Announcement Major site upgrade

[doppelganger]

I hope everything goes according to plan fellas good luck..........WAIT A MINUTE .....................

3 whole days without the RPF !!!
I don’t drink or smoke, what the hell am I going to do without you, I check in at least 6 times a day,
3 days of rocking in my chair, looking at a picture of the RPF logo won’t cut it,
OHHHHH NOOOOOO I’m going to have to talk to the wife !!!!!!! OMG your forcing me to go and buy more colouring books !!!
I need more pens and crayons and paper and water yes water I need water and chips/crisps, chocolate, what else ? What else? 3 days of isolation from the RPF !!! I never thought this day would ever come !! Didn’t you guys ever stop to think of us addicts and what It would do to us.

I will be fine (sob sob sob)..........

it’s going to be fine, I’m going to be fine, ( repeat and chant, repeat and chant )
oh look a butterfly

see you Wednesday im going for a long sleep !!! (starting Sunday night )

I'm having cold sweats already, perhaps we can organise some kind of help group.

Hi... my names Rob and i'm an RPFaholic. Its been 3 days since my last visit.....and.....and....and I NEED IT BAAAAAACK.

 

[Sundowner]

This is good for me. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t log in for 3 days

 

[PlanetAlexander]

I'm new here, and I'm interested about this Russian hacking...

 

[Bulldog44]

But of luck with the upgrade! I don’t know what I am going to do for the next three days. Maybe I will pay more attention to my family.lol.

 

[nailuj]

Bugger. I may actually have to build something instead of just reading about things, drooling and spending money on stuff that piles up in my secret place in the cellar.

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

How do i save a complete thread juat in case it might not make it to the new site? I am talking about a thread i had started a few years ago in thw ot.

 

[Montagar]

How do i save a complete thread juat in case it might not make it to the new site? I am talking about a thread i had started a few years ago in thw ot.

Shouldn't be an issue as we will have a backup of the original data.

 

[Art Andrews]

I'm new here, and I'm interested about this Russian hacking...

That was a very very dark time for us, but also a moment in which this community rallied in a way I have never seen. Once we are past the migration, it might be worth recounting.

 

[Psab keel]

This is by far my favorite Internet hang out. Thank you for providing freaks like me a place to geek out. Best of luck with the migration!

Now to hunker down and try to make it through the next week without having major withdrawal symptoms.

 

[Darth Lars]

Tapatalk users, we will be discontinuing Tapatalk after the migration as the new software is mobile-friendly!

Oh. When many web sites claim that they make a site "mobile-friendly", what they really do is make the site unfriendly to users who use small-resolution screens or who are used to using multiple browser windows on their screens.
I really hope that is not the case. That would severely limit the usefulness of this site for me. (I'm in the latter category)

At the same time, many mobile users prefer the full sites over something that has been dumbed down for a smaller screen.

I find the current layout, font sizes, spacing and features to be almost perfect. Please don't mess with it too much!
I'd hate to see something with overly large font sizes and acres of whitespace.

 

[Montagar]

Oh. When many web sites claim that they make a site "mobile-friendly", what they really do is make the site unfriendly to users who use small-resolution screens or who are used to using multiple browser windows on their screens.
I really hope that is not the case. That would severely limit the usefulness of this site for me. (I'm in the latter category)

At the same time, many mobile users prefer the full sites over something that has been dumbed down for a smaller screen.

I find the current layout, font sizes, spacing and features to be almost perfect. Please don't mess with it too much!
I'd hate to see something with overly large font sizes and acres of whitespace.

Check out any of our other sites (mentioned by Art in first post) to see what it will be like as they are all on the new platform.

 

[azheat01]

There's two things I hate......change and the way things are! While I'll admit I'm not a fan of the new TDH platform that was launched some time ago (mostly because I just don't know it well enough since I spend so much time here), I get it needs to be done.

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Shouldn't be an issue as we will have a backup of the original data.

Excellent! I had feared that the OT might get streamlined during the upgrade and that there might be a cut off date since it goes back till 2010.

 

[Dakota]

Looks like Xenforo? Interesting choice! Anything beats old vB sites!

 

[redbutton]

Good luck Art and the gang, a speedy launch!

 

[Fangorn81]

Check out any of our other sites (mentioned by Art in first post) to see what it will be like as they are all on the new platform.

That's what I was afraid of. Those all look like they are "mobile-first" site designs now, and are so generic looking you would be excused for thinking you had landed on a phishing site...

Not that I don't applaud a migration to a more forward looking platform. It's just so...bland.

EDIT: looking at some of the themes and customization options out there for XenForo, I am now less worried. Hopefully it'll just take a little time.

 

[NormanF]

Cool, just as Michael is about to send out names and addresses for the Secret Santa.

I really won't miss Tapatalk. It started out nice, but every update changed the UI.

 

[PropReplicator2]

Cool, just as Michael is about to send out names and addresses for the Secret Santa.

I really won't miss Tapatalk. It started out nice, but every update changed the UI.

This^^

 

[Frogfreak]

It has been a great many years (almost a decade) since we have made a major change with the forum software, but the time has come (been long overdue) to do so.


Sadly, the provider of our current platform simply has not been keeping up with technology, especially mobile devices and it is forcing us to seek another solution. This solution has already been implemented at our other sites, TheDentedHelmet.com, Predatorium.com, and 405th.com and has been very successful. We expect the same here. With that being said, whenever there is a move of this magnitude there are always lingering issues and problems and we do ask for your patience, especially with a site as large and as old as the RPF (which has been migrated more than 6 times by our count in the past).


We have been setting this process up for more than a year now and have had several false starts, but are confident we will be successful. We are looking at moving the week of Nov 4-10. The site is likely to be down for at least a couple of days followed by a couple of weeks to complete cleanup and implement all the little corrections that will be needed. We will close the site Sunday, Nov 4 at 10PM PST to begin preparation. It is HIGHLY unlikely that the site will be back up prior to Wednesday, Nov 7. This is the longest time we have been down since... well, since those idiot Russians hacked us. While we are down, please check out our sister sites:

https://www.thedentedhelmet.com/forums

https://www.405th.com/forums/

https://www.predatorium.com/forums/

Or you can check out our Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/therpf/


If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

What all upgrades are being made?

 

[Art Andrews]

What all upgrades are being made?

This isn’t so much an “upgrade” as it is a migration to an entirely new software platform. The essence of the site will still be a forum as it has always been but with the software being entirely new (for this site), there is no real “upgrades” to list. What we will do is make a post after the migration listing some of the features of the new software. There are sure to be some hiccups and we will work through them as we have with every change in the past.