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Forum Migration Nov 27th!


KasperVld

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[quote name='Norpo']I agree with this; there's probably a good alternative to [I]deleting forever[/I] [I]2.5+ years of combined effort and history.[/I]

That said, the alternatives aren't looking much better, so we're really looking at a "lesser of a dozen evils" situation. Rated roughly from top to bottom in quality.

Some alternatives:
[LIST]
[*]Merge The Spacecraft Exchange and Rocket Builders. This is [I]very messy,[/I] but if maybe somehow all contents of rocket builders could be shoved to the bottom pages such that the active building threads (skunkworks, etc.) will be naturally pushed (bumped) to the front by their owners, while older ones will stay in the bottom pages (but still be preserved, and accessable)
[*]Archive Rocket Builders, put it in a "Legacy" section. Lock all threads. It could add clutter the forum menu though, which is bad. Still, easily accessable, and if you shove it in the bottom, then who will see it?
[*]Have some guy go through all the threads and archive them on the [URL="https://archive.org/web/"]Wayback Machine.[/URL] (preserved, will probably outlive the kerbal space program forum itself, very hard though, and not accessable via the forums, probably not a realistic option)
[*]Delete it, but keep the contents in a hard drive somewhere. Information will not be lost, but it will be effectively be lost, never to be seen again by anyone except for admins.
[*]Wipe it. Clean. Cleanse. No remains. The nuclear option. [I](Current plan, either that or the one above)[/I]
[*]Just keep it. Does it [B]really[/B] matter?
[/LIST]

If you can, please consider these options, although Rocket Builders may seem dead, some people have put a [B][I]lot[/I][/B] of work into it, and some great crafts are in there, whose owners may not be around to see it wiped.

I suspect this may be more important than the ROUND-8 being turned into a XenonGas tank to some people :)[/QUOTE]
I think that they've already considered all of these options. It would cost a lot to have used, yet unused storage space. That's several hard drives full of stuff that could be used for other things.

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[quote name='DuoDex']No. :([/QUOTE]
Darn. PHPBB3 for the win!!!!
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I really quite like this change, but removing Rocket Builders? Seriously? I thought it was a very cool feature frankly.

Will rocket building threads still be allowed, or is it just going down all together?

Regardless, that's the only issue I have. So other then that, good job on these changes!
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I dont see the use for an app, if it works fine in the browser. Sadly the current mobile forum is not very usable, lots of features are missing, so at the moment i use the desktop version on my phone, too. Im happy if that could change, since sometimes the buttons are a bit small this way.
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[quote name='Sequinox']I really quite like this change, but removing Rocket Builders? Seriously? I thought it was a very cool feature frankly.

Will rocket building threads still be allowed, or is it just going down all together?

Regardless, that's the only issue I have. So other then that, good job on these changes![/QUOTE]
People can still have rockets made for them. The companies are the issue.

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Also, will bb codes stay the same?
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[quote name='Sequinox']Will rocket building threads still be allowed, or is it just going down all together?[/QUOTE]

From how I understand it, just Rocket Builders (the forum with the rocket building "companies") is going down, but not The Spacecraft Exchange (rocket builders with 90% less roleplay-ey aspects)
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[quote name='KasperVld']Hi [s]Bob[/s] everyone!

Over the past weeks we've taken big steps in preparation of migrating our forums from the vBulletin platform to the IPS 4 platform. We're now at a point where we've tested our processes and can set a date for the conversion. The conversion will start [U]Friday November 27th, at 09:00 UTC[/U] and is scheduled to last between 30 and 40 hours depending on how much - if any - sleep we get and how smoothly the process will go. Once the update starts the forums will be unavailable until the migration is completed.

