PF Update to vB3.5 coming soon

[Greg Bernhardt]

We are planning to upgrade the forum sometime next week. The site may be down for up to 4-5 hours. I'll try my best to upgrade during the night hours US. Warren is working hard on converting some of the custom hacks, so make sure you thank him. One unfortunate consequence of the update is the incompatibility of some of our 3rd party hacks. There are new versions of the quiz, journal and link db hacks, however no update scripts. So what this means is we start from scatch on those. Please save all your journal entries to your computer and then re-enter them in the new system. I know it's a pain and if there were an easy solution I'd take it, but there simply isn't. The new hack versions seem to be of higher quality and this shouldn't happen again.

On a more positive note I'd also like to take this time to announce the development of a new custom skin. We're planning on a skin that will make PF more distinct with the same readability, accessibility and usability of the current skin. It should also be noted that the skin will be flexible in that each category will give off a unique feel depending on that category. For example, the biology and comsology forums will have the same basic skin elements, but some things will be different that will give you a unique feel appropriate to that topic. The skin will hopefully be ready within two months.

 

[Moonbear]

Is there an easy way to save journal entries, or do we just have to copy and paste each one? That's not too big of a deal for me as I don't have a huge number of entries, but some other folks have been very prolific and if there's an easier way for them to save the contents, I'm sure they'd like to know about it.

I'm looking forward to PF's new Fall look. But, I have to go without for 4-5 hours during the night (when I'm usually on)? Whatever will I do with myself?! Will you be able to give us a day's advanced warning when you know what night you're doing that so us addicts don't spend all night hitting refresh?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Is there an easy way to save journal entries, or do we just have to copy and paste each one? That's not too big of a deal for me as I don't have a huge number of entries, but some other folks have been very prolific and if there's an easier way for them to save the contents, I'm sure they'd like to know about it.

I'm looking forward to PF's new Fall look. But, I have to go without for 4-5 hours during the night (when I'm usually on)? Whatever will I do with myself?! Will you be able to give us a day's advanced warning when you know what night you're doing that so us addicts don't spend all night hitting refresh?

I'm thinking of making an export feature for the journals, just be prepared that you might have to copy and paste. Yeah I'll let you know the day before I upgrade and we're talking like 11pm CT.

 

[mattmns]

Awesome! I am hoping for consistent button/icon colors

 

[Moonbear]

I'm thinking of making an export feature for the journals, just be prepared that you might have to copy and paste. Yeah I'll let you know the day before I upgrade and we're talking like 11pm CT.

Thanks. An export feature would be wonderful if you can do it (as long as you'll have a compatible import feature in the new version ). Ah, 11 PM CT, I think I could handle that. I'll go to sleep one night and wake up in the morning to brand spanking new PF!

 

[JamesU]

cool a new PF

 

[zoobyshoe]

I entered the Stupid Quetion thread recently and thought I had slipped into a perpendicular universe again: everything looked completely different. Were you practising? Later it all returned to normal.

 

[z-component]

Glad to hear this, Greg and Warren! I'm excited! :)

 

[jma2001]

I just noticed the following in ZapperZ's journal:

In case you haven't read the latest news, PF will be going a major upgrade, and there's a strong possiblity that the journals would not be carried over to the next version. So all the entries might be lost.

I'm not sure how "valuable" all of the stuff I've written on here, but I do know that I didn't save any of them. Unfortunately, there are just too many to save as it is now, and I don't have the patience or time to want to do that. If you had saved any or most of my journal entries, and don't mind sending me copies of what you have, I would highly appreciate that.

Would someone please make sure to backup Zz's journal? There is a lot of good information there and I would rather not see it lost.

 

[Evo]

I just noticed the following in ZapperZ's journal:


Would someone please make sure to backup Zz's journal? There is a lot of good information there and I would rather not see it lost.

I've already done it, Zz has a copy now and I have copies backed up two different places.

