We're moving. (edit: but not for a while)

[White Rabbit]

Some of you probably read in Other where I was talking about how Powweb recently made a policy change that has crippled our site (although you won't know it from the front-end) and many other sites. Despite two weeks of constant arguing with them, I'm getting nowhere.

The new company that bought them, Endurance, has got to have the worst technical support I have ever seen. 95% of the time I've talked to them about the new policy change, the tech didn't really understand what I was talking about and kept giving me canned answers from the higher ups. It's been infuriating like you guys wouldn't believe.

So, I give up. We're moving to HostGator.

It's going to be a miserable pain in the ass to move all 10,000 files of this site and the databases, but Powweb really hasn't left me with much choice. You can expect the forum to be offline for a few days (it will actually be online where you can read it, but the forums will be locked so no one can post). I can't really give you a timeframe on when that will happen, though, because right now I'm just concerned with getting all the files moved to HostGator and getting them to work, since everything will have to be reconfigured and HostGator probably uses different versions of PHP and mySQL.

Anyway. That's where we're at. It's probably going to be a little rough around here for a while.

P.S. The new host gives us that chat room you guys have been on me about for the last two years.

[HMndnproud]

Well, good luck with moving. I wish there was a way we could make it easier for you, but you know we will all be there after the move.

[White Rabbit]

P.S. The new host gives us that chat room you guys have been on me about for the last two years.

I spoke too soon. They do offer chat room software, HOWEVER, they also said if we use it on a shared hosting plan that we're likely to get kicked off the host really, really quickly. I guess the chat software is only intended for people with a dedicated hosting plan with them, which is not what we have (because it's really f-ing expensive). I should've realized that, though, because I've never heard of a shared host that was cool with chat software.

Sorry

[White Rabbit]

Okay, so I made a major decision about the site today. I was going to move the site to HostGator immediately because of all the stuff that's broken on the site right now. However, nothing is broken from the front-end. For example, the Gallery looks normal to you guys right now, but I'm unable to add pictures to it normally.

I've also been working on a super-secret Underground Ozarks 2.0 that's going to be utterly fucking awesome and with all kinds of new features that blow every UE (and most non-UE) sites right out of the water. Powweb broke the new site when I was about 1/2 finished with it, though, and I haven't been able to work on it for weeks.

So, I decided that rather move the site right now, I'm just going to leave it at Powweb and start working on the new site at HostGator. The only thing that will get updated here is the blog, which I will continue to post to when I have time. The rest of the time, I'll keep working on the new site at HostGator. When it's finished, I'll flip our domain to HostGator.

But here's the biggest part. I made another big decision about the forum. Personally, I've never been all that happy with it. Phpbb, our forum software, is a bloated, ugly piece of code. It's a pain in the ass to modify, to customize, and some things you just can't square with it. For example, I hate the way the attachment modification works and looks, but there's nothing to be done about that because it's SO overly complicated. And that screen you get in between posts? There's literally no way to get rid of that.

So, I'm gonna do what I always wanted to do but never had a reason to do, and code our own custom forum from scratch. It's going to be a huge, HUGE pain in the ass, but in the long run it's going to make it SO much easier to integrate with the new Underground Ozarks 2.0. Originally, I was going to have to integrate it with phpbb, and that is a mess to do. But, I promise you'll all get your same usernames, and I'll find a way to migrate all the posts from phpbb to the new forum.

And this has been your State of the Site Address.

[Willard]

So when the new site is up can we blow up the old site?

[Underdog]

Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. Good luck! That is going to be a huge amount of work.

[dawgchain]

so... when the new one launches, will the old one be accessable? I knew a few sites before that changed forums, but anyonbe linked to the old one could still post there, creating a confusing list of "where the hell did my post go?" and "where did you say you posted that?"

[White Rabbit]

IF I do this and code our own forum from scratch, all the old posts on this forum will get moved to the new forum. That'll actually be one of the easier problems.

[dawgchain]

no no, i mean, after the new one opens people kep posting here, thinking they are on the new one. like, I've got the forum bookmarked, so out of habit i just click and go, and none of my postes get read because i am on the obsolete board.

[White Rabbit]

Ah, okay, I understand now. That won't be a problem. I'm going to close the obsolete forum at the same time I open the new one. So, there won't be any posting on the obsolete board. If you've got it bookmarked for the old one, you'll either be redirected to the new forum or it will direct you back to the new front page (where you'll be able to click on the forum link).

[dawgchain]

ok, thats cool...