System Upgrade & Downtime

SiCo

You will of noticed that we experienced some major downtime over the last couple of days. Unfortunately, this is related to the 'old' software the site runs on and the fact that the technology behind the site is progressing faster than the code the site is written in.

This is fairly serious as there isn't really an upgrade path as the software has pretty much been mothballed by its developers. I can upgrade to a new version (which helpfully changes most things and doesn't support the current customisation), however, this doesn't really see any updates or work either so for the effort involved it seems a bit pointless.

What I have been playing with is changing the software completely to a system that is being developed (for now anyway!). However, due to time constraints, this will be a rough and ready conversion and I want to warn you of this in advance. It will very much be a case of fixing the big problem but probably causing lots of little problems which will be easier to fix but will take time and your patience.

Initially, there will be no old Private Messages, I do not know how long these will take to fix but it is fixable! So if you need anything immediately please copy it now, and/or get the user's email address to continue your conversation.

I will have to close the site for a period of time as the error in the background is unfixable and is going to cause another melt down. I plan to shut the site tomorrow (Thursday 25th) at an undetermined time (helpful I know!).

I will do my best to get it back online asap but it is not a quick process so please bear with me.

Barbel

Thanks, SiCo, we know this is a lot of work for you and it is appreciated.

chrisno1

Fully appreciate your work, Si.
AJB is a great user-friendly site and I'm glad you're trying to find solutions rather than wholesale changes ( as happened at CBN ). Thanks for your effort, comms and leadership on this.

Bond Collectors' Weekends

THANK YOU, Si.

-{ -{ -{

The Domino Effect

Thanks for all your efforts and for giving us such a great forum.

Cheers!

Charmed & Dangerous

Echoing everyone above, appreciate everything you do to keep this amazing site going, SiCo.

Napoleon Plural

Thanks SiCo!

BTW are you still a Bond fan? You seem to have a Charlie from Charlie's Angels presence here.

I did notice whenever I logged onto this site from my PC it warned me it was 'not secure' and wondered about mentioning that.

emtiem

Thanks Si, hope it goes well.

chrisno1 wrote:

Fully appreciate your work, Si.
AJB is a great user-friendly site and I'm glad you're trying to find solutions rather than wholesale changes ( as happened at CBN ). Thanks for your effort, comms and leadership on this.

CBN is a funny one: it was one of the big sites, then they changed their software and url to the forum, but never linked their main site to the new forum, so pretty much only old users of it were able to visit it- they can't really get new members!

Silhouette Man

Repeating what the others have said above in praising you for all your hard work in keeping AJB going through think and thin. Many thanks for all you do on our behalf. We the membership really appreciate it, SiCo! -{

00-Agent

Love the website, thank you for providing it.

Barbel

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Thanks SiCo!

BTW are you still a Bond fan? You seem to have a Charlie from Charlie's Angels presence here.

So, does that make Sir Miles or me Bosley, then?

Sir Miles

Barbel wrote:

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Thanks SiCo!

BTW are you still a Bond fan? You seem to have a Charlie from Charlie's Angels presence here.

So, does that make Sir Miles or me Bosley, then?

I was thinking I was more Kelly Garrett ;%

Barbel

) ) ) In your dreams, maybe!

Napoleon Plural

Barbel wrote:

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Thanks SiCo!

BTW are you still a Bond fan? You seem to have a Charlie from Charlie's Angels presence here.

So, does that make Sir Miles or me Bosley, then?

I have a thread in mind devoted to your presence on this thread, Barbel...

Barbel

?

It would be surprising if I were not present on this thread.

caractacus potts

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Thanks SiCo! BTW are you still a Bond fan? You seem to have a Charlie from Charlie's Angels presence here.

Barbel wrote:

So, does that make Sir Miles or me Bosley, then?

but what about HardyBoy?
there's three of you!
...which means what you should be fighting over is who gets to be "the smart one"!
(Sabrina in the original)

Yes big thanks to the mysterious, unseen Sico for giving us all a place to call home and keeping us off the streets.
You shoulda seen all the mischief I got into in the 24 hours this site was down!

