Impeding Board Migration

[Administrator]

Friends, HOCtonians, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come not to bury the HOC, but to praise it....

Wait, no, wrong Forum. Let me restart, please...

Hello, fellow intrepid HOCtonians,

This is an official notification that the HOC will be undergoing a migration from the existing IP.Board software to XenForo. This will not occur tonight, as I've had far too much wine with our traditional NYE Swiss Fondue dinner. I'm fully satiated and have something more than "a little glow" going.

That being said, over the next several days, there will likely be some ups and downs, perhaps even--dare I say?--outages, as the software migration kicks off. Whatever you do, don't panic! You do have your towel, correct? That's all you need to get through what will surely be a trying time for us all.

This will be the third iteration of the HOC. We originally started out on the free Simple Machines platform. That's where most of our goofy emojis/emoticons (does anyone know the difference?) came from. I'm not sure if those will make the transition this time. Once we had grown beyond what that board offered, we moved on to IP.Board, where we've been for many, many years. Possibly as long as a decade. Or, at least, near to it. It's been a good run, but...sometimes change is good.

One of the things that seems to have gone missing through various IPB upgrades and backup/restore cycles, is the original HOC logo. As I recall, this was commissioned and delivered by Mr. @Jim W way back in 2008. I do not seem to have a copy of the original, alas. If you (@Jim W) or anyone else has the original file, I'd be forever indebted to whomever can restore this treasured, storied piece of HOC history. I recall it appeared on banners at PSP I, also provided by Jim's selfless generosity. 

Please bear with us as we begin yet another "new era" of the HOC. 

Be well,

Me

 

[Jim W]

Emailed. 

[TalismanRich]

Here's hoping that all goes well and the content (posts and pics) move over to the new system.   There are a ton of memories, especially in those PSP threads.

[davesultra]

Keeping fingers crossed for a smooth & speedy transition. Wonder if I’ll actually finally achieve “Charter Member” status? 🤣

[Administrator]

Update 1: XenForo software installed just fine, including the Gallery. The Import Utility to migrate from IPB, however, failed. Working on a solution. Will provide another update as we progress.

[Administrator]

Update 2: The importer script is still throwing an error. Seems to be related to Polls. XenForo support is on the case. Have attempted their proposed solution with no change. The quest continues.

[Administrator]

Update 3: XenForo support has identified the cause of the error in the importer script and are working on a fix. 

[bolero]

Woot!

[Administrator]

Update 4: XenForo fixed their installer, just for us. Wild. Anyway, we have success (so far). Stay tuned.

[TalismanRich]

[yoslate]

So many iterations of "Thanks!" for your curation of the site, John!  I doubt most of us have the first clue regarding what you've invested in the HOC playground for all of us to mess up the sandbox, go down the slide backwards, skin our knees, and swear at the other kids for not getting off of the good swings.  You have our sincerest gratitude!  

[Kuz]

15 hours ago, yoslate said:

So many iterations of "Thanks!" for your curation of the site, John!  I doubt most of us have the first clue regarding what you've invested in the HOC playground for all of us to mess up the sandbox, go down the slide backwards, skin our knees, and swear at the other kids for not getting off of the good swings.  You have our sincerest gratitude!  

I won't even attempt to write anything as well craft as this.  All I will say is I absolutely agree with the statement and... Jon, sincerely Thank You!

[Administrator]

Update: Testing continues. Some functionality issues identified. Progressing.

[Genericmusic]