Re: Conversion to phpbb3 this evening

[OleMissCub]

Yes...I'd like to get premium back as well.

[wvcbxl]

Yes...I'd like to get premium back as well.

 

You mean you'd like to no longer see the ads.

Premium never disappeared, only the perks did.

[Banedon]

Yes...I'd like to get premium back as well.

 

You mean you'd like to no longer see the ads.

Premium never disappeared, only the perks did.

 

Funny thing is, that only one perk disappeared. Not seeing the ads. All of the rest of the perks are built into the new version of the board already.

 

And to nitpick, it hasn't been 5 months...it's been 3. The thread was started in August, but the conversion itself took place in November.

[TruffleShuffle]

well three months is still a long time.

 

and while it's true that premium is primarily to support the site, you have to acknowledge that the reason that a lot of people paid for premium was that it came with the understanding that premium members wouldn't see ads any longer. I direct you to a thread created by the guy who founded and runs this board.

 

Name of thread: "What's is so good about Premium, anyway?"

 

* Double the signature length! (max 512 characters instead of 255)

* Twice the Private message storage

* The freedom to choose a custom rank

* The ability to upload your own avatars

* The ability to change your name

* The ability to control if you want to see sigs, avatars, images

* Happy Birthday greetings

* Friends lists

* Ignore lists

* The ability to show online status to only friends

* The ability to accept PM's from only friends

* The ability to show email, web, messenger and personal information to only friends

* The "Home panel" view, combining a list of online/offline friends, new PM's, a list of watched threads (and new message notifications on those threads) and more.

* The ability to link to remote avatars

* A signature editor that is much like the new post editor (instead of having to know the bbcode in your head)

* The ability to control your own email information

* A much improved member list with the abiity to filter the list, add fields and sort on additional information

* Additional forum stats at the bottom of the page

* No advertisements (and trust me, more are coming to regular)

* More smileys

* Additional fonts

* Text effects (fade, rainbow color, strikethrough, glow, and many more

* The "Unread Message" flags remain unread even after closing the browser and coming back in. No longer do you have to read everything at once or lose what's been read and what hasn't.

* Clicking on the orange "new post" flag brings up the first unread post in the thread -- no matter how many times the thread has bee visited during the current session. (During the game yesterday, I probably checked the thread 50 times by clicking on that and going directly to the first unread message. So much easier than trying to remember what was the last page I looked at and going back there by page number.)

* All smileys now appear on the posting screen, so there's no need to hit the "see more smilies" link to get to the good ones!

* On a trial basis, this new mod hides any forum that doesn't have new posts. So the ones that don't get much traffic don't take up space on the screen. Only the forums (fora?) with activity show up on the index page.

* I've change the text edit box for messages from tiny to a more reasonable size (15 lines and 35 characters wide to 25 lines and 50 characters wide).

* I found a way to have long text lines (like aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh) not stretch the screen so that a scroll bar becomes necessary.

* Premium users don't have to see the advertisements (and there's just going to be more and more in the regular forum. And those of you that are looking at them, please, click through and buy stuff! I'm trying to find interesting stuff to advertise, at least. :) ).

 

 

so with all due respect, you people who are saying that paying for premium does not come with the understanding that there wouldn't be ads... you're flat-out wrong. The thread about Premium does not state "this goes to helping me with the site, thanks for your goodwill;" it lists a number of perks that come with giving Tim $50 a year.

 

 

I'm not trying to come off as a dick here. I appreciate that Tim hosts and runs the site, that he has often done so at a significant cost to himself, and that the site has been very reliable over the past year or so. But I think when you make a promise as a business owner, you have to uphold it.

[Mizzou]

The main reason I paid for Premium (saying joined premium just sounds weird) was to get rid of the ads. A couple weeks after the conversion, I stopped paying for it because the ads were still there. I know Tim's got a career and this is just a side thing, but it's been three months... that is ridiculous. You can't expect people to continue to pay when you brush aside the main feature that they're paying for. There are a lot of IT guys that post here. I'm sure one of them would be happy to help with what would seem to be an hour long project.

[wvcbxl]

The main reason I paid for Premium (saying joined premium just sounds weird) was to get rid of the ads. A couple weeks after the conversion, I stopped paying for it because the ads were still there. I know Tim's got a career and this is just a side thing, but it's been three months... that is ridiculous. You can't expect people to continue to pay when you brush aside the main feature that they're paying for.

 

The main reason I pay premium is to support the site.

The site is still here (and better than ever, imho), so I'll be re-upping regardless of the ads.

 

To each his (or her) priorities.

[moorecg]

This isn't a premium issue (at least that I know of) but things like the new post listing update on the front page also haven't been updated since the conversion....

