Is there anything in the pipeline

[reefnjunkie]

So I could have typed that was a mute point huh

[Emerald525]

 

I completely agree - I already approached him actually as I needed a fellow admin. He respectfully declined. Perhaps he'd like to be head-honcho?

 

 

Cmon Jeremy just be a part of the admin support! You can do it!

 

Brad have been meaning to ask... WTH is that odd smiley face you have in your signature anyway!(scratch)

[reefnjunkie]

That's my WTH smiley- I wanted to change it but I cant find away to edit my signature anymore

 

I want to go back to this but Im indept

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n563463[/ATTACH]

[Emerald525]

That's my WTH smiley- I wanted to change it but I cant find away to edit my signature anymore

 

I want to go back to this but Im indept

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n563463[/ATTACH]

 

 

LMAO! I think that is "elluding" to another comment I made! (laugh) I figured out how to edit signatures but I forgot now! You do realize(scratch) once we figure out this new platform another upgrade is going to occur!(laugh)

[Micah]

That's my WTH smiley- I wanted to change it but I cant find away to edit my signature anymore

 

I want to go back to this but Im indept

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n563463[/ATTACH]

 

 

Go here: http://www.pnwmas.org/settings/account

 

Click "Edit Post Signature"

 

Enjoy.

[reefnjunkie]

 

 

Go here: http://www.pnwmas.org/settings/account

 

Click "Edit Post Signature"

 

Enjoy.

 

That's so frustrating , I guess I am inept-

 

I thought I clicked that tab

[TheClark]

 

I completely agree - I already approached him actually as I needed a fellow admin. He respectfully declined. Perhaps he'd like to be head-honcho?

 

What??!!

 

I must have missed that offer!!

 

Seriously though, the plan is solid, Micah is willing to help. Unless there is another plan LETS DO IT!!

 

[Micah]

 

What??!!

 

I must have missed that offer!!

 

Seriously though, the plan is solid, Micah is willing to help. Unless there is another plan LETS DO IT!!

 

Hmm.. Maybe I am thinking of somebody else.... I could have sworn it was you! Oh well. Jeremy for admin! hehe

[vanz]

I thought the squatch was also part of the admin team. Where'd he go?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[matty]

I thought the squatch was also part of the admin team. Where'd he go?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The woods.

[pledosophy]

Seriously though, the plan is solid, Micah is willing to help. Unless there is another plan LETS DO IT!!

 

Like I said to start with... I'm working on it . Nice to have folks talk about it too.

 

Right now we are kinda in the proposal process with IPB. We asked them for stuff, they came back with a quote (No one has heard from Thomas since, I think the poor man fainted. Can someone check on him (nutty)(clap)(whistle)). Then I asked them for some more stuff beyond what they normally do. I basically gave them a list of the problems we have now that the members have reported and asked how much if any of that they could fix for us. My hope was to just have the pro's do it, so the transfer starts out all nice like. They said it would take a couple days and they would get back to me. I heard back from the tech who would handle us and he was going out for the Holiday but would get us a quote when he returns.

 

Once we get the quote we will have to take a vote in the BoD to approve the spending on the money. Then write back and schedule a time.From the time of accepting their offer to getting the work on the books is usually within the week. Our site would be down for a coupla hours.

 

I have inquired with a couple other people to see if they're are less expensive but equally good options that would get us to the same place. The guy I was hoping would help us out seems to be on holiday for the last 10 days, but if he is willing to help us out we can compare the quotes.

 

The other companies I have contacted to get a quote from are not interested in helping a forum of our small size. Just not enough money for them to take the job.

 

I thought the squatch was also part of the admin team. Where'd he go?

 

Good question, I wish I knew.

 

I know he was having some computer problems, then we kinda stopped hearing from him. I've always like Derick, he was my first choice to add to the Admin team in Sept, and if he wanted to come back and had the time I'd make him an Admin today if the BoD was still cool with it.

