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August 27, 2023 Forum Migration Issues and New Features

Maraakate

Maraakate

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2022
Total Posts
2,512
Total likes
643
Location
Lancaster, PA, USA
Hello all,

I helped with the migration of vBulletin 4 to Xenforo 2.2. The migration went over quite well, however there are few nits that could not be avoided. Here is a list of the problems and solutions if applicable:
  • Avatar is missing - Simply upload a new one in your account settings, located here.
  • Avatar is blurry - Unfortunately, the migration tool has seemed to compress all the avatars. This would be quite an undertaking to do SQL queries to fix this. You will have to upload a new version of your avatar. It's located in the same place, your account settings. Go here to fix it.
  • Links to old threads - I went through and fixed this by hand. If you find one I've missed then please PM me or Tom to fix the link. The migration software wasn't smart enough to figure it out.
  • "Likes" from vBulletin threads are missing - Another unfortunate side effect of the migration. The "Likes" system was an add-on for vBulletin as it was an older version of the software that did not support it natively. The migration tool was unable to find them in the database. These are now lost.
Despite all of that, here are some new features:
  • Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) - This is a big deal, in my opinion. This feature will allow you to link your account to require an e-mail to login or use the Google Authenticator app on your phone to enter a unique, rotating, 6-digit pin. You can then set it to remember the device and browser you login from for 30 days. If your password is compromised this will prevent others from logging into your account. If you're not using 2FA for any of your online accounts, I'd highly recommend it for security reasons. You can set it up here.
  • Users can now tag others threads. The more this system is used, the easier it will be to locate specific issues and topics by clicking on or searching for tags.
  • PHP8 and more efficient database - Xenforo uses a much more efficient database system. The site should be much more responsive. The forum is now using the latest version of PHP, which also has many enhancements for speed.
  • Native drag and drop for attachments when used with a modern, mainstream browser - You no longer have to click "add attachment" and have to painstakingly add your image one by one.
  • Modern Rich Text Editor/WYSIWYG.
  • Mobile layout - If you access the site from a mobile browser the layout will be formatted correctly. You no longer need to use TapaTalk.
  • Popup/"Toast" notifications - When you are actively using the site and someone replies to a watched thread, sends you a PM, and likes one of your posts you will instantly see an alert for it on the site.
  • Minimum post requirement for PMs - To help combat the spamming issues the forum has been configured to require a minimum number of posts to allow PMs to other users.
  • Profile messages/comments - You can now post comments on your own profile if you'd like.
There are more features under the hood, and probably others I am forgetting, but the above features should make the user experience a lot better for you.
 
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GaryJames said:
New web site looks cool.
since I am old and dislike change I am pleasantly surprised I could navigate most areas.
Have to get my head around 2FA... whether I need it or not.
But I appreciate the time spent in preparing , testing and migrating from the old software.
Well done to all.
Click to expand...
Though the 2FA is a good idea and far more secure, if you have confidence in your password you'll be fine until you can read up on what it takes to make the change.
 
ancientdad said:
Though the 2FA is a good idea and far more secure, if you have confidence in your password you'll be fine until you can read up on what it takes to make the change.
Click to expand...
Yes, it's not a necessity. It's just becoming more and more standard practice. Especially with banking and enterprise sites. A lot of things, even like PayPal, offer this now.
 
Maraakate said:
  • "Likes" from vBulletin threads are missing - Another unfortunate side effect of the migration. The "Likes" system was an add-on for vBulletin as it was an older version of the software that did not support it natively. The migration tool was unable to find them in the database. These are now lost.
Click to expand...

I see that as an accidental improvement. The old system never had "Likes" anyway. Instead, there were "Thank Yous." Sometimes that was appropriate, but often not. I had never seen that anywhere else. I "Like" this better the new way.

The ability to quote someone's post when replying is more automatic, which is good. Often that function didn't work at all in the old system.

The new system works on my phone and with browsers other than chrome on my tablet, which the old one never did.

Good job, owners and Mods!
 
I've used 2FA for some time anywhere that someone could spend money if they hacked my password. So easy that even someone with my legendary level of computer incompetence could handle it.
 
Yeah, we knew it was long overdue. And it's finally close to finished. Well, like a vintage Honda twin, as finished as it will ever be.
 
Looks good, transition was completely painless at this end. Looking forward to fun with my avatar - I really did have ginger hair once ....

A question about images - do you have a preference for how we do this ? Embed them on the site ( drag and drop ), or link to an external source, like Imgur ?
 
Richard Pitman said:
Looks good, transition was completely painless at this end. Looking forward to fun with my avatar - I really did have ginger hair once ....

A question about images - do you have a preference for how we do this ? Embed them on the site ( drag and drop ), or link to an external source, like Imgur ?
Click to expand...
You're welcome to do whichever way you prefer Richard, we have plenty of space on our server even with our old files backed up there for now. For pictures uploaded to our server (drag and drop included, of course) we have a 2 Mb size limit, but they display much better than the previous click-to-enlarge thumbnail system our old vBulletin software used.
 
I would like to return to using my gmail address for notifications of new posts, etc. I just did change my profile, assuming the new software would be more flexible about Google's locking VHT into solitary confinement. Is it going to work?

And are you recruiting for the teeth kicking crews around the country?
 
It appears, that yes, the gmail problem was solved a while ago. Basically, the way google handled automated email responses from an inbox changed with additional security in an effort to stop people from spinning up a mailbox and mass spamming. So developers and administrators had to change things on their sites to accommodate.
 
wentwest said:
And are you recruiting for the teeth kicking crews around the country?
Click to expand...
Glad someone noticed my shout-out to our old forum footer statement between 2008 and 2011. :ROFLMAO:

And yes, as Frank mentioned, it was resolved a while back and we are no longer blocked by Gmail, so if you'd like me to change your address just PM me with the address of choice.
 
