Long-time members know that we don't make big changes very often around here—since we launched this site in 2001, we've made only a couple of major upgrades, and very little has changed in the last decade.
While I'm not one to insist on change just for change's sake, I think that it's time for us to upgrade. Our current software (phpBB) is definitely showing its age, and is difficult to maintain. Also, I will be decommissioning the server that this board has been running on for the past nine years 
. I've talked with the mods, and proposed migrating to Discourse, a relatively new software package that has many features intended to nurture a strong community. In addition to being built on a more solid foundation (the engineers behind Discourse are very respected in the industry), it also has a number of other features:
] Clean, responsive design—works well on mobile (without Tapatalk!)/:m]
] Fluid interaction—navigation is quicker and smoother, and it feels more like an app than a collection of webpages/:m]
] Real-time updates—you'll see responses and new posts as they happen (this will be especially nice for gameday threads, I'm thinking)/:m]
Of course, there are a few downsides:
] It will be a much different experience—unlike anything we've had to date. I think that the new experience will be a much nicer one, but I won't deny that it will require an adjustment. Power-users will have to get used to some new formatting codes./:m]
] We will need to make the Phorum read-only for a few days, while we import the posts into the new system./:m]
] Some formatting in old posts might be messed up at first (though I'm working on tools to fix this)./:m]
Here's the tentative schedule for the upgrade:
After the World Series (so... sometime between 10/30 and 11/3): The current Phorum is put into read-only mode, and the migration begins
A few days later (after the migration is complete): The new Phorum is launched
Ongoing: Improvements and fixes, based on feedback
I'll be on this thread, along with our amazing moderators (toward whom I have immense appreciation for all of their work shepherding this community), to answer any questions. Thanks so much in advance for your patience and flexibility as we migrate to a new, more powerful home.
