Changes Pending Migration

[jcocking]

Changes are coming. We are setting up new forum software for LotusElan.net. As we prepare for the move, you will see some changes in the current system and more in the new system.

Things to be aware of:

1. Passwords - We are NOT migrating passwords. When we go to the new system, you must do a "forgot password" to reset your password. This requires your account to be using the correct email. Please validate that your email is correct. (go to Forum Profile => Profile => Edit Account Settings)

2. Lurkers—You have an account but only lurk (never post). We will only migrate usernames with posts. Your account will not be transferred if you have never posted. Now would be a good time to introduce yourself to the community.


Changes happening in the old system:
1. The following forums are being removed. The posts will be migrated to the appropriate areas.

• Listed for Sale on Some Other Website will be moved to Lotus Elans and Plus2's for sale
• Mods will be moved to the appropriate technical sections.
• Test Section

2. Old accounts with no activity or posts are being deleted. Since these are not being migrated, I am slowly removing a block of them every few weeks. (We currently have 600 accounts with this status.)

3. The Technical Section is divided into smaller sections. In the new software, the technical categories will become tags. Think of tags as a way to search for topics anywhere in the system. Most topics will be created in one of two categories: Elans or Plus 2. Each topic will then be tagged with something like "Chassis or Engine or clutch." You can then view topic lists by category, by tag, or by category/tag.

For example, You can find topics by:

• Plus 2
• Body
• Plus 2 and Body

You can also search only within topics by each of these filters.This will allow the category structure to be simpler but still have detail search capabilities. I have started going through the technical sections. It will take me a while to get through all 19,000 topics.

Background
After 20 years of using this software, it is time to move to a new software package. To put things in perspective, we all used Windows XP when we launched the current software. The forums were the only social media platforms.

The advantages of the new platform:

• The new platform is designed for mobile and desktop.
• Everything is much more straightforward and intuitive for use.
• Image uploads are drag and drop.
• It has a wiki capability. The wiki will be migrated into the new system.

The platform we are going to is called Discourse (https://discourse.org/). To see an example of Discourse, go to https://community.cartalk.com/.

More info will be added to this page as we test the migration.

[shynsy]

Sounds like good progress.
Tim

[danielmo]

Jeff,

Great news on the new forum software. Will the image file uploads still be limited to < 1 MB?

Thanks,
Dan

[pharriso]

2. Old accounts with no activity or posts are being deleted. Since these are not being migrated, I am slowly removing a block of them every few weeks. (We currently have 600 accounts with this status.)

Jeff, I hope you will not be removing posts from inactive users? We have a number of posts from departed experts that are still invaluable (think ElanFan, GrumpyBodger)....

[bulfin]

Jeff, thank you for all you do. As long as Active Topics is retained I will be happy.

Bob

[jcocking]

2. Old accounts with no activity or posts are being deleted. Since these are not being migrated, I am slowly removing a block of them every few weeks. (We currently have 600 accounts with this status.)

Jeff, I hope you will not be removing posts from inactive users? We have a number of posts from departed experts that are still invaluable (think ElanFan, GrumpyBodger)....

Only removing inactive users with no posts. If you are a user with posts, active or inactive, you will be migrated.

[jcocking]

Jeff, thank you for all you do. As long as Active Topics is retained I will be happy.

Bob

The new platform's main page is Active Topics with infinite scroll. You can come to see what is new very quickly. If you log in, the software will flag where you left off the last time you went online. Screenshot of homepage, with wiki data being migrated.

[jcocking]

Jeff,

Great news on the new forum software. Will the image file uploads still be limited to < 1 MB?

Thanks,
Dan

The new system is currently set at a 4MB limit.

[danielmo]

That's great, thanks!

[Richardsona39]

Sounds like positive improvements! Thanks for your efforts

[StressCraxx]

Hello Jeff,

Thanks so much for everything you do. When I was making my donation last week I thought to myself how stable and reliable this platform has been compared to some.... Win XP??? wow.

Looking forward to the new site.

Thanks again,
Dan Wise

[Neil Spooner]

That sounds like a lot of work! Thank you for looking after us. I hope the transition goes smoothly for you.

[Spyder fan]

Jeff,
Exciting times no doubt, I'm sure that we will all see the benefit of this change to the new software platform.

As there is a separate section for Racing that will obviously cover all aspects of that subject would it not be reasonable to continue the Mods section? I see that you have already started the process of forming the technical tags and that some of my old posts on my S4 SuperSprint are now in the Bodywork section. Although the fashion currently is biased towards original cars there are still a significant number of people interested in conversions and modifications. This is not a criticism, just a suggestion.

[jcocking]

Jeff,
Exciting times no doubt, I'm sure that we will all see the benefit of this change to the new software platform.

As there is a separate section for Racing that will obviously cover all aspects of that subject would it not be reasonable to continue the Mods section? ….Although the fashion currently is biased towards original cars there are still a significant number of people interested in conversions and modifications. This is not a criticism, just a suggestion.

In the early days we did not have a Mod section. The posts were located in the technical and elans/plus 2 sections. We then started seeing more posts on Zetecs, 5 speed conversions, and CV joints. The purists were furious that people would alter an original elan. We created the Mod category to appease the purists.

Times have changed as people are doing what is necessary to keep a 50+ year car road worthy. Understanding this change in attitude, I want to move back to a simpler model. After all, what is a mod? Minilites are a mod. LED lights are a mod. This required people to look in multiple areas. Moving the mods back into the main areas allows people to search in one area.

The racing tag will remain.

I have not done a detail review of the Body section. I have not reviewed the post you are referencing, but my guess is probably belongs in the Elan category as general interest versus a technical question that is body related. This is why I am reviewing all the sections in detail as we prepare for the migration.

I finished the suspension section last night and am working on gearbox. The sections still to be reviewed in order are engine, body, plus 2, and elans.

It is a fair question and not taken as criticism. I have the advantage of seeing where we are going and how it will work when the migration is completed. Everyone else just sees the hassles and inconveniences of under construction.

The cool thing, is if it doesn’t work, we can add a mod section back in.

I have added a new area in the classifieds for member -products. We have several members who have created products that are buried in the site. For example, the window motor upgrade.

Thank you for your feedback.

[Spyder fan]

Thanks for the detailed reply, good to know that you are open to changes if the simplified format doesn't work.

Keep up the good work!