Hi everyone,
Next weekend (31/5 & 1/6) I'm planning to upgrade the vBulletin forum software to the latest version. The new version, 3.7 is now "gold" and since we're currently running 3.6.7 and are several point releases behind, it's time to catch up. For those of you who might be interested in the new features that'll become available, please see the VB release page
here.
Given this is a major upgrade, most if not all my modifications will no longer function and will need to be upgraded. A number of them are very important to the overall functionality of this community including the site's home page, the "Thank You" mod, Classifieds, Reviews (Wordpress bridge), Downloads, Articles/News & Gallery and a pretty complex Search Engine Optimisation script. In addition, all my templates will first need to reverted to stock to ensure all the new features become available, then after adding back the code for the new versions of the current mods, I'll need to recreate the current style so we don't have the standard VB look.
What this all means is that if all goes well, it'll take more than one day to complete, if not, it could take the whole weekend - and then some.
Either way, we'll need to re-open on Monday morning, and by then we'll hopefully have the new stuff together with all the familiar functions we enjoy using. If things don't pan out as expected, it'll mean that I've had to restore the current database and templates and no changes will have been made until I can figure out what went wrong. You just gotta love these upgrades - not!
Probably the most important change to be aware of is that vBulletin now includes it's own fully integrated Photo Gallery. The one we currently use is a purchased add-on and frankly has been as flaky as hell since the beginning. So anybody with piccies in the current gallery are advised to visit your album and download copies so that once the new one is in place, you'll be able to re-upload. Of course I'll keep the old Gallery in place (even though hidden) for a while after the upgrade for those who don't see this notice, but after a couple of weeks it'll need to be removed.
The same goes for the Classifieds section, whilst I really don't envisage a problem, just to be on the safe side, if you have an advert running, please copy it and paste locally so that in the worst case, you can add it back in later if necessary.
We'll be closing down sometime late Friday night (30th May) and will remain so until the job's done. This will mean that a few of you guys will have time on your hands next weekend, so perhaps it's time score some brownie points with SWMBO and mow the lawn, fix that broken cupboard door, take the kids out or maybe even build that home server you keep telling her you must have - either way, and with luck, I'll see you on the other side relativley unscathed.
Mike
