Upgrading the Forum

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Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Upgrading the Forum

#1

Unread post by Admin » Fri Feb 27, 2015 7:07 am

Salaams everyone,
Yesterday the Forum was closed for a while because we were conducting a minor upgrade. We faced some problems with the database and in the process of restoring it we may have lost some posts/topics. Our apologies.
In the next few days we are planning to upgrade the look and feel and functionality of the Forum and make it responsive and mobile ready. There might a few disruptions in the availability of the Forum so please bear with us.
Thank you for your support and participation.

bohrabhai
Posts: 401
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2014 11:16 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#2

Unread post by bohrabhai » Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:43 pm

I am very happy that this forum is upgrading. Congratulations. Admin is doing fabulous job.
But just you have said that u lost some forum topic and some post due to technical hitches. This is part and parcel of technology.
But what I see forum as historical document about bohra day to day life their customs and of course about nonsensical clergy. Future generations will be able to look at the past that our generation cannot do if forum posts survive. So please make some backup or make whole backup online that every body can download it. So even if any major hacking or something like that occur
history will survive.
Thank you again for fantastic efforts.

Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#3

Unread post by Admin » Wed Mar 04, 2015 12:05 pm

bohrabhai, Yes, we are taking backups of all the data.

Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#4

Unread post by Admin » Wed Mar 04, 2015 12:21 pm

We'll are upgrading the Forum later today so the board will be closed for a few hours.
This is a major upgrade and some of the extensions that we added on the existing version may not work. For example the "Likes" feature will be disabled as it is not compatible with the new version. This is really unfortunate. We will try to implement it with all its historical data at a later date, but there is no guarantee that it will work.
The upgrade involves a major code change to make the forum more efficient and mobile-friendly. The interface will be slightly updated with some new features. The basic functionality however will remain the same.
Once the new version is live there might be a few hiccups and glitches, please be patient.
Thank you all for your support and participation.

Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#5

Unread post by Admin » Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:53 pm

The upgraded Forum is here, hope you like it. If you have any issues please discuss them here. Thank you for your patience.

lawgraduate
Posts: 261
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:31 pm

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#6

Unread post by lawgraduate » Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:24 am

Admin wrote:The upgraded Forum is here, hope you like it. If you have any issues please discuss them here. Thank you for your patience.
enable like button, also enable avataar. also make signature enable if this feature available with this board.

SBM
Posts: 6507
Joined: Sun May 09, 2004 4:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#7

Unread post by SBM » Thu Mar 05, 2015 4:47 pm

Admin:
my 2 cents worth of opinion of this new format.
I do like the graphics but I am not keen about the order of postings. In the previous format you had the newer postings first but in this format one has to go thru the entire thread to read the new posts. Also in the previous version one can go back to same thread but in this new format one has to go thru the entire forum to go back to what you were reading earlier.
Also please do bring back Like and I agree with Biradar about multiple ids.
Thank you for your work and I am sure you are giving many sleepless nights to Goons of the Saify Mahal and all I can say KUDOS

Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#8

Unread post by Admin » Thu Mar 05, 2015 5:38 pm

Thank you SBM for your feedback.
There is a new feature "Quick links" at the top left of the page. It gives access to all new and read posts among other things.
To go to the unread/new posts within a thread click on the orange icon beside the thread title.
The posts have always been arranged in descending order, with latest appearing at the bottom.
There is a "jump to" button at the bottom of each page to help you go back to any forum.
We will implement the "like" feature as soon as it becomes available.
Hope this helps.
Thanks.

salim
Posts: 406
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 4:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#9

Unread post by salim » Thu Mar 05, 2015 10:06 pm

Forum looks beautiful. Would love to see like button again. I think going with signature can invite a lot of link spammers, also it can make form look not very beautiful, with so much content in signature repeating again and again.

humanbeing
Posts: 2195
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:30 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#10

Unread post by humanbeing » Sat Mar 07, 2015 4:46 am

Congratz on the upgrade ! I was looking for like button .. hope it is back.

