Forum Changelog

[Floris]

Oh boy, this is going to be a little bit complicated ~ but if you are one of those people that want to know what's going on behind the scenes, .. this is the thread for you. Feel free to reply to any post, ask questions, or give suggestions.

 

[Floris]

February 18th, 2017:

- Came to a consensus with Nix about running a community in 2017.

- Came to a consensus with Mikey about running the wetalk tv community again in 2017.

- Made the decision to re-start the old "creations" community one way or the other.

- Found the 2012 backup files for the wetalk network (the collective of the creations/vbulletin/xenforo, etc sites) (sql/www)

- Verified integrity of the SQL database, and the XenForo 1.0.x license, and the community (internal) data.

- Started testing the mail service internally, no satisfying results.

 

[Floris]

February 19th, 2017:

- Rented a VPS for a few months.

- Decided on using the omgboards.com domain and pointed the host to the IP of the VPS.

- We went the LAMP way for the VPS. Worked with Mikey on configuring everything.

- Got the test site running.

- Set up the reverse DNS from IP back to the hostname.

- Finished phase 1 of 3 of tweaking the VPS configuration.

- Successfully imported the SQL database.

- Successfully imported the WWW files.

- Configured the forum software (XenForo 1.0.x) to work with the new 2017 setup.
Note: yes, the site was down from January 1st, 2012 to February 2017.
Note: yes, that means Floris' Community version 7 is now considered to be version 8.

- Mikey added to the Community Funds to help cover the upgrade cost of the XenForo license (1.5.12)

- Continued testing the mail service internally, no stable success. Looking into alternatives.

- Created a default OMGBoards theme to fix some older template customization issues.

- Made sure the community is not active, and turned off registration as well.

- Removed the -dev- site and pushed the -test- site to what I consider to be an almost working version 8.0.
Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 001, 02-19-2017 (creations -> wetalk, xenforo 1.0 restore)

 

[Floris]

February 20th, 2017:

- Upgraded the forum software to the latest build.

- Upgraded the VPS configuration to better support the PHP output caching to improve performance.

- Upgraded the VPS configuration to better support SSL/TLS for the website.

- Did some internal performance testing for caching and secure browsing.
Note: Successful, enabled.

- Moved the -live- site to APC caching.

- Moved the -live- site to load as https making the main url of our community: https://omgboards.com/

- Added a rule to automatically redirect http traffic to https, and rewrite www. to www-less url.

- Removed the -test- site and pushed the -live- site to what I consider to be a working version 8.0.
Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 002, 02-19-2017 (wetalk -> omgboards, xenforo 1.5 upgrade)

- Made a complete backup of the SQL and WWW onsite as well as offsite. For testing purposes.

- Started internal -dev- setup for upcoming community merge. VPS is holding up.

- Started internal -test- setup to stress test the VPS and spread server load.

- Received the Offtopic community files from Mikey (SQL/WWW) and prepared a test import.

- Removed the -dev- version and synced the -test- version for test import of the Offtopic community.

- Tests were successful and immediately did a -live- import into version 8.0 build 002.

- Started phase 1 of 3 of post-import cleanup (successfully) and incremented internal version.
Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 003, 02-20-2017 (offtopic -> omgboards, post-import)
Note: Rebuilding caches, counters, and other stuff.

- Removed internal -dev- and -test- servers. We just have -live- 8.0 build 003 right now.

 

[Floris]

February 21th, 2017:

- Created The Library to store the archives of pre and post 2017 content that we're removing from the open forums (but you can still see)

- Changed the width of the forums to 1024 on the default OMG style.

- Merged a few 'this' -> 'this' and 'that' -> 'that' forums into each other and moved them to the archive.

- Created a 'Meet & Greet' forum, and a and 'Questions Corner' forum inside the OMG boards category.

- Added a 'Private' category for 'staff' forums and 'private archive', and limited access to the administrators.

- Moved a bit more private threads away from public view inside the private archives.

- Rebuild all the forum caches and counters after all this moving around.

- Discussed the forum structure and content with Nix to prepare for some bigger changes.