 

[JamesU]

my journal's important

 

[mattmns]

[...] Maybe the upgrade will be a good time to introduce new smilies.

I agree. It would be a good time to fix the surprised smilie too : ,

 

[JamesU]

so what day will we be expecting it?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

so what day will we be expecting it?

Not exactly sure yet. Either Thursday or I'll wait for the weekend.

 

[JamesU]

I can't wait...!

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I can't wait...!

You actually won 't see much difference I'm afraid, it's mostly a backend change rather than frontend.

 

[honestrosewater]

You actually won 't see much difference I'm afraid, it's mostly a backend change rather than frontend.

But apparently, yomamma can't tell his backend from his frontend.

 

[Les Sleeth]

For some reason I've never been able to make entries in my journal, so maybe this will fix that (not that I have much to say anyway).

 

[quantumdude]

(not that I have much to say anyway).

I'll note for the record that you are saying this in your 1920^th post.

 

[Lisa!]

What happens to subscribed threads? I'd received notification mails constantly for threads I had subscribed to them in another site, but after upgradinding, it didn't send me any notification mail although those threads had new replies!

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

What happens to subscribed threads? I'd received notification mails constantly for threads I had subscribed to them in another site, but after upgradinding, it didn't send me any notification mail although those threads had new replies!

Well I can't speak for the other site, but it's possible in order hasten the upgrade the admin dumped the subscribed threads table, though unlikely. Our upgrade should not result in any loss of subscribed threads.

 

[saltydog]

Well, you guys seem to be on the ball. And I suppose I'm really not a hacker cus' I don't know what all those "hacks" Greg was talking about up there. Is it "custom software"? Oh yea, done a lot of that. Really though I been itchin' for an upgrade to PF but I'm into software and the symptom is expected. My biggest and maybe I should post this over there in that other one, request is to improve response time. You know, lightning fast would be nice so what's the best we can do to improve response time or is this a concern for anyone?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Looks like tomorrow night is the night. I just want to make sure every gets a chance to export their journal: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=91957

Also something to mention is in an effort to minimize the downtime I will be installing the LaTeX plugin after upgrading and then turning the forums back on. Of course there are a million things to do afterwards but I want to make sure we have as little downtime as possible. So I'll be adding and adjusting things on the live forum, which means members that visit within a few hours after upgrading might see changes suddenly occur.

 

[quantumdude]

But apparently, yomamma can't tell his backend from his frontend.

I can't believe I missed this. Best post ever.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Update is complete. Minor changes might occur as things settle. It would be a good idea to clear your browser caches so there aren't any conflictions with any new files.

 

[Lisa!]

Congratulations!

 

[chroot]

One admin note: LaTeX is fully functional, except for previewing posts. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm going to tackle that tomorrow. Let me know if anything else is broken.

- Warren

 

[saltydog]

Well, I'm impressed. An upgrade? Either you're really good or it wasn't a major upgrade. I think it's the former though. And users get so touchy when their favorite "pet" function no longer works or is messed up after an upgrade. Give me a break. They don't have a clue how complex it is. Do they know how many of those frickin' little rectangles it takes to make a program!

Good for you guys. I would have been disappointed if after the upgrade, major problems presisted from more than some time or another.

 

[saltydog]

Well, now I do have a question:

What is that message at the bottom of my signature column below the green light?

Warn: 0 (some boxes)?

 

[Lisa!]

I think nothing is lost but I can't see that beautiful red color when I receive a new PM. I don't want to have a new PM after that.

 

[Lisa!]

Well, now I do have a question:

What is that message at the bottom of my signature column below the green light?

Warn: 0 (some boxes)?

That means you've not warned by Mentors yet!

 

[saltydog]

That means you've not warned by Mentors yet!

Hello Lisa . . . oh wait, I forgot the exclamation point. Here's a pretty one for you in LaTex:

\text{!}

Tried those collard greens yet? But I digress.

