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Greetings Brethren Appliantologists across the globe and over yonder! Big things are shakin' here at Appliantology! We're upgrading to the next big version of the software that runs this forum. This will be the deployment of over two months of work, testing and debugging the software on a test site, doing everything we possibly can to make this as smooth an upgrade as possible for mere carbon units working in a silicon world. So, here's the drill... Who: You, my Brethren in The Craft. What: Planned downtime for Appliantology while we do a major software upgrade When: Thursday, December 31, 2015 from 7 pm to 9 am Eastern Time (adjust to your time zone accordingly)... IF everything goes well. Where: Here at Appliantology.org Why: Because we love you, each and every one of our dear members. Seriously, no chit, mon. Love you long time, GI. And it is out of our great love for you that we want you to have the very best user experience here at Appliatology.org that we can possibly offer. More on that in a minute. What You'll See During the Downtime I'll post a maintenance screen with an announcement that the site is down and a link to my Twitter feed where I'll be posting progress updates. You can follow me on Twitter or just click the link on the maintenance page. Here's the explicit link to my Twitter feed: https://www.twitter.com/FixitnowSamurai Experience has shown that these things are fraught with unexpected (and unwelcome) surprises. So if we end up having to do a roll-back and install the back up of the old site, we could be down an additional two hours, from 10 pm to 2 am ET. Now for Some of the Fun Stuff! Although the old version will continue to be viable software for the foreseeable future-- too many big names still use it, like Evernote-- the single biggest reason we're doing this upgrade is so that you will have a fully responsive theme on your mobile devices. Members who access the site through a mobile platform of one flavor or another comprise about a third of our total membership. Currently, members have access to a stripped-down mobile theme that removes much of the functionality of the main sections of the site, such as the Downloads section, while using this theme. This has caused some bewilderment and intestinal gas for a few members. Well, no more! The new site software has been completely re-written and a fully mobile-responsive mobile theme was built into it from the git-go. So all sections of the site will be available to you on any mobile device! More accessible appearance with larger fonts and buttons, more intuitive interface, more friendly appearance, bunnies, kittens, and belly button lint. Okay, I'm kidding about the belly button lint. Full tech members will also no longer see Google ads. Less clutter, more Appliantology! Let me know if you have any questions. Otherwise, see you on the Other Side! Samurai

Just giving a heads up that the site will be down next Wednesday, November 19, beginning at 10am EST for a scheduled server upgrade. My tech guys are telling me that it will take about 4 to 6 hours to transfer everything over from our existing server to our bright and shiny new server. While the site is down, you'll see some generic and unfriendly server message. When you see that, remember this message and try again later! While the site is down, I'll post status updates to my Twitter feed and our Facebook page -- you should go ahead and follow/like now so you'll have the links to those pages.