www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Forum Software Updates

We are currently preparing to upgrade the software used by The Byzantine Forum (it has been over six months since the last upgrade). A specific time has not been set, but it will occur when I have several hours available (upgrades generally take about a half hour but I always make sure I can spend several hours just in case the upgrade is not as smooth as expected).

Please be aware that The Byzantine Forum will be offline during the upgrade, and that during the first few days after the upgrade things may not be as smooth as usual (as we configure the new software).

We also expect to make a few changes to the forum organization in the coming weeks.

Thanks to everyone for making The Byzantine Forum one of the most successful forums on the internet that focuses upon Eastern Christianity. Thanks especially to the moderators who donate their time to keep the discussions charitable.

John

I'm very much aware of how long you need to spend running the Forum - none of it happens without a lot of input from the Admins and Mods.

My thanks to you all

The software upgrades are completed. Please let us know if you encounter any issues with the upgraded software.

Are you ready to tell us what is new?

Or what differences to expect?

I was wondering too

At the user level there are not a lot of new features. There are some (like better displays of Active Topics and a better search utility). A lot of the changes are to add features we will probably never use (subscriptions, more complicated nested forums, etc.) The major benefit for us should be in more efficient code and in easier administration.

Thank you.

And thank you for running this forum.

So far it seems to be running nicely on my MacBook with FF3 and Tiger - can't answer for the Leopard folk

The cookie clearing is gone, though. I've often needed it, as this laptop picks up its internet connection from various sources. If there's been a change, I remain logged in but (often) cannot post.

FWIW, I still have to log in exactly twice every time; I assuume this is about the cookies, too.

While I'm mentioning such things, is there a way to set the options so that new posts in subfora don't show in the count for the forum itself?

Thanks for everything

hawk

Dear hawk,

Go to the "My Stuff" scroll down menu in the blue bar above. The last option is entitled "cookies". It is not gone just moved.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+
Administrator

The site loads very slowly now for me. It sometimes takes a full minute to load the forum even though I have a cable modem. I am having no such issues on other sites.

FWIW, my experience is the same as that of Nigula Qian Zishi.

I havent had problems loading, but have experienced a bit of slowness in navigating between fora but, based on past experience with updates here and elsewhere, that type of issue is fairly common in the first week or so after upgrades. So, I expect that this, too, will pass.

Many years,

Neil

I'm still having major problems with uploading photos. I have resized the photos and I still recieve a java script error message. Why?

Ung

Ung,

I'm aware, from a tech forum, of some issues w/ photo uploads in the component package that we use for the directory - altho I haven't had problems in a long while, but I haven't seen any complaints about the main software having similar issues. It might explain, though, why the photo gallery has been somewhat devoid of new posts lately. I'll ask around in the tech forum if John doesn't have any ideas on the issue.

Many years,

Neil

Ah, the dreaded updates and the inevitable glitches that follow. And what's with having to open an extra screen to get smilies? I have a fairly new computer and broadband. Yet, the forum seems to lock up at times and I have to close the screen and open IE again. Also, when posting, it locks up and I have to exit and re-open the forum. When I start IE again I find the message actually posted. I'm sure Bill Gates is behind all this.

Charles who opened two screens to get the big grin.

Ung and the others,

Your issues have been noted, and we are seeing what the software manufacturer can give us to remedy the situations. Hopefully in the next day or so they can be addressed and fixed. We will keep you posted.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+
Administrator

Hmmm...no such problem here other than the smiley box used to be on the other side...I think!

As for the photo stuff Ung mentioned, well, I don't know how to post photos to begin with, so it doesn't make a difference to me--but then again, what do I know--I am just a 'dumb girl'!

O. Antoni,

Djakuju krasna!

Ung

Bless, Father,

Just to add to the list - I note that urls are not consistently posting in linkable form. I thought at first that it was a factor of folks not invoking the hyperlink feature, but I see at least one post in which 4 links were posted - not hyperlinked, straight web addys. Three of the four were in linkable form, the fourth appeared as text.

Just a moment ago, I was reading a post by Deacon Randy at

https://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbt.../1/CD_or_DVD_Divine_Liturgy_with_#UNREAD

in which this happened with the link he posted. I ordinarily manually hyperlink - from force of habit - but just pasted in the above, to see what happened. It is posting as a clickable link according to the preview feature. Very strange.

Many years,

Neil

Thanks for the issue list.

Slowness - I�ve seen the slowness myself (it comes and goes). When I get a chance I will run some of the maintenance scripts on the database. Unfortunately the Forum needs to be closed while I run the scripts and they can take several hours.

Foreign Language Characters � All the settings are correct to allow them, so there is something changed in the software. I�ve posted a query on the software maker�s forum for assistance.

Photos � I have no idea what the issue here is but will investigate.

URLs � The software maker�s forum notes issues with URLs (they did change the way they compose URLs with this upgrade). I am expecting a patch for this within a few weeks.

This is an item that I am experiencing that primarily affects guests (although I would like to have it back). On a menu bar below the top blue banner of the forum pages, the option "Active Topics" used to appear even before I logged in. It does not appear now unless I am logged in, however, even if I am not logged on, my former bookmark still works. It appears the item is gone from the menu for guests but the function is still permitted. Result: Non-members now do not have the convenience of the "Active Topic" menu selections as before unless they have a before-upgrade bookmark for it.

Ahh. Thanks.

And is the need to login twice to actually login normal?

hawk

Clear your cookies first, log out and then try the login. You are the first one that has had that issue reported.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+
Administrator

I was truly supprised at how the search engine has changed
It is more thorough and much easier. Thanks!

The site is very slow to load for me. My ISP just did what Rogers did in Ontario - when a site fails to load, there is a standard error screen (I think it is Error 401). But my ISP has now co-opted that standard error screen and as byzvath.org is slow to load, it times out and my ISP screen tells me that byzcath.org does not exist. I found out that I can opt out of this "big brother" move and I can again visit byzcath.org (although it still loads slowly, but not as slow as a week ago).

Father Michael

Father Michael and any others,

Please read this. Unfortunately from what we have heard from the server operator that until the move is complete and all the ISPs reset their DNS (which can take up to a day after the move is completed), this will be a frequent problem. Until then patience!

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+
Administrator