That's not helpful. What does a warning mean and why is it "public". Seems to me if the Mentors don't like someone's performance they should take it up personally at least first. That is the appropriate thing to do. Why is it on my signature in particular?

 

[honestrosewater]

I think only you and the staff can see your warnings. I can see mine but can't see yours.

 

[saltydog]

I think only you can see it. I can see mine but can't see yours.

Eh, did that make sense? X's warning is only viewable by X. I just like using this new edit thng.

Well I tell you what Honestrosewater, or HRW I think they call you, that's why an "Update Features" document would be helpful. I could have read it and known what you tell me now.

Why is this even necessary? How many warnings you get? Why do you get a warning? Am I about to get a warning? I mean, sometimes . . . well . . . I say . . . what do you call um' . . . "unique" things in here? Are any of those inappropriate? I'd expect Hurkyl or SelfAdjoint at least to tell me if so.

 

[honestrosewater]

Well I tell you what Honestrosewater, or HRW I think they call you,

Yeah, that's what they call me to my face. Why - what else have you heard?

Why is this even necessary? How many warnings you get? Why do you get a warning? Am I about to get a warning? I mean, sometimes . . . well . . . I say . . . what do you call um' . . . "unique" things in here? Are any of those inappropriate? I'd expect Hurkyl or SelfAdjoint at least to tell me if so.

I like the unique things you say. But they do sound like they mean business:

Disciplinary Action:
If a member violates forum guidelines, he or she may be issued a warning by an administrator or mentor. Warnings range from 2 to 7 "points," depending on the severity of the violation. If a member accrues 15 or more warning points, he or she will be banned from Physics Forums for a period of 21 days. If a member receives any warning after having returned from a temporary ban, that member will then be banned permanently. Obvious, incorrigible spamming or trouble making will be met with a permanent ban.
- [thread]5374[/thread]

 

[hypnagogue]

Well I tell you what Honestrosewater, or HRW I think they call you, that's why an "Update Features" document would be helpful. I could have read it and known what you tell me now.

I'm sure Greg will post something like this soon. Please be patient as the admins are working on getting everything back to full functionality.

Why is this even necessary? How many warnings you get? Why do you get a warning? Am I about to get a warning? I mean, sometimes . . . well . . . I say . . . what do you call um' . . . "unique" things in here? Are any of those inappropriate? I'd expect Hurkyl or SelfAdjoint at least to tell me if so.

Our warning policy is explained in the Physics Forums Guidelines, under the heading "Disciplinary action."

 

[saltydog]

I'm sure Greg will post something like this soon. Please be patient as the admins are working on getting everything back to full functionality.


Our warning policy is explained in the Physics Forums Guidelines, under the heading "Disciplinary action."

Thanks. I'll read it.

And I'm the type of person who usually reads the instruction manual. Like the time me and my son were putting together that wheelbarrow and he was having trouble getting going and I said: "Dawg, what is the first sentence on the first page of the instructions . . . next go to the second sentence . . . next go . . .". Well, you know what I mean.

Wait, I'm noticing more changes to the user-interface . . . what hacker wouldn't want to "go advanced". What's this?

 

[saltydog]

I'm sure Greg will post something like this soon. Please be patient as the admins are working on getting everything back to full functionality.


Our warning policy is explained in the Physics Forums Guidelines, under the heading "Disciplinary action."

Alright, I read it. Thank you. To be fair to me, I do recall "briefly" running through that at some time in the past and my son is very good at putting things together now. He's 20.

 

[Lisa!]

Hello Lisa . . . oh wait, I forgot the exclamation point. Here's a pretty one for you in LaTex:

\text{!}

Tried those collard greens yet?

You have a very good memory!

 

[Moonbear]

Wait, I'm noticing more changes to the user-interface . . . what hacker wouldn't want to "go advanced". What's this?

That's not new. Feel free to click on things and see what happens. I don't think you can break anything.

