We have been upgraded

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We have been upgraded

Postby Paul » Monday 11 July 2011 2:40:31am

In the words of the Cybermen, we have been upgraded....* checks head - not metal, phew! * .

To celebrate the release of the final movie, I've update the forum to the latest version of phpBB. The last upgrade a while ago only seemed to half-work, but with a bit of tweaking and coaxing, this one seems to have done the trick nicely. If you do see any problems or glitches, please post them in this thread.

There are a few new features, mostly tiny ones but the main addition you may notice is something I remember Scellanis asking about many moons ago - there's now a quick-reply box that you can use at the bottom of every thread. At the moment I've activated it in all areas of the forum. You can still use the full reply editor complete with smilies and formatting options by clicking the "Post Reply" button like before, or the "Full editor" button. It would be great to know whether you like it or if you'd prefer things the old way.

Also there is a "Newly Registered Users" group. I need to check exactly how this works, but this may help in defeating the spambots as it should be able to be used to review posts of new members rather than letting new- spambot-users post their icky spam to the world immediately if they somehow get through the account approval process.

As far as I've been able to find, there seem to be a few extra anti-spam plugins that may be available too. I'll be experimenting in the next few days with these. If we can cut the huge numbers of spambots that are trying to join, it'll make it more straightforward to enable real members to join, and hopefully BaO's membership will grow as it has done in the past before the spambots started to attempt to invade in their droves.

Eeek...I've just noticed that there's been another new version released in the last few hours. Looks like I'll be upgrading again tomorrow too. :)
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Paul
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby Phoenix in the Ashes » Monday 11 July 2011 3:24:13am

I like Quick Reply. It's handy for those of us with slow computers. Thumbs up, Paul. Thumbs up.
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby Scellanis » Monday 11 July 2011 9:22:00pm

Awesome!! Can't wait to get a look at the new spam control stuff :)
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby Paul » Tuesday 12 July 2011 3:11:26am

Thanks for the positivity. The second upgrade seems to have gone well tonight, and I've put new anti-spam measures in to hopefully bounce those spambots away without them even getting through the sign-up process.

Instead of the "captcha" images which the spambots have cracked and seem to get past quite easily, new members will be asked to answer a question which should be easy for humans but hopefully should stop the bots in their tracks.

There is also an added ingredient to the anti-bot potion which should help further to keep them outside the doors.

Even if they do make their way in and then get approved, I've figured out the "Newly Registered Users" group settings...the first few posts of Newly Registered Users will now go in to a "Moderation Queue" and will need to be approved by a Moderator before showing up on the forum. Currently I've set things so that they'll need to have 8 approved posts before they can post unapproved. This number may be tweaked a bit as we see how things go with the new changes - I'd prefer it a little lower but we'll start at this level for now.
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby salemboy » Thursday 14 July 2011 7:42:07am

Yipee. Updates, updates. It's a reminder we're not dead.
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby Paul » Friday 15 July 2011 12:33:48am

Hee hee - no, definitely not dead. Just been having a quiet period for a while maybe, but now that the last movie has been released hopefully it'll get a bit more active.
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby salemboy » Saturday 16 July 2011 3:14:00am

If not, we can always archive everything and put it in a museum.
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby Scellanis » Sunday 17 July 2011 1:00:23am

I haven't had any new inactive member emails in the last view days, looks like your question in the sign up is working. No wonder I feel lonely, its because I'm not getting the new email bing every 5 seconds. *giggles*
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby Paul » Wednesday 20 July 2011 12:08:04am

Hee hee - you could always sign up for a few of those "win a free ipad" contests. I'm sure they would love to send you some spam to get keep your email proggie binging away. :)

:chicken wizard:
"Cluck cluck - did I hear a museum mentioned.*shivers* Last time I visited one of those it was full of stuffed animals. Eeeek!"
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby Scellanis » Monday 25 July 2011 11:03:39am

Just incase anyone asks any friends to join right now, I'm having some issues logging in to activate people so they will have to be patient and wait for Paul to return. Sorry.
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby salemboy » Thursday 28 July 2011 5:44:43am

Hmmmm... we need to advertise our roleplaying section or something. I haven't checked today yet, but I'm doubting there's a reply. It's my fault too that nobody replies, because I take so long to reply myself, but only because I never think anybody's going to reply... Sigh... I miss our old roleplaying group.
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby Paul » Sunday 31 July 2011 11:23:46pm

I've moved the RPG section upwards on the main forum index page. Hopefully new members may notice it a bit more. :)
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby salemboy » Monday 1 August 2011 7:10:07am

You weren't lying when you said you'd moved it up. It's right up there! Thank you, Paul!
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby Paul » Wednesday 3 August 2011 12:47:03am

Hee hee - I'm wondering whether to move it right below the Great Hall, just temporarily for a few days to see what happens. Meanwhile, I've added a mention of the RPGs at the top right of the forum's header tonight, which shows on all pages.
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Re: We have been upgraded

Postby salemboy » Thursday 4 August 2011 12:59:22pm

Awesome! That's just awesome!
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