New NARGS Discussion Forum opens

[David Nicholson]

Mark, hope you will see this, does this mean that the wealth of information and pictures on the old Forum will be lost, I do hope not and I'm still lamenting (as will many others including Maggi) the vast amount of history that was lost forever in the old SRGC Forum. I'm not a Luddite and realise that progress has to be maintained but to me history is a handrail to the future and not a staple to the past.

[Maggi Young]

I am almost certain that nothing will be lost in this NARGS upgrade, David. In the same way that nothing was lost when SRGC upgraded our smf forum recently.

The tragedy of the loss of our original forum was that it was on such an old set-up that it would not support any change and so we archived it - it was still available then, but when it was attacked by hackers, we could do nothing to save it but cut it loose, so to speak, to avoid further damage. 
It was similar to trying to use a single bicycle to power to power a 747!

The NARGS situation is not at all like that.   

[Tim Ingram]

David - as someone who looks backward to look forward as you say, I had something of the same concerns. Some of the most valuable information on the alpine websites is actually that put on most recently: viz.: the archival material of Journals, the Bulb log and IRG, and individuals like Jim Archibald (which is why I also love books so much). The actual day to day comparing of gardening, sharing experiences, and some of the detailed discussions on plants are immensely valuable, but even more so when they are put together in article format: I would hate to lose the paper copy of the Journals for that reason because they engender a longer view.

Both the SRGC and NARGS websites seem wonderful to me, catering to many different tastes and run by people with great knowledge of plants, but also technical mastery. The great thing though is that if information is lost it can be regained through all the expertise held by all the members, and the Forums quite often revisit plants and places as new people become interested in them. There has been a good deal of discussion and explanation about the changes on the NARGS site, which I found reassuring and helpful.

[TheOnionMan]

The contents of the old NARGS Forum (3 years in operation since Jan 2010) should be fully migrated to the new web-based NARGS Forum version. Being on the far fringe of involvement with the new web site process, I have my concerns, but it has been made clear, the intent is full conversion of the accumulated NARGS Forum data to the new venue.

Earlier I expressed concerns that there may be formatting issues, due to the NARGS inverted color scheme (black background and light color text), that when it gets converted, will the light color text be converted to regular black text on a light background, or will we have legibility/visibility issues with light color imported text on a light background.  I don't know the answer, remains to be seen.

I also believe, that due to the different way image attachments are handled, that there will be issues with the display or positioning of images too, again, it remains to be seen what the issues are.

Tonight, I tried connecting to the old NARGS forum URL, the link should not work, but it connected to the old version of the forum!  I know the old version of the forum will be preserved for a cross-over period of a month or so, but it should not be available for people to post to now, because any new posts will be lost, as they'll be out of synchronization with the "state of the forum" when it was captured and converted to the new web site earlier today (5/12/2013).  I'm rather mystified by the process and paucity of information/coordination on the whole conversion process.

Earlier today I spoke with one of the web developers, and they said that there have been some snags in the conversion, and that NARGS Forum would be down another day (Thu 6/13/2013). I have subsequently inquired about the fact people are now posting to the old NARGS Forum; hope to hear back on that issue.

[TheOnionMan]

In the void of pertinent information, I took action to turn off the old NARGS Forum because people were posting to it, which will cause synchronization issues with the database imported to the new forum venue earlier today.

[David Nicholson]

In the void of pertinent information, I took action to turn off the old NARGS Forum because people were posting to it, which will cause synchronization issues with the database imported to the new forum venue earlier today.

Not in any way blaming you Mark or indeed any of the other Forumist moderators but the paucity of information prior to the attempted new Forum installation does seem to me to be a little contemptous. A simple notice saying something like "sorry folks new Forum being installed and we'll be off the air for a bit" was surely possible. The "mushroom management" approach rarely works!

[Gerry Webster]

....... The "mushroom management" approach rarely works!

David - the government uses this method to run the UK. On second thoughts, maybe this proves your point.

[Maggi Young]

will the light color text be converted to regular black text on a light background, or will we have legibility/visibility issues with light color imported text on a light background.  I don't know the answer, remains to be seen.

As one of the people who just cannot get along with the white on black format, I use the NARGS Forum in the setting of this one - but  there is already an issue  with that in that coloured inserts (which may show well enough for those who can use the black background) are pretty much invisible in this setting.

Rather like this

[Helen Johnstone]

Yellow is also a bad colour for people with dyslexia and should be avoided.

[David Nicholson]

David - the government uses this method to run the UK. On second thoughts, maybe this proves your point.

 

[TheOnionMan]

The NARGS web site and NARGS Forum are back open for business (sort of).  The main web site has a number of placeholder pages; areas to be filled out and developed over the next month or longer.

The NARGS Forum is basically operational, but here again, a number of questions, features, instructions, and customizations, need to be addressed to make its usage comparable to what we had previously.  I already have pages of feedback to offer the web developers so that we can get these things sorted out quickly.

The URL is a bit different: "The forum URL is:  https://www.nargs.org/forum

The URL redirection from the previous URL http://www.nargs.org/smf should work, but if it doesn't work, use the new URL shown above.

Login:  you can login at the main NARGS.ORG web page, selecting the login link at the top right of the home page.  Your previous USERNAME and PASSWORD are supposed to have been preserved.  However, if you find that they don't work, use the "Request New Password" option, enter the security "capcha" code that will be displayed, it will send you an email with a link allowing you to reset your password. If using that method, respond to the emailed link quickly, it expires after one day.

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks for the info, Mark,
I'm now able to gain access with a "new password" - actually the same one I had before the upgrade!
The new format will take a bit of getting used to but anything new takes time.
cheers
fermi