2018 Software update - Donations Appreciated

[Marc]

Here's the scoop - If you would like to play around a bit, the "test" forum is at (broken link removed) - It's not pretty. It's mostly things we are playing with to come up with a design and to test functions.

If you are a moderator or registered visitor, try logging in, maybe try leaving a "test" message or a "test" reply in an existing discussion thread. Maybe try sending a PM (in Xenforo a Personal Message is called a "Conversation") to Marc.

If you're interested in some of the things we're thinking, you can look at the files in (broken link removed)

 

[Marc]

For those of you who want to "get a jump on" how Xenforo software works (how to do things and features), you might want to read this: The New HTF Beginner's Guide: How To Use XenForo

After the actual migration and switch to Xenforo, I will start an "Instructions" forum like I have here for vBulletin - When everything is finished and stable.

As another aside, the current test forum has 2 "skins". One is the "default" (out of the box) skin. The other is just a test of a different skin. My plan is to have several skins which a user can choose from.

In the current Test forum, if you scroll to the bottom of each page you will see this:

That will bring up this:

Want to set "Your" preferred style (skin), click on your Avatar and you will see something like this - Then click on "Preferences":

This will appear:

The first Option is what "skin" you want as Your Default Skin.

As you can see, this is just a quick "clip". There are quite a number of Preferences Options available for you to set. More about those later, but most are relatively self evident.

While I have New Registrations "OFF" on the test board, if you registered here since before about 4 weeks ago (which is when I did the test import), you should be able to log in there with your user name and password that you use here. None of that should change after the change over, BTW. our User Name and Password will be transferred during the import.

 

[Marc]

"Profile Posts" will probably not be turned on when we do the change over, so if you see a reference to "Profile Posts" anywhere in the Xenforo test forum, they will probably be gone after the change over.

From my notes: vBulletin has the same function called "Profile: Visitor Messaging", but... We turned User Profile: Visitor Messaging OFF in vB a number of years ago because it was causing confusion. These totally confuse people who will do a "Profile Post" thinking they are starting/doing a new Forum discussion thread. Granted some people are hoping a specific forum member will personally answer their question outside the forum which makes some people to feel they are being “burdened” - And it "bugs" many forum members to be "personally" asked for help outside of the standard Forum Discussion Threads. I see that the ones from the short time it was “turned on” in 2009 through 2010 are imported into Xenforo Profile Posts. We will delete these.

 

[Marc]

A word about Xenforo "Resources". This is an add-on I got when I bought a complete Xenforo package some time back. I am not sure yet what we will use it for. Suggestions and thoughts appreciated (you can reply in this thread if you like).

The XenForo Resource Manager is an add-on that allows you to manage resources such as files and tutorials or other article-like content.

Here is another aspect of all of this - The current vBulletin Visitor Picture Albums may or may not import into Xenforo's "Media". I am working with Todo10 on some issues like this. Xenforo's "Media" allows user to make personal picture albums, but to be honest with all the media sites today, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., I doubt this will be used much, but there are some good Visitor Albums so hopefully there will be a way to bring them into Xenforo "Resources".

 

[Marc]

Xenforo "Media"

I am working on this with Todo10. My hope is that the current "User Albums" can be imported into Xenforo's "Media" section.

However, with all the current media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., I doubt visitors will use it much. While it was popular here in the past, time has moved on and it is rarely used these days. None the less, we have some interesting Visitor Albums I would hate to lose.

 

[Marc]

Files Attached to Forum Thread Posts

As I had to do for vBulletin (the "fileslist.php" script), I had Todo10 write an "add-on" which functions much like the current one here.

 

[Marc]

Tuesday14 August 2018

I have resolved the Paypal issue which I had a problem with because they do not separate "Business" from personal. I hesitated on this because over the years I have seen few people ever "Donated". Once upon a time I had a regular "Donate" link, but it wasn't through Paypal (which I am not particularly fond of). I used to use a Digital River "processor" which was actually well accepted world wide before Paypal was "the" payment processor.

I am contacting advertisers because when the switchover comes quite a few things will be changing.

So - It's OK to use the Paypal link in the header.

And this is always acceptable if you would like to donate to "The Cause" (so to speak):

• Send a check or money order via Snail Mail. Checks should be made out to Marc Smith and mailed to The Elsmar Fund, 8466 Lesourdsville West Chester Road, West Chester, Ohio 45069

I am excited about the new software. I know it will be a significant "You Moved My Cheese" issue, but believe me - It is for me as well, and I believe the improvements are worth it. It will be hard for me, and I'm sure for many of you, to get used to. I have to say I'll miss this old forum software. It's what I have used here since, if I remember correctly, August of 2001.

If Elsmar has helped you, please consider Donating.

 

[shimonv]

I honestly don't remember donating anything to online services, BUT this is a worthy cause!

Marc, like a good "sales person" that you are - keep on sending updates and reminders. We have a tendency to forget...

Cheers,
Shimon

P.S. I think I would rather give money to keep the site as it is, but like the old songs goes - "the times they are a changin'".

 

[Marc]

I honestly don't remember donating anything to online services, BUT this is a worthy cause!

Marc, like a good "sales person" that you are - keep on sending updates and reminders. We have a tendency to forget...

Cheers,
Shimon

P.S. I think I would rather give money to keep the site as it is, but like the old songs goes - "the times they are a changin'".

As a quick reminder to all - Elsmar does not, for example, send out email "blasts" or other unwanted emails. Registered visitors set option(s) that they want such as "watch this thread".

BTW - Thanks to Shimon for the Donation. It is appreciated.

 

[Marc]

I will be deleting the /quality-forum/ and /qualityforum/ test forums soon. I am pressing to get the actual change to the Xenforo by 1st October.

The attached is still a bit rough, but it might be of interest to you.
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