Nice work ... really appreciate the efforts.

No graphics and other gliterrati please. it takes away the seriousness of discussions, there is enough humor present with muffy maula's circus events. which is sufficient for visual entertainment.

JavedhJuma
Posts: 403
Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2014 2:47 pm

Congratulations to Admin

#11

Unread post by JavedhJuma » Mon Mar 09, 2015 3:32 pm

Thank you for the new face of this site. It is sooooooooooo much better and very professionally done. Kudos to you and your staff. Keep up the good work. Thanks again.

dawedaar
Posts: 844
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:40 pm

Re: Congratulations to Admin

#12

Unread post by dawedaar » Mon Mar 09, 2015 3:40 pm

I don't like the new format though!

seeker110
Posts: 1730
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:01 am

Re: Congratulations to Admin

#13

Unread post by seeker110 » Mon Mar 09, 2015 4:11 pm

They have rearranged the furniture, it is still the same room. However, I like the change, its being progressive.

This site reminds me of Outla. the steps of the store after it is closed. Where men/ friends sit and complain, about the government, high prices and mohhala gosip. A bottle of soda water all around.

Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Re: Congratulations to Admin

#14

Unread post by Admin » Mon Mar 09, 2015 4:54 pm

javedjuma,
We are glad you like it. Please note that the Forum is now mobile-friendly. All the feature are available on the mobile phone.

dawedaar,
Not sure what you don't like. If there's anything specific we can try to improve it.

seeker110,
Right, it is the "outla" where bohras from around the world gather. We like to believe though that not all of them come here to gossip.

seeker110
Posts: 1730
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#15

Unread post by seeker110 » Mon Mar 09, 2015 11:23 pm

I like to think gossip tells us more about the gossiper. It tells us who is under the weather and who is available for a favor.We also learn who is under the control of his whacky wife. Place where we gathered to see if about the exam paper being out. Men gossip. Like Yaasmeen, memona and Durraiya.

Now women gossip is something else.....

dawedaar
Posts: 844
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:40 pm

Re: Congratulations to Admin

#16

Unread post by dawedaar » Tue Mar 10, 2015 1:30 pm

Sorry for not giving the reason. I find the colors to be pretty dull.. Lots of dull grey, brown.. I don't want the colors to be very bright either but the current colors look very dull.
Admin wrote:
dawedaar,
Not sure what you don't like. If there's anything specific we can try to improve it.

araz5253
Posts: 236
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 1:18 pm

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#17

Unread post by araz5253 » Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:09 pm

Well I dont find anything better , its the same old phpbb which is outdated forum , there are lot better forums adapted to this modern rapidly changing world. These also allow one to tag other people , mobile push notifications , tagging for better management and quick retrieval of those little gems hidden in millions of posts , ....etc...

And the biggest irritant for me is the extra unused white space at the sides, looks like it needs some CSS changes.

Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Re: Congratulations to Admin

#18

Unread post by Admin » Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:53 pm

dawedaar wrote:Sorry for not giving the reason. I find the colors to be pretty dull.. Lots of dull grey, brown.. I don't want the colors to be very bright either but the current colors look very dull.
We''ll see what we can do. Thanks.

Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#19

Unread post by Admin » Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:00 pm

araz5253 wrote:Well I dont find anything better , its the same old phpbb which is outdated forum , there are lot better forums adapted to this modern rapidly changing world. These also allow one to tag other people , mobile push notifications , tagging for better management and quick retrieval of those little gems hidden in millions of posts , ....etc...