Several forums will be merged into others, for example a few inactive language-specific forums which will disappear and their contents will be reposted to the general 'International' forum. The same goes for the Live From Mission Control forum which will be merged into the Fan Works forum. Apart from merging forums a few will also be moved around. Note that [B]not all data will be transferred to the new forums[/B], so please back up the following if you wish to repost it after the migration:
[LIST]
[*][B]BLOGS[/B] will not be converted because we've chosen not to use that particular feature any longer.
[*]The [B]Rocket Builders[/B] forum and its contents won't return.
[*]For now we won't have support for the [B]Livestreaming Calendar[/B] on the new forums, but we'll work to get that back if possible.
[*]Information about [B]Friends[/B] may be lost in the database transfer.
[/LIST]
Of course, there's good technical reasons to migrate to IPS 4, but everyone will notice some vastly improved functionality as well, some highlights:
[LIST]
[*]Get notified when someone responds to you (quotes you)
[*]The critical addition of some Kerbal themed emoticons, and support for emojis
[*]Full functionality when browsing with mobile devices
[*]Tag people in your posts
[*]Easily keep track of threads you've started or that you've followed, with a ton of notification options to choose from
[*]Easily quote sections of a post simply by selecting them with your mouse
[/LIST]
Those are the most important things about the update, please leave a reply if you have any questions. Of course we encourage you to join us on our official IRC chat or any other place to interact with the community during the transfer :)[/QUOTE]

Is it possible to see an example forum that is based on ISP 4?
That would help the community to get an image of what will be comming.
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There is an [I]actual[/I] picture:

[quote name='KasperVld']I don't think those are planned features at the moment, but it's something we can look into down the line :)


I've taken [URL="http://i.imgur.com/W73ty98.jpg"]this screenshot[/URL], which is only a [I]rough indication[/I] of what the new forums will look like. And ignore the missing avatars :)[/QUOTE]
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[quote name='CliftonM']I think that they've already considered all of these options. It would cost a lot to have used, yet unused storage space. That's several hard drives full of stuff that could be used for other things.[/QUOTE]

That could be said of other sub-forums too, General Discussion has 293 pages, approximately 210 of them are threads that haven't been posted on since 2014. In contrast, Rocket Builders is in total 25 pages, barely anything compared to everything else if stored efficiently internally.

I think either merging the Exchange and Builders forums together, or archiving Builders are the most reasonable options, but that's just my opinion. :)

EDIT: Also, on the topic of forum links being broken, that is (in my opinion) A Very Bad Thing, lots of places use links to the forums, and having those be broken would be a pain to future players looking at older articles, mostly articles on mods. Still, not quite a show-stopper, but [I]pretty close. [/I]Dead links are [B]bad.[/B] Edited by Norpo
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[quote name='CliftonM']There is an [I]actual[/I] picture:[/QUOTE]

An working Forum just with exampling things would be much better than Image, it is the functionality that will scare ppl.

[quote name='DuoDex']Mostly, though a few might change.[/QUOTE]
How many posts will be lost?
Last time the change was a bit bumpy.
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[quote name='Alewx']Is it possible to see an example forum that is based on ISP 4?
That would help the community to get an image of what will be comming.[/QUOTE]

You could for example take a look at the forums of the company that provides the software: [URL="http://community.invisionpower.com/"]linky[/URL]

[quote name='CliftonM']
Also, will bb codes stay the same?[/QUOTE]
Actually the new forum does away with bb-codes - though existing ones will be converted (that's what the software is currently working on). I'm an avid bb-code user and I'm sure it'll take some getting used to, but the post editor in IPS 4 is great :) Edited by KasperVld
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[quote name='CatastrophicFailure']How does one go about backing up forum posts without a lot of tedious copy+pasting?[/QUOTE]

A fast and dirty way is just using the [URL="https://archive.org/"]Wayback Machine,[/URL] just enter in the link to the forum post, and you'll get a link to an "archived" version, where it'll be there forever. Just keep the link, and you can do the tedious copy and pasting later.

