Eagles International Forum

Please note that this thread is a history of the issues with our forum. The forum is fully functional and working well, but we are working to upgrade both the host and the software. The latest status can be found at the end of this thread

As was noted in another thread, our website and forum were in jeopardy of going offline. The details are discussed here:
http://eagles-international.net/forums/ ... 35dc690a98

In that thread, I discussed the fact that a potential new administrator had been appointed by the chapter. I have been working with that person for a few weeks. I have not introduced him yet, as I want to make sure that our hodge-podge of software does not overwhelm him and he decides to "run for the hills".

Indeed, I am pretty confident that we have a very good resource. He has a very good background and it just now pouring over the current status of our site and developing a plan to significantly improve it.

The first goal will be to bring back the "registration" and "contact us" options.

I want to emphasize that the progress will probably be a bit slow as this is a volunteer position.

Major changes will be noted in the "yellow" comment section at the top of each page.

Jim

12/7/18: Time for an update:

The first item of business is to formally welcome our new administrator: James Polsfuss. James is a member of Eagles International and owns a 1973 Eagle Model 5. He has extensive background in website and forum software/administration.

James and I have had many email and phone conversations and I am very impressed with his knowledge and his very careful approach to updating our forum.

His current tentative plan is up install the current version of our forum software. I fully agree with this approach. Indeed, I had started testing an update version a couple of years ago, but chickened out since the new platforms are not compatible with many of the custom screens that are used by the current version.

Updating the software platform will resolve many issues that we currently have (many not obvious to the reader). However, as noted above, it is a significant effort and one that will need to be tested offline for a period of time. We will update you as the work progresses.

As you may have noted, James reactivated the registration option. While that is a pretty straight forward update, it really emphasized the need for better spambot protection. More powerful protection will have to wait for the software update.

Jim

To the casual observer it does not appear that there is much progress on updating the forum. However, quite a bit of "conversation" and planning have taken place.

James and I have reviewed our current status and we both agree that the first major event will be to upgrade to the newest version of the forum software. This is a huge undertaking, as the current version (3.2.xx) is not "compatible" with our current version (3.0.xx). For example, the "style" (software that generates the look and function of the forum) we use is no longer compatible with the new version. Fortunately, we have not gotten carried away with making modifications to the software, so that is not too big of an issue.

To be clear, all posts/pictures/attachments to the forum are in a database format and that database will be compatible with the new software. We will not loose any of the great data we have available to us.

It is possible that the look and feel of the forum may change a bit, but the upgrade will give us lots of "power" to maintain a top notch forum.

Jim

Jim, Thanks for all of the attention to detail and hard work you render to this site and support of the Eagles chapter.

And thank you James for stepping up to help. Btw, James it was great to meet you at the Branson rally and discussing your Eagle project, wish you the best!

Happy New Year,

Jim and Denise

My personal status is Alive Again after returning from a vacation that was more like a trip from hell.

OK now except for a little jet lag and the remains of a cold.

The main plan was to drive I-10 from Santa Monica, CA to Jacksonville, FL and beyond.

The first leg was from Travis AFB, CA to San Diego. Stayed there for two weeks and then up to the LA area to meet Ed Stauss, former publisher of Bus World and Rail Classics. He seems pre-occupied with other stuff these days and no longer cares about buses and trains.

Also went to see someone in Santa Clarita who was not far from Ed. his sister lived across the street from me.

Then south to I-10 in Santa Monica, the start of that road.

From there to San Antonio and south to Corpus Christi to see some former co-workers.

Then back to San An and I-10 just into LA. from there up a combination of local roads, US 71 and I-49 and I-44 to Springfield, MO. Got friends there and nearby. Went to the factory of the Chase Candy Co. in St. Joseph, MO to get some factory fresh-Cherry Mash bars. After another 7 or so days around MO, it was the return to MO and from there to Tallahassee and on to Jacksonville, where I-10 ends. The trip continued a few more miles and ended at Ponte Vedra, FL to make it an ocean-to-ocean cruise. Stayed in the Jax area visiting friends and on to Charleston AFB SC and Dover AFB, DE. No luck on a flight to Germany but another two hours behind the wheel got me to McGuire AFB and I got out of there to Germany the next day.

It was kinda fun and emotional to meet people I haven't seen for 30 years.

And of course stuff went wrong.

My laptop died and a day or two later my cell phone did the same.

Better yet, When I arrived at a friend's house, she'd already left for work. No one answered the doorbell and I soon learned I had a problem. I couldn't find the car keys. Turns out they slipped out of sight between the passenger seat and the center console. Had to sleep in the car in her driveway for the sun to rise. I got some breakfast and returned and she was there.

And the seats in that car were harder than petrified elephant dung so I bought a cushion in a Walmart in Texas and survived the rest of the trip.

I was supposed to meet Eric and his Eagle in Jax and that didn't work out either...


OK, this isn't exactly Eagle stuff

The website software (Wordpress) has been updated.

This allowed us to install a new "Contact Us" form.

The website is current and there are no projects pending.

James is working on updating the forum software. This is not a trivial project. Since the current forum is fully functional, the project will be considered long term.

Jim

Great news! Thank you for all of your hard work in keeping this valuable resource!

Update 2/17/19

James and I have been discussing the forum upgrade plan. We will be switching hosts in the process.

Both of us have become very frustrated with GoDaddy. They have become rather expensive and continually bombard you with all kinds of costly upgrade possibilities A few years ago they were the cream of the crop, now they seem to be money hungry and do not offer any real benefit. Indeed, there is a major trend in the user base to switch away from GoDaddy.

The process will be to build a new forum platform on a new host and thoroughly test it before making the switch. All of the wonderful data/posts on this site are in a database format and nothing will be lost in the process. Indeed, we have been careful to back up that database on both the site and on our computers.

The goal will be to retain the general look and feel of the present forum - but with some modernizing made possible by the upgraded software platform.

James' goal is to make the switch in the next two months.

Jim

Thanks so very much for the great information! This really helps.
Steve

Hi fellas. I work in the industry also and I’m happy to help lend a hand if needed. Im personally not super technical, but we do a lot of WordPress work and have some servers. Not sure what kind of resources this takes, but happy to help if I can. I greatly appreciate it as a resource.