The software upgrade has been great — thanks again for all of the work done to make this happen.

I understood that Frank is helping with the setup on a temporary basis, so I thought I'd respond here with a couple of small things in case there are tweaks that can be made.

I notice in my email notifications, I no longer find the content of the response or private message as in the old configuration. Was this a conscious decision? Or maybe I'm failing to see how to access the content other than following the link to visit the forum? I liked reading the post in the email when I didn't have time to go to the forum.

On my Android phone, the scaling of the VHT banner image seems off. It appears correctly when I choose 'Desktop Site', but I was wondering if there's a setting that could fix that for the mobile version.

Screenshot_20230830-183345.png

Finally, I'm not currently seeing signatures on posts, nor do I see a way to set my signature in the account preferences. I thought it was there earlier. Maybe it's there and I did something wrong?

Again, thank you, Tom and Frank, for all of your work on this.
 
In regards to the banner scaling, I am not sure. I don't see any obvious options in the styles but I'll have to read the docs.

For signatures, I have no idea. Are you able to see it on the desktop site? And have you tried toggling between themes to make sure it's not a theme specific issue? I tried that myself on the desktop and I can see the signatures on all themes.
 
And sorry, for emails... yes I noticed that as well. Not sure if this was on purpose from Tom or if it's an oversight. It should be do-able to show a preview of the message like before.
 
It's supposed to give a 140 character preview in notification emails, but I don't use them for obvious reasons so I can't speak to how it looks.
 
Thanks, Frank. Signatures seem to appear when I choose Desktop Site. I'm still using the default theme.

Is there a setting to add signatures to mobile versions? (not super important)
 
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ancientdad said:
Default theme as in the default Xenforo blue theme? Or the light VHT-colored theme?
Click to expand...
Tom, I'm pretty sure only you and I can see the default theme as administrators. Otherwise, it is disabled for everyone else. If someone can confirm that I'd appreciate it. I'm wary to delete any "default" templates, but I'm OK with disabling them.
 
Maraakate said:
Tom, I'm pretty sure only you and I can see the default theme as administrators. Otherwise, it is disabled for everyone else. If someone can confirm that I'd appreciate it. I'm wary to delete any "default" templates, but I'm OK with disabling them.
Click to expand...
I wasn't sure about that but you make a good point, I'm so used to seeing everything that it's become the way I think.
 
Strange, yes I can't find it either. Permissions are enabled so this is odd.

Regarding message summaries in email. There is an option for this. Not sure if Tom disabled it on purpose, Tom did you?
 
You should see the signature option now when you click on your username at the top. It was set to "0" for max printable characters which hides and disables editing it. :S
 
Maraakate said:
You should see the signature option now when you click on your username at the top. It was set to "0" for max printable characters which hides and disables editing it. :S
Click to expand...
If only I'd understood just that max printable characters meant signature, yet another dev-speak language lesson
 
I make no guarantees, but it's probably possible to code such a thing. Keyword is code. I'd have to invest time into reading the developer docs to do so.
 
Updated site looks great; thank you!

One thing though, I like to use the Tapatalk app when on mobile to consolidate and view a bunch of different forums I read or participate in and I know there're others here that do as well. For whatever reason, I'm getting a login error now when trying to hit VHT via Tapatalk. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong, if the new software doesn't support it, functionality needs to be enabled, or what?

Anyone else having this issue?

EDIT: Looks like Tapatalk has a Xenforo plugin available. I know nothing about it, how it works, or what that would entail on VHT's end but it's definitely functionality I'll be missing.

xenForo - Download and Install | Tapatalk

Tapatalk Download
www.tapatalk.com www.tapatalk.com
 
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briandel said:
Updated site looks great; thank you!

One thing though, I like to use the Tapatalk app when on mobile to consolidate and view a bunch of different forums I read or participate in and I know there're others here that do as well. For whatever reason, I'm getting a login error now when trying to hit VHT via Tapatalk. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong, if the new software doesn't support it, functionality needs to be enabled, or what?

Anyone else having this issue?
Click to expand...

I can't be sure because I don't use Tapatalk or do mobile (but I might now that our site is much more mobile-ready), but the base address of the forum changed so maybe that's part of it? This is the base address of VHT now - https://www.vintagehondatwins.com/forums/index.php
 
Maraakate said:
And sorry, for emails... yes I noticed that as well. Not sure if this was on purpose from Tom or if it's an oversight. It should be do-able to show a preview of the message like before.
Click to expand...

ancientdad said:
It's supposed to give a 140 character preview in notification emails, but I don't use them for obvious reasons so I can't speak to how it looks.
Click to expand...

I'm seeing message previews again in the notification emails, so thank you both!
 
Are we still able to find "threads started by" on member profiles? I was just looking for that on my own profile and could not find it. It's a feature I made frequent use of in the past.
 
stl360+450 said:
Are we still able to find "threads started by" on member profiles? I was just looking for that on my own profile and could not find it. It's a feature I made frequent use of in the past.
Click to expand...
You can either go to your log in/log out (username and avatar) list and choose "Your content" or you can go to your profile and look for "Postings" on the black bar below your avatar pic
 
ancientdad said:
You can either go to your log in/log out (username and avatar) list and choose "Your content" or you can go to your profile and look for "Postings" on the black bar below your avatar pic
Click to expand...

I did find those links, but they also seem to include other posts and not just threads started by the individual, so you'd have to scroll pretty far back to find old threads that way unless I'm missing something about how that works.
 
I just realized there is another way to find my own threads. This is actually really convenient.

Screenshot_20230901-183003.png

The next image shows a way to find anyone's threads from their profile page. I should've looked a little harder because it's all there.

Screenshot_20230901-184830.png
 
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