PAO Maintenance - REMINDER

[4nancie]

Thanks for the heads up and all that your doing to make this a happy home!
Nancie

[Maree]

Thank you Admin-without-a-name

[southernpeach35]

Thanks for all your hard work!

[pbp908]

Thank you Admin-without-a-name

Admin needs a name - How about Santa?

Pam

[flojo]

Thank you secret Admin. for all your hard work. I take a bow, oh great Queen of PAO.

[ChristineOndine]

Add my thanks to the well deserved pile! Keeping this up and working full time - you definitely rock, Admin!

[EDelValle]

You can build it and we will be there


ditto all of the thanks for your time
spent making us all so happy

[admin]

Evening ladies! I wanted to update you on the maintenance schedule. According to my calendar, next weekend looks like it will be a good time for me to do the software upgrade for the forum. I'm not sure how much down time will be involved, if any. You may not notice much more than a hiccup, or you may be booted out completely during the process. Currently, I am thinking I'll try to get started Friday night, and if it goes smoothly, you'll have the forum for the whole rest of the weekend.

In addition, I'm going to start playing with the homepage again. This should have absolutely no noticeable impact on the forum, because it is managed in a different area from the forum. But for any of you who start there, and click the forum button to get here, you may notice some differences that may or may not stick around. I'm trying to find a new "skin" for the homepage.

The purple is very pretty (I think), but the header takes up a lot of space, and if we're going to be adding stuff, like the tutorials for example, then that flower takes up too much screen space that could be used for content. I'm also looking for something in more of a blue so that the transition to and from this forum isn't quite so severe. When I get settled on a new template, I'll update the colors in the "Live Chat" too, but that will be last.

I'll post maintenance details as we get closer to next Friday. If that time frame is going to interfere with something (like a challenge with a Friday night deadline), then please let me know and I'll work around it.

Thanks ladies!

[southernpeach35]

Thanks so much for the update!

[Luly]

You know we love you right?.....

[tlscrap]

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, ... (imagine me clicking heals of my sneaks... )

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[admin]

Bumping as a reminder.

The forum will be updated this Friday evening - 1/9/09 - at 7pm EST. The board will be temporarily disabled while a software upgrade is applied. **

This upgrade is simply a maintenance release, and should not impact how you use the forums. If you notice anything unusual after the forum is upgraded, please let me know via e-mail at admin@paperartistsonline.com (do not rely on PM, as I may not get it if something isn't functioning properly).

Thank you for your patience while the board is disabled. I will send an e-mail announcement when everything is online and appears to be functioning properly.

[Cathy]

Thank you Admin.
Cathy:)

[admin]

Bump.

A little over an hour from now, the site will go down temporarily. I do not anticipate any major issues, but I do ask that you not attempt to access either the forum or the live chat until you see an e-mail from me that everything is back in working order.

Thank you for your patience. I have every reason to believe that this will be quick and painless, and we'll be back to chatting in no time.

[admin]

Update: Forum upgrade is complete. I haven't done anything with the smilies yet, because I don't have to have the forum down for that.

I don't think you'll notice any major changes to the forum itself. The upgrade involved more along the line of security fixes, rather than any cosmetic changes.

I've added a link to the home page, and if you're signed in here, you should automatically have the member menu available on the home page without having to sign in again. This will allow you to submit tutorials, if you wish, or add items to the event calendar. This is also where the chat has been relocated.

I've also added some advertising to the forum. I'm hoping it's not too obtrusive. The set of links at the top will go away once you are logged in. The only thing that will show on every page is the one at the bottom, so hopefully that's not terribly annoying.

Please let me know if anything is not working. I tried to do as much testing as I could, but admittedly might have missed something. E-mail to admin@paperartistsonline.com is best if reporting errors.

Thanks you again for your patience. I hope you enjoy the forum, and the new home page, and I look forward to bringing you even more enhancements in the future.