Big Changes

Bonsai Nut

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I've been looking at the site lately, and it has become a little too bogged down with legacy code. The underlying software platform, with the custom add-ons and custom code, prevent me from doing what I want to do with the site - which includes adding some cool new features and functions. So the time has come for a major site upgrade.

What this means is that over the next week I plan on completely breaking the site :) I will be taking it down to upgrade the underlying forum code, and then will be adding newer versions of add-ons, as well as some new functions. NO CONTENT WILL BE LOST. I don't touch anything on the site without making full database backups. However access to the site may be sporadic, and you may come to the site and find it looking ugly :) Have patience - it will all be fixed eventually :)
 

Alex DeRuiter

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We fear change. . . .

fearchange_2.jpg
 
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hahaha gotta love legacy code... especially with custom bits. lol Good luck and have fun with that! I think I have some prozac I could mail you if you need. ;)
 

Bob O

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Nut,
You have done great work on this site, I like many others love it.

Keep up the great work and THANK YOU!

Bob O
 

Brian Van Fleet

Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
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Thanks Greg! Looking forward to the next version!
 

CamdenJim

Shohin
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Hope all goes well and the gremlins/bugs stay away.
I'm in the middle of re-doing just a few minor components of three web sites. My hat's off to you for dealing with an entire site!
Congrats (and condolences) in advance!
 

painter

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havent we heard that all before on another site we need not mention

no you do a great job. even for us lurkers thank you
 

bretts

Shohin
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Sounds great looking forward to the new site ;)
 

namnhi

Masterpiece
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Why change when it still working great? What exactly are the new features. New thing is not always the best thing.
 

Joedes3

Shohin
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Good luck and thanks for all of your hard work.
 

Bonsai Nut

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Why change when it still working great? What exactly are the new features. New thing is not always the best thing.

I will be trying to keep it looking and working almost exactly the way it is now... however...

Some of the custom code I created for the site prevents it from being seamlessly updated whenever new versions of the vBulletin forum software are released. So security updates, instead of being a 30 minute exercise, require a lot longer for me to look into the code, figure out what has been changed, and then manually edit it into the code for the site.

Additionally, some of the add-on products conflict with one another. I currently have add-ons that allow people to write articles, maintain photo galleries, maintain a links directory, etc. Some of these products do not play well with others :) Some are no longer being updated, and are being left behind as other products are being updated and changed.

Finally I want to remove features that we don't use (reputation, post rating) and replace them with a better feature that will make the site a little friendlier and more helpful :) I don't want to give away secrets. Additionally I want to make the site a little friendlier for mobile computing - something I didn't even consider 6 years ago.

All in all it's like Spring housecleaning. It probably won't be a big deal - and some people may not notice huge differences - but every 6 years it makes sense to completely update everything to make it solid for another 6 years :) It also helps me keep my skills up to date and to remind me of all the code in the site. It's amazing how much you can forget in 6 years about how you created a site :) We all know examples of sites that were created and never updated, and eventually collapsed under the weight of legacy code, database errors, or security being compromised. I don't plan on that being the case with Bonsai Nut.
 

will0911

Shohin
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Thanks for the time and dedication for this great website!
 

JudyB

Queen of the Nuts
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Big appreciation for all the time you spend on this. It's an easy site to nav. now, so should be even better when you're done. And good on you for making mobile easier....;)
 

plant_dr

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Thank you for all you do! We appreciate it! :)
 

bwaynef

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For your sake, I hope its painless!
 
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