Q. Why did you do this? The old site was fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
A. Truth is, the old site was very broken.
It was written in 1990's vintage software which is no longer supported. In February '08 it started crashing anywhere from 5 to 25 timer per day. Many crashes lasted just a few seconds but others caused downtime of 10 minutes to an hour or more.
Often, posts were submitted but never saved to disk. Same with classified ads. In short, it was a mess. There was no choice but to move to a new software platform as quickly as we could.
The old site was 100% custom software, written from scratch for our purposes. It was the product of 9 years of development. In 2000 it was state of the art. In 2008 it was barely running.
With the site in such an unstable condition, we didn't have nine years to do it all over again, nor the resources to get it done faster. So we decided to modify two of the world's most popular open source software packages: Joomla, a content management system, and vBulletin, the most widely used (and arguably the best) forum software.
Q. Help! I can't login!
A. Approximately 1 in 4 user names had to be changed in the conversion. If you recall, the old site used your email address to identify you. The new site uses your user name so it must be unique. Many users had the same names or, more commonly, duplicate registrations that made the system think it wasn't unique.
To find your new user name you can (a) look for one of your old posts. It will have your new user name on it; (b) go through the Lost Password routine and it will be emailed to you, or (c) write us at cs@mail.sailboatowners.com. Please include your name and email address we're likely to have for you.
Passwords were not changed.
Q. Can I get my old username back?
A. Probably. But you certainly aren't stuck with what you have now. Click here and enter the name you want.
Q. There was so much great data on the other site. I can't believe you left so much of it behind.
A. The old and new systems couldn't have a more diverse approach to data organization. Moving old data to the new system was tortured, to say the least.
It is not yet complete, but I estimate that approximately 80% of the old site's data is here. The other 20% we're still working on. Our goal is 100% transfer. Well, maybe 98%. Some of it is bound to fall behind the sofa cushions.
If you don't see it, either (a) it hasn't been moved yet, or (b) you haven't found it yet.
Q. I've submitted hundreds of posts here since 2001, but my profile says I joined 6/9/08 and have 2 posts.
A. Many users had multiple profiles in the old system or changed screen names over the years. Remember, we didn't have a login system until a couple years ago and even then it was optional. So there is no institutional memory of when you started posting to the site. However, we are happy to modify your join date as well as find your old posts and attach them to your new username. Just email us at cs@mail.sailboatowners.com. Please include your current username plus any names you used to post under.
Q. The new site doesn't work. I'm seeing {red x's for photos} {no home page} {squished type} {ghosts}.
A. The new site uses modern web technology that the old site didn't. Although it's the same technology used on ebay, Facebook, and many popular ecommerce sites, it does require a fairly new web browser. We have also heard of problems on some installations of IE 7 and Vista. Spectre sightings are beyond the scope of this article. If you're experiencing any other weird behavior please write us at cs@mail.sailboatowners.com. Please copy/paste the complete address of the screen that is causing the problem.
Q. What happened to the archives? I can't find them.
A. The archive and the active forum are now one and the same. Click the Search tab in navigation bar at the top of the screen. One search covers every post ever made here.
We will add to this article as other frequent questions arise.
A. Truth is, the old site was very broken.
It was written in 1990's vintage software which is no longer supported. In February '08 it started crashing anywhere from 5 to 25 timer per day. Many crashes lasted just a few seconds but others caused downtime of 10 minutes to an hour or more.
Often, posts were submitted but never saved to disk. Same with classified ads. In short, it was a mess. There was no choice but to move to a new software platform as quickly as we could.
The old site was 100% custom software, written from scratch for our purposes. It was the product of 9 years of development. In 2000 it was state of the art. In 2008 it was barely running.
With the site in such an unstable condition, we didn't have nine years to do it all over again, nor the resources to get it done faster. So we decided to modify two of the world's most popular open source software packages: Joomla, a content management system, and vBulletin, the most widely used (and arguably the best) forum software.
Q. Help! I can't login!
A. Approximately 1 in 4 user names had to be changed in the conversion. If you recall, the old site used your email address to identify you. The new site uses your user name so it must be unique. Many users had the same names or, more commonly, duplicate registrations that made the system think it wasn't unique.
To find your new user name you can (a) look for one of your old posts. It will have your new user name on it; (b) go through the Lost Password routine and it will be emailed to you, or (c) write us at cs@mail.sailboatowners.com. Please include your name and email address we're likely to have for you.
Passwords were not changed.
Q. Can I get my old username back?
A. Probably. But you certainly aren't stuck with what you have now. Click here and enter the name you want.
Q. There was so much great data on the other site. I can't believe you left so much of it behind.
A. The old and new systems couldn't have a more diverse approach to data organization. Moving old data to the new system was tortured, to say the least.
It is not yet complete, but I estimate that approximately 80% of the old site's data is here. The other 20% we're still working on. Our goal is 100% transfer. Well, maybe 98%. Some of it is bound to fall behind the sofa cushions.
If you don't see it, either (a) it hasn't been moved yet, or (b) you haven't found it yet.
Q. I've submitted hundreds of posts here since 2001, but my profile says I joined 6/9/08 and have 2 posts.
A. Many users had multiple profiles in the old system or changed screen names over the years. Remember, we didn't have a login system until a couple years ago and even then it was optional. So there is no institutional memory of when you started posting to the site. However, we are happy to modify your join date as well as find your old posts and attach them to your new username. Just email us at cs@mail.sailboatowners.com. Please include your current username plus any names you used to post under.
Q. The new site doesn't work. I'm seeing {red x's for photos} {no home page} {squished type} {ghosts}.
A. The new site uses modern web technology that the old site didn't. Although it's the same technology used on ebay, Facebook, and many popular ecommerce sites, it does require a fairly new web browser. We have also heard of problems on some installations of IE 7 and Vista. Spectre sightings are beyond the scope of this article. If you're experiencing any other weird behavior please write us at cs@mail.sailboatowners.com. Please copy/paste the complete address of the screen that is causing the problem.
Q. What happened to the archives? I can't find them.
A. The archive and the active forum are now one and the same. Click the Search tab in navigation bar at the top of the screen. One search covers every post ever made here.
We will add to this article as other frequent questions arise.