Welcome to the new East Dulwich Forum

[Joe]

Hello East Dulwich Forum!

Firstly, let me introduce myself. I'm Joe and I will be your new EDF admin. :) I moved to the area just over a year ago and have been enjoying East Dulwich life every since!

As many of you know, I have been working with Mark in the last few weeks to handover the day to day operation of EDF. Mark created the site all the way back in 2006 and has done a brilliant job over the years maintaining it, however as you know he has been looking to move on. I am a software developer and have previous experience running online communities so this was a natural fit. I have used the forum many times in the past year to find local recommended tradesmen so I understand how valuable it is to have an active online local community forum.

What's changed with the forum?

As you can see, the forum has had a big facelift. The previous forum software was very much out-of-date and needed upgraded for various technical reasons. The new design should hopefully make things easier to navigate when using mobiles and tablets.

The forum software (phpBB) is similar to the old one and has all of the same features. Hopefully existing members will feel at home but I understand that it will take some getting used to. Feel free to give feedback in this thread if you have any trouble.

Unfortunately, due to an issue with the backup, we have lost a few weeks worth of posts in the forum (since 20th June). Sadly, these cannot be recovered. However, thankfully, all other forum posts, accounts etc since 2006 have been migrated.

There are still some further tweaks which I'll be making to the layout over the coming weeks.

What are the future plans for the forum?

EDF will continue to exist as it has been since 2006 and there will be no significant changes to how the forum is operated. It will always be free to use. I will continue to use forum sponsorships / advertising to fund the running costs as Mark has been doing since the start.

I'm having trouble with the new website

We have completed a few rounds of testing prior to the launching of the new EDF, however as with all IT projects there will likely be some teething problems.

Please reply to this thread if you have any feedback.

I hope you enjoy using the new forum!

Best Regards,

Joe

[Rolo Tomasi]

Thanks.

[Spartacus]

Thanks Joe

A hot day to do the migration and possibly for the best that the last 20 days have been lost :lol:

Long live the Forum

[Minussi]

Thanks Joe, will do. And, an even bigger thank you for taking over this incredibly popular and well used site.

[teetomthomas]

Super.

[Peckhampam]

Great to have it up and running again. Well done

[Spartacus]

Couple of things I've noticed

The facility to report a message to admin hasn't been enabled (sorry just seem the ! At the top of a post which is how to report a message)

The Welcome to the CGF thread has images imbeded using BBcode but the Forum doesn't seem to have been enabled yet to show them (may be a legacy post issue)

The old forum allowed you to respond via private message to a post. Is this facility available ?

Oh and after editing the post to add the report to admin sub text, it doesn't inform others that the post has been edited which means discussions can be changed to make the responder look out of context

[DulwichSociety]

Fantastic to have it up and running again. Thank you to Joe and Mark and everyone who has helped.

[jazzer]

Disappointing format, cumbersome, slower than previous version

Sometimes simple is best.

Shame that 20+ days worth of posts have been "lost"

Going home for the weekend thread not working.

Some warning that this was going to happen over the weekend would have been nice.

Edited July 11, 2022 by jazzer

[Siduhe]

Some warning that this was going to happen over the weekend would have been nice.

 

There was literally a thread pinned to the top of the board which warned about the changes, the timing, the risks etc. Frankly, I'm astonished that it went as smoothly as it did (and remain very grateful for the people who spent their time and energy keeping this great local resource running, for free).

Like it or not, the old forum software was beyond end of life, so an upgrade to a newer format was inevitable.

[Mark]

Disappointing format, cumbersome, slower than previous version

Sometimes simple is best.

Shame that 20+ days worth of posts have been "lost"

Going home for the weekend thread not working.

Some warning that this was going to happen over the weekend would have been nice.

 

Thanks for the feedback, constructive feedback also welcome.

There was warning over the last month or so that this would happen, and I posted last week that the change was coming.

Ref the "lost posts" Unfortunately the company that hosted the old forum, Heart Internet, decided to close and totally delete the old forum before I could take a new backup. The last backup we had was from the 20th July so we've lost a lot of messages (including private messages), sorry about that but blame Heart Internet.

[Spartacus]

Disappointing format, cumbersome, slower than previous version

Sometimes simple is best.

Shame that 20+ days worth of posts have been "lost"

Going home for the weekend thread not working.

Some warning that this was going to happen over the weekend would have been nice.

 

Like programs on the telly you don't enjoy, you simply have to stop using or viewing it rather then complaining. I bet you still are holding on to an old xp version PC because you didn't like Windows Vista :)

[jazzer]

Who are you to tell me "to stop using or viewing it rather then complaining. I bet you still are holding on to an old xp version PC because you didn't like Windows Vista :)"

Yeah, you make all the assumptions you like (but which are incorrect).

This is a public forum, I have expressed an opinion which I am entitled to do so

If you don't like or agree with my comment I really don't care.

[legalalien]

Will just take us all a while to adjust to it, is all. I remember back when they upgraded mumsnet into a new format in the late 2000s - oh, the drama. At least this still has a home-grown feel, plus I like the green colour.

Agree it would be good to have functionality showing when a post has been edited.

[KateS]

I’m enjoying the photos being in the body of the text, and also being able to see which posts I’ve already read.

Thank you so much for your hard work! Long may East Dulwich Forum live on!

[Callie]

i seem to have lost all my 'sent' messages?

[DiD]

Congratulations. Job well done. It'll take some getting used to, but what a great resource!

As I understand it, this is entirely voluntary...but even if it isn't, its still to be applauded. I agree, people should be constructive in their criticism or suggestions, recognising that humans are behind this, and its a community resource.

This is a unique asset, and I don't know of any other neighbourhood with a system quite as well organised and useful as this. There is Next Door, but that's commercial, and not nearly as useful.

Thanks again for all your hard work.

[bob]

Thanks for taking on the forum Joe

Bound to be a few hiccups so let's all give it some time until it's up and running properly

Bob s

[Boddle]

So great that ti forum continues. Thank you both for creating and developing it!

[PeckhamNicola]

Thanks for taking this on Joe, so glad the forum will continue.

[alex_b]

Thanks for taking on the forum. The upgrade looks great.

One glitch, the FAQ is giving me a 404 error (safari on iOS).

[Annybel]

Don't like the new format is more time consuming

The old style was simple and much easy to navegate.

[OutOfFocus]

Don't like the new format is more time consuming

Are you on laptop, tablet or phone. There does seem to be a discrepancy.

I broadly like it but feel somethings might take getting used to.

[Peckhampam]

What does the red dot signify?

[Mystic Mog]

Thanks for all your hard work. Finding it very easy to use.