The Red Kind

Thank you Si, for the update and for all your efforts. It is so appreciated!! If it's a case of us all chipping in a few quid to help in some way, I'm in. {[]

Barbel

Alas, poor old Hardyboy is getting too aged for this racket. When he manages to use his stairlift to come down from his four-poster bed, and hobbles on his stick over to the PC before remembering that his spectacles are still upstairs and having to do the whole thing all over again, he may just put in an appearance in between shouting at the youngsters to get off his lawn.

The Domino Effect

Barbel wrote:

Alas, poor old Hardyboy is getting too aged for this racket. When he manages to use his stairlift to come down from his four-poster bed, and hobbles on his stick over to the PC before remembering that his spectacles are still upstairs and having to do the whole thing all over again, he may just put in an appearance in between shouting at the youngsters to get off his lawn.

24 is such a brutal age these days.

Sir Miles

Barbel wrote:

) ) ) In your dreams, maybe!

My dreams would scare you shi...err, witless

Ferinstal

Good luck with the update - and thank you for doing what you for us. You really deserve better! )

Ferinstal

The Red Kind wrote:

If it's a case of us all chipping in a few quid to help in some way, I'm in. {[]

That’s not at all a bad idea...we should call it the Vesper fund! (Or words to that effect!)

SiCo

Napoleon Plural wrote:

BTW are you still a Bond fan? You seem to have a Charlie from Charlie's Angels presence here.

) I am, but not what I once was, hence the distance I suppose, that and life getting in the way! I don't have the passion I once had but I still waste money on merchandise I think will be collectible and never is!

Napoleon Plural wrote:

I did notice whenever I logged onto this site from my PC it warned me it was 'not secure' and wondered about mentioning that.

That is quite important, is it still happening, the secure certificates should be up to scratch.

The update is going better than expected, I will be shutting the site tomorrow for a long weekend. (Just incase ytou thought I'd given up already by not closing it today!).

I should just mention that all the praise for the day to day running should go to Sir M and the moderating crew, that's the real hard graft!

emtiem

Security certificates seem fine for me, that's weird- I didn't realise it could differ between users.

Hardyboy

Barbel wrote:

Alas, poor old Hardyboy is getting too aged for this racket. When he manages to use his stairlift to come down from his four-poster bed, and hobbles on his stick over to the PC before remembering that his spectacles are still upstairs and having to do the whole thing all over again, he may just put in an appearance in between shouting at the youngsters to get off his lawn.

Watch it, you young punk--I may not be as quick I used to be but I can still land a mean punch!

Barbel

:007) The real joke there being that you're younger than I am!

Sir Miles

SiCo wrote:

I should just mention that all the praise for the day to day running should go to Sir M and the moderating crew, that's the real hard graft!

I’m honoured to get the mention first but you’ll find that Barbel does the majority of the ‘heavy lifting’ and I’m mainly used for the ‘wet work’...whilst Hardyboy glides over the whole site making sure we behave ;%

Higgins

SiCo wrote:

I should just mention that all the praise for the day to day running should go to Sir M and the moderating crew, that's the real hard graft!

Yeah, Barbel and Sir Miles are finally getting something to do here instead of pointlessly cruising around in their company Aston Martins.

I mean - it must be a blessing to have such a maintenance - free board like AJB - no off-topics - no insults - no disagreements and the biggest news of the day is the color of my footwear

Barbel

Higgins wrote:

I mean - it must be a blessing to have such a maintenance - free board like AJB - no off-topics - no insults - no disagreements

......what????

Sir Miles

Higgins wrote:

Yeah, Barbel and Sir Miles are finally getting something to do here instead of pointlessly cruising around in their company Aston Martins.

Today it’s my turn -{

Barbel

) ) )

Let me guess- Higgins is tied up in the boot?