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Smashboards Direction, Server Move + Site Update #3

AlphaZealot

Former Smashboards Owner
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Messages
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Smashers,

As 2013 gets started the changes with Smashboards will begin to accelerate. If you didn't notice, in the last week we have added Project M to the frontpage of Smashboards and started to consolidate and clean up the general presentation of the boards. Most of the remaining room organization and structure will be completed this week.

The big news for this week is that, baring something unforeseen, the server move will be completed by the middle of the week. Last weeks test migration was a success. We are targeting Tuesday for the server move and should have an exact timeframe by tomorrow, which will be announced here and on our social media channels. It is preferable to avoid any downtime and our current estimate is that Smashboards will be down for under 30 minutes, after which the boards will be read-only for several hours. More specifics to come. As previously mentioned, all efforts will be made to avoid any downtime during next weekend's major event - Apex 2013.

Once the server move is complete the chains that have been keeping Smashboards from innovating are removed. This raises the question - what exactly is the plan? Recently, I listened to the Melee It On Me podcast and Scar brought up a valid concern: the direction of Smashboards going forward.

Smashboards overall direction: to give the Smash community, and many devotees of the different ways of playing Smash, the resources, exposure, and home they desire and deserve so that they can learn, play, and grow.

After the server move there will be two top-priority items
  1. A upgrade to the forum
  2. A homepage redesign

The forum upgrade can be completed far quicker than the homepage redesign since it is a matter of licensing a product and transitioning to that product's platform. Assuming a successful server move in the next week, I would anticipate a new forum installation by early February, if not by the end of January.

The new homepage design will target highlighting the many amazing aspects of the Smash community. We already have a wireframe that the Smashboards Senate recently reviewed. While we upgrade to a new forum, this wireframe will get a graphical touch and we will be reaching out to the community for anyone who is interested in developing the homepage. In short: to meet the needs of the Smashboards community requires a very custom website - it won't be a copy/paste of how another site already operates. This custom site will give space to:
  • News
  • Livestreams
  • Videos
  • Discussion topics
  • Tournaments
  • Social media
  • Rankings
  • And more!
The goal with each of these will be to give frontpage exposure to the content producers and creators within the Smash community and for the devoted fans of each Smash game. That livestream, that podcast, that huge tournament, or that awesome combo video, can all be featured in a new, high profile light instead of having to dig through forum threads.

For this to work, for the best Smashboards possible, will require a community effort, and we will be reaching out to the community in the coming weeks for any volunteers interested in helping with the development of the new homepage or other cool features for the site.

As a final update: Smash 64 will be getting its own space once again, separated from the Melee section of the forum.

Have a Smashing week!

AlphaZealot
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Smashboards Transition Log
 

John2k4

The End of an Era
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
8,989
Looking great!
Remember that during the downtime, the Smashboards IRC/Live chat will still be available, since that is hosted through Gamesurge.
 

stingers

Smash Obsessed
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
26,796
Location
Raleigh, NC
I'm loving what im hearing! A renovation could be just what we need =] smashboards is awesome but our central community site ONLY supporting a forum and nothing else is a bit antiquated. bring on the smash revolution =]
 

thespymachine

Smash Ace
Joined
May 23, 2006
Messages
830
Location
Henderson, NV
So much appreciation and thanks to AlphaZealot and others working on making Smashboards the great home our community deserves!
 

AlphaZealot

Former Smashboards Owner
Administrator
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Messages
12,731
Location
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The server migration will occur at 1PM ET on Tuesday, January 8th 2013. At that time the forums will go down for approximately 30 minutes. After the main transfer is complete, at approximately 1:30PM ET, the site will become read-only for up to 4 hours.

Unscheduled outages may also occur later in the day and the downtime, or read only time, may be longer depending on unforeseen circumstances. We ran a test migration last week that showed no issues, but the Smash community should be aware this is occurring and if you run into issues know they are being dealt with as quickly as possible.
 

AlphaZealot

Former Smashboards Owner
Administrator
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Messages
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Big changes to the layout made today. Still making final tweaks but should be finished by this weekend with structure improved, threads moved, moderators set, and things looking a bit cleaner.
 

Claire Diviner

President
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
7,493
Location
Indian Orchard, MA
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ClaireDiviner
Why is the pool room private?
Was going to ask this same question. It appears to be in the same way as Forum Support, as I'm only able to see my own threads in Current Events. AZ did mention tweaks here and there, so getting the Pool Room back up and running like normal could be one of those tweaks.

P.S. I love how clean the layout looks.


:phone:
 

AlphaZealot

Former Smashboards Owner
Administrator
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Jul 6, 2003
Messages
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Will try to get the pool room back to the top. I could not figure out why it went to private...

Moved down to the new Smash Hangout area in the meantime.
 

Solharath

[ZTD] CEO
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
1,603
Location
North Muskegon, Michigan
I'm not entirely happy that Project M Character discussion got grouped in with the other P:M subforums. It's just a lot of characters and it was so much easier to deal with before. I realize a mod having two big forums on the main page is a lot of real estate, but I think it's justified.

My two cents, at least.
 

AlphaZealot

Former Smashboards Owner
Administrator
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Jul 6, 2003
Messages
12,731
Location
Bellevue, Washington
To better present a clutter free main-page. With the addition of Project M to the main page the forum had become fairly massive. We have cut the main-page size by about 4 forums so far by using grouping. Also check out the new NintenZone that is housing Pokemon, Zelda, and Mario.

We are still evaluating what to do with the debate hall. The pool room will be at the top of the boards to serve as a full-site social room once we figure out a few glitches. The Computer Support Cafe is also being evaluated.

Regarding the server: we are officially running on new servers. Some people are still experiencing DNS issues that are directing them to the read-only site, these should hopefully clear up during the day today.

Additionally, we are seeing issues with userblogs, user CP (avatar upload), and search. These are being looked at today as well.
 

Claire Diviner

President
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Oct 16, 2010
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Indian Orchard, MA
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ClaireDiviner
Will there be a Project M Backroom at any point? I mean, seeing as it has its own board, and has what I assume to be a growing metagame, it would be something worth asking, unless the Melee Backroom will also deal with Project M affairs as well.

:phone:
 
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