The status of IT.com

[imported_Webmaster]

OK I've been away for a while doing things that put food on the plate...but after the spam "incident" and after the most recent upgrade (we're actually at v 2.1.7) I have been told and then I have myself noticed that things are not all well in IT.com land.

The recent change where after clicking submit the page just hangs forever (even though the post is already registered) is particularly annoying.... :angry:

THEREFORE.... after things calm down around here a little bit... I am going to dive back into IT.com and start to adress some things that need fixing. One thing I am seriously condsidering is moving the forums over to VBulliten. Invision Power Board is adaquate but I have not been impressed with the support or the security that I've experienced over the past year. Also, many of the add-ons and enhancements that were promised never materialized from IPB.

VBulliten on the other hand seems to be going from strength to strength. It's got far more 3rd party support and more customizations available. Additionally, it seems to have a much better scheme for dealing with moderators and admins. This means that we shoud be able to have many of you who LIVE on these forums :P help out since you are already here. Help out with spam, help out with the occasional jackarse, help out with tidying up around here...

Of course this will come with a price so there may be a short "fund raising drive" next month to take care of any additional fees the new software may incur. I shoud have gone with VBulliten in the first place when we switch to a "real forum" last year...but I thought IPB was acting like Avis....unfortunately you win some, you loose some.

Feel free to throw your comments into the hat here....

[tom_sprecher]

A couple of the other forums I visit are vBulletin and seem to run flawlessly so I think you're making a good choice.

Also, since I work out of my house, and am on this site way more than I should be, I would be willing to help out in any way I can.

[planet6racing]

I'm all in favor of VBulletin. Many of the other sites I frequent use this and it is much faster, secure, and a generally better experience. I've stopped coming here so much because of how slow it is (no offense to the mod, I know it is not your fault!).

[Ron Earp]

The site I own and run, www.gt40s.com, I run with VB. I used to use UBThreads and to be honest I thought to switch to this software in May of this year when going through a five year update. But, I did a lot of research on it and found just what you cited - that Invision is not that great on some items.

VB support is fantastic, and, when I have trouble I can easily get a programmer to sort things out. The control panel is very good and allows a lot of specific features not offered on other software packages.

I'm getting ready to do a skin on www.gt40s.com here shortly, but right now it is running a lot of cool mods like a Gallery and Member Ride section that add some spice. If you like GT40 replicas come on over.

Anyhow, I'm all for a VB software engine, good stuff. If you need any help setting it up I can probably lend some time, and if I can't solve it or help I do know some trustworthy and good programmers I've used for VB.

Thanks for running the site, I really enjoy it. And, I'd be happy to donate here. Have a look at my donation stuff on www.gt40s.com with VB, it has some nice ways to have icons for supporters and stuff and it helps with the monthy bills for the site.

Ron

[imported_Webmaster]

Update:
We have aquired a server. P4 2.4Ghz.
Will be throwing more disk in it to allow for image and video hosting.
This server is 2x faster than the old one and will not be shared. We should see some improvements except for when everybody is DL'ing the newest video all at once.

We will be installing the base software, MySQL, PHP, Apache, Ad Server, etc... sometime after T-day.
PhotoGallery, VBulliten Forums, CMS, Portal Software, etc will be installed shortly thereafter as I expect the funding to be in place at that point. Given the rate at which we are receiving donations we'll almost be there in another couple weeks.

Note: we are buying support for some applications that are also available freely. Why?
Because I don't want IT.com to be down or any component of it to be offline for you guys for even one day!
There have been times in the past where we were too busy or the problem was too obscure for us to fix quickly and having a support person be able to FTP in and "fix it" is like bringing your own crew chief to a race. Much more effective.

Lastly.... we'll be looking for somebody to "skin" the forum and portal for us. If anybody knows anyone who wants to help in this regard, please get in touch.

PS - Yes I deleted a lot of posts here to keep this thread clean. Sorry if I offended.

