Ludachris
Founder & Zookeeper
- 8,060
- 3,085
- Nov 12, 2001
-
Newcastle,
California
Apologies in advance for any errors or problems that start popping up while I prepare the site for the transition!
I wanted to give everyone a heads up on some upcoming changes that will be taking place on DSMtuners. The site will be moving to a new forum software soon (in the coming weeks) and it will have an impact on everyone who uses the site in some way. I know full well that the majority does NOT like change, and I've weighed that heavily in the decision making process. But in the end, it is something that I feel has to be done in order to keep the site moving forward.
Why?
So the big question is WHY? Well, a lot of reasons really. I've kept the site running on a very outdated version of a script called vBulletin. Most all of you are familiar with the platform because almost every large forum site out there uses the same platform for their forums, especially automotive forums. Just like with operating systems on a desktop computer or even a mobile device, software needs to be updated for security reasons and for usability. And newer versions of vBulletin have been known to be very buggy and not very user friendly. And with as difficult as it is to upgrade to a newer version of vBulletin due to all of the custom features we have here, it will almost be the same amount of work to migrate to a different script as it would be to upgrade to a newer version of vBulletin. We are at a point where we will have to upgrade the forum software in order to upgrade the server operating systems, as this version of the forum script is not compatible with newer versions of the server operating system. So something needs to happen soon.
Benefits
The decision has been made to move to a different forum platform altogether. One that reminds me a lot of vBulletin back when it was the platform everyone chose to use for just about every forum site out there. Though a few things will function a little differently, you'll find a lot of new features and technology that you get in a lot of other modern websites and social media/community networks that will make using the site a bit more enjoyable. This migration will result in various fixes to common problems we've had around here that many will appreciate (typing a long post only to have a submission error and you lose everything you just typed, random database errors, slow page load times, supporting member renewal problems, and various other annoyances). I'm more excited about the new features it will bring, both by default of being a modern script, along with some custom plugins.
New Features/Functionality
- All content will be mobile friendly, not just threads and PMs (no 3rd party app needed to view).
- Mark reply as 'best answer', which moves the reply to the top of all the other replies and highlighted.
- Save post as draft so it's not lost if you get a submission error, lose your internet connection, or click to another page by accident.
- New Vehicle profiles system, which will allow for multiple DSM profiles per user with lots of features.
- New Parts Catalog solution with built-in reviews system.
- New Timeslips/Dyno Lists based on the new vehicle profile system.
- Ability to simultaneously post replies and other updates on the site to Facebook upon submission.
- Ability to Bookmark a post and add a note why you did, along with basic thread watching/subscription.
- Ability to follow just about anything - vehicle profile updates, classifieds, threads, posts, articles, etc.
- New 'alerts' functionality to show you updates on content you're interested in.
- The search feature will allow for searches on all content or just category/section, all in one search bar.
- Ability to change your username (only once)
- Ability to ignore forums you aren't interested in (420A forums, Hangout, etc) in searches and New Posts.
Unfortunately, any change will make some people unhappy. Some things will function differently. And some features and data might not be ported over. For example, "social groups", the old archived "blog entries" (not the new build journals), and possibly even the "wiki" might disappear since I can't find a good way to port that data over to the new systems (if you can write PHP code to port data over, send me a PM). Some of those features aren't widely popular or even useful - with that said, I hate the idea of any loss of data. Not to worry, all of the most common data will be ported over - threads, PMs, user profile info, passwords, buyer/seller ratings, thread subscriptions, avatars, photos, most user settings, signatures, and plenty of other data.
One major reason for this change is the fact that nearly half of our visitors are using mobile devices these days, and the site obviously does not render that well at all on mobile devices - forcing me to add in third party apps like Tapatalk and Forum Runner, which don't allow you to browse half the site (like classifieds, trader ratings, galleries, tech pages, or even the homepage). The user experience is completely out of my control when those apps are used, and the people who make those apps are starting to employ questionable features - like offering users the ability to store photo uploads on their servers instead of our site... it's something that has a lot of site owners concerned, including me. The new layout of the site will be extremely compatible with mobile devices so that Tapatalk won't be needed for mobile browsing/posting.
