significant contribution have gone elsewhere.

I think we all understand that there are likely to be some problems as a result of migration but it is good to hear that you will have someone around to try to resolve them quickly.

 

[GeeMax706]

Can we also make it possible to upgrade to plus membership?

Something I still haven't managed here and I not lacking in on-line ability just can't do anything with blank screens!

Thanks

Max

 

[portals999]

I think we all understand that there are likely to be some problems as a result of migration

Understatement of the year!

If they are moving not only to a new hosting partner but implementing new forum software too then it will be fun and games, I don't envy the admins especially if they are migrating data to different backend database with different schemas, if the migration tools don't work perfectly then best of luck to them! They should be wise enough to take a full DR backup of the database and file system as soon as they take it offline and make a copy full of that full backup then hide it somewhere else...just in case...

If you have created a post that you want to keep all the copy from including images then I would recommend you either use a scraping tool to grab the pages OR print them to PDF OR both if you are paranoid...just in case the inevitable happens.

I might look at writing a script that grabs my posts automatically and generate PDFs, can't be that hard.

 

[beardy56]

Technically you can download or print a topic from the options at the bottom of the screen under the reply box but I'm just getting

Sorry, you don't have permission for that!

message for both option

 

[Slotcarmann]

What has happened to the Hobby Traders' Forum...?

I cannot see anything in it now.

 

[portals999]

It would be useful if a mod would give us an indication of timescales, critically when the site as it currently will finally disappear...??

 

[Autoavia]

What has happened to the Hobby Traders' Forum...?

I cannot see anything in it now.

Dave I can't see anything in the Hobby Traders Forum either and if you click on the archive that is empty as well.

I wondered if it is anything to do with the problems with plus membership. Maybe someone or something in the software has shut the section down because none of the traders are up to date with their plus membership subscriptions even though the subscription problems are being caused by the forum software.

 

[Angelo Amato]

Yes, where is it ?

Angelo

Dave I can't see anything in the Hobby Traders Forum either and if you click on the archive that is empty as well.

I wondered if it is anything to do with the problems with plus membership. Maybe someone or something in the software has shut the section down because none of the traders are up to date with their plus membership subscriptions even though the subscription problems are being caused by the forum software.

 

[Slotspeed]

It would be quite important for us members to know if there is a risk of losing content as we have invested a lot of time in sharing our knowledge. If there is a risk then please let us know and add me to the list of members who would like to know timeframe please so that we can make backup copies of content we have contributed that is important to us.

Thank you.

 

[scuderia_turini]

It would be quite important for us members to know if there is a risk of losing content as we have invested a lot of time in sharing our knowledge. If there is a risk then please let us know and add me to the list of members who would like to know timeframe please so that we can make backup copies of content we have contributed that is important to us.

Thank you.

Best to have back-up copies anyway. If you have not started already, start soon.

Leo

 

[Coides]

Yes, I backed up all my big posts years ago after the Great Photobucket Disaster. Every build I do is written up first in Word, the pics are all stored together with it in a folder on my (backed up!!) laptop then the whole thing is lifted into SF.

Mind you, it would still take days of work to reinstate the lot.

Andy

 

[beardy56]

If any of the powers that be are following this is it possible to get the print or download options working again, for the full topics, please please please.