*: Forever may not actually be forever, although because their goal is akin to that of a museum, they're essentially trying to avoid another Library of Alexandria incident.
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[quote name='KasperVld']You could for example take a look at the forums of the company that provides the software: [url=http://community.invisionpower.com/]linky[/url][/QUOTE]

Thanks, that helps.
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I've taken [URL="http://i.imgur.com/W73ty98.jpg"]this screenshot[/URL], which is only a [I]rough indication[/I] of what the new forums will look like. And ignore the missing avatars :)[/QUOTE]

that looks exactly lefora or whatever it's called
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[quote name='Norpo']I agree with this; there's probably a good alternative to deleting forever 2.5+ years of combined effort and history.

...[/QUOTE]

Years ago, I and fellow administrators handled a similar situation by simply making an entire section read-only... a view-able archive.


[quote name='CliftonM']... PHPBB3 for the win!!!![/QUOTE]

Absolutely.


[quote name='daniel l.']Looks pretty awesome! good to know you are now using the modern flat design style instead of gradients and false 3d. it looks pretty good.[/QUOTE]

Sorry but I see this 'flat design style' as a step back... as bland as my phone.



@KasperVld - [I][B]F5! :wink:[/B][/I]
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[quote name='Alshain']Meh, if you are going to change the theme, it should be dark like space. (Besides, black with white text is easier on the eyes)[/QUOTE]I for one am strongly against that.

[quote name='DuoDex']Considering that this has been technically breaking of the rules since Day 1, I think it's high time it's deleted.[/QUOTE]The rules, though, will be regarded in light of how they are enforced. To do an abrupt about-face from being lax to being just about as heavy-handed as possible...it just seems capricious, arbitrary, dictatorial, and generally Not Very Nice to the community. A blanket lock-and-acrhive would be one thing, but mass deletes of posts that have either broken no rule, or if they have have been left alone for ages?

But then I suppose what really counts is the view of the people who have actively posted in the threads that you are planning on nuking.
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[quote name='Kerbart']Will Squads heavy interaction with the forum continue?

Will the forum continue to be the first and foremost method by Squad of announcing new developments to the outside world?[/QUOTE]
Even though I know you're being sarcastic here, I should say that some of the new features will allow this to improve quite a bit, people can for example tag me in a post and I then get a notification. This feature is of course fully customizable if you don't want to be alerted when it happens, but for many people including myself I should think it allows you to move around the forums much more efficiently :)

[quote name='Souper']Uhh, if my account is sent to oblivion, is it against the rules to make a new one in that case?[/QUOTE]
Accounts will be transferred, so there's no need for that.

[quote name='LordFerret']
@KasperVld - [I][B]F5! :wink:[/B][/I][/QUOTE]
I try, but by the time I write my replies new posts have already been added :)


[quote name='cantab']I for one am strongly against that.

The rules, though, will be regarded in light of how they are enforced. To do an abrupt about-face from being lax to being just about as heavy-handed as possible...it just seems capricious, arbitrary, dictatorial, and generally Not Very Nice to the community. A blanket lock-and-acrhive would be one thing, but mass deletes of posts that have either broken no rule, or if they have have been left alone for ages?

But then I suppose what really counts is the view of the people who have actively posted in the threads that you are planning on nuking.[/QUOTE]
The threads are not nuked in such a drastic way: they will remain available to moderators / administrators, who can retrieve content if someone wasn't able to do that in time. I agree with many people here that nuking it completely would be unnecessary and a waste of much work that people have put in over the years. Edited by KasperVld
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[quote name='KasperVld']Even though I know you're being sarcastic here, I should say that some of the new features will allow this to improve quite a bit, people can for example tag me in a post and I then get a notification. This feature is of course fully customizable if you don't want to be alerted when it happens, but for many people including myself I should think it allows you to move around the forums much more efficiently :)


Accounts will be transferred, so there's no need for that.


I try, but by the time I write my replies new posts have already been added :)[/QUOTE]

well you brought the entire forum here so would get a lot of replies. btw might i suggest that you open a poll so that the community can decide the theme of the new forum?
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