- Stumbled into a known issue: Join date got overwritten for some members, but we can fix this (just contact me).

- Another test with fixing email, much more successful.

[edit]

- A lot of empty forums have been removed.

- Another step has been made to restructure the forums.

- Some private forums permissions and usergroups have been reviewed

- Mikey looked into adding some styles and smilies.

 

[Floris]

February 23rd, 2017:

- Mikey: Uploading attachments to threads and conversations can now be around 6 MB.

- Created a few more forums and merged a few old ones together.

- Moved more 'really obsolete' discussions into the private forums.

- Mikey: Tweaked server configuration for better board performance.

- Mikey: Reviewed a few styles for the board.

- Added a semi-private "Area 51" forum that requires certain profile conditions (you automatically get upgraded if you hit them).

- Mikey: Looked into "Area 51" user promotions.

- Discussed with Mikey and Nix about the 'new' forum rules. A public list will be published #soon.

- Reviewing (better) caching options for better board browsing performance.

- Added option to the frontpage to quickly start a new discussion by clicking a small pencil icon.

- Removed the old-fashioned 'subscribe to rss feed' option from the frontpage.

- Started phase 2 of 3 of post-import cleanup (successfully) and incremented internal version.
Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 004, 02-23-2017 (forum-content-cleanup, post-import)
Note: Rebuilding caches, counters, and other stuff again.

- I have run optimize and repair on the SQL database to prevent possible post-import corruption, etc.

- Costs so far have been for the domains, the hosting, the mail service, and software licenses, approximately 150 euro, and counting.

- Considering a donation button, sponsor options, and adsense to cover yearly expenses, will discuss internally.

- OMG Mail is finally operating as desired, I am kinda considering this to be 'reliable' now. Fingers crossed.

- Published a public request to social networks to find an early alpha/beta tester.

 

[Floris]

February 25th, 2017:

- Finished phase 3 of 3 almost, post-import.

- Finished merging and renaming most forums, so they make more sense.

- Moved most obsolete or archivable stuff to the public archive in the Library.

- Moved almost all private discussions out of public view to the private archive in the Library.

- Finally put the omgboards.com logo on the default style, instead of it saying 'xenforo'.

- Decided against importing the xenfans.com board into omg (for now, for reasons).

- Final email test completed, it seems to be reliable, so we're ONE step closer to going 'live' with the site.

- Decided against user-promotions to gain access to restricted forums. Users reset to 'registered'.

- Duplicate usergroups and their permissions have been reset; everybody except the admins are 'registered'.

- Did some maintenance on the SQL database and went bug-hunting. We have a new show-stopper with attachment rebuilding.

- Realised it is Friday night and there's only so much we can do, and called it a day. Serious bug fixing continues tomorrow. But I can't wait to open up the forums to some testers.

Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 005, 02-25-2017 (forum-content-cleanup, pre-going-live)

 

[Floris]

February 26th, 2017:

- Found an issue with the processing of attachments, looking into it.

- Email is still holding up, this makes us ready for a March 1 release.

- Sticky threads reviewed (and/or moved away) from the public forums.

- Cleaned up the user promotions, usergroups, etc. Tidying up one more time.

- Tweaked the OMGB logo a little bit, so it's a tiny bit more friendly on mobile.

- Moved the Starwars forums to the public archive, upon request we can move content back to the public eye.

- Finalizing our forum structure and their titles.

- We have an internal todo list, I went through it and did the tasks that I could do.

- Final stage of smilies testing, I think it needs a bit more double checking, I noticed some missing ones.

- Had a discussion about accepting signatures or not, I have not made a final decision yet.
Note: Considering a- completely off, b- off by default with option for members to turn it on.

- Decided against special usergroups right now, and put focus on making awesome content and friendships first.
Note: Board policy right now is like this: Private content: Staff, Public content: Registered.
Note: Future additional usergroups is a thing, not right now.

- Created some content for the 'ask a question' forum, will slowly change over time.