Warnings have always been around, now there's just an easily visible bar so folks know how many they've accumulated (the closer to "full" the bar indicates, the closer to getting a vacation from PF). This seems to be the most popular question with the upgrade...I guess it makes folks nervous to see that bar there.

When you "go advanced" that means you're taken to a new screen to type your reply where you'll find the toolbars to help you format your reply...if you haven't memorized all the smiley codes either, you can click on smilies from that screen to insert them too. If you hold your mouse over the different icons, a little pop-up balloon should appear to tell you what each one is for.

The one big change is you can manage attachments from the toolbar instead of scrolling down to the bottom of the screen to do that. That's the button to the right of the white smiley face, and to the left of the undo/redo arrows (I don't know what it's supposed to look like because the icon doesn't display right for me for some reason, but the feature works, so who cares about an icon, right?).

If you edit a reply, you no longer are automatically taken to a new page. Instead, clicking the "edit" button let's you edit right in the window you're already in, which is very convenient if you only needed to fix a typo or something simple. You still have the option to "go advanced" if you need to fix formatting and don't know the codes or tags to use for that.

Any other new features you need explained?

 

[Les Sleeth]

If you edit a reply, you no longer are automatically taken to a new page. Instead, clicking the "edit" button let's you edit right in the window you're already in, which is very convenient if you only needed to fix a typo or something simple. You still have the option to "go advanced" if you need to fix formatting and don't know the codes or tags to use for that.

I can't edit my posts at all. I don't know if it's because I work on a Mac or what. Before these changes, I couldn't write in my journal. I didn't have much to say there, so it wasn't a problem, but I don't think I've ever written a perfect post the first time, so not being able to edit is a disaster.

 

[Moonbear]

I can't edit my posts at all. I don't know if it's because I work on a Mac or what. Before these changes, I couldn't write in my journal. I didn't have much to say there, so it wasn't a problem, but I don't think I've ever written a perfect post the first time, so not being able to edit is a disaster.

It's not a Mac issue since I use a Mac too. Though, what OS and browser are you using? I just upgraded to Tiger (OS 10.4) before the upgrade, and use Safari, so I don't know if there could be an issue with older versions of Mac OS or other browsers (I used to have really funky problems on OS 10.2 when browsing, and it had nothing to do with the browser I chose since I ran into the same problems with Safari as I did with IE, and every computer I used running 10.2 had that problem...it was the very last update before 10.3 came out that screwed up everything).

Did you already try the more obvious things, like clearing your cache and restarting?

 

[loseyourname]

I can't edit my posts at all. I don't know if it's because I work on a Mac or what. Before these changes, I couldn't write in my journal. I didn't have much to say there, so it wasn't a problem, but I don't think I've ever written a perfect post the first time, so not being able to edit is a disaster.

How long are you waiting? You're only able to edit posts for a limited amount of time. If it isn't working at all, I think you'll like the new interface when you do get it working. You can edit as a quick reply now, without having to open up the advanced interface.

 

[Les Sleeth]

How long are you waiting? You're only able to edit posts for a limited amount of time. If it isn't working at all, I think you'll like the new interface when you do get it working. You can edit as a quick reply now, without having to open up the advanced interface.

I am trying to edit within minutes of posting, and I am pretty sure you have 24 hours to edit (at least, that's how long the "Edit" button hangs around on my posts).

I hope it's not my system as Moonbear surmises (it's 9.2.2 for Mac). I don't want to upgrade to system 10 just now because I'm in the middle of a huge writing project using a version of MS Office and other software that are not straightforwardly compatible with system 10.

 

[Moonbear]

I am trying to edit within minutes of posting, and I am pretty sure you have 24 hours to edit (at least, that's how long the "Edit" button hangs around on my posts).

I hope it's not my system as Moonbear surmises (it's 9.2.2 for Mac). I don't want to upgrade to system 10 just now because I'm in the middle of a huge writing project using a version of MS Office and other software that are not straightforwardly compatible with system 10.