 

Since Sept 9th or so it has just been Micah and I doing the Admin work (Admin role for me has been things like change user groups. Micah did all the heavy lifting). Right now I am the only Admin. No one else has volunteered to help out.

 

The lack of participation is another great reason for us to transfer to the IP Board. With the transfer we will really only need a forum admin. That skill set is easier to find than a Micah for example.

 

 

[reefnjunkie]

Thanks for the update

[pledosophy]

Thanks for the update

 

Anytime.

 

Usually it seems no one is interested in this kinda stuff so. I think it's cool people are.

[goldenbasketreef]

Plan to fix the forum comes with a cost.

Everyone ever have an idea about the cost for either options, rolled back or migrate to new.

May be this cost issue that has been putting a break on progress.

 

[Emerald525]

 

Like I said to start with... I'm working on it . Nice to have folks talk about it too.

 

Right now we are kinda in the proposal process with IPB.

Once we get the quote we will have to take a vote in the BoD to approve the spending on the money. Then write back and schedule a time.From the time of accepting their offer to getting the work on the books is usually within the week. Our site would be down for a coupla hours.

 

I have inquired with a couple other people to see if they're are less expensive but equally good options that would get us to the same place. The guy I was hoping would help us out seems to be on holiday for the last 10 days, but if he is willing to help us out we can compare the quotes.

 

The other companies I have contacted to get a quote from are not interested in helping a forum of our small size. Just not enough money for them to take the job.

 

 

The lack of participation is another great reason for us to transfer to the IP Board. With the transfer we will really only need a forum admin. That skill set is easier to find than a Micah for example.

 

 

Really not trying to sound negative. I would very much like the Ferrari instead of the old reliable nissan that we have been using. This just sounds expensive to me. I am no IT expert but in discussions with Chief about the IT costs were the bulk of our expenditures and Chief did a good job of getting us something that was reasonable. I believe it was only around 400 for a year for the shared browser that we use. It for the most part worked well. The biggest thing was the lack of security and not backing things up and I believe Micah solved that problem which is greatly appreciated because that was one thing that was a pain as a moderator was all the spammers.

 

I think the members are getting used to the new look of the forum and like I said there are some features I really like such as chat and now that I know how to do it loading pictures actually seems easier.

 

The biggest thing is most of us cannot access this site from our phones easily which I feel is the biggest reason traffic is down so much now. It think many of the bugs are fixed and it is easier to use but I still can only use it from my desktop effectively and only when I use google chrome as a browser.

 

What would be the costs to go back to a different version of Vbulletin?

 

Is there a possibility to get support so that this upgraded version is more compatible with people's smart phones.

 

I am just looking at the cheapest and easiest fixes

 

 

[pledosophy]

I'll try to answer the questions directly before I go into my long winded explanation. Please keep in mind, I am not a really good written communicator and if my attempt to translate tech speak into fish site speak falls short, asking for clarification before the stoning would be appreciated. I am doing my best. Doing as much due diligence as possible. This is a large learning curve for most of the Admins and BoD, and after the last conversion, the hesitations towards the next step are with merit IMO.

 

1. What would be the costs to go back to a different version of Vbulletin?

 

Unfortunately there is no "path for reverse migration", as they say. So basically once we loaded up to this, there is no going back, unless we jump in the time machine and loose a significant amount of time here on the site. We've done that once this year, and while we'd only be loosing a few months and not not a few years, the consensus among the BoD seems to be that we'd like to leave 2012 in 2012.

 

2. Is there a possibility to get support so that this upgraded version is more compatible with people's smart phones.

 

Short answer is No. To my understanding and some more techy person might be able to describe it more eloquently, the apps we use to look at the forum are independent from the makers of the software we use to run our forum. There is nothing we can do to our software that affects the phone viewing software, other than change our software.

