Forum reformat

[electra225]

Well, guys, the time has come. The spambots are trying to run us off. They are playing havoc with the server. Those of you who are on ARF know that they have a full-time computer guru on staff so they can continue to run PhPbb software and still remain on the Internet. I can't do that. So the forum will need to be re-formatted so we can get rid of the spambots and increase our security. There will be added features we can now have. There will be growing pains like with anything new, but we will try to keep you all informed as this plays out. Mark is working on it now, so we will know something before too long. Our current forum software is not secure, no new security is being written into it, and it's time to either let the forum die or make some changes so we can continue on.

[stbasil]

Thanks to all you guys for your work!

[Conelrad]

Endeavor to persevere, as they say.

D

[Hi-Fi-Mogul]

No one works for free, so let us know what these costs
are when you know.

I'm ready to contribute some simoleons.

Thanks for the update !

[TC Chris]

Me too. WE can't all share the work, but we can toss in some financial support.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Thank you all. We are a little ahead of that at this point. We need to be aware that there will be growing pains during this procedure. I can't stress that enough. The nonsense and stress from when we rehosted the forum was enough to make me have weak knees thinking about going thru that again. Remember that you may have to make adjustments to your computer so as to be compatible with the new software. Clearing cookies and cache, that sort of thing. Mark said something about everybody having to change their password. There will be enhanced security at registration. Locations and a valid email address will be required before the system will let you complete registration. What this forum will require more than monetary contributions will be posting. We need at least 20 posts a day to maintain our position on search engines. I know we have other priorities in life rather than participating on an internet forum, but if we want the forum to exist and grow, we need to use it. What I'd like to have as a new feature is the ability to send out mass emails to the members so we can keep in touch with some of the members who don't post very often. I think that is good manners, if nothing else. The new forum software, as I understand it, will be WordPress-based. That, apparently, makes it not only secure, but more flexible. I'd like to have a real Gallery and the ability to post videos on the forum, short ones, so that if you are having an issue repairing something, you can share what is actually going on with the forum. Put like a five-minute limit on videos. Of course, a concern about that is inappropriate content.......

We want to add whatever features the membership would actually use. I hope we can have a good discussion about this in the coming days and weeks. Thank you all for your input and for your participation on the forum.

As a side note and to be really, REALLY honest is that I am more concerned about losing members during the transition than I am about the cost. I felt that communication during the forum rehost left something to be desired. I will do whatever I can to make sure communication is better this time. I hope we can all work together to make sure we don't lose anybody.

[Doug]

Thanks for you time and work..
Videokarma.org
Is down do to the bots
They been working on it
Doug