# ALL: Get Ready for the Move to the New Site...



## Semper Fidelis (Oct 16, 2006)

I won't release a 5 paragraph order on this move but I do want to provide a few coordinating instructions and things you need to be aware of.

*What will happen?*
- On either Wed Night or Thurs Night, while most of you are sleeping, I intend to perform a user migration to new forum software.

- After some consideration, we determined it would be smarter to leave the old board at the URL it's always been at: http://www.puritanboard.com/forum. I'm going to convert it to a Read-Only board so that posting will no longer be possible but you'll be able to read any old posts. This elminates the need for a massive update of links or the loss of hundreds of inbound links. The archived Board will receive the name *The PuritanBoard Archives*.

- Using an import utility, all existing forums, threads, posts, users, and user U2U's will be migrated to the new site. The new site will reside at http://www.puritanboard.com. In other words, the new forum will be at the main domain and the archived site will remain in a folder within the domain. We'll still have the same information pages as before but they'll be links off the main page which will be the forum front end.

*What do you need to do?*
1. When the new board comes up, don't freak out.
2. Log in with your normal username and password.
3. Go to your Profile and update it. First, there are a few things that are not translating well and the birthdays are one of them. There are also some required fields in the profile that are going to be forced upon you. I know that's a bit of a headache but it's part of the registration process and there's no way to avoid making you guys have to enter it too. It's information that was required in your signature anyway: location, church attending, denomination, church office held, etc. It's not too hard.
4. Clean up your Private Messages. You're going to see a TON of messages that you had long since deleted. It's another bug in translation but it's better to have to re-delete messages than to lose them altogether. Andrew has 900 because he's a popular guy.

Common concerns:

*Will my favorite Reformed smileys be there?*
Of course. In fact, you'll now have Reformed avatars you can select.

*Will this be hard?*
No.

*Change my profile and delete a bunch of Private Messages?! That sounds really painful.*
I'm sorry. What was that you asked?


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Oct 16, 2006)

Rich,

We need the new board to still point to /forum. Otherwise, all the links to www.puritanboard.com/forum in Google, AOL, Yahoo, etc. will break. 

Can you keep it in the /forum?


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 17, 2006)

Matt,

Sent you a U2U. Scott and I talked about this in the test forum.

My concern is Google as well. We're on the same page but the rationale for keeping the existing forum in an archive format is a very strong one.


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## Romans922 (Oct 17, 2006)

Will we be able to have html in signature?


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 17, 2006)

No but you can use the bb code equivalents to place URL's and images in your signatures.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Oct 17, 2006)

> _Originally posted by joshua_
> *Change my profile and delete a bunch of Private Messages?! That sounds really painful.*
> I'm sorry. What was that you asked?



*In my endearing natural southern accent*

You mean this ain't no Holiday Inn?[/quote]

From _Private Benjamin_:



> Judy Benjamin: I think they sent me to the wrong place.
> Capt. Lewis: Uh-huh.
> Judy Benjamin: See, I did join the army, but I joined a *different* army. I joined the one with the condos and the private rooms.


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## Arch2k (Oct 17, 2006)

In case you don't hear it enough Rich, thank for all of your hard work here on the PB.


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## turmeric (Oct 17, 2006)

So if Google is our search engine how will we get to PB if the link is broken?


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 17, 2006)

> _Originally posted by turmeric_
> So if Google is our search engine how will we get to PB if the link is broken?


It won't be broken Meg.

If you search for a topic and Google search returns this URL:
http://www.puritanboard.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=21469 (happens to be the URL of this thread)

You will click on it and it will take you to this exact location in the future. The difference? It will be a "closed" board. It will be read-only for all members and you won't be able to post to it. You can read and navigate it to your heart's content but not post to it.

On top of each page will be a notice that "This is the Archive site for the PuritanBoard. The new PuritanBoard forum is at http://www.puritanboard.com. Clicking on that link will take you to the new forum.

The two forums will forever exist side by side. The old one read-only, the new read and write.


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## turmeric (Oct 17, 2006)

Okey-dokey! I think I'm still in the concrete-operational stage where computers are concerned. You know, the phase where you can't learn math because it's too abstract.


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## Theoretical (Oct 17, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Jeff_Bartel_
> In case you don't hear it enough Rich, thank for all of your hard work here on the PB.


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## turmeric (Oct 17, 2006)

Can we knight him? Can a Marine accept such honorifics?


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 18, 2006)

I've turned off new user registration for the time being. I'm performing some last tests but if this test is successful then the migration is going today (tonight for you folks on the other side of the world).

Sorry Rev. Winzer. It will be while you're wide awake.


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## jaybird0827 (Oct 18, 2006)

The Lord grant you wisdom, skill, and patience as you "throw the switch."

---------------

With this post I will promptly sign off and get out of the way. Mrs. Sulzmann purchased a whole seasons worth of Murder She Wrote. Now's as good a time as any to break into it and then crash at my usual time. See you on the new board!


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 18, 2006)

Thanks Jay.

Well, I need to hold off at least one more day. It turns out that the newest release of the import utility is not available as I had hoped...

Just continue posting as usual.


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 19, 2006)

OK, I just tested the latest release of the upgrade script. It fixes the importing of the U2U inbox and the bio field. The outbox is still importing items you may have previously deleted but that's a nuisance that you can remedy in a few minutes of work. Your birthdate is also likely not going to be imported. That's another minor issue because, in the new board, we're requiring members to input their location, denomination and Church where it has, heretofore, not been a forced field in the Profile (though the forum rules always specified that you reveal that info in your Sig).

I'm waiting for clearance but may begin upgrading within 30 minutes.


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## Ivan (Oct 19, 2006)

> _Originally posted by SemperFideles_
> OK, I just tested the latest release of the upgrade script. It fixes the importing of the U2U inbox and the bio field. The outbox is still importing items you may have previously deleted but that's a nuisance that you can remedy in a few minutes of work. Your birthdate is also likely not going to be imported. That's another minor issue because, in the new board, we're requiring members to input their location, denomination and Church where it has, heretofore, not been a forced field in the Profile (though the forum rules always specified that you reveal that info in your Sig).
> 
> I'm waiting for clearance but may begin upgrading within 30 minutes.



I thought I was suppose to be sleeping when this happened.


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## Scott Bushey (Oct 19, 2006)

Ivan,
Get in bed brother!


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 19, 2006)




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## NaphtaliPress (Oct 19, 2006)




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