Second Upgrade Attempt: We're Goin' Down 12/31/2015!

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

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

Edited December 29, 2015 by Samurai Appliance Repair Man
Edited date and time for upgrade.

[Lighthouse]

BUT WHAT WILL WE DO DURING THAT TIME?

I am expecting withdrawals.

 

 

No seriously, Thanks for the continuing improvements!!!

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Well, that didn't go so well! Everything was looking great until we started looking around in some of the topics. We first saw extra line breaks inserted between paragraphs in everyone's posts. We thought, "Okay, looks a little weird but we can probably live with that... IF that's all there is."

 

Where there's smoke, there's fire so we went looking for other insidious problems. We found it in the media tags. None of the YouTube videos embedded using the media tag appeared anymore. The Youtube link to the video was still there but when you clicked it, it opened the same topic page again. WTF? 

 

When we saw that, it was a deal breaker and we had to restore the database and roll back the forum software to the earlier version. So here we are. Welcome back!

 

And for my next trick, I'll put an LG thermistor in a GE refrigerator and make it keep temperature correctly! 

[applianceman97]

Well, that didn't go so well! Everything was looking great until we started looking around in some of the topics. We first saw extra line breaks inserted between paragraphs in everyone's posts. We thought, "Okay, looks a little weird but we can probably live with that... IF that's all there is." Where there's smoke, there's fire so we went looking for other insidious problems. We found it in the media tags. None of the YouTube videos embedded using the media tag appeared anymore. The Youtube link to the video was still there but when you clicked it, it opened the same topic page again. WTF?

When we saw that, it was a deal breaker and we had to restore the database and roll back the forum software to the earlier version. So here we are. Welcome back!

And for my next trick, I'll put an LG thermistor in a GE refrigerator and make it keep temperature correctly!

Bummer!!! We will get it someday! When we do, it will be awesome. But it's so important for those videos to show. How else will the Samurai inform less fortunate PCM's?????

Thanks to the whole Samurai team (Mrs Samurai, Samurai and the Samurai younglings) for working on this upgrade (and everything else). Your hard work does NOT go unnoticed!!!!

Thanks brotha!

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

TAKE TWO! We think we've got the major bugs squished under our sandals and we're going to attempt another upgrade on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2015 @7pm ET. We figure that's a good day/time to be down for a couple hours because everyone will be out partying. 

 

PS: I've edited the opening post in this topic and the topic title to reflect the new upgrade date and time. 

 

 

[applianceman97]

Oh yeah! Can't wait for the responsive theme!!! Hope it goes well.

[LI-NY Tech]

Out partying?  Us?  Nope, I was planning on doing some serious appliantogical studying New Years Eve.  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go party now.  That bottle of Glen Livet isn't gonna drink itself.

Edited December 30, 2015 by LI-NY Tech

[momakmak]

Can't get tech manuals

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

10 minutes ago, momakmak said:

Can't get tech manuals

I'd really like to help but you've given me nothing to work with here.