- Discussed the board policy for 'rules', basically: 18 years of age and older, so we don't have to be fully family friendly. But only for incidentally swearing, etc. We want people to be respectful towards others, behave, and listen to the staff who have final say. Should be simple - but we will have a page with a list of rules.

- Went through the backend 'options' page, I think I've configured everything to our liking.

Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 006, 02-26-2017 (forum-content-cleanup, pre-going-live)

 

[Floris]

February 27th, 2017:

- Discussed when to open the forums, #soon

- Enabled the extended post rating feature, enabled userbar below profile in post messages.

- Upgraded the VPS OS to the latest version to fix a known issue.

- Fixed an attachments issue.

- Turned off the content tagging feature (might return in the future)

- Mikey: Finalized the smilies package.

- Renamed a few categories and forums to have more 'friendly' and less 'techy' titles.

- Increased attachment thumbnails from 125 + old settings to a new 'everything' is 200px.

- Increased the default font of XenForo because it is freakin' small to something that's easier on the eyes.

- Sub-forums are now listed on the forum list.

Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 007, 02-27-2017 (forum-content-cleanup, pre-going-live)

 

[Floris]

March 1st, 2017:

- OMG it's March! We've done some great work on the site. Geesh, I wish we could open it up already.

- Renamed a few more forums and their descriptions.

- Working out the way we want the new like system (post ratings)

- Preparing to make some final changes to some obvious features.

- Ready for our first beta test.

- Category order and the order of the forums within have been discussed (and changed)

Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 008, 04-01-2017 (forum-content-cleanup, pre-going-live)

 

[Floris]

March 2nd, 2017:

- Added 'recent posts' to the navbar
- Added a secret 'psst' link to the navbar

- Started work on the custom 'about' page.

- Resized the navbar main tabs font so you can actually read them

- Added a small avatar next to the (now bigger) username so it's easier to find your profile

- Pinned discussions are now enjoying a subtle background highlight so they're easier to spot.

- Added a donate button to the bottom of the site.

- Added a rules and like-it Help pages, and a Help tab to the navbar.

- Images and links go through a proxy for better https support.

- Better configured the board/software setup to properly support https

- Added a footer thingy so we can prepare for customizing our footer easier

- Tweaked the software configuration file for easier board management.

- There's a 'unread posts' counter added to the 'new posts' link in the navbar.

- An account wrapper has been added to the conversations pages.

- Custom error pages (404 not found) for more user friendly error-msging

- Custom What's new? Nothing! page, to improve user engagement has been added as well.

- Mikey: Added new trophies.

- Disabled APC caching and preparing to move to a new backend caching system.

- Enabled front-end caching and testing session caching.

- Mikey: Fixed an annoying bug with the what's new plugin.

- Removed all profile posts from displaying visually.

- Considering to do the same for old conversations.

- Popup profile cards now have the little 'banner' listed, so you can identify official staff easier.

- Added a 'staff only' dropdown to the navbar with quick links to the back-end.

Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 009, 03-02-2017 (forum-content-cleanup, pre-beta-live)

 

[Floris]

March 6th, 2017:

- Went through the installed plugins to guarantee that they are all working. Fixed errors as I run into them.

- Mikey: Helped Floris fix those errors, (edit by Floris > You have been a super help)

- Tweaked the templates to be more 'user friendly' for just our boards.

- Moved a couple of design things into a few little plugins so upgrading will be easier.

- Archived the internal February todo list and just never thinking about it again.

- Organized the internal March todo list and had a few coffee and did about 40% of it.

- Set up the Beta Box and invited some alpha/beta testers to get some early feedback.

- Went through the additional Tabs in the navigation bar and reviewed their content.

- The Tab Help in navbar has been setup with additional pages like staff, terms, rules, etc.
Note: We just have to sit down and work on their content (with nix)

- The Tab About in navbar has been setup and populated with more relevant content.
Note: Review monthly, then once a year.

- The custom 'everything is read' and 'you run into an error' pages have been setup and reviewed.

- Improved https support for XenForo and our content (also enabled proxy and tests were successful)

- Synced some 'test' features to the 'live' site. Removed the test site.

- Completely moved to new front-end and back-end caching, tests were successful. keeping it.

- Installed our custom notice system, but we have to review it. Hopefully very soon!
Note: What guests see vs new members, vs regulars, vs staff ..

- Tested donate button in the bottom of the page, works.
Note: Once we're live, we will better support alternative donation features.

- Started linking to our personal sites in the footer. in April we will slightly revamp this to accommodate space and links for the other staff

- We went over the category titles, descriptions, and the sub-forum titles and descriptions. (once again)

- Tweaked beta-group permissions, and set up the default 'Registered' group permissions.

- A few additional trophies have been added
Note: Review monthly, then once a year.

- Considering to start conversations clean, haven't fully decided yet.

- Your personal navbar area now has your username bigger, and your avatar listed.

- Unread content now shows easier, updates are a bit more responsive.

- The forum software configuration file updates seem stable enough, keeping them.

- Popular Content page has received a little update.

Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 010, 03-06-2017 (forum-configuration, beta-live)

 

[Floris]

March 8th, 2017:

- Started beta day, done some obvious tests, and less obvious tests.

- Fixed a few little things, including the 'start a new conversation' plugin.

- Made the new navbar live, some tab re-arrangement.

- Added the dropdown to the help page (and re-arranged their order)

- Fixed a bug with the Help tab (now properly highlights and has dropdown working)

- by Mikey: Commenting box on the profile page now shows by default

- by Mikey: Added a cut-off date for popular content, showing 2017 and up now.

 

[Floris]

March 9th, 2017:


- by Mikey: made popular content show more results - multiple fixes to this plugin.

- Finished beta testing, and set the board to "active". We are live!
Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 011, 03-09-2017 (fingers-crossed, live)

 

[Floris]

March 10th, 2017:

- Made registration and login process easier:
* Moved from CAPTCHA to easier reCAPTCHA method,
* Enabled Twitter, Facebook and Google integration,
* Improved preventive spam catching methods.

- Enabled a few more caching of content for improved page loading.

- Besides Google integration:
* Submitted our sitemap to webmaster tools,
* Enabled site analytics,
* Verified domain name and mail service,
* Removed tags from sitemap generation.

- Set a restriction on username registration (^[a-zA-Z0-9 _-]+$).

- Behind the scenes settings tweaked to help prevent certain types of abuse, etc.

- Threads listed in a forum was 100 during beta period, set it to 50.
Note: Looking for feedback, 50 not enough? 50 too much? Let us know!

- Enabled the option for members to use two-step verification (check your profile)

- Updated some phrases, templates, and settings to be more in line with our omgboards site.

 

[Floris]

March 14th, 2017:

- Customized the profile bar.

- Added some icons to the navigation bar for easier tab recognition.

- Header collapses and sticks to the top when you scroll down.

- Changed the default system font for macOS users.

 

[Floris]

March 17th, 2017:

- Uploaded the latest version of our style.

- Fixed Facebook integration bug. Thank you Christopher for reporting!

- Updated the footer to match the theme.

- We went a bit more blue.

- Updated the version (includes previous bug fixes / changes over the last few days)
Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 012, 03-17-2017 (hello-world, live)

 

[Floris]

March 19th, 2017:

- Reviewed some of our security stuff behind the scenes (phase 1 of 2 for this month)

- Turned on 2 Step Auth for everybody to use if they wish to (I recommend it).

- Backed the forum files/db up offsite and did some files/db maintenance.

- Turned on 'Edit Signature' permission which for whatever crazy reason was turned off (Thank you Lisa for reporting).

- Did some word of mouth marketing for the web site. Dipping our toe in the water so to speak.

- Had a chat with Nix and Mikey about our design and features, and are we're still on the same page.

- The re-start or rather re-opening of the creations community has so far been received with open arms. Thank you all!

- Reviewed the domain and hosting services and their account settings to avoid potential problems.

- Installed a -dev- site on Mikey's system for internal testing of cool stuff.

- Reviewed the SSL/TLS certificates for the website.

- Log files showed there were no issues with running the site in over 1100px wide theme. Keeping it (for now?)

