I thought I'd try to change the slant on this a little now that the website is begining to settle down into its new home and format. The objective of this thread after this post is to merely list "new-features required for V2"
Before I crack on with this I would just like to point out the amount of effort that PhilT and company put into this re-release, I have read comments like we want the old V1 back, and what progress do you call this etc?; and just wanted to do the behind the scenes!
When you run a site like this you have many aspects of IT to considder, aspects that whilst RS246 was on its old server you wouldn't have needed to pay much attention to. The old server was becoming tired as it was running old versions of software, which in part were running bespoke code - which was needing further license cost investment and wouldn't give RS246 users functionality for the future. Also it was sat on a shared Hosted server which meant that PhilT and the admins lacked control of some more fundamental processes runing on the system. Could we be sure of its security, patch level, virus threat, backup, management, etc.
So PhilT & Crew decided that for the greater good of the site, allowing for user expansion, and allowing the site to become one of the best on the net; they would take the system and run it themselves.
The site is a weird one because users become used to it and see it as a business system, it delivers a service.... in the background though it is funded and developed by individuals who in the whole donate their time to the site - gratis!
PhilT had to look at, and find! the following elements:
Server, OS, Database, Application Server, web engine, Security, Backup, Network, Bandwidth, hosting.
And then the fluffies:
Design, build, feel, integration, migration - infact MIGRATION
I'd spoken with PhilT about the new site in Dec '03!, to do a "Simple server move" took 3 months of hard work and planing. Find a server, make sure it's okay, build its OS, test app servers, rebuild, try again, load site data, write scripts, find hosting, find security firewall, etc the list believe me is endless! DaveP and PhilT have done a fabulous job on this rebuild. I have been designing some of the largest hosted migrations for years, and considdering that this was a complete app re-write it is without doubt an example of the best migration I have ever seen.
The design was an issue, as were some smaller login issues etc, but really these were itsy bitsy tiny problems over the raft of major technical issues encoutered and solved!, all the content came over, and the site still worked.... I was amazed because I understood exactly how hard it was!
So, I would like to congratulate PhilT and his team of merry men on a fabulous effort, I think that the site shows reals signs of good progress to being the best forum on the net.
And for those synics out there - this is progress guys, design aside this platform is going to allow many many more exciting developments in the future!
Now that many issues are begining to get resolved lets treat this site as new and fresh and merely stick in here - without emotion, the upgrades and changes that are required to make this the best on the net!
Well done PhilT!
| Radical SR3 Supersport 
| Ultima Evolution 
