Software Update is imminent!!

[LouisWu]

I received word today from Simple Machines Forums that a new release of the operating software we use here is available, and I will be installing it over the next 24 to 48 hours. I'm giving everyone fair warning that I do not know what the impact will be of this change. It may require re-authorization of members, or anything else.

It will be more important than ever to report problems immediately in the "Report Problems Here" forum. I will work to address anything that comes up, but this should result in a net improvement in the way the system operates. Many of the errors that have been unsolvable to day will hoefully go away. A lot of the limitations that we bagan with here in the Software should be improved very shortly.

It is entirely possible that sometime in the next day, you will try to log in to Clarkblog.org, and will only find a Test Screen. Do not panic. If I have to take the site down for any reason during the update, the Test Screen is exactly what you should see. It means everything is under control, and please check back later. You will know when we are done, when the site is accessable again.

I will keep everyone posted on progress.

Thank you for your patience and your support of Clarkblog.org

Louis

[LouisWu]

To update our members, the planned upgrade did not take place as we had hoped. As it turns out that was a good thing because almost as soon as the software update was released, many users reported a new set of bugs in the update itself.

I was notified yesterday that a new upgrade has been released that supposedly fixes those bugs. The Principals at Clarkblog.org have agreed to wait and see if any more errors pop up before we risk compromising the site with seriously flawed software fixes.

I believe that it is possible to have our upgrading done by no later than the first week of January, and that is the target date we are going to set, with the understanding that further unanticipated delays may cause another adjustment of the end date.

In the meantime, I will be conducting Form Maintenance, and a general re-arranging of the chat rooms here at Clarkblog. I am making room at Chief's request specifically for the Columbia Crossing Project discussion room and you may look for that change sometime today.

Thank You for your patience and continued support of Clarkblog.org .

Louis Wu
Administrator

[Chief]

Upgrade Day has finally arrived!!

Louis advises me that the site will go down sometime this afternoon for an undetermined period of time. If you try to log in today, and get a Test Screen, know that all is well, and check back later on.

Thanks for your patience.

Chief

[LouisWu]

The site has been successfully upgraded to the latest version of Simple Machines Forum software.

It is more important than ever to immediately report any error messages or other problems to myself or Chief via private message.

The button set that is installed now is different than the set we had this morning. We can go back to the other set of buttons if we need to, but we have elected to evaluate this set for now. Please give Chief and I feedback on the buttons as well.

Thanks for you patience, and your support of clarkblog.org

Louis Wu
Administrator

[Chief]

I gotta say that you boys did an excellent job! Many thanks to Justin, our IT for hire and his technical expertise around SMF software, for helping Louis get the details ironed out and the job done seamlessly.

The most obvious improvement is that the latest spammer to sign up doesn't appear at the top of the Forum with their creative names any more. You should see a Security Warning in RED when you log back in for the first time, but that is perfectly normal with the new software.

And as the members have no doubt noticed, we can finally host documents on the site in Adobe Acrobat. That makes things tremendously easier, and opens up some new ways we can use the site as you have no doubt seen in the last few days.

As Louis said, it is more important than ever to report problems and error messages. Send me a Private Message or post a comment on this thread.

Thanks again, and well done!

Chief