Desperately Needed Forum and Site Overhaul

[MasterTechCC]

Evening mates!

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be undergoing some major site and forum upgrades here @ mappinghell.net You shouldn't experience any delays or interruptions on the current site while we perform first behind the scenes such as database optimization and backups. Vampi and I will be leading this operation; we have already been beta testing a new WordPress powered site on a sub-domain of MH's for the past month. We've made great progress since beginning this project and I believe that we can confidently say that you can expect the new site to be completed and ready to transfer to mappinghell.net in the next 2-3 weeks, end of October at the latest.

Now, the address of the site obviously isn't changing. We're trying to complete this upgrade with as little "foundational changes" as possible. However, as part of our clean up efforts, we will be doing a complete refresh of the MH forums. What this means is that everything from the conception of the current forums up until right before we launch the new site will be archived and cut off from the main navigation; nevertheless, you will still be able to access everything from the old forums.

Currently we are experimenting with various forum plugins designed for WP; we are looking for one that is as close as possible in functionality and design to what we are currently using because we are attempting to integrate the forums with the site so that way the sets of profiles between the two are linked. This allows for greater functionality, new features, and a richer site/forum experience for the end user. However, if for whatever reason we cant get the plugins to work properly or we cant find one that's just right for our needs, we will be sticking with Simple Machine Forums for they have one of the most robust and flexible forum systems out there.

If you have any questions whatsoever, please dont hesitate to ask Vampi or myself either on the forums, IRC, or in game. It's been fun working on this project and I eagerly look forward to being a part of this new chapter in MappingHell's history with you and this new website!

Regards, MasterTechCC - MappingHell Admin

[Skur]

Are you sure we have enough activity to fiol upa an empty forum? I really am not sure if this is a good move :S

[Boognish]

why is a forum move "desperately" needed?

[MasterTechCC]

First off I just want to bring up the fact that if you've been keeping up with the Sauer SVN, eihrul is looking to release a stable version sometime around the end of the year. One of the biggest changes is compatibility: If your computer is not powerful enough to display shaders, then you will not be able to run the game in 2016. Simple as that, shaders are now required to play so this pretty much forces everyone to upgrade. It's almost 2016, there shouldn't be anyone with that old of a graphics card. Now in my case my POS 2013 Dell Inspiron has integrated graphics and a weak processor to begin with, plus being an engineer major I'm going to need a more powerful rig to run AutoCAD and Inventor anyways...

Are you sure we have enough activity to fiol upa an empty forum? I really am not sure if this is a good move :S

It's not that we dont have enough forum activity, the current forum has a TON of inactive/false profiles and junk topics and we simply want to do some housekeeping to keep things neat. According to the current member's list we're almost 30 strong, yet how many of those people are actually here? Some people come on the forums to "check for streams of activity" every now and then, but we never see them on the servers let alone in IRC. You guys have to make it happen.

why is a forum move "desperately" needed?

I say "desperate" not in the sense that this is an urgent matter, but because the clan is about to enter into a new time in its history and I believe that calls for some changes. As far as the FORUMS themselves goes, how you navigate around and operate them is not going to change. We're pretty much going to re-theme and optimize them.

Honestly my reasoning in do so is mainly cosmetics; the current forums doesn't have a "hellish" theme and our website at mappinghell.net is non-existent... its just a splash screen. We simply grew tired of looking at the default SMF theme and an empty homepage, but dont worry - we are considering the option to let the user pick whichever theme he/she chooses! Don't you guys want a nice looking website to display our skills and show everyone what MappingHell is all about?

[Pupskuchen]

According to the current member's list we're almost 30 strong, yet how many of those people are actually here? Some people come on the forums to "check for streams of activity" every now and then, but we never see them on the servers let alone in IRC. You guys have to make it happen.

I've checked the mappinghell sauerbraten server a few times in the last times and it was empty every single time (but maybe I didn't check often enough).

And the problem about IRC is that I don't really feel like connecting to an irc server just for one channel... I'm a fan of small irc networks myself, but one channel?

[vampirefrog]

#sheeptopia is on quakenet

[MasterTechCC]

According to the current member's list we're almost 30 strong, yet how many of those people are actually here? Some people come on the forums to "check for streams of activity" every now and then, but we never see them on the servers let alone in IRC. You guys have to make it happen.

I've checked the mappinghell sauerbraten server a few times in the last times and it was empty every single time (but maybe I didn't check often enough).

And the problem about IRC is that I don't really feel like connecting to an irc server just for one channel... I'm a fan of small irc networks myself, but one channel?

Perhaps you were checking at the wrong times because we've been pretty active lately, everytime we have an editing session we can get 8-10 people easily. Jim Dandy is not the only MH server for we also have Sheeptopia and Athbazcar.

[Doom]

Personally, I like the idea of a new forum, this forum is cramped with outdated historic events that happen in sauer that don't particurlary matter anymore, and it just clogs up the forums.

[GoodOldJacob]

+1 for the new forum/website 

[Suicizer]

Wha about erasing urgent/outdated topics?

[ArdTheSheep]

Wha about erasing urgent/outdated topics?

I'm over here like, finally, someone who agrees with me!

No need for a new site, old ones fine, just needs cleaning up.

Give that guy $1,000,000.

[vampirefrog]

Admins are welcome to move old stuff into the Archive section.