And the biggest irritant for me is the extra unused white space at the sides, looks like it needs some CSS changes.
phpBB is one of the best and most widely used forum technology. The version we are using is the latest upgrade and is enhanced for mobile use. In any case we would are willing to look into other forum software. Please let us know which better forums you have in mind.

dawedaar
Posts: 844
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:40 pm

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#20

Unread post by dawedaar » Tue Mar 10, 2015 5:00 pm

http://www.quertime.com/article/15-best ... -and-paid/

I don't think if changing the forum platform would be feasible considering the effort needed. The grass is always greener on the other side!
Admin wrote: phpBB is one of the best and most widely used forum technology. The version we are using is the latest upgrade and is enhanced for mobile use. In any case we would are willing to look into other forum software. Please let us know which better forums you have in mind.

SherKhan
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2014 10:48 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#21

Unread post by SherKhan » Wed Mar 11, 2015 4:50 pm

On the main page, the list does not update for "latest posts" and still shows only 4th of March, 2015. Maybe I am the only one seeing this issue. Can others please comment if this is happening for them as well?

Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#22

Unread post by Admin » Thu Mar 12, 2015 12:16 pm

SherKhan wrote:On the main page, the list does not update for "latest posts" and still shows only 4th of March, 2015. Maybe I am the only one seeing this issue. Can others please comment if this is happening for them as well?
That's correct, we are working on it. Thanks.

ghulam muhammed
Posts: 11653
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:34 pm

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#23

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:54 pm

Admin,

Please activate the 'Likes' option soon. Also please give a different base colour to the sticky threads on Bohras and Reform or segregate the same as per the earlier practice.

dawedaar
Posts: 844
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:40 pm

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#24

Unread post by dawedaar » Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:32 pm

I see that the forum is unavailable frequently during some period of the day. Has anybody faced this?

SBM
Posts: 6507
Joined: Sun May 09, 2004 4:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#25

Unread post by SBM » Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:36 pm

dawedaar wrote:I see that the forum is unavailable frequently during some period of the day. Has anybody faced this?
I did and checked with Admin and the reason they gave is spike in traffic at this forum in last few weeks.

dawedaar
Posts: 844
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:40 pm

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#26

Unread post by dawedaar » Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:41 pm

that's good news!
SBM wrote:
dawedaar wrote:I see that the forum is unavailable frequently during some period of the day. Has anybody faced this?
I did and checked with Admin and the reason they gave is spike in traffic at this forum in last few weeks.

Biradar
Posts: 1043
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:13 pm

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#27

Unread post by Biradar » Tue Mar 24, 2015 2:09 pm

dawedaar wrote:that's good news!
SBM wrote: I did and checked with Admin and the reason they gave is spike in traffic at this forum in last few weeks.
The spike in traffic is most likely from a distributed denial of service attack (DDOS). My suggestion to Admin is to sign up with CloudFare. This optimizes access to the website, and also ensure that attacks are harder to carry out. Please see the CloudFare website:

http://www.cloudflare.com

This should make the website faster, safer and less prone to attacks.

dawedaar
Posts: 844
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:40 pm

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#28

Unread post by dawedaar » Tue Mar 24, 2015 3:08 pm

Yes, it could be.. you are right!
Biradar wrote:
dawedaar wrote:that's good news!
The spike in traffic is most likely from a distributed denial of service attack (DDOS). My suggestion to Admin is to sign up with CloudFare. This optimizes access to the website, and also ensure that attacks are harder to carry out. Please see the CloudFare website:

http://www.cloudflare.com

This should make the website faster, safer and less prone to attacks.

dawedaar
Posts: 844
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:40 pm

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#29

Unread post by dawedaar » Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:03 am

Was the forum not available sometime back for few hours? Anybody else who got 403 unavaialble error?

Admin
Posts: 685
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2000 5:01 am

Re: Upgrading the Forum

#30

Unread post by Admin » Wed Mar 25, 2015 12:42 pm

Biradar wrote:
The spike in traffic is most likely from a distributed denial of service attack (DDOS). My suggestion to Admin is to sign up with CloudFare. This optimizes access to the website, and also ensure that attacks are harder to carry out. Please see the CloudFare website:

http://www.cloudflare.com

This should make the website faster, safer and less prone to attacks.
Thank you Biradar for your suggestion. We do use cloudfare.