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  1. #21
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    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    Quote Originally Posted by Craig View Post
    I'll start, before I get the 'I told you so'...

    We needed to upgrade, we still do at some point, but besides the few niggles with the looks and feel of it, we had backend issues which were causing other problems.

    So, net result, we lost nearly a week of forum activity, but learned a whole lot about what we need to consider when moving from this software version.

    Like in the previous thread, can we please get a list of what's not working and how we can make this better, now that we have had something to compare it against.

    Thanks and sorry,
    Craig
    First, thanks for your trouble. I'm aware that upgrades like this are both needed and expensive, so thank you for that.

    Secondly, while the other look wasn't terrible, it did change a lot, and mostly wasted a lot of space. In my opinion you could look at keeping posts "compact" like this, so it'll have less of an impact on the people not liking the change. The darker colours of this current setup is also very welcome, and looks "Gunsite-y".

    For the rest - I didn't really mind much. Most of the previous change was fine, just took some getting used to.

    As a final tip - create a thread specifically for reporting bugs with the new software when you upgrade next time. Specifically bugs relating to PMs or subscribed threads and Tapatalk are quite frequent, and those are the ones most commonly giving issues. It's nice to get people to report all the problems in one place.

  2. #22
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    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    I think that's a great idea Toxxyc.

    As a final tip - create a thread specifically for reporting bugs with the new software when you upgrade next time. Specifically bugs relating to PMs or subscribed threads and Tapatalk are quite frequent, and those are the ones most commonly giving issues. It's nice to get people to report all the problems in one place.[/QUOTE]

  3. #23
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    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    Thanks for the effort guys. Just when I was getting use to it.

    It does seem Tapatalk is back to normal.
    One thing I would like on the desktop site is a option to mark individual threads ad read, like you can do on Tapa, but it's really just nice to have


    Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

  4. #24

    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    Guys if you could keep a simple "Mobile" format it would work for a lot of us, as I think many are outdoors people and don't carry laptops, pc's around with us.
    The new format is good on stationary hardware.
    Good luck with the back-end it can be a mission to sort out the bugs.

  5. #25

    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    Quote Originally Posted by FrankH View Post
    It is the old one
    Then why not keep it like this? In other words do what you like behind the UI, but let us see what we know and like.

    Peter

  6. #26
    User 414gates's Avatar
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    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    Quote Originally Posted by High Power View Post
    Then why not keep it like this? In other words do what you like behind the UI, but let us see what we know and like.

    Peter
    Not so easy in practice.

    The move to a new version is to maintain compatibility and security.

    The site needs to be compatible to all devices, and older versions of software are designed for desktops, the screen does not scale dynamically to the device screen size.

    Tapatalk is not Gunsite, it's a portal to which you surrender your credentials, and they login on your behalf. It's convenient, but not great for your personal security online. Your user name and password is being stored somewhere that you have no control over. With the upgrade, you won't need Tapatalk, your mobile will render the site correctly for the screen size.

    New versions also try to patch discovered vulnerabilities, and where patches are not available for the older versions, an upgrade is required.

    Sometimes it's a trade-off between one and the other, so maybe some UI feature is changed in the new version, but the security is much better.

    There are other scenarios, like when the hosted environment is an old operating system, and a necessary bug fix or security patch for the software can't be installed unless it's upgraded. If the operating system is upgraded, the old version of software may have to be upgraded as well.

    In all cases, the site admin needs to be treated to frequent rounds of drinks by grateful Gunsite members, because it's not an easy job to keep an established production system smoothly operational year in and year out, with no impact on the users.

  7. #27
    Craig's Avatar
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    East London
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    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    Quote Originally Posted by 414gates View Post
    Not so easy in practice.

    The move to a new version is to maintain compatibility and security.

    The site needs to be compatible to all devices, and older versions of software are designed for desktops, the screen does not scale dynamically to the device screen size.

    Tapatalk is not Gunsite, it's a portal to which you surrender your credentials, and they login on your behalf. It's convenient, but not great for your personal security online. Your user name and password is being stored somewhere that you have no control over. With the upgrade, you won't need Tapatalk, your mobile will render the site correctly for the screen size.

    New versions also try to patch discovered vulnerabilities, and where patches are not available for the older versions, an upgrade is required.

    Sometimes it's a trade-off between one and the other, so maybe some UI feature is changed in the new version, but the security is much better.

    There are other scenarios, like when the hosted environment is an old operating system, and a necessary bug fix or security patch for the software can't be installed unless it's upgraded. If the operating system is upgraded, the old version of software may have to be upgraded as well.

    In all cases, the site admin needs to be treated to frequent rounds of drinks by grateful Gunsite members, because it's not an easy job to keep an established production system smoothly operational year in and year out, with no impact on the users.
    So you've been there too

    You're right above and this is why it'll need to move, sooner rather than later.

    Along with the upgrade, there were PHP / MySQL / Apache updates needed for the new version too. Then, when we rolled the site back, but added 2 patch updates, we needed to add MySQLi and MBString support, so it was all fun and games.

    Ultimately, the old version will only be supported for so long, and when I say supported, I mean patching vulnerabilities, there are no feature updates. At some point it'll need to run on software that is no longer supported by the server and then we'll get our selves into all sorts of trouble. So, for now, we will hang on to what we have and keep a close eye on the new software's updates. As soon as things start looking a bit better, we'll revisit the upgrade.
    "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."
    -Winston Churchill

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  8. #28
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    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    Hey guys. I'm still having issues with Tapatalk and GS. It works once to load a couple of thread titles in the unread tab and then nothing for a couple of hours after.

  9. #29
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    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    Quote Originally Posted by PeaceOfficer View Post
    Hey guys. I'm still having issues with Tapatalk and GS. It works once to load a couple of thread titles in the unread tab and then nothing for a couple of hours after.
    Same here.....


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  10. #30
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    Default Re: GunSite Forum Maintenance - 28th April 2018

    Still experiencing weird behaviour with Tapatalk. The unread tab no longer shows threads with unread posts after a refresh. Also, when opening a previously read thread that contains new posts I'm taken to the last unread post instead of the first.

    Doesn't happen with other forums that I browse on Tapatalk.

    Anyone else seeing this too?

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