Is there anyone in charge of Forum Maintenance now?

[reapersaurus]

I'm trying to find out who is the moderator that knows the most about vBulletin.

This person (potentially) would be the one that decides which features to turn on/off, and looks up fixes to problems/glitches in the software.

After posting multiple times about the problems I've had (and others have had) since upgrading to the Beta, I fear that we at ENWorld might not have a representative that has taken the lead when it comes to technical board issues.

I did a search on Google, and apparently, there is a LOT of support/discussion about vBulletin problems/bugs/fixes/advice/graphics over at www.vBulletin.com

Does anyone go there? Has anyone looked for fixes to the login problem that many members are having? I seem to remember there being a problem with the Administrator not being able to login to the control panel -has that been fixed? (It's a long-going discussion on the vBulletin Forums that has been stickied, even) Is anyone interested in adding more avatars or smilies? Have the new features been analyzed? I see that the QuikReply has recently been turned off - that's one of the recommendations to speed up the boards, so maybe someone is looking into some of these issues?

I've tried to look into troubleshooting, but some of the things they refer to on the vBulletin boards I don't have experience in, like the admin Control Panel, and how exactly to make the changes they suggest in the scripts (I believe it's just simple but careful copying and pasting).
Also, my account on those boards is not able to DL the fix-login script they made, and I don't know if that's a user-side fix-script, or a server-side fix.

I could post links to some of the threads they discuss the problems other boards are having with logging in, but maybe someone's already seen them?

Anyone moderators in this arena?
Any users help in this arena? (It seemed like Psionicist knew quite a bit about the software...)

 

[Morrus]

I make the decisions based on advice from people like Thomas Heretic.

The solution to the login problem has been widely and repeatedly made available. It has nothing to do with vBulletin, and everything to do with changing the boards' address and how that affects cookies. It has been in sticky threads more than once, in news items, it was at the top of the news page for ages. I've responded to dozens and dozens of emails just pasting the info in from where it was displayed. There comes a point where there's not really anything left you can do other than answer the queries individually as they come up, time permitting.

I'm really not concerned about avatars or smilies. People can use custom avatars, and I've added enough avatars to start people off.

The admins are all able to log into the admin panel just fine.

If we have any problems, its mainly bandwidth usage, which is a purely monetary matter.

Hope that helps!

 

[reapersaurus]

Thanks for your prompt reply, Morrus.

So have you been involved with configuring the boards for awhile? (choosing the features and what not)
Who's decision was it to upgrade to the vBulletin 3.0.0. Beta 6?
What were the driving considerations for doing so?
Was there one particular feature that drove the decision process?

You mentioned Thomas Heretic - is he well-versed in vBulletin software?
Does he (or do you) go to vBulletin.com and read the Forums there for Admininstrators of vBulletin software?

You mentioned that the login problems have nothing to do with the software.
Actually, according to vBulletin, there are some problems relating to the configuration of the software.
Many admins over there have talked about the cookie setting on the server, and how it can cause conflicts especially with previous version settings, or upgrades (at least that's what I could piece together from their discussion).

If you've read any of the 3 threads I think I've mentioned my login problems in, you would see that personally I have obliterated the cookies on my machine in every way that has been described plus more, many times over.
I've followed every advice and suggestion, and it hasn't fixed my problems.
If it was just my machine, I'd be more willing to believe it was my unique problem, but many people have the problem, and cookies and the correct address (enworld.org/forums) is not a universal panacea, unfortunately.

Currently, even if I delete all my cookies, and login to the enworld address, I only get a couple clicks before it logs me out. Sometimes I have to login multiple times before it allows me to successfully post. I'm sure with this long of post, I will have to re-login when I click Submit.
And this problem didn't start until the boards where upgraded. IOW, it didn't happen on the old version, though that's not an absolute indicator.

You mentioned that you don't care about avatars or smilies. That is fine, but perhaps many ENWorlders would like a larger selection, or be able to use more smilies to convey their non-verbal gestures better?
If more avatars or smilies would slow down the boards, than I don't think it's worth it, but if it's just a matter of grabbing the files and uploading them, than it might be worth the effort to enhance the member's experience.

