This years update

[anthony]

The sites upgrade later this year, is nothing short of... enormous. Xenforo, the system used here, has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. That means nothing is interchangeable / compatible with the new system. As such, I'm going to use this upgrade to really cleanse the site of things that are problems, introduce vastly new ways of doing things going forward, and it will turn the site upside down in how things are done, other than posting threads and posts.

Why am I telling you this? Because members freak out at change, so I am giving everyone a whole lot of warning for what will come later this year.

I'm not divulging changes, as experience tells me that nothing good will come from it other than arguments from some members. Prepare yourself for change later this year. The upgrade will be cleaner, faster, latest technologies, more mobile focused again, many features stripped for ease of use, and other significant changes to how the site is interacted.

I'm still waiting on some needed modifications to be ported over. I have some custom work I need to do. This update will likely fall in the last half of the year due to the size and scale of work required, testing and such.

Faster, cleaner, better for all concerned.

 

[anthony]

I'm going to update this thread with changes made to the new site as I finalise them.

Don't raise a ticket, don't create drama anywhere on this site about these changes. They are not for discussion, just FYI so you have time to come to terms with changes coming.

I will outline my reasons for each change, again, not for debate anywhere on this site.

 

[anthony]

Domain Location Change / Article System Change

From this sites inception, the home directory was always left empty and the forum placed into the folder /c. This allowed the domain to be used for home pages, articles, so forth. Enough has changed that I am happy to move the forum to the root directory, no more /c. The homepage will consist of a new article system that is part of the one forum software. Everything in one system.

When the site is rolled out here, that home article system will be empty, as it will take me time to convert the articles and comments to the new system. Additionally, I want to clean some of those out, update them and such.

Simply, to access the forum will be: https://www.myptsd.com instead of https://www.myptsd.com/c

The homepage will contain the latest threads and our significant articles.

Logo

Due to the nature of how mental health can be perceived in public, I am removing the logo from the header of the site, leaving only one in the footer. This removes issues for anyone who wants privacy in public places from seeing the site you are accessing on a mobile device. This will push the navigation to the top of the page as a result.

Personal Conversation Removal

I am disabling PC's in the new site. They're a breeding ground for a lot of mental health nonsense. Giving members private areas has proven nothing but a nightmare for admins. Bickering and bullshit breed in PC's, and as such they're being removed the moment the new site rolls out. If you have content in PC's that you want kept, then extract it before the new site rolls out. Will be announced with notice. Act now though, is my advice.

Groups Introduction

Groups are going to be a controlled public / member introduction to replace PC's, where staff can monitor content more readily and groups can be created to appease specific aspects related to PTSD / CPTSD that forums do not adequately cater, i.e. a DID group could be created for those only who are diagnosed DID to access and discuss DID aspects. That is one example.

Whether we make a group, upon creation, public or member only, will depend on the subject of the group. There will be no private groups.

Account Upgrade Changes

There are significant changes coming to feature access. Whilst I will not discuss the specifics until rollout, it is a compromise to cater all members access to features.

 

[anthony]

Username Change

There will be unlimited access to change as you desire. If abused, it will be removed from your account.

Account Deactivation

Instead of requesting hibernation by an admin, users can access account deactivation from their settings and do it themselves. The same outcome, it disables your access and stops things being sent to you, but does not delete any content.

Automated Deletion of Soft Deleted Content

When a member deletes content they have permission to do such, it removes it from their and others views, but does not actually delete the content. A system will automatically hard delete any soft deleted content after 30 days. In other words, it can't be recovered after 30 days.

 

[anthony]

Premium Private and Trauma Diaries Premium

Premium private will be archived, and premium private diaries will be reallocated for all members to have a private diary where only they and admins can view it. If you have a private diary already, then nothing changes, you will still be able to access it. For everyone else, you will gain access to a new private diary that only you can see and post within, with admin oversight only.

 

[anthony]

Profile Field Restrictions

Guests and new members will not have access to view or use the about, location or website fields within account profiles / settings. Reduces spam whilst adding privacy for all members from their location, personal website or personal information about themselves they wish to share with members only, now is forced instead of relying on members understanding profile permissions.

 

[anthony]

BBCodes

We've had a little trial of allowing certain bbcodes within content, such as color, alignments and such. I am removing them all in the updated version.

 

[anthony]

Social Media Changes

All social media automatic posting has been deactivated and accounts deactivated. All content will remain here alone, with only our YouTube social media profile for help videos and such.

 

[anthony]

Personal Conversation Upate

Addition to the above, the system will still be in place, but disabled. The system sends PC's by default under certain circumstances, which will still happen, but members will not be able to send them. All PC's will automatically be deleted after x days in the new system.

 

[anthony]

7 Day Editing & Mixed Goodies Subscription Removal

I have now removed both of these user upgrades inline with changes for the coming upgrade. They will not return. There were no active paid upgrades for either of these.

 

[anthony]

Country Flags Removed

I have decide to remove this from the next upgrade, keeping the site clutter free as possible, whilst maximising privacy.

Bookmarks

Please ensure you have a copy of your bookmark links, as the upgrade is not compatible, thus you will lose them and have to bookmark them again.

I'm not kidding about compatibility -- totally rebuilt system.

 

[anthony]

Anonymous No More

Due to the new system incompatibilities, combined with issues anonymous brings at times, I am removing all anonymous features from the site to ensure people own what they post. If you want to be anonymous on the new system, post as a guest and go through the moderation process (which means editing).