Another huge driving force behind this change is security. With the code base being so out of date, security holes have always been a concern. Not that your personal information is necessarily at risk (that's not something you should be worried about), but attacks on the database and file system are a real problem for site owners who use old forum scripts. And using old software puts you in a challenging position - mostly due to hackers who want to get in and turn the site into a spam serving machine or redirecting visitors to their affiliate sites - nothing like the threat of credit card numbers and personal data being stolen, but it's still a pain in the ass to deal with as a site owner. Once we migrate over to the new script we'll be able to update our server operating system to add even more security - what does this mean to you? Mostly just better website performance and fewer errors.
I am most excited about the development work I've been wanting to do to introduce new features and new sections on the site for years, which has been very limited due to the code base being so old. It's difficult to create new features in an old script. And everyone that has been here since the beginning knows I enjoy being innovative and making things available that you don't always see on other automotive enthusiast websites. Plenty of projects have been shelved because development of the code base for this forum software has all but ceased, and that makes it tough to implement newer technologies that are available in stock versions of newer forum software. That will change. And we will once again enjoy some pretty cool new features and functionality.
In the end, we were going to have to make a change, if for nothing else, to stay up to date with security and technology standards on the server. Whether it was upgrading to a newer version of the same forum software or migrating to a new script, things were going to look and function a little differently, no way to get around that. And as much as people tend to dislike change, we would be leaving the site at risk by not making these changes. I hope the majority will be receptive to this change, and instead of being massively critical and hostile about it, I hope you all work with me once we flip the switch. I'll do what I can to work out all the kinks and make things as enjoyable and useful as possible - trying to keep all of the core functionality intact. And I'll try to do what I can to keep things looking and working as close to what you've been used to as I can.
When?
I still have a lot of work to do and will have more information in the coming days/weeks. The goal is to flip the switch in early April. Again, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I will start posting more information and sending out emails to the members pretty soon. Feel free to PM me with questions/comments.
I wanted to give everyone a heads up on some upcoming changes that will be taking place on DSMtuners. The site will be moving to a new forum software soon (in the coming weeks) and it will have an impact on everyone who uses the site in some way. I know full well that the majority does NOT like change, and I've weighed that heavily in the decision making process. But in the end, it is something that I feel has to be done in order to keep the site moving forward.
Why?
So the big question is WHY? Well, a lot of reasons really. I've kept the site running on a very outdated version of a script called vBulletin. Most all of you are familiar with the platform because almost every large forum site out there uses the same platform for their forums, especially automotive forums. Just like with operating systems on a desktop computer or even a mobile device, software needs to be updated for security reasons and for usability. And newer versions of vBulletin have been known to be very buggy and not very user friendly. And with as difficult as it is to upgrade to a newer version of vBulletin due to all of the custom features we have here, it will almost be the same amount of work to migrate to a different script as it would be to upgrade to a newer version of vBulletin. We are at a point where we will have to upgrade the forum software in order to upgrade the server operating systems, as this version of the forum script is not compatible with newer versions of the server operating system. So something needs to happen soon.
Benefits
The decision has been made to move to a different forum platform altogether. One that reminds me a lot of vBulletin back when it was the platform everyone chose to use for just about every forum site out there. Though a few things will function a little differently, you'll find a lot of new features and technology that you get in a lot of other modern websites and social media/community networks that will make using the site a bit more enjoyable. This migration will result in various fixes to common problems we've had around here that many will appreciate (typing a long post only to have a submission error and you lose everything you just typed, random database errors, slow page load times, supporting member renewal problems, and various other annoyances). I'm more excited about the new features it will bring, both by default of being a modern script, along with some custom plugins.
New Features/Functionality
- All content will be mobile friendly, not just threads and PMs (no 3rd party app needed to view).
- Mark reply as 'best answer', which moves the reply to the top of all the other replies and highlighted.
