The one and only OFFICIAL vBulletin Upgrade vent thread!!!!

[toneeees]

Thanks, Chris and the entire Mod Team for getting things back on track.

I was hoping we could get some sort of 'official' progress report from the folks in the back office as to how far things have progressed, in terms of resolving the technical issues, and how much further there is to go?

We have purchased additional drives, doubled the amount of RAM and switched back to a MySQL database. Now we are sorting thru the error logs and working with vBulletin to resolve the issues. Unfortunately we have no idea on how long it will take to resolve the errors, it takes time for the vBulletin team to respond to our support tickets and then more time is spent by our IT guys modifying the code or database. We are working on it all day long, trying to resolve the serious errors ASAP. Once they are resolved, I will start working on adding some old features back into this version.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I'm with Scott, just eating pop corn

opcorn:I have a new bucket.......

and thanks to the folks at iBoats that are way more frustrated than us mere forum members. Trust me, I know.

 

[MikDee]

opcorn:I have a new bucket.......

and thanks to the folks at iBoats that are way more frustrated than us mere forum members. Trust me, I know.

I bet they are! More power to them!

 

[southkogs]

...We are working on it all day long, trying to resolve the serious errors ASAP.

Thanks for the work. Let the entire group know (and this goes for the Mods too) that the membership at large is hang in' in with 'em.

 

[QC]

Thank you guys. Feels like this is back on track

 

[MTboatguy]

After all of the testing I have done in the last couple of weeks on my own equipment, I really appreciate what these guys are doing, it is a very steep uphill battle, Thanks!

If I have offended anyone in my various posts, I do apologize, it was never my intent to offend, I was just trying to help take some pressure off the guys under fire because I have so much experience with this software, hosting several forums of my own as well as managing several for my wife's company. Since retiring from the Army, most of what I do everyday involves computers and making them work for customers and users, so I do have some strong insight into the majority of this stuff.

Again I apologize if I offended anyone.

 

[redneck joe]

He was simply posting a screen capture showing where to find "New Topics" while it was missing at the top. It just happened to be your sig from a post. I doubt if he cares about your post count.

Whats a post count?






On another forum I've got about 35k post, another 3k, couple others a few hundred. On any of them I'm taken seriously (or not) because of my post count, its the content of the posts. At least I hope that is the case.


I work for a Fortune 100 company with about 50 different systems that all try to interface and am constantly battling some issue or another. SAP is killing me the last few weeks, not from an IT perspective but a Field Ops one. If I had to be IT I would probably slash my own wrists.

 

[tpenfield]

Thanks, Tony for the status update. The work that is going on behind the scenes is greatly appreciated.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

We have purchased additional drives, doubled the amount of RAM and switched back to a MySQL database. Now we are sorting thru the error logs and working with vBulletin to resolve the issues. Unfortunately we have no idea on how long it will take to resolve the errors, it takes time for the vBulletin team to respond to our support tickets and then more time is spent by our IT guys modifying the code or database. We are working on it all day long, trying to resolve the serious errors ASAP. Once they are resolved, I will start working on adding some old features back into this version.

Ok i am so happy for you guy's.....no i am not a hater...and i live everyday in the business world and take it all in now with that said....time to get it on or get if off. A consersation would go like this...you have all the money and plenty of time....either you do it or you dont. Ram...link's cpu's etc etc etc....do it or your gone...by the way none of you will ever tinker with my boat. Your guessing all the way time to stand up and admit it.

 

[tpenfield]

Ok i am so happy for you guy's.....no i am not a hater...and i live everyday in the business world and take it all in now with that said....time to get it on or get if off. A consersation would go like this...you have all the money and plenty of time....either you do it or you don't. Ram...link's cpu's etc etc etc....do it or your gone...by the way none of you will ever tinker with my boat. You're guessing all the way time to stand up and admit it.

Nice 'vent' , Tail Gunner . . .

Clearly, something went wrong during the upgrade and they don't quite know how to fix it. I just don't think we are going to get that level of detail about the situation.

At this point there is no way back, given the amount of time that has elapsed. The forum is usable, so, I don't mind dealing with the errors and such . . . as long as we can all post, share our boating experiences, and learn from each other :thumb:

 

[sam60]

I understand the difficulty with the upgrade, no problem here. What I miss is the member locations and birthdays.

 

[WIMUSKY]

I was going to ask if we missed your birthday, Sam. But I see we didn't, not yet anyway.......

 

[thumpar]

I am a network admin so understand the frustration with the software. If you guys need a "tester" let me know.

 

[Vintin]

I'm still hanging in!