Two things:
1) Others have reported trouble with editing (mattmns has another thread here saying he had trouble, and I know he is not using a Mac). So I don't think it's your OS at this point.

2) If you upgrade to OS X, as long as you don't uninstall OS 9.2 in the process (don't reformat your drive, just "upgrade"), you can still use applications that only work in OS 9.2 in what is called the "Classic" environment. In other words, when you open those applications, if they aren't compatible with OS X, they'll open in OS 9 ("Classic"). It's nice, because it means when you first upgrade to OS X, you don't have to spend the money to immediately upgrade ALL of your software.

 

[Les Sleeth]

Two things:
1) Others have reported trouble with editing (mattmns has another thread here saying he had trouble, and I know he is not using a Mac). So I don't think it's your OS at this point.

So what could it be? I just tried to use the font, sizes, colors, etc. boxes on top of the message window and they don't work. I tried the "undo" button and it didn't undo the last word I wrote, it undid thirty minutes of work! GREG help!

2) If you upgrade to OS X, as long as you don't uninstall OS 9.2 in the process (don't reformat your drive, just "upgrade"), you can still use applications that only work in OS 9.2 in what is called the "Classic" environment. In other words, when you open those applications, if they aren't compatible with OS X, they'll open in OS 9 ("Classic"). It's nice, because it means when you first upgrade to OS X, you don't have to spend the money to immediately upgrade ALL of your software.

Yeah, I tried to work that way with the early versions of 10, and found it awkward and slow. Maybe the latest version handles it better. I know I am gradually getting outdated with new software that's being developed for the net.

 

[Lisa!]

So what could it be? I just tried to use the font, sizes, colors, etc. boxes on top of the message window and they don't work. I tried the "undo" button and it didn't undo the last word I wrote, it undid thirty minutes of work! GREG help

I have the same problem, nothing is clickable whenever I want to reply. But luckily I can edit my post.
I don't know what's the problem, we had the same in
http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/index.php , and I even didn't notice that upgrading's happened. I even didn't need to clear cache.

 

[Moonbear]

So what could it be? I just tried to use the font, sizes, colors, etc. boxes on top of the message window and they don't work. I tried the "undo" button and it didn't undo the last word I wrote, it undid thirty minutes of work! GREG help!

I don't know. Since you seem to be having more problems than others with that, maybe it is the OS or browser you're using. It just might not be current enough to be fully compatible anymore.

Yeah, I tried to work that way with the early versions of 10, and found it awkward and slow. Maybe the latest version handles it better. I know I am gradually getting outdated with new software that's being developed for the net.

I haven't needed to use that in a while, so I'm not sure if it's any faster now. I don't remember it being that slow, but maybe I just thought Classic was always slow. Yes, it's always so tough deciding when to update. I'm always in the middle of something I'm deathly afraid to lose or not be able to open again after an upgrade, but at some point, you just have to bite the bullet and do it.

 

[loseyourname]

Hmm . . . I was going to suggest that you use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable copy of your entire hard drive before you update (that way you can be certain that you do not lose anything), but Carbon Copy apparently only runs on 10.2 and higher.

However, Moonbear, in the future, when you run updates, you should use it. You'll need a Mac compatible piece of hardware or a DVD to backup to, though.

 

[Moonbear]

However, Moonbear, in the future, when you run updates, you should use it. You'll need a Mac compatible piece of hardware or a DVD to backup to, though.

Well, that would be the problem. I have neither a DVD writer, nor anything else around these parts that's mac compatible (*grumbles about crummy department server*). Heh heh, the contents of my hard drive wouldn't fit on a DVD anyway. I'm really going to have to start grumbling to our IT folks really soon about getting their servers to talk to macs since I'll soon be generating some massive data files that I'm going to need to get off their servers and onto my computer somehow (I've never been in a university that was so incapable of functioning with multiple platforms before).