I might have been a little quiet on the forum lately, but that's just because I have been very busy behind the scenes! More specifically, I have been testing phpBB3.1 - woooo!
PhpBB3.1 is the new version of the software running this forum and I must say it's pretty amazing. They might just as well have called it 4.0, it's that much more advanced, and different. Different especially behind the scenes that is, for actual users like yourselves it will be totally familiar, but with better speed and functionality. There will be changes to how uploads work (easier mostly), better navigation, better media integration,... And we'd be running on the latest and greatest, which will be especially nice for your admin friends who are sometimes running this forum from their phones.
Oh yes, and we will be introducing a new theme! Really! The current one is too much of a headache with really sh*&^*% support and looks pretty wonky in places as some of you have rightfully made clear. I want only the best for this forum. So I got the best. And it's awesome. Really nice, fully responsive, fast, solid, clean code, you name it. It rocks, and would make the current forum look totally ancient.
But - and here's where you come in - because it's all so different it means that certain modifications, additions, functionality changes of the current version might not, or won't work with the new one. So if we would upgrade now, we would lose some of that. For one, the email digests system would be out. But then there are not many people using that, it seems. Also, potentially (but in that case temporarily), the thanks system. There might be additional hiccups here and there, but tests show that the new phpBB and the new theme are very stable so I don't foresee any outages or major annoyances.
Rest assured all this will be backed up like crazy. Worst case possible is reverting back to the current state. I'll be working with completely separate databases so nothing will ever be lost.
So cast your votes! Upgrade soon, yay or nay? If yay, I am planning the upgrade in the second half of February. I'll try to answer any questions or concerns you may have as best I can, and you may of course change your vote accordingly.
Also, I don't want to spoil the surprise for everyone, but if there are some of you who really want a sneak peek of the new look before deciding, just PM me...
( hehe )