I'm glad the admin control panel problem got fixed, or went away.

Bandwidth is unfortunately not the only problem, Morrus.
Bandwidth doesn't explain why the boards go DOWN many times a week, for hours at a time. Last night it was down for hours, and I confirmed the outage in the dnd3e chat room. The outages are so common, it wasn't even mentioned in Meta today.
I consider that a problem, and I'm not aware of it being a bandwidth problem (at ~ 10 PM-midnight). Piratecat recently was giving us some good updates about the database management effort, but now he's gone for the time being.

And I was wrong earlier - the QuickReply feature is still on. The vBulletin boards mentioned multiple times that turning it off might speed up the performance of the boards. Many admins mentioned that their members would cry Foul if they turned it off - maybe we should look into flipping off the switch, and seeing if it improves at all, before too many people get used to it.

Also, a thread of mine earlier went by without notice:
when I am not logged in, the default view on General Discussion displays 893 pages, since the default view is "from the beginning".
Surely that's not a good setting to have?

 

[Morrus]

Gah! Too many items in one post! I feel like I'm drowning! I count 11 questions buried in all that text!

You'll have to wait until I have the time to go through all that, reapersaurus. Sorry!

 

[reapersaurus]

No hurry at all, Morrus.
I just would really like some discussion about some of these items - at your lesiure, as long as someone 'in the know' can get around to giving a shot at my questions, that would be great.

And an update - I even am using Netscape now as a test, and IT is also now having problems staying logged in.
And other people are continuing to have problems, too (see Knightfall's ARRGGHH thread).

BTW: here's a link to the vBulletin Forums (the makers of the software we are using): www.vBulletin.com/forums

 

[reapersaurus]

bump for the questions.

Morrus, have you looked at the General Discussion page when you're not logged in? Look at the bottom of the page - does it have a boatload of pages listed?

 

[reapersaurus]

this Board (using version 2.2.8) also seems to be having problems: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=105272

I looked for the settings of "use cookies" in my CP, but they aren't there.
I changed my settings to use a Style and "Show number of posts" and strangely, it's keeping me logged in for a few clicks more than before, but it still logs me out before I usually can post again, unfortunately.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Reaper, here's what I had to do to fix my cookie situation:

Clear all cookies.
Reboot.
Log in to enworld.org and login with cookies enabled.

Make sure that I don't follow a link that switches the url to the old enworld.cyberstreet.com If I do, then the old log-in problem introduces itself.

I think it's a byproduct of my security set up.

 

[Morrus]

So have you been involved with configuring the boards for awhile? (choosing the features and what not)

Since I started running EN World, yes.

Who's decision was it to upgrade to the vBulletin 3.0.0. Beta 6?

Mine.

What were the driving considerations for doing so?

Liked the look of it.

Was there one particular feature that drove the decision process?

Mainly the admin/mod tools.

You mentioned Thomas Heretic - is he well-versed in vBulletin software?

Pretty well. He knows enough to alter the software to a limited degree.

Does he (or do you) go to vBulletin.com and read the Forums there for Admininstrators of vBulletin software?

I have done for the last 3 years.

You mentioned that you don't care about avatars or smilies. That is fine, but perhaps many ENWorlders would like a larger selection, or be able to use more smilies to convey their non-verbal gestures better?

They are free to use custom avatars, which makes for an infinite selection. I strongly dislike multitudes of flashy smilies - I find them messy.

I'm glad the admin control panel problem got fixed, or went away.

Bandwidth is unfortunately not the only problem, Morrus.
Bandwidth doesn't explain why the boards go DOWN many times a week, for hours at a time.

There's also the scheduled tasks, which I'm playing around trying to find a good way to stagger them with the more intensive tasks at quieter periods. Thomas has suggested some databse optimisation stuff, which we'll be doing at some point in the next couple of weeks, but that will require a good number of hours of downtime.

when I am not logged in, the default view on General Discussion displays 893 pages, since the default view is "from the beginning".
Surely that's not a good setting to have?

I haven't found an entry in the admin panel to alter that, although users can alter it in their User CP. Admittedly, I could just be missing it.