[Andy]

This isn't a premium issue (at least that I know of) but things like the new post listing update on the front page also haven't been updated since the conversion....

That's a php2 issue, I think Tim may have mentioned it earlier in this thread.

[CubinNY]

Tim,

 

Any word on when you/mods will get premium up and running?

[Guest]

dangit. Had a long post typed up here, but it got wiped out because I'm finally updating the board software. I'll try to get to the other updates tonight, as well.

[Guest]

Premium will no longer be a separate directory. With the templating system available in phpbb3, I've figured out how to get premium users to see the page without ads and with additional add-ons using the same page. It's a lot less overhead for me to maintain and will allow me to maintain a single code base for the site.

 

Premium users should no longer see the ads. If you're seeing the top of page and inline ads and you're premium, pm me and I'll try to respond as soon as possible. Please understand that I've got a lot of things going on right now and may not be able to respond right away, though I'll try to be more prompt than I have been over the past couple months. Thanks for your understanding in what has been a trying period for me.

[SanClementeFan]

And yes, non-premium users not only see the inline ads, but the top of forum ads, as well. Sorry, the ugly yellow ad is back, too.

[NCCubFan]

Wow, SanClementeFan made an appearance in this thread. :D

[Guest]

Wow, SanClementeFan made an appearance in this thread. :D

newbie. Only 15 posts.

 

Actually, I had to check the appearance for non-premium users.

[Guest]

Having read through some of the comments in the thread just now, I'll be defensive here for a minute...

 

Not only do I have a very demanding day job that has bordered on the ridiculous for time consumption lately, but I'm also a single dad who needs to pay attention to his kids -- one of whom has needed a lot of extra attention lately. I've also been having health issues on top of everything else. Time has been very short lately. Energy has been even shorter.

 

As for the site, I'll ask this question: who picked up the bill when the bandwidth on the site went over in July and ran up an extra $1000 in surcharges? Did anyone volunteer to pick up a bunch of that? Who checks in the the server load, error logs & such every freaking day to make sure everything is reliable - which I consider my first responsibility for the site? Who has been planning a move to another hosting company with an even bigger box to handle an anticipated increased load for the coming season? Who is going to bear the cost of that upgrade?

 

I realize I was very slow in getting this move completed and I apologize for that. For those who have quit paying premium, I completely understand. For those who want to quit as a result of this tirade, I understand. For those who pay annually and would like their renewal date set out a few months as a result of having to go through the pain and suffering of looking at a single ad after the first post on the page (when that is even visible), I understand and will take care of it if you send me a pm.

[Soul]

Well I for one never mind the ads, they're still less than a lot of sites throw at you, and internet ads are everywhere anyway. I just filter them out of my brain, kind of like a woman who won't stop jabbering.

 

As long as there are no pop-ups, and nothing's hitting my firewall trying to download to my computer, I'm fine.

[OleMissCub]

Having read through some of the comments in the thread just now, I'll be defensive here for a minute...

 

Not only do I have a very demanding day job that has bordered on the ridiculous for time consumption lately, but I'm also a single dad who needs to pay attention to his kids -- one of whom has needed a lot of extra attention lately. I've also been having health issues on top of everything else. Time has been very short lately. Energy has been even shorter.

 

As for the site, I'll ask this question: who picked up the bill when the bandwidth on the site went over in July and ran up an extra $1000 in surcharges? Did anyone volunteer to pick up a bunch of that? Who checks in the the server load, error logs & such every freaking day to make sure everything is reliable - which I consider my first responsibility for the site? Who has been planning a move to another hosting company with an even bigger box to handle an anticipated increased load for the coming season? Who is going to bear the cost of that upgrade?

 

I realize I was very slow in getting this move completed and I apologize for that. For those who have quit paying premium, I completely understand. For those who want to quit as a result of this tirade, I understand. For those who pay annually and would like their renewal date set out a few months as a result of having to go through the pain and suffering of looking at a single ad after the first post on the page (when that is even visible), I understand and will take care of it if you send me a pm.

 

WE SURRENDER!!

 

http://www.paris.org/Expos/Liberation/gifs/surrender.gif

[Pushfrog98]

Having read through some of the comments in the thread just now, I'll be defensive here for a minute...

 

Not only do I have a very demanding day job that has bordered on the ridiculous for time consumption lately, but I'm also a single dad who needs to pay attention to his kids -- one of whom has needed a lot of extra attention lately. I've also been having health issues on top of everything else. Time has been very short lately. Energy has been even shorter.

