Previously the "front page" (ie: http://www.njpinebarrens.com) and the forums (http://forums.njpinebarrens.com) were linked. They run different software - Drupal for the front page, and vBulletin for the forums. All of the articles and what not live in Drupal, but most people come here for the forums. Someone wrote a hacked up version of Drupal that would tie into vBulletin and allow things like sharing user data between the two parts of the site, and the most important thing, comments on articles that got posted. So every time I posted something on the front page of the site, it would automatically make a thread in the "Front Page Articles" forum, and anybody who commented on it would add to the comments that showed in Drupal.
Unfortunately the person/people who were working on maintaining that hacked up version of Drupal seem to have stopped working on it, or lost interest. Drupal moved to a new version with a lot of new features. So I had to decide if I was going to have new features for the front page site - as well as security updates - or if I wanted to keep the forums and the front page integrated.
I ultimately made the decision to split the two sites. So the front page with all of the articles are completely independent of the forums. If I post an article on the front page, the only way you guys will know - unless you browse the front page regularly - is if I made a thread here, which is what I will end up doing. And any comments you make in that thread won't show up as comments on the article on the front page. It was a hard decision to make (I had blogged about it a bit in my blog) but in the long run, I think it's for the best.
I actually envision a time where my involvement with running the forums on a day to day basis is much less, as I would much rather devote more time to research, exploring, and writing for the front page. I'm very happy to have Teegate here as he does a LOT of work to keep this place running smoothly. It would be a mess if it was just me doing it.
The site has evolved a lot over the last 7 years or so that I've been running it. I believe that right now it's the best that it's ever been. This is in no small part to the great community of people who come here and post. I just provide the server and the software -- what you guys do with it is what really has made this place what it is. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not thankful for all of the contributions that people have made.
So, here's to a great 2009 and beyond.
Unfortunately the person/people who were working on maintaining that hacked up version of Drupal seem to have stopped working on it, or lost interest. Drupal moved to a new version with a lot of new features. So I had to decide if I was going to have new features for the front page site - as well as security updates - or if I wanted to keep the forums and the front page integrated.
I ultimately made the decision to split the two sites. So the front page with all of the articles are completely independent of the forums. If I post an article on the front page, the only way you guys will know - unless you browse the front page regularly - is if I made a thread here, which is what I will end up doing. And any comments you make in that thread won't show up as comments on the article on the front page. It was a hard decision to make (I had blogged about it a bit in my blog) but in the long run, I think it's for the best.
I actually envision a time where my involvement with running the forums on a day to day basis is much less, as I would much rather devote more time to research, exploring, and writing for the front page. I'm very happy to have Teegate here as he does a LOT of work to keep this place running smoothly. It would be a mess if it was just me doing it.
The site has evolved a lot over the last 7 years or so that I've been running it. I believe that right now it's the best that it's ever been. This is in no small part to the great community of people who come here and post. I just provide the server and the software -- what you guys do with it is what really has made this place what it is. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not thankful for all of the contributions that people have made.
So, here's to a great 2009 and beyond.