- Save post as draft so it's not lost if you get a submission error, lose your internet connection, or click to another page by accident.
- New Vehicle profiles system, which will allow for multiple DSM profiles per user with lots of features.
- New Parts Catalog solution with built-in reviews system.
- New Timeslips/Dyno Lists based on the new vehicle profile system.
- Ability to simultaneously post replies and other updates on the site to Facebook upon submission.
- Ability to Bookmark a post and add a note why you did, along with basic thread watching/subscription.
- Ability to follow just about anything - vehicle profile updates, classifieds, threads, posts, articles, etc.
- New 'alerts' functionality to show you updates on content you're interested in.
- The search feature will allow for searches on all content or just category/section, all in one search bar.
- Ability to change your username (only once)
- Ability to ignore forums you aren't interested in (420A forums, Hangout, etc) in searches and New Posts.
Unfortunately, any change will make some people unhappy. Some things will function differently. And some features and data might not be ported over. For example, "social groups", the old archived "blog entries" (not the new build journals), and possibly even the "wiki" might disappear since I can't find a good way to port that data over to the new systems (if you can write PHP code to port data over, send me a PM). Some of those features aren't widely popular or even useful - with that said, I hate the idea of any loss of data. Not to worry, all of the most common data will be ported over - threads, PMs, user profile info, passwords, buyer/seller ratings, thread subscriptions, avatars, photos, most user settings, signatures, and plenty of other data.
One major reason for this change is the fact that nearly half of our visitors are using mobile devices these days, and the site obviously does not render that well at all on mobile devices - forcing me to add in third party apps like Tapatalk and Forum Runner, which don't allow you to browse half the site (like classifieds, trader ratings, galleries, tech pages, or even the homepage). The user experience is completely out of my control when those apps are used, and the people who make those apps are starting to employ questionable features - like offering users the ability to store photo uploads on their servers instead of our site... it's something that has a lot of site owners concerned, including me. The new layout of the site will be extremely compatible with mobile devices so that Tapatalk won't be needed for mobile browsing/posting.
Another huge driving force behind this change is security. With the code base being so out of date, security holes have always been a concern. Not that your personal information is necessarily at risk (that's not something you should be worried about), but attacks on the database and file system are a real problem for site owners who use old forum scripts. And using old software puts you in a challenging position - mostly due to hackers who want to get in and turn the site into a spam serving machine or redirecting visitors to their affiliate sites - nothing like the threat of credit card numbers and personal data being stolen, but it's still a pain in the ass to deal with as a site owner. Once we migrate over to the new script we'll be able to update our server operating system to add even more security - what does this mean to you? Mostly just better website performance and fewer errors.
I am most excited about the development work I've been wanting to do to introduce new features and new sections on the site for years, which has been very limited due to the code base being so old. It's difficult to create new features in an old script. And everyone that has been here since the beginning knows I enjoy being innovative and making things available that you don't always see on other automotive enthusiast websites. Plenty of projects have been shelved because development of the code base for this forum software has all but ceased, and that makes it tough to implement newer technologies that are available in stock versions of newer forum software. That will change. And we will once again enjoy some pretty cool new features and functionality.
In the end, we were going to have to make a change, if for nothing else, to stay up to date with security and technology standards on the server. Whether it was upgrading to a newer version of the same forum software or migrating to a new script, things were going to look and function a little differently, no way to get around that. And as much as people tend to dislike change, we would be leaving the site at risk by not making these changes. I hope the majority will be receptive to this change, and instead of being massively critical and hostile about it, I hope you all work with me once we flip the switch. I'll do what I can to work out all the kinks and make things as enjoyable and useful as possible - trying to keep all of the core functionality intact. And I'll try to do what I can to keep things looking and working as close to what you've been used to as I can.
When?
I still have a lot of work to do and will have more information in the coming days/weeks. The goal is to flip the switch in early April. Again, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I will start posting more information and sending out emails to the members pretty soon. Feel free to PM me with questions/comments.