 

[britisher]

I too had the garbage that passes for a site for the past few days. I have a been daily visitor to the site for about 2 years now and I have never, ever seen a Forum site in such disarray as this one is right now. No amount of excuses can compensate for this appalling state of affairs. ("Then there is no pleasing you", Gold Member)

If a business depended on this site for its livelihood, the business would be out of business by now. I shudder to think of the number of members and visitors have lost through this disaster that has been passed off as an upgrade. (We shudder too. Thanks for your concern)
If I were the owner of IBoats and had this as one of my public 'images', I would be all over the IT people like a rash to fix it. (He is all over the IT people.)
My best suggestion to the IT people trying to fix this inexcusable situation would be to close the site down altogether for maintenance and re-open when it works as it should. (Considered)
In it present hit n miss state, it does no-one any favors. (Noted)

This was the intention for this thread as long as people were nice. We like nice here. We like flat water, and low winds (mostly power boaters). We like fast forum loading, no error messages, and the occasional pink unicorn. - QC

 

[moosehead]

As has been suggested, perhaps the iBoats retail site should be using something other than vBulletin (Retail site is not on vBulletin, only the Forums are) which might not only improve the forum malfunctions, but help to punch up the iBoats merchant model which has its own critiques (separate thread herein). While some have suggested that the iBoats forum was a byproduct of the IBoats retail business, I would suggest that the fiercely loyal and knowledgeable forum members are the backbone of the otherwise challenged iBoats merchant model. (contributes greatly, but Internet redirect records suggest otherwise) The notion that since the forum is "free" and therefore these challenges should be accepted without blowback is a bit ridiculous given the importance of nearly 500k members here. (iboats has never indicated that free means low quality should be accepted) Lastly, many of those members provide "free" help, knowledge, and veteran experience. We're all in this together. Those that have stuck this out may also choose to continue to be vocal about their concerns, which frankly, is another positive attribute from loyal members. Better that than to be the silent customer who walks away and never comes back. (iboats has been listening to, and values it's members as you would expect. Please read all related posts from the Mods and Admin. This performance of the forum is unacceptable to all of us. This is not due to a lack of resources or complacency. Thank you for your opinion )

 

[MTboatguy]

Here we go again!

 

[britisher]

Here we go again!

Hmm.... I find that response smacks totally of complacency. If the site carries on like this, you'll be saying that yourself! (see above)

Whether members pay or not pay for this forum is irrelevant. It is a service to a consumer or customer if you like. At the end of the day the Iboats commercial website is but a click away. People will complain for so long at bad service, then vote with their feet. Many don't even bother to complain, they just walk away.
This Forum is an invaluable tool for Forum members ONLY whilst it works properly. It is not for the most part a social club, even though dockside chart is allowed up to a point. Members come here when they have an issue and need an answer. If they cannot get on the site for that answer, most will go somewhere else for it. If they do, they will likely not return. (understood)

IBoats is is a great site, but it should be remembered that is one of many. I think that is where the complacency comes in. I have watched over the past few months at how this site has stumbled and all I see is blame being fired in lots of directions and no-one stepping up and saying...OK guys, I am responsible, All we hear is we are working on it and then we appear to take 1 step forward and 3 back. (we have been posting updates including listing multiple instances of additional hardware purchases that have been required. This is an all hands on deck issue. The owners are involved as well. No one sees this as trivial. The "upgraded" vBulletin software had NOT been used before on a forum this large. We are the first.)

How many members have internet or TV or phone service and get teed off when the service goes down, then back up, then down again. You likely complain, but after so many times, you move providers, because what you seek is stability of service. That is all members want, not on-going excuses.

Ignore your members/customers at your peril. (thanks for the Biz 101 lesson. Sarcasm intended.)

I have no wish to get into an argument with anyone on this site and I have no wish to expend any more time on my comments. I make them for what they are worth and other members can agree with them or not. That is their prerogative. My comments are aimed squarely at those who control this site. (Understood)

 

[MTboatguy]

Not complacency at all and your comments are not new, nor are they adding anything but more grief and frustration, which has been stated many times many ways by the management of this system, talking about internet, TV and phone service is comparing apples to oranges, we all pay high prices for those services, and yes, it ticks us off when they don't work correctly. To continually post messages that have been beat to death is doing nothing but preaching to the choir, there has been nothing new said, it has been discussed ad nauseam and things are getting better, slowly but surely, but as has been said and many have chose, take a break and check back every once in a while.

There is no argument any longer, it is what it is and as has been said, it is getting better and will continue to do so, even if it is not fast enough for some.

 

[GA_Boater]

How slow is it right now? The speed is back where it used to be. Hopefully some of the errors are gone too.