 

As for the site, I'll ask this question: who picked up the bill when the bandwidth on the site went over in July and ran up an extra $1000 in surcharges? Did anyone volunteer to pick up a bunch of that? Who checks in the the server load, error logs & such every freaking day to make sure everything is reliable - which I consider my first responsibility for the site? Who has been planning a move to another hosting company with an even bigger box to handle an anticipated increased load for the coming season? Who is going to bear the cost of that upgrade?

 

I realize I was very slow in getting this move completed and I apologize for that. For those who have quit paying premium, I completely understand. For those who want to quit as a result of this tirade, I understand. For those who pay annually and would like their renewal date set out a few months as a result of having to go through the pain and suffering of looking at a single ad after the first post on the page (when that is even visible), I understand and will take care of it if you send me a pm.

Tim, who are you currently hosting through? Just curious.

[Guest]

Having read through some of the comments in the thread just now, I'll be defensive here for a minute...

 

Not only do I have a very demanding day job that has bordered on the ridiculous for time consumption lately, but I'm also a single dad who needs to pay attention to his kids -- one of whom has needed a lot of extra attention lately. I've also been having health issues on top of everything else. Time has been very short lately. Energy has been even shorter.

 

As for the site, I'll ask this question: who picked up the bill when the bandwidth on the site went over in July and ran up an extra $1000 in surcharges? Did anyone volunteer to pick up a bunch of that? Who checks in the the server load, error logs & such every freaking day to make sure everything is reliable - which I consider my first responsibility for the site? Who has been planning a move to another hosting company with an even bigger box to handle an anticipated increased load for the coming season? Who is going to bear the cost of that upgrade?

 

I realize I was very slow in getting this move completed and I apologize for that. For those who have quit paying premium, I completely understand. For those who want to quit as a result of this tirade, I understand. For those who pay annually and would like their renewal date set out a few months as a result of having to go through the pain and suffering of looking at a single ad after the first post on the page (when that is even visible), I understand and will take care of it if you send me a pm.

Tim, who are you currently hosting through? Just curious.

Rackspace. Given my horrendous support experience through ipower, I looked for a vendor who would provide great customer service and help me figure out how to stabilize the site (there were frequent crashes back then). They've done that, but they are also very pricey. I'm probably going to move to another provider with a much better box & bandwidth and a bit less service when my contract with Rackspace is up in March.

[E.J.]

Having read through some of the comments in the thread just now, I'll be defensive here for a minute...

 

Not only do I have a very demanding day job that has bordered on the ridiculous for time consumption lately, but I'm also a single dad who needs to pay attention to his kids -- one of whom has needed a lot of extra attention lately. I've also been having health issues on top of everything else. Time has been very short lately. Energy has been even shorter.

 

As for the site, I'll ask this question: who picked up the bill when the bandwidth on the site went over in July and ran up an extra $1000 in surcharges? Did anyone volunteer to pick up a bunch of that? Who checks in the the server load, error logs & such every freaking day to make sure everything is reliable - which I consider my first responsibility for the site? Who has been planning a move to another hosting company with an even bigger box to handle an anticipated increased load for the coming season? Who is going to bear the cost of that upgrade?

 

I realize I was very slow in getting this move completed and I apologize for that. For those who have quit paying premium, I completely understand. For those who want to quit as a result of this tirade, I understand. For those who pay annually and would like their renewal date set out a few months as a result of having to go through the pain and suffering of looking at a single ad after the first post on the page (when that is even visible), I understand and will take care of it if you send me a pm.

 

 

You don't have to apologize about anything. People are always going to take things for granted. Keep up the good work. Without you, we'd be forced to go back to forums like cubs.com, espn, and prosportsdaily. :cry:

[wvcbxl]

For those who pay annually and would like their renewal date set out a few months as a result of having to go through the pain and suffering of looking at a single ad after the first post on the page (when that is even visible), I understand and will take care of it if you send me a pm.

 

 

Wtf? (didn't we have a smiley for that?)

None of that *** for me, please, I demand the chance to renew on time. :cool:

[Soul]

For those who pay annually and would like their renewal date set out a few months as a result of having to go through the pain and suffering of looking at a single ad after the first post on the page (when that is even visible), I understand and will take care of it if you send me a pm.

 

 

Wtf? (didn't we have a smiley for that?)

None of that *** for me, please, I demand the chance to renew on time. :cool:

 

Ahh, now *that's* a fine display of brown nosing. Grats! :grin:

[nilodnayr]

Wow, SanClementeFan made an appearance in this thread. :D

newbie. Only 15 posts.

 

Actually, I had to check the appearance for non-premium users.

 

What a jerk, he should support the site. :lol:

[Skyballer]

Me loves the new smilies :amen: :starwars2: