New Style Format

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Bullseye
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New Style Format

Post by Bullseye » Thu Oct 01, 2015 10:43 pm

Welcome old and new users to the new and improved Guntalk-Online.com as we had to upgrade the old forum to use it with the new server software installation made by the host. The old software was over twelve years old and needed to be changed for security reasons. You may notice a different appearance than before. Also there are more functions available to you as a board member under this newer format. Log into your User CP to see the options for your account. I apologize for the delay and the board being disabled for the last few days, hopefully you will like this new format much better. I will be investigating new board styles and the appearance may change once more to a more permanent style.

Thanks for your patience! Please feel free to enjoy your forum once more.

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blue68f100
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Re: New Style Format

Post by blue68f100 » Fri Oct 02, 2015 1:27 pm

The newer style looks more modern. Just have to get used to the different colors and style.

As Always, you do an super job on maintaining and running this site. I know whats involved because I was admin of a company server for many years. Security has taken the for front these days with all of the data breaches. Like my lawyer says the only secure way is not put it on a networked computer that has internet access. With no wire connecting the 2 it will stay secure. With the spam bots I bet it's an endless cycle on trying to keep it clean.
David

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ruger22
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Re: New Style Format

Post by ruger22 » Fri Oct 02, 2015 3:27 pm

Well, it looks good.Trying the reply options here.....On some other forums, bold, font, underline, etc. have stopped working for me. ( ? )

Good, I just looked at the Preview, and they work here. I've been through my CP and set everything right. Now where is the "Posts since last visit" button? I don't see one.

I see we can post photos from websites now.


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Congratulations, good job by all involved!
* Two Bearcat stainless, w/ EWK ejector housings & Wolff springs
* SP-101 .22LR, w/ Wolff springs
* Two NAA Guardian .32ACP
* Three Zastava M70 .32ACP
* S&W 15-22 Sport (.22LR AR)

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Bullseye
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Re: New Style Format

Post by Bullseye » Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:39 am

I have a lot of catching up to do regarding this new forum software too. Just approving new accounts as the Admin is a much more involved task. I do like some of the anti-spambot technology incorporated in this new version, hopefully it will cut down on the amount of false website registrations I deal with on a daily basis. I may have to look at my options on the "contacting the administrator," as I have definitely increased my incoming board mail with spam messages.

Our last phbb software version was from 2001-2002 which was like a dinosaur roaming in today's electronic world, but it was working fine for what we needed. I even considered deactivating the forum based on lack of usage when it went offline, however, the immediate flood of messages asking "what happened?" when the board was disabled made me reconsider. Updating the software was a huge task, mainly since the old version was so ancient, but I think it looks good. I have to locate the place in the database to install my 1911 icons for the edges of the individual forums lists, like we had before.

It is unfortunate that many of the old folks seem to have abandoned GTOL for other forums. I guess that should be expected. I really keep this board running so that everyone can feel free to exchange ideas with each other. I know that my time on the forum has been drastically cut way back, but I didn't start this thing for it to run solely on my input. It is your forum, and I wanted to see folks bantering and enjoying each others company like in the really old days of the MarkII.org and MarkIII.org forum eras. The web help and maintenance pages get a lot of traffic every month, hundreds of thousands of hits, and I was pleased to see even though the forum software didn't like the mysql and Apache server update, the web help pages remained up and readable.

I have maintained from the start that no advertising or soliciting will take place on this forum, unlike many of the other shooting related discussion forums. We don't have any of that annoying "pop-up" commercialization crap here, much to the dismay of my bride who thinks I should be letting the forum earn its own way. I do not accept monetary donations to help run the board, even though many have graciously offered. I am trying to give back to the shooting community by making this space available to everyone to use. It is my hope that it will once again GTOL will begin to harbor more shooting related conversations and fellowship among the members.

I wish you all the best.

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Bullseye
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Re: New Style Format

Post by Bullseye » Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:51 am

ruger22 wrote:Well, it looks good.Trying the reply options here.....On some other forums, bold, font, underline, etc. have stopped working for me. ( ? )

Good, I just looked at the Preview, and they work here. I've been through my CP and set everything right. Now where is the "Posts since last visit" button? I don't see one.

I see we can post photos from websites now.


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Congratulations, good job by all involved!
I have kept the html code options function open, which is why you can use all the coding functions you're used to. Many of the other internet forums have this option turned off. As for where are the new posts? - it is located in the "Quick Links" drop down menu in the upper left hand corner, just under the forum's logo, of this and the board index pages. It has three vertical lines next to it. Select that button and the "new posts" and "unread posts" options are on the list.

Hope this helps,

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Bullseye
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Re: New Style Format

Post by Bullseye » Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:32 pm

Yeah!!!! My 1911 icons are now positioned where they should be, alongside the forum headings. Much thanks to my bride for fixing that one for me.

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bearandoldman
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Re: New Style Format

Post by bearandoldman » Sun Oct 11, 2015 9:12 am

looks good, getting used to it was fairly easy, even for an oldman
You have great day and shoot straight and may the Good Lord smile on you.
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Bullseye
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Re: New Style Format

Post by Bullseye » Sun Oct 11, 2015 10:30 am

Yes, I believe this format is pretty easy on the eyes. Took a bit to find the right places to insert my graphics but most everything is working fine now. I have one more icon to insert correctly, the new post 1911, but other than that the forum seems to be functioning fine. And best of all for me, all those spambot false registrations appear to have been abated by the new captcha scheme.

R,
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Re: New Style Format

Post by Bullseye » Sat Oct 17, 2015 10:21 am

I got to say I love this new software! I can delete all the crap registrations in one fell swoop. This is saving me tremendous time screening out the spam. Bingo, bang-o, and done! I haven't found the downside yet but I'm sure there is some. I don't know when they made that change but if I had known it existed I would have updated the board software long ago.

R,
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Re: New Style Format

Post by Bullseye » Wed Dec 30, 2015 6:39 am

Something else I have discovered with the new software is it now notifies new registrants, and anyone who change their profile email addresses, when I activate/reactivate their accounts. The old forum software did not do that and often I would get messages asking if I have approved their membership/change requests. Now they get a message when I activate their accounts. This message also makes it easy for them, and me, if there's a problem logging in because they can inform me right away if they cannot access the forum. So far I'm really liking this new format.

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