Forum Maintenance

[mark]

Folks

We need to update a few things on the back end, updating to a more recent release of PHP and might as well take the opportunity to upgrade the forum software at the same time. Looking at doing this tomorrow sometime so if the forum is down that is why.

[greeny]

Folks

We need to update a few things on the back end, updating to a more recent release of PHP and might as well take the opportunity to upgrade the forum software at the same time. Looking at doing this tomorrow sometime so if the forum is down that is why.

ok,,, cheers

[Jayboy]

Its not looking like today now, far to busy with other jobs... but some time this week is almost certain...

[mark]

For those of a technical persuasion: - We need to upgrade the php version on the server to avoid incurring legacy support costs and then upgrade the Forum software ( phpBB3 ) to the latest version. For those with current experience in that area it's a fairly routine job, for someone who's been retired from that field for about 15 years trying to work through a clunky hosting control panel it's no longer routine and takes a bit of time and attention to detail.

For example: Trying to get a straight answer to what is the latest php version supported by the current version of phpBB3 ( the forum software ) so we can migrate to the newest php version currently supported by the forum software. Once that has been done we can then upgrade the forum software which I believe will allow an even newer version of php to be utilised.

We left the system with no upgrades for a few years as both Jay and myself have had a few health issues and did not have the time or patience to do the work without the chance of making errors and losing or corrupting the database, yes we can rebuild from scratch but a lot of that work would fall on Jay who does all the graphic design and I did not want to impose that workload on him.

So bear with us and we'll do our best to do the upgrades with as little downtime as possible.

Remember this.. We are one of the very few places on the internet that does not bombard you with clickbait advertisements or sponsored posts, we have never sold user information to data mining companies and we have never asked for a single penny from our users and have no intention of doing so.

Mark

[NinjaBreadMark]

I guess this is as good a place and time as any to say thank you for all your work on keeping this place going! You all do a great job, and although I don't post as much as some others, I always pop by for a read of the latest information here

When I got my first job after leaving college, that was working in web design and development, so I can appreciate the work that goes into it. I've changed roles a few times in the years since though so not as on top of things as much these days!

But again, thank you for all your work, and have a great Christmas!

[Jayboy]

I guess this is as good a place and time as any to say thank you for all your work on keeping this place going! You all do a great job, and although I don't post as much as some others, I always pop by for a read of the latest information here

When I got my first job after leaving college, that was working in web design and development, so I can appreciate the work that goes into it. I've changed roles a few times in the years since though so not as on top of things as much these days!

But again, thank you for all your work, and have a great Christmas!

Great words NBM thanks for you.... Mark and I appreciate your thanks... We both pride ourself on the forum, looks content and ease of use, and while it maybe easer now to use Facebook and other social media platforms, we still believe a proper forum and home that is free from abuse and advertising is our preferred way to let our fans read and discuss the team we love... Long live Steeltalk

[mark]

Ok , that's the first part done with about 60 seconds downtime. PHP updated, next up is the forum itself but given the "issue" that is ongoing I probably don't want the forum offline for any length of time

[smbmetal]

I guess this is as good a place and time as any to say thank you for all your work on keeping this place going! You all do a great job, and although I don't post as much as some others, I always pop by for a read of the latest information here

When I got my first job after leaving college, that was working in web design and development, so I can appreciate the work that goes into it. I've changed roles a few times in the years since though so not as on top of things as much these days!

But again, thank you for all your work, and have a great Christmas!

Great words NBM thanks for you.... Mark and I appreciate your thanks... We both pride ourself on the forum, looks content and ease of use, and while it maybe easer now to use Facebook and other social media platforms, we still believe a proper forum and home that is free from abuse and advertising is our preferred way to let our fans read and discuss the team we love... Long live Steeltalk

Having been lucky enough to be a member of the forum in its different iterations over the years, I concur with NBM’s kind words and can only echo them.

Working in the IT Infrastructure industry myself for over 20 years, I understand how difficult and time consuming upgrading to different versions of software, SQL Databases etc are and to keep this forum free of adverts and clickbate is a credit to the owners.

Funny, a club official who I won’t name, once said on a podcast when this forum was mentioned, called it ‘Betamax’ and acted surprised it still existed. I believe it’s a great source of information, humour and most of all respect.

PS: I recommend creating a self signed cert to add ‘https’ to the address.

Long may the forum continue.

[mark]

A HTTPS certificate is on my to-do list but thank you for the kind words.

That club official was lying and not for the first time. They are fully aware this forum continues to exist and hate the fact they have no influence over it hence why they denigrate it. Yes, technology has progressed and social media has expanded but it's about control, the club keeps control over its social media in a way Putin would admire, no dissenting voices allowed while they exploit the user details to target advertising. With the demise of any pretence of coverage by The Star places like this forum and certain areas on social media are the only independent sources of news and opinions about the Steelers.

That official is probably the same one that was banned from here because they wanted to use the forum as part of the Steelers advertising reach and didn't believe us when we said don't do it again. I believe the expression is FAFO, they did, and have whinged ever since.

[smbmetal]

A HTTPS certificate is on my to-do list but thank you for the kind words.

That club official was lying and not for the first time. They are fully aware this forum continues to exist and hate the fact they have no influence over it hence why they denigrate it. Yes, technology has progressed and social media has expanded but it's about control, the club keeps control over its social media in a way Putin would admire, no dissenting voices allowed while they exploit the user details to target advertising. With the demise of any pretence of coverage by The Star places like this forum and certain areas on social media are the only independent sources of news and opinions about the Steelers.

That official is probably the same one that was banned from here because they wanted to use the forum as part of the Steelers advertising reach and didn't believe us when we said don't do it again. I believe the expression is FAFO, they did, and have whinged ever since.

You know what Mark, I reckon we might be talking about the same person

Interestingly enough their viewpoints went obsolete about the same time as Betamax did