 

I am sure in time that companies like taptalk, will make a forum viewer that supports what we are using now, but when that time period is, no one can say. I do know that taptalk and others similar to it rely on users to make money. So I would guess that if I ran taptalk I would make sure that my software was compatible with the largest providers out there. The plan to switch us to IPB puts us in their cross hairs.

 

I might not need to say this but I will, the Admins and BoD had no idea that this error with V-Bulletin and taptalk would occur.

 

3. I am just looking at the cheapest and easiest fixes

 

Us too. In part just to revive our Treasurer Thomas... (I just tease Thomas cuz I like him. I'm hoping he is like Beetlejuice and if I keep saying his name he will pop up). In addition to cheap and easy I am sure we all want fixes that are fixes and not just band aids. Our forum is held together with duct tape right now, liberally applied duct tape, but none the less not a permanent long term sustainable solution.

 

Chief did a good job of getting us something that was reasonable. I believe it was only around 400 for a year for the shared browser that we use. It for the most part worked well. The biggest thing was the lack of security and not backing things up and I believe Micah solved that problem which is greatly appreciated because that was one thing that was a pain as a moderator was all the spammers.

 

Chief did an amazing job for a very long time. Micah has done an amazing job as well. I had discussions with Admins about moving servers back in August, this is not a new thing. At the time when we server shopped we could not find anything comparable to what we have now for close to the price point. Chief really did get us grandfathered in at a very good price on what we are currently using . As times change so does the marketplace and new products come out. IPB is one of those and because of the quantity that they host, the price is less expensive monthly than we pay now,

 

Security issues and backups need to be continually maintained. We don't have anyone that is qualified that is volunteering to do that, and as it turns out we might not "need" one. Although is anyone wants to volunteer to be an Admin, shoot me a PM. More help is always needed and right now if I get hit by a bus, were kinda screwed, so not a great place to be in.

 

The spam on the site is way down the last couple years, something I don't miss moderating at all.

 

Long winded (I know above was my short version (nutty)DOH! )

 

To continue your analogy, because I love analogies, our reliable nissan has clunked out and the patch job that has been done by the mechanic is not going to hold for long. In fact the mechanic all the other mechanics said was the best, said our nissan might drive us home, but it's time for a new ride. The mechanic can't fix it anymore, and the last 3 mechanics we had before all said, this thing is a clunker. The BoD has been looking at a used chevy malibu that comes with a full maintenance package for the life of the car. Won't get that girls, but will drive us from A to B.

 

There is some separation between software and server that we have had before, what we are moving to would be more of a package deal, that would include both.

 

You have a good memory, the current cost of the server is right about $400. In addition to that we pay for another account to automate 1 of our back ups to online. That account costs another hundred a year. We do have to pay every time we upgrade the software, that was a couple of hundred this year, but it is not a reoccurring expense. Plus we pay domains, etc. The total cost to operate the forum in that capacity is right around $500 annually, plus any outside things that might "pop" up. I am being pretty general here, I could be off a little bit in each way, Thomas can provide the exact numbers if it is felt necessary.

 

Part of the problem that we currently have is that our back ups for the most part are not being done on our own server. For now people are lending us space out of the goodness of their heart, and that goodness has been fueled by Micah's generosity. While it is an O.K. short term solution, it is not a long term solution for us to take up space for free places. My original idea was that we would buy a few hard drives for the club and then have two people in charge of backing up the site on a rotating schedule (two people so in case of catastrophe we don't loose both backups). But as it turns out, that is not an option either.

 

So one of the problems we are facing is paying for a secure place to store the backups, and one that can be automated.

 

The second problem we are facing is that we really don't have anyone with the skills that has volunteered to do all this work for us. I can fill in for now, but I am not an IT guy at all. Knowing my own skill set tells me, we need to get some help here. While the people we have can take care of the day to day stuff, the amount of work that goes into maintaining a site on the back end, things most users never even think about, is more then the current volunteers are capable and willing to do.

