Third Impact Has Arrived

[Monk Ed]

Welcome to your new post-physical reality. You may notice that some things are different. We tried to recreate something similar to your previous existence but, well... nothing's perfect. And neither was that previous existence; change, though often unsettling, can be good.

This is a work in progress, of course. There will be more changes to come -- and more for the better. Now we have more ability than ever to change our reality to suit our desires. Many features of which we previously only dreamed can now be implemented -- or might already be.

Enjoy your stay.



In my world.

[Sachi]

Instrumentality is not so bad after all.

[TehDonutKing]

Large screenshot  SPOILER: Show

These notifications sure were a blast from the past.

Anyway, there's a group called "Minna" that says only members can view its membership, but it apparently contains every registered user with Reichu as our leader. Not sure what to make of that, but i'm just gonna assume that Reichu is Gendou's Baechu. The new layout will take a bit to get used to, but as for critiques:

I like this color scheme. The ugly style did grow on me, but it really was ugly. It just happened to be funny as well. I dislike the "new replies" icon; it's too subtle. While it's minor, it takes longer to check if a subforum/thread has new replies than it used to. The "Foe" feature found on various fora seems to have reared its ugly head here as well. I'm not the owner of this forum, nor do i expect my views to get special treatment, but i dislike this feature for more or less ideological reasons. There seem to be new smilies since i last checked, which is always nice, but i'm not sure if this is part of the update, or if i just never noticed them before.

Also, Sachi ninja'd me, and the forum warned me. I like this. Ninjas 0, Pirates 1.

[IronEvangelion]

I like what I've seen so far. The forums seem to load/refresh a lot faster now too.

[Rei IV]

I too got notifications from the past when I jointed *almost* three years ago this upcoming December 4. The awesomeness waiting for Q! The boards look pretty damn good, IMHO!

[Trajan]

I think it was about time for a change. The old layout was charming in an ugly sort of way and while the new layout will take some getting used to, it definitely feels more modern although I feel like it could still use some improvements design wise. A lot of that is probably just me getting over the shock of this place suddenly changing after being the same for five years, so I'll report back a bit later about how I feel about the changes when I have more time to get used to them.

[::KL7::]

It will take some getting used to but I like it.

[IronEvangelion]

I'm guessing the vertical green bars on the right side of the posts are indicating who is currently logged in?

[Stillborn]

Now all we need is someone to put a bomb collar on and blame for all features that doesn't work

[Monk Ed]

Thank you, all.

Getting this thing up and running was a hell of a lot of work. Now that the big event has come and gone, we can let the secret out: This is why I was made admin -- and why I just kind of disappeared from regular duty for a long, long time. I came into this knowing essentially nothing about Linux, system administration, or bulletin board software -- but I had a lot of great help along the way, from Ornette and Tines but most especially pwhodges, who was my Fuyutsuki throughout the process.

The hardest part, oddly enough, was reproducing what you already know. A lot of features we're familiar with were hacks directly into the previous software's code that I had to either find equivalents for or reproduce myself within the new software's extension framework, which is how I've spent most of the past week. The spoiler box is off-the-shelf with minor modifications, but the quote linkback functionality (the "#876543" part that comes after the name of the person you're quoting and how that turns into a link back to the original post) was something I had to reproduce in its entirety (which also means it's a lot easier to change).

A whole lot of what's great about this new software is built-in though (of course, or else it'd be a lot harder to justify the change). While typing this post, as I was nearly done with it, I hit "preview" and was shown all the posts that had been made since I started typing. Neat!

[Dream]

Just dropping by to congratulate the staff on the forum's transition. It has been an absolutely commendable amount of work and many great things are sure to come from the change. It was also kind of a nice/funny event with the whole Third Impact stuff.

Most notable point of improvement is with the design, but that's best left for after the celebratory mood. Once again, thank you for all the work you've been doing, and congratulations on fullfilling Instrumentality

[child of Lilith]

Nice. It's a bit different and will take some time getting used to but you guys seem to have done a great job. Cheers.

[Justacrazyguy]

Well, this going to take some getting used to. But that's okay.

[MAGI_01]

Wow, going to take some getting used to, but the new look looks fantastic.

Awesome job to all those who helped make the change!

[Bagheera]

Now all we need is someone to put a bomb collar on and blame for all features that doesn't work

Ah, a volunteer. Excellent!

[Stillborn]

Ah, a volunteer. Excellent!

You act as if I'm not in that position already.

[jcmoorehead]

It looks great, fantastic job to those involved. I know how much work can go into setting up and changing over systems like this so it's nice to see it go smoothly

[Tankred]

It feels so strange but I guess I will get used to it.

[robersora]

The "Foe" feature

What's that?

Great job from everyone involved. It seems like no bigger problems have surfaced, so I can only congratulate you. The forum feels a lot more responsive and modern - if a little clustered (there's no breathing room between the elements, all of them are stacked right next to each other) and garish. But that's fine-tuning, that pwhodges will do. So I'll just lean back and look at the blossoming new world, that is after 3I.

[pwhodges]

Foe - it's a user blocking feature that's built in - previously a few people used a greasemonkey script that Mr.Tines wrote for the purpose.

What do you mean by "cluttered" (I presume)? If anything, it seems more open to me.