The Future of the Road Runner Nest

[Dave]

A quick update for everybody on the progress towards the new community software:

It's looking like the final release if IPS 4.0 will be soon (within the next couple weeks), so we feel like the right answer is to hold off on launching until we can do the conversion of all the threads and everything here all in one move.

This new software is going to be a MASSIVE step forward in functionality.
1) The technical archive will be much improved, and (when the software allows - it's a "coming soon" feature) we'll even be able to promote posts from the forums into the archive.

2) The image gallery will finally return, with the ability for members to upload pictures and have their own albums.

3) Members will also be able to host their own project blogs here on the site.

4) Searching for content, and finding related content is light years beyond what we have today. There's a complete tagging system across everything - posts, images, blog entries, tech archive articles, etc - and if you search for a tag you will be able to find everything with that tag. Of course, this will mean that as a community we will need to build the habit of tagging stuff as we add it - but just with the bit of content I've been working with, it's power shines through.

5) The home page will really show of what's happening across the entire community. It will show recent posts, recent images, new blog entries, and even new additions to the tech archive.

6) The user profiles are significantly nicer too. You can upload your own cover photo, as well as having your profile image.

Thanks for hanging in there with us on this. It's absolutely going to be worth the wait!

[rr6pak]

Nice work, Dave. Can't wait to see the newness

[gary]

Glad to see progress!

[bruce]

Man oh man, can not WAIT until 4.0 is released! Dave has been teasing me with some really cool additions to the image gallery that y'all are going to LOVE! Yeah, you can even post VIDEOS. Okay, no, NOT dirty ones!!!

Making the move over to this new software is going to be lightyears ahead of where we are currently. Hang on tight!

[Dave]

Just so everybody can see that this rumored "new site" isn't vaporware, I'll share the link to it. Note that I have registrations turned off so as to eliminate confusion, but I've been working on the Tech Archive, Image Gallery, and yes there are even a couple first blog posts on a project blog for the (also severely neglected) Project Blue Bird.

Some things to note:

1) The IPS software is still in "Release Candidate" status, so you may encounter hiccups or bugs along the way. Overall it's quite stable, but just understand it may not be perfect quite yet. (This is one of the reasons we are waiting to cut over to it)

2) The content (and image) on the home page is totally place-holder status. I want to do more with it, but that hasn't been my focus yet for the time I've been working on the new site.

3) There's obviously no real content in the forums, so the "Latest Topics" section on the home page is pretty empty.

Ok - enough with the disclaimers. Are you ready?

http://beta.roadrunnernest.com/

[bruce]

I don't think anybody is even noticing this thread getting updated...

[sdweatherman]

Oh yes we do. I'm on the edge of my seat...looking forward to the new site! Scott.

[Moparlar]

Looks Nice

[steved]

cool!!

sjd

[gary]

Right On!!!

[paladin2511]

Reading it daily

[Dave]

Good news! They have officially released version 4.0 of the IPB software! We are just now waiting on the converters to be ready, and then I'll be doing some quick testing and making the actual conversion.

We are close!

[gary]

So we have a New Server

[sdweatherman]

Woohoo, we have our own dedicated server. Looks good Dave!