Site News: 09/25/10

[DemonGoddess]

A few rather large changes, either in the works, or already done.

Core software upgrade

To facilitate some upcoming major upgrades, PHP and MySQL have both been upgraded to 5.x. This means we may be seeing some bugs in the archive. I already know of one, and expect to have it sorted it out pretty quickly. After some extensive function testing, I've not seen anything else as of yet.

This one affects where a user clicks the link for lost password. What happens, is that link is clicked, and you get a white screen. I know WHERE to look in the script for the function, so this shouldn't be a major fix. Having said that, it may be a few days before I get to it, as I have another large upgrade I'll be doing later today. In any case, not to worry, as users can always contact me directly for the lost password information.

Forum Upgrade

This is the next major change that is upcoming. I expect to have this done later tonight. If visiting the board during the upgrade, you'll either see the offline board message, or you may even see a white screen, temporarily. It depends on WHERE exactly the board is, in the upgrade routines.

All modifications done to the board will be lost. As time allows, and as modification writers release versions compatible to IPB 3.x, I will add them back in. As version 3.x is coded ENTIRELY in php5, the modification writers have had to completely rewrite their mods as well.

PLEASE do not revert to unficcing in the archive while the forum is down. Those will be deleted, as always. After all, this is a temporary down time, not permanent.

The upgrade will take from one to two hours.

Funding Status

Information to exact status is always found on the donations page. Currently, the site has $279.14 stored in paypal, with a $25 credit at the hosting company. With expected funds for banner renewal, we should be more than ready to pay the hosting company, ON TIME.

AFF Store and admin@ email address

Apollo has secured the store for the site, so that any income derived from it is accessible TO the site. The admin@adult-fanfiction.org address, while active, is simply overloaded with literally thousands of messages she is going through. So, we ask that you consider this email address to be inactive for the time being, as she sorts through it all. We thank you for your patience as she continues this task.

Redbootton

This particular program has caused many, many users more than a little in the way of headaches. Rest assured, that if we get a report generated by it, we check each and every individual report sent in. As to that, getting reports which say "bad grammar", or "need to use spellcheck", those are deleted out of hand. We've been getting those off and on for probably 3 months, maybe a bit longer. The thing is, if a user has a GENUINE complaint, they will SAY what the complaint is in their email. Considering the content on this site, we've actually gotten very few regarding NC/17 or MA, although there've been some of those as well. For the rest, AN chapters and other things, we ALREADY check for those ourselves. Without the use of a script.

As to the script, I personally will not use it, as I don't know whether or not there is some malicious content in it. It's entirely too easy for a programmer to write in a malicious subroutine. I don't know this person, nor have I seen any other examples of his scripting work, so therefore have no reason to trust the programming is safe to download. As to the use of the script itself by others for reporting purposes, to my way of thinking, their use IS malicious in nature, and thus not to be trusted.

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Please remember that this site is free to use. As such, the authors receive nothing for their efforts, except reviews. Do let them know that you read their stories, please! I'm sure they'll appreciate hearing from you!

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As always, comments are welcome. If reviews are left to the archive posts of this, they'll be answered in this topic.

[jadering]

Funding Status

Information to exact status is always found on the donations page. Currently, the site has $279.14 stored in paypal, with a $25 credit at the hosting company. With expected funds for banner renewal, we should be more than ready to pay the hosting company, ON TIME.

Hi, I checked the donations page and it says to use a gmail.com email address for donations via Paypal, but the FAQ that you set up for how to donate via paypal references a nexcess.net email address instead. Just checking to see which should be used or if either can be used.

Thanks,

Jade R

[DemonGoddess]

Hi, I checked the donations page and it says to use a gmail.com email address for donations via Paypal, but the FAQ that you set up for how to donate via paypal references a nexcess.net email address instead. Just checking to see which should be used or if either can be used.

Thanks,

Jade R

the gmail. I forgot to edit the FAQ

[DemonGoddess]

I've backed up the forum files and structure, as well as the complete database. Expect the upload of software, and then upgrade to start by 7pm tonight my time (EDT -5GMT).

As I said, at that point, I'll be turning the board OFF line. At certain points of the upgrade, you may get a white screen, and the offline message. Not to worry, this is actually NORMAL for part of it.