 

So our second problem is that we need someone with a particular skill set to manage the site.

 

We also have many other problems right now, the biggest which you mentioned is the site being hard to navigate on a phone or tablet.

 

The way IPB works is it offers several plans. The plan we are looking at costs $30 a month, so $360 a year, which is actually cheaper than what we are paying now. If our site grows the monthly cost will go up, depending on how much bandwidth we are using. (right now the $30 price is for having an average of 40 users online. If we bump up to having an average of $65 users online, that would increase the plan price to $45 monthly)

 

The benefit to this plan besides the cost savings include:

 

1. Backups are maintained by the host and in case of site failure the host will reboot the site for us. So if what happens in September were to happen again, 3 of our guys wouldn't be scrambling to spend a hundred hours in a week trying to get the site back up. It's included in our package.

 

2. The package we are looking at comes with an Admin for security/network issues. So the work in blocking spammers, and plugging holes is done by their professional, not our guy.

 

Basically for the last 8 years we have been relying (I say abusing with all the love in the world) guys like Chief, who step up, jump in and make it all happen. So in this transition we would be relying on a professional to do this for us instead. This package we are looking at solves two of are largest behind the scenes problems, and it's cheaper then what we pay now monthly.

 

In addition to that since IPB is one of the larger forum providers in the world, app makers like Taptalk are very dedicated to keep up with their changes, were as what we run now, not so much.

 

As I read about it, the whole thing actually sounds to good to be true. But as I dig into it, contact Admins of other sites for their experience, visit their forums, it does seem that IPB is pretty legit. I'll admit there has been some learning curve for me, as there would be for most of us trying to research this, so if anyone else wants to dig around your input is very welcome. I still feel pretty strongly that we need to continue to keep our own back up copy of the forum in a separate location, but that has been paid for by the site now and is good through next October, so that decision will ultimately be someone else's.

 

There will be a cost to have a professional migrate the site over for us, that quote was for $650. That is a one time expense.There will be additional expenses for anything else we have them do to the site, those are charged hourly. Since they handle this particular software all day long (one of the largest in the world), they assure me they are very speedy in their work. I have not heard back with a quote for the list I gave them.

 

 

 

[TheClark]

I think IPB takes things that people are volunteering to do and move them over to the professionals.

 

We call it ‘managed services’ and ‘managed service providers’ sometimes in the industry.

 

Since we are doing the analogy thing, my company is a managed service provider in the printing industry.

 

We install, update, fix bugs, add new features, test them, maintain backward compatibilty, run an international 1-800 number for support that is fully staffed, etc. As a result it allows printers to focus more on printing, less on our software. We handle the software issues, they handle printing.

 

To replicate this service in house, the printing company would have to maintain a large group of full time employees (software engineers, quality and support, project managers) and all the expense that goes along with it. This expense would far exceed the cost to engage us as an MSP. In addition, the MSP has seen most issues that crop up because they work not with one customer, but many. So a problem seen in one place goes into the knowledge base and leaves the MSP better prepared to handle problems from the largest, to the smallest customer.

 

If it were my forum, moving to a managed service would be worth it. I would want to focus on PNWMAS, not patches, and hacks and software versions. I don't see any of that in the PNWMAS mission statement. I bet it is all over the IPB mission statement though. We can focus on what we are good at, and IPB can focus on their business, a win-win on paper.

 

All that said an MSP approach has to be cost effective, and fortunately it looks like it is quite comparable.

 

Lastly, the public beta thing Micah brought up is critical! Letting the group test drive as a whole and vote on the move makes people feel like their opinion matters. Kind of the life cereal thing, try it you may like it. It might be a pleasant surprise to all how good things can be with this move. Or, it could be a disaster, but at least people have a chance before crossing another 'no turning back' threshold.

 

Based on all this, from my perspective, moving to an MSP model makes allot of sense. Is IPB the best forum / MSP bundle? I have no idea, but am interested to find out.