Hi Ben,
First of all, many thanks for the ridiculous amounts of effort you must have invested in migrating the forum software. I can't begin to imagine all the technical challenges involved. All in all, things appear to have gone smoothly with minimal inconvenience to anyone; very well done and big thanks again.
Now that I've had a little time to play with the new platform, there are many things that I like about it. The PMs system is so much better - we can have group conversations, attachments are easy, etc, etc. I also find the public forum very intuitive, all the options are easy to find, etc. I also love that it's almost impossible to accidentally lose what you've just typed but not yet submitted. Whilst typing this, I can click on a link, hit 'back' and find all my drafted text just sitting there. Excellent!
However, whilst I wish there wasn't a 'but', there are a few areas that perhaps still need some thought...
1) A lot of my posts are linked together, and a lot of those links no longer work. As an example, Post 51 of the TDI120 thread (found here:
https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/tdi120-my-new-engine.32986/page-3#post-281761) contains a link to the all-alloy intercooler thread. The link, of course, is to the URL of the old vB forum (
www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?33015). This no longer works.
Another example is this post:
https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/service-offered-colour-dis.32161/page-3#post-289153
It also contains links to other posts within the same thread, and to posts within other threads. Again, these links no longer work.
Whilst I'm not overly bothered about those particular links, my 5000ish posts frequently contain links to other threads and posts by myself and other members. These links were placed to help stitch information together. It seems the forum is now riddled with broken links and dead ends, which is a great shame for anyone who tries to research a particular topic. Is there anything that can be done to automate the recovery of such links, or must they all be manually restored? The problem is that, with a broken link, it's almost impossible to know what they once pointed to.
2) Searching with Google seems to have gone from being the best way to navigate the forum to being fairly useless.
For example, if you search Google for 'A2OC MFSW Fitted', you should find a thread by our member Typ 8Z that discusses the conversion from a standard 4-spoke steering wheel to an equivalent multifunction wheel (this thread:
https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/mfsw-fitted.26888/). Surely enough, Google appears to finds the thread I'm looking for, but clicking the links take me elsewhere. One link goes to a thread about knocking suspension and the other goes to a thread about roof bars. Again, how can this be fixed?
Similiarly, