ProBoards upgrade

[Brian]

Big changes are coming to the ProBoards software that I've enjoyed for nine full years.

Our host ProBoards will install Version 5 on all of its forums starting April 29, unless an administrator opts out of the conversion until the end of the year. You can see how different the new version looks and functions by checking out the ProBoards Support Forum, for instance:

support.proboards.com/

As the admin of the Montrose Peace Vigil message board, I was notified two weeks ago in a private message -- a PDF copy is attached below. I'm not interested in the new features for managing members, since we've never done that here with the current version, but many of the enhancements sound appealing. I clicked on opt out for now. In the next few months, I will take up ProBoards on its offer to get familiar with Version 5 by making a test copy to try out. And I'll let you know what I learn in this thread.

Attachments:

[anni]

ProBoard embedded this five-minute You Tube video in a private message to admins early Saturday morning.
Brian (our official administrator) said I could share this with you all...the more eyes the merrier. What do you think?




Well, I'll definitely be visiting the Support Forum (probably many times).

[Brian]

Any day now, ProBoards will upgrade the Montrose Peace Vigil message board to its Version 5. I've been looking ahead at the upgrade, and I believe that members will have no trouble finding all of the functions they use now easily on the new layout. But the first thing that members will encounter: We will have to log in again.

Just type your name as it now appears on the message board as your Username, then your Password. If you forgot the password you haven't needed after being logged in for five years, click on the forgot-password link. Almost immediately, you'll get an e-mail at the account you originally used. Follow the simple direction in the e-mail and log in. Remember to check the box to stay logged in. (If you click on your name, then on Modify Profile, you can reset your password to something you'll remember. You could do that now.)

Anybody who has questions can always click on "reply" -- you still will not need to be logged in to post here. And members know how to reach Anni and me via e-mail, on the phone or even on the corner if you have any problems at all. Thank you for being here!

[Brian]

I changed how the names of some regular members are displayed on the Montrose Peace Vigil message board. Here's why:

When we all registered in 2008, even if we capitalized our names on the initial form, ProBoards defaulted all characters to lower case. Jeanne's Username is jeanne. That is the only piece of information about your membership that is set in what passes for stone on the Internets. But every member can always change her Display Name on her Profile, as can administrators. So back then, I modified some members’ Profiles to restore the capital letters to the names of those who, unlike anni, preferred them that way.

Anyway, I do not know if Usernames will be case sensitive when members log in to Version 5 for the first time. To prevent a hitch with the first field, I recommend that you type your Username in lower case.

[Brian]

Anni and I were home Sunday afternoon when ProBoards upgraded the software on the Montrose Peace Vigil message board, so we immediately made some adjustments, like changing the colors to something resembling our old layout and restoring the flashing News Feed on the homepage. More tweaks to come.

Jeanne has already logged in. Other members can click on Login at the top right of any page. After you type your Username and Password -- and be sure to check the Remember Me box! -- you'll get another screen asking you to confirm your registered e-mail address by typing your Password again. That's it. A confirmation will be e-mailed to that address. Go to the board or click on refresh, and you should be logged in again.

Those who liked the old feature, the 25 most recent posts, can see them 10 at a time, latest first, by clicking on Recent Posts near the bottom of the homepage.

I modified the Profiles of members who posted recently so that the default Avatar from ProBoards would not show beneath their names in all of their posts. Jeanne posted as a guest -- you can see here what that cartoon looks like:

montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/thread/330?page=1#scrollTo=4688


If any members would like us to install an Avatar for them -- like Anni and I have now -- just let us know.

[anni]

Your jpeg picture (for your avatar) needs to be 1mb or smaller...and/or I can try messing with it editing it to a smaller size.