- a known issue: Join date got overwritten for some members, contact me to fix it if you noticed your date being wrong.

- Content of the 'beta box' forums have been moved to the private archive: Thank you beta testers so much for your first input!

- Empty forum 'beta box' removed from the node list. and cleaned up the usergroup and forum permissions.

- Beta period log files have been pruned.

- Conversations have been pruned basically. We've added a cut-off date and removed the personal discussions from the system.

- If you hover over the pencil on the frontpage, you can quickly start a discussion within that forum. Permissions are more flexible now.

- Force-run board-cron entries and rebuild caches to force test internal caching performance under stress.

- We have an internal todo list, we went through it and did the tasks for the first half of March and are on top of things. Yay

- We're looking for a few board admins that I can ask a few questions to, if you think that's you, feel free to start a conversation.

- We're looking for a few graphic designers for (small) icons, if you think that's you, feel free to start a conversation.

- Added an admin dropdown in the navigation bar next to the alerts icon.

- Finished phase 2 or 3 of the VPS configuration. I consider things to be "okay" now and good enough for a live site.

- Updated the version (includes previous bug fixes / changes over the last few days)
Note: Full version: creations.nl version 8.0 build 013, 03-19-2017 (hello-world, live)

 

[Floris]

March 22nd, 2017:

- Put the board into maintenance mode.

- Made a backup of our board working on XenForo 1.5.12 (files and database).

- Upgraded the board to XenForo 1.5.13.

- Acquired the database from @Phillip of offtopica.net.

- Imported the users and content of offtopica into omgboards.

- Sent out an email to all offtopica members to welcome them to omgboards.

- Turned off maintenance mode.

 

[Floris]

March 25th, 2017:

- Did some maintenance behind the scenes.

- Latest version of the plugins/theme is live (minor changes)

- Added Original Poster tag to avatar in posts in a thread.

- Did a bit of maintenance on the database.

- Did a bit of maintenance on the VPS.

- Resolved a minor issue with our email handler (we're should really start looking for a sponsor)

 

[Floris]

March 30th, 2017:

- Merged the 1moreblock.com site I own into OMG, here: https://omgboards.com/forums/minecraft/

 

[Floris]

April 3rd, 2017:

- Slight update to the user-info part of the post.

 

[Floris]

April 7th, 2017:

- Minor issues logged by the server have been addressed.

- Cleaned up old permissions and reviewed newer ones.

- Fixed a few unique situations where a category would stop showing to some people.

- Updated a few plugins to their latest version, or to have been xenforo 1.5.13 support.

- Added a new plugin to better handle forum management (automation mainly).

- Your total of threads that you've started is now listed in posts, profiles, etc.

- Added a new trophy to the trophy list, gotta catch them all!

- Mikey: Started work on a secret new feature (release: aim is this Summer)

- Floris: Started work on the next version of our OMG style (Making preparations behind closed doors).

- Cleaned up the SQL databases a little bit, removed obsolete backups, etc.

- Run basic maintenance on the server (like apt-get update/upgrade/dist-upgrade, ..)

- Having a blast posting like mad men, sorry, I got addicted to posting on OMG.

- Created a couple of very tiny XenForo plugins and shared them on the forums (more to come).

 

[Floris]

April 9th 2017:

- Added new trophies: 1 / 12 / 100 threads.
Note: Earn extra points for making one and a dozen of discussions, or earn the super soaker score when you contribute over a hundred new discussions on the board

The 'how many threads you have started' feature is now live, you can find it in various places on the board, in your member card, your profile, your user info on a post, etc.

You can find all the trophies here: https://omgboards.com/help/trophies




A month ago we removed the lock from the web site and had these stats
09/03/2017 -> 09/04/2017 (one month)
260722 -> 258714 = 2008 new discussions
753129 -> 746298 = 6831 new posts
24976 -> 24776 = 200 new members

I am sure things will mellow down a bit now, but we hope that those who checked it out will keep doing so and that we have enough fun new topics and discussions to keep coming back to. Otherwise.. take a moment of your time and start a new discussion, and don't forget to invite your friends.