Forums Update

This area is for discussions that do not fit into the formal firearms discussions of the website. Common sense and non-controversial contributions are expected. Certain topics are forbidden. See the forum rules for more details.

Moderators: Chuck, Mustang380gal, Coordinators, Moderators

User avatar
jgarvas
OFCC Director
OFCC Director
Posts: 3163
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:35 pm
Location: Northern Summit County
Contact:

Forums Update

Post by jgarvas »

If you tried to access the forums Saturday night into Sunday morning you likely ran into some trouble. We've been working on some changes to the forums and I needed to run them through an upgrade cycle test.

Sadly, due to the number of posts in our forums (over 1 million over the course of 20 years) and the overall size of the database, this was incredibly CPU and time intensive. Especially because I was attempting an upgrade across 3 major releases, so the number of modifications it had to do to each post in the database was substantial. I had to shut down the web server for long durations of time. When we do the actual upgrade I hope to find ways to speed that up :)

Anyway, the good news is that we now have a documented plan on upgrading the forums. This is a pre-requisite to installing them on a new server that doesn't support the "old" resources on the current server. So I wanted to let everyone know what to expect:

1. Over the course of the next week I hope to do one or two upgrades to the forums. Each time I do that, we'll likley be unreachable until it's done. Possibly many hours.

2. When we land on the new final version the look and feel of the forums software will be upgraded. Lots of new buttons and menus (or relocated menus and buttons) will happen. Change sucks. Some people will love it, others will gripe. It's the way the software works, can't help it :)

3. There will be features and functionality lost:

a. Any old feedback will be lost. That "extension" doesn't exist as far as I can tell.
b. Some people out there have a right vs. left side avatar view of the forums. Whichever one isn't the standard gets disabled as a result. It is what it is.

4. When we finally move the forums to the other system there is a possibility things break. For instance, the entire header logo at the top of the forums is going to disappear and I may not even make an attempt to fix it right away while I focus on forum functionality :) Heck, we may find it doesn't even work really well over there. We'll adapt the best we can, but our number one goal right now is to move off of the more expensive hosting we're paying for and find a long-term viable home for the forums.

There is a possibility that once this is all over I may purchase a commercial forum software package and move away from the phpBB software we've used since 2003/2004. But that would be the final step in this lifecycle.
Jeff Garvas, President
Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Contrary to a popular belief when I brag about OFCC accomplishments I'm not looking for your thank you or personal recognition. I'd much prefer you send me an email telling me when you are going to get involved in doing what I've been doing since 1999. We are only as effective as we make ourselves. We need the next generation of OFCC to step to the plate.

Is that you?

To Contact Me: Use This Form and pick my name.
User avatar
jgarvas
OFCC Director
OFCC Director
Posts: 3163
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:35 pm
Location: Northern Summit County
Contact:

Re: Forums Update

Post by jgarvas »

Those of you who use the forums very frequently, reply to this post if you'd like to poke around an upgraded instance of the forums and see if they're working any differently.

I could use some group feedback on the upgrade.
Jeff Garvas, President
Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Contrary to a popular belief when I brag about OFCC accomplishments I'm not looking for your thank you or personal recognition. I'd much prefer you send me an email telling me when you are going to get involved in doing what I've been doing since 1999. We are only as effective as we make ourselves. We need the next generation of OFCC to step to the plate.

Is that you?

To Contact Me: Use This Form and pick my name.
User avatar
JustaShooter
OFCC Coordinator
OFCC Coordinator
Posts: 5800
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:08 pm
Location: Akron/Canton Area

Re: Forums Update

Post by JustaShooter »

jgarvas wrote:Those of you who use the forums very frequently, reply to this post if you'd like to poke around an upgraded instance of the forums and see if they're working any differently.

I could use some group feedback on the upgrade.
Count me in, I check in on the forums just about daily so I'd be happy to help.
Christian, Husband, Father
NRA Life Member
NRA Certified Range Safety Officer
NRA Certified Pistol & Rifle Instructor

Want to become more active with OFCC and help fight for your rights? Click Here!
User avatar
DOA33
OFCC Patron Member
OFCC Patron Member
Posts: 1165
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:46 am
Location: 40601

Re: Forums Update

Post by DOA33 »

I don't post often but I do check in daily.
Open Carry, shhh it's a dirty secret.
Brian D.
Posts: 16229
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 8:42 pm
Location: SW Ohio

Re: Forums Update

Post by Brian D. »

Yeah, okay, count me in for whatever it is you're talking about.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!

********************************************************************************
1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
User avatar
Sevens
OFCC Patron Member
OFCC Patron Member
Posts: 7526
Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 8:30 am
Location: Far East Side of CBus

Re: Forums Update

Post by Sevens »

I will also volunteer to look around and gripe! :D
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
carmen fovozzo
OFCC Patron Member
OFCC Patron Member
Posts: 19034
Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:08 am
Location: NEO

Re: Forums Update

Post by carmen fovozzo »

Yeah I'm in. Been a PITA for a long time.
Life is full of God given coincidences..
A MEMBER OF OFCC SINCE 2004...
Thanks for shopping at Charmin Carmens
pk47
OFCC Patron Member
OFCC Patron Member
Posts: 191
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2016 4:36 pm
Location: NE Ohio

Re: Forums Update

Post by pk47 »

I'll be glad to provide feedback. Thanks for the update notice, sounds like a good plan.

Upgrading something with 20 year old architecture is never simple - or smooth.
User avatar
Jim-in-Toledo
OFCC Patron Member
OFCC Patron Member
Posts: 1245
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 3:14 am
Location: If you can't figure it out, I'm not telling.

Re: Forums Update

Post by Jim-in-Toledo »

I am willing to look it over and see if I have any helpful thoughts.
"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life."
Robert Heinlein, Beyond This Horizon
I am the expert on my opinion.
And no one else's.
User avatar
evan price
Forum Janitor
Forum Janitor
Posts: 9044
Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 9:23 pm
Location: Westfield, Ohio

Re: Forums Update

Post by evan price »

Count me in
"20% accurate as usual, Morty."

Striking down evil with the mighty sword of teamwork and the hammer of not bickering!
Carpe Noctem- we get more done after 2 am than most people do all day.
EricTheBald
Posts: 191
Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:15 am

Re: Forums Update

Post by EricTheBald »

Sure. I like poking things.
-


I identify as Supreme Emperor of the 20 known Universes.
My preferred pronouns are: My Lord and Your Grace.


-
User avatar
jgarvas
OFCC Director
OFCC Director
Posts: 3163
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:35 pm
Location: Northern Summit County
Contact:

Re: Forums Update

Post by jgarvas »

Ok sorry for the delay

For those of you who were interested in checking out the new "look" check this out. Same user/password as you're used to here - but that version of the forums is about a week behind in posts. ANYTHING you post there will be deleted on a whim as part of the upgrade process. But feel free to make test posts and such.

https://temp.ohioccwforums.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Jeff Garvas, President
Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Contrary to a popular belief when I brag about OFCC accomplishments I'm not looking for your thank you or personal recognition. I'd much prefer you send me an email telling me when you are going to get involved in doing what I've been doing since 1999. We are only as effective as we make ourselves. We need the next generation of OFCC to step to the plate.

Is that you?

To Contact Me: Use This Form and pick my name.
Brian D.
Posts: 16229
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 8:42 pm
Location: SW Ohio

Re: Forums Update

Post by Brian D. »

I took a look there and didn't see a way to put other posters on ignore or a foes list or block them or whatever it's called these days. And honestly, I want to have that option if Carmen Fovozzo keeps trolling me with questions about the Columbus Ohio "high capacity" magazine ban.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!

********************************************************************************
1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
User avatar
jgarvas
OFCC Director
OFCC Director
Posts: 3163
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:35 pm
Location: Northern Summit County
Contact:

Re: Forums Update

Post by jgarvas »

Brian D. wrote:I took a look there and didn't see a way to put other posters on ignore or a foes list or block them or whatever it's called these days. And honestly, I want to have that option if Carmen Fovozzo keeps trolling me with questions about the Columbus Ohio "high capacity" magazine ban.
I'll look into that. Its probably in there and just in a new location. The upgrade to that version of phpBB is sort of mandatory in order to keeping the forums online. Long term, we may pick a new forum software package, but for right now I just want to upgrade them and move them to a less expensive hosting platform.
Jeff Garvas, President
Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Contrary to a popular belief when I brag about OFCC accomplishments I'm not looking for your thank you or personal recognition. I'd much prefer you send me an email telling me when you are going to get involved in doing what I've been doing since 1999. We are only as effective as we make ourselves. We need the next generation of OFCC to step to the plate.

Is that you?

To Contact Me: Use This Form and pick my name.
User avatar
pirateguy191
Posts: 11009
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:06 pm
Location: 44146

Re: Forums Update

Post by pirateguy191 »

I clicked on the link and got this. Is that a Russian hosting site?
Your connection is not private
Attackers might be trying to steal your information from temp.ohioccwforums.org (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards). Learn more
NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID
To get Chrome’s highest level of security, turn on enhanced protection
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." - Ronald Reagan

"When democracy turns to tyranny, the armed citizen still gets to vote." ~ Mike Vanderboegh

NRA member, NRA basic pistol instructor, DBACB
Post Reply