News Site being upgraded this week

[Art]

Hi all,

Our site’s software stack needs an upgrade. Most aspects of our front-end will be updated this upcoming week.

Two asks:

1. Please be patient if things look wrong, don’t work and/or the site is down temporarily.
2. Report any and all bugs to me here or at art@scapecrunch.com.

Wish me luck!

Best,

Art

 

[Art]

The site has officially been upgraded to the latest software and php version. So far, no major issues. PHEW!

Add-ons have been disabled for the time being to ensure we have no significant bugs with the base software. As a result, expect certain functions or parts of the site not to work as normal, especially in mobile version.

Again, thanks for your patience as we improve the backbone of the site and please report any and all bugs you find.

All the best,
Art

 

[Art]

The bulk of the upgrading has finished successfully. I'm waiting on a few add-ons to be upgraded but the stressful part is now behind us. Thanks for your patience and to those that sent me bugs they saw.

Tweaks will continue to be made and, as always, your feedback (positive or constructive) is always welcomed.

All the best,
Art

 

[Art]

Upgraded add-ons are coming back online. Media and Resources are back. New features are needing some love - Useful Links, Glossary.

I know some of you have experienced some site slowness. Thanks for your patience. You should see or have seen an improvement already. Images should still load slowly as the caching software is still pending. Should be soon.

As always, let me know if you are having any issues.

Thanks again for being a part of our growing community. I hope you are liking all the updates but let me know either way.

All the best,
Art

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

I’m enjoying the push notifications for iPhone, now I can clear out my email inbox thanks Art!

 

[Art]

Alert that I will be re-activating some of our caching settings. Caching stores certain files so that the site appears faster to you when you visit.

That is good. However, IME this can also cause problems. Kindly let me know if you experience any issues. I am solely to blame for those but I promise to rectify quickly if it happens.

Thank you!

 

[Ed Wiser]

Thanks for fixing tapatalk.

 

[Uncle_R]

In the last couple of days pictures have not been showing up in Tapatalk?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Art]

Thanks for letting me know.

The new version of the software optimizes images and uses the extension webp now. It's a modern image standard for the web. I wonder if the Tapatalk add-on doesn't like them...

Will check and provide an update when available. Sorry for the inconvenience!

 

[Yugang]

The bulk of the upgrading has finished successfully.

One of the key take aways from the UKAPS story is that it helps a lot to stay close to the default Xenforo platform, and avoid the complexities of upgrades and special features. Their admin brought the platform back to basics, and frankly I don't think it shows any significant compromise compared to how it has been when all special features were still there. You can save a lot of your time, as well as money @Art , and this will help to keep ScapeCrunch as solid as a (Seiryu) rock.

 

[Art]

Thanks, @Yugang. I do appreciate that and have a similar philosophy.

The features I'm speaking about are all part of the stock platform. We can either turn them on or off. Specifically, the webp is part of standard image optimization that reduces the size of images on the web. This will help us lower storage cost and improve site loading speed. And, as I said, it is an option with the standard platform.

Tapatalk is an external add-on that I use to facilitate the site for people that use that app. Unfortunately, the developer has not updated it for the current version of Xenforo. Hence, it is having problems.

I try to limit the number of external add-ons used and try to make any adjustments with Xenforo. This way, as you said, updates are much simpler.

I'm not sure what UKAPS was using but I know Paolo and Tim and they are solid admins technically. I think the issues they had related more to sitting on a private server rather than a managed, shared service like we are. Being smaller has its advantages.

 

[Yugang]

I believe as members of a forum we have a vested interest for it to have a good governance, and mitigate any risks. One area that is, or could become, critical, is that the IT part could easily be outsourced to IT professionals, funded by us members and sponsors. If you @Art can and are willing to do it, that's great but your key value is in moderating and building a team and vision for the forum. So it is worth considering keeping the forum IT simple enough so that this part could be done by a professional at acceptable cost.

The elephant in the room on the other forum is that the IT management of the forum, moderation and finance were all in one hand. Not only are checks and balances virtually impossible in that case, but also succession can become a critical issue. And in their case it did. Maybe this is too early for ScapeCrunch, but directionally we should learn from experience and steer in the correct direction to allow for a good governance of our growing platform.

 

[Art]

I really appreciate your comments, @Yugang.

We do have an IT professional (Xenforo developer) who I work with and can step in to manage anything related to the forum. He is a member of the forum already.

In terms of succession and governance, we are working on that currently. At the moment, it is easiest and most cost-effective for me to manage most things. However, we are working on ensuring nothing changes should I not be here for any reason.

This site going dark and data being lost is not an option. I will share more as we progress through the planning.

As you said, we are in this together.

 

[*Ci*]

Again, the only experience I have is with Koiphen, of which I am an administrator.
Koiphen was started by an individual with a passion for koi. As the years (decades!) went by it grew massively and a tangent entity was created, the World Wide Koi Club (WWKC), with many of it’s own perks and functions, one of which was to own and run the forum, Koiphen. The owner sold Koiphen to the WWKC for $1.
Another decade or so later saw the forum and the hobby in general declining, and 2 years or so ago the WWKC has been disbanded. Koiphen is still operating with a hired IT guy, a bank account with some funds and it’s administration. One long time admin handles the money and expenses.

Recently we were threatened with a lawsuit by a koi dealer who wanted some 15 year old posts removed because they contained some derogatory remarks about his business practices. At first we thought, no, we will not remove every negative review just because the recipient of the remarks doesn’t like it, but when he threatened to bring lawyers in, our IT expert told us that as admins, we would be considered the owners (for lack of any one else at this point) and we would be liable for costs incurred and damages to be paid. Needless to say, we removed the posts that he specified. None of us realized that we would be so personally involved.

We actually are not sure now, what to do about the forum. It has many, many years worth of valuable information, some very dedicated administrators and no “official” ownership. No one wants to see the forum close down but it is running smoothly now and we are not addressing the situation. Reading about the ScapeCrunch issues and how to set things up for the future is inspiring me to bring the subject up over on Koiphen. It is very important and I applaud @Art for thinking these matters through in advance!

 

[Art]

Thanks so much for the kind words, @*Ci*!

One thought for you is to set up a charitable entity to own and run it. This would remove liability from the current admins. The entity can be set up for social welfare or as a social club. Either way you would get protection, at least in the USA.

Your story reminds me of the infamous Robert Novak v APD List Members lawsuit saga. Sorry you went through this.

 

[*Ci*]

Thanks so much for the kind words, @*Ci*!

One thought for you is to set up a charitable entity to own and run it. This would remove liability from the current admins. The entity can be set up for social welfare or as a social club. Either way you would get protection, at least in the USA.

Your story reminds me of the infamous Robert Novak v APD List Members lawsuit saga. Sorry you went through this.

Wow, that sounds like the nightmare we managed to avoid by giving in right away. Thanks for the link and the suggestions. I will be broaching the subject on Koiphen soon.