PLEASE READ: Changes to the Forum

I’m sure you can’t have failed to notice that the forum has been subject to repeated downtimes lately. And we have been working behind the scenes to try to put this right.

The main problem is that the forum software we installed in the spring has been very disappointing. There have been numerous bugs and issues with it, and the hosting company tell us that it is the cause of much of the downtime.

For the last few weeks, our moderation and admin team have been looking at the various options for making the forum more reliable and user friendly, and we have been testing out some new forum software.

We have finally settled on a system we think will be a great improvement and we very much hope you will like it as much as we do.

In the next few days we hope to migrate to the new forum software and there will be some downtime during this process. We’ll try to keep it to a minimum, and we’ll let you know when we are about to make the switch.

In the meantime, thank you for your patience over the last few months and we are looking forward to giving you a much improved service

 

I'm looking forward to getting the new system in place. It's a lot more elegant than this current software, with some nice new features which make it feel a whole lot more modern and user-friendly.

Hoping that the transition will be as painless as possible for everyone. Of course there will be a little bit of a learning curve with the new setup, but even the non-techies on the mod team agree that it's a lot more intuitive so that should be minimal. We've been playing with it a fair amount so hopefully we'll be able to help out with any questions people may have once it's up and running.

It's going to be a huge improvement!

 

Looking forward to the forum changes

 

Quite excited to see it up and running in all its glory!

 

Well done all Admin for all your hard work (must check my password in case I need it when we move - hang on to your hats )

 

Thanks for all the work. Looking forward to using the new forum.

 

Looking forward to the new-style forum!

 

Looking forward to seeing the new-look forum. As a complete techno numpty I found the new software easy and quick to use so hopefully it will be a big improvement.

 

Thanks Pippa, and the other Admins - I know what hard work it has been keeping the forum stable, hope the move to new software makes everyone's life easier!

 

Thanks very much for keeping us informed - and for all the work that goes into making the forum so good. I hope the new software makes life easier!

 

I have to admit that I don't like this software, I much prefferred the previous one, so hope the new one will be more like the old one!

 

Thanks to Pippa, admin and moderators, looking forward to seeing the end result!! x

 

ooh lovely! I'm not normally one to embrace change, but user-friendly & reliable floats my boat.

 

ooh really looking forward to the the new forum, sounds like a great improvement. Thanks to all of you beavering away behind the scenes

 

It will be so much better... Can't wait!

 

Seems like the perfect time to give a round of applause to our mods and admin teams for all the work they do.

It is entirely to their credit that the Forum exists at all, let alone in the friendly, welcoming, easy to use manner it does.

 

Yes.. well done folks and thanks

 

Here here (and wags from Pongo)

 

Hear, hear, yes applause and great thanks to moderators and Pippa for all the hard work. I think this must be one of the most 'civilised' forums there are and provides great support and advice without censor.

 

Thank you everyone for all your hard work for us