[imported_Webmaster]

UPDATE:

New server is up and running. Not in it's final hosted location however.
Will be installing software this week...

I may be able to give access to the server for people who want to help with content and for those who want to help test it out to make sure it's ok before I ship it off to it's final hosting location.

Perhap next weekend we'll have something to show for it.

PS - I'm a little surprised we dont have more donations by now. Just over $200, which wont cover costs yet.

[dickita15]

I think it was suggested once before maybe you could add a contributing member or supporting member icon to those that donate. Might help.

[Ron Earp]

VB has add ons to have supporting member icons etc. - in fact it is built in to the software. Help out with donations, I can assure you that. Do you accept PayPal? If so, put up and address and I'll send some cash over - I have been there and done that, it ain't cheap. For you guys that read the forum, enjoy it, then throw in a little cash, $25 is a good starter. This stuff isn't free, and I can tell you it takes a lot of time to manage a forum well so the members get good service and everything runs smoothly.

I do know a skin guy and he's pretty good. I'll be contracting him to do GT40s.com at Christmas, but bear in mind skins don't come cheaply. Figure on $800-$1500 for an excellent one from a good artist, don't think I'd bother with anything less. I can pass is info over or you might want to wait to see how mine turns out. His porfolio was very good though.

Ron

[dickita15]

Do you accept PayPal? If so, put up and address and I'll send some cash over
[/b]

hit the donate button on the lower left of this page

[planet6racing]

Can't say that I'm a big fan of a "fancy skin." I come here for the information (technical), not for the looks.

Of course, I'm an engineer, so that my influence the way I think...

[imported_Webmaster]

>>I'm an engineer, so that my influence the way I think...

Don't worry. I like clean, fast, simple sites too.

[tom_sprecher]

Or, you can help support the forum by buying a T-shirt. The proceeds go to the forum and you get a nice shirt. You can believe me as I will now own two.

Also, the sweatshirts are nice too, but I don't see them any more. I hope they will be back.

[imported_Webmaster]

The T-Shirts we are selling currently are real screen printed shirts.
http://www.improvedtouring.com/Merch/

The CafePress products we had before are still available.
http://itforum.improvedtouring.com/forums/...?showtopic=6702
(Click shirt images to go to CafePress)

However we want to sell the current shirts first as honestly we make almost nothing off the CafePress stuff (it ws fo ryou guys not profit) ... and also the new shirts are a bit beefier and the printing is much better.

Don't forget the decals are still available too!
http://www.improvedtouring.com/Merch/stickers.cfm

[tom_sprecher]

I was not aware of the difference. I followed the http://www.improvedtouring.com/Merch/ link so I hope the proceeds go to the new software.

I have some of the stickers, but as a suggestion the next time you do them make them bigger so everyone can see them at 100mph

[gran racing]

I think it was suggested once before maybe you could add a contributing member or supporting member icon to those that donate. Might help. [/b]

I really agree with this.

Btw, the IT.com shirts are very nice.

[imported_Webmaster]

>> add a contributing member or supporting member icon

OK, will do with the next version of the site.

BTW, what do you guy think of this site's header?

http://carforum.net

Now before you go and freak out :P see that it's only on the home page.
It's nice that at a glance you can see the newest "news" and new posts in addition to new photos from the gallery. I'm not saying the layout is perfect, but I like the concept. I've seen many portals with this info, but portal pages are usually filled with excess crap.

Thoughts?

[JamesB]

If you can keep the portal lean and clean I am all for it.

[Eagle7]

I hope you don't lose "View New Posts" and the button that jumps to the first unread post in the thread. Those features are very high on my priority list.

Also, I've got a relatively slow link, so I'd vote against any home page content that slows down getting to the "View New Posts" search results.

[imported_Webmaster]

Marty, All forum software uses the "new post" feature as its very convenient liek you say.
Regarding the dial-up, there is a link called "Lo-Fi" at the bottom of every page.

Click it and you will fly!

[Chris Wire]

hit the donate button on the lower left of this page
[/b]

Sent!