[DemonGoddess]

Running a tad behind schedule, had to go to the store. Upgrade to commence now.

[DemonGoddess]

Guest posting is now active and working again. I'll have some pre-made selectable skins installed probably tomorrow. It's going to TAKE me awhile to figure out the new skinning protocols

[ApolloImperium]

Guest posting is now active and working again. I'll have some pre-made selectable skins installed probably tomorrow. It's going to TAKE me awhile to figure out the new skinning protocols

And a big round of applause :clap:for DG! With out her hard work, this wouldn't have gone so smoothly!!!!

[mistress of yaoi]

will the arcade be back?

[DemonGoddess]

Yes. As time allows, I will be porting back in modifications as they're rewritten for this version. Just as this software was completely rewritten in php5, so have the modifications been, or are in the process of. Gotta remember, it took the programmers for the board software almost 2 years to rewrite it from the ground up. It's taking the programmers who write the modifications a long time as well, to rewrite THEIR stuff from the ground up to work with the board.

Review response -

evilgenus2010-09-25id # 3000097169Hi - I tried to contact in other ways, but the link to forum is down. I have been trying to read the news update all day, keep getting below messge:

There appears to be an error with the database.

If you are seeing this page, it means there was a problem communicating with our database. Sometimes this error is temporary and will go away when you refresh the page. Sometimes the error will need to be fixed by an administrator before the site will become accessible again.

You can try to refresh the page by clicking here

It has nto changed all day. I can;t even get to log in page to confirm I am logged in.

Apparently (I checked the time you were logged in to the archive), when you were trying to login in to the forum, at the time I was starting the forum upgrade. Because at that point I was overwriting files, the software was making calls for database tables which did not exist yet. Once I had started the upgrade routines from within the software, you would've seen an offline board message if you tried during that point of the upgrade. I had the board turned back online at roughly 9:30 pm EDT, I think it was.

[Guest Naga-Lord]

Thanks for all the hard work DG! You sure do put in a lot of effort into this. Just wanted to say thanx

[vinsmouse]

I like what you've done with the place DemonGoddess. It looks really streamlined and neat. As we all learned in school, neatness counts. Thanks.

Mouse

[WillowDarkling]

I want to start by thanking DemonGoddess for all your hard work... but here comes the whining... (just imagine a 30 year old, pouting and making puppy dog eyes, to make it a little more funny)

I'm completely computeretarded, so I don't understand any of the stuff you guys are talking about, with the upgrades and scripts and whatchacallem's, so I'm just going to ask the obviously stupid questions.

The forum is supposed to be all blue and white, and have a heading that reads "IP Board"? It will not go back to the nice and cosy brown look? And is it all the same as the old board was, in essence?

I'm just asking because I don't deal well with changes, and I had gotten so used to the old forum that this new one scares me....

Please don't take this the wrong way, I do greatly appreciate everything DG does here, I'm just being a little insecure...

Thanks in advance for the slightly condescending responses ... (Oh, I expect them to be condescending, simply because I would answer my own question in that manner. So please, condescend away... )

[DemonGoddess]

Thanks everyone!

Willow, no condescension, but I do think it's kinda funny, can't help it, that's just me, snarky old bitch that I am. In answer to your questions.

Yes, the forum content is all the same as it was

The modifications (arcade, battlemod and etc) are no longer working, so if you used them, you have to wait until I find a suitable replacement written in php5.

The skin you see is the default. Like the modifications, NONE of the old skins work with this board version. But, if you scroll down to the bottom, the skin selector is there, with some other options, and more to be added. Try Nature from the dropdown, as I think that'll probably feel more comfortable to you. I still have to find out the exact specs that are allowed for logo images, before replacing what the default came with. All I can tell you about that, at the moment, is the OLD logo doesn't work at all. Which means that I have to replace it, within specifications called for by the software. As soon as I find out what that spec IS.

If you want, I can change the skin selection for you. Just let me know.

[untamedlady]

Excellent work DG! The forum looks neat and tidy, with incredibly crisp pages. I have to tip my hat to you and those around ya. You have done an incredible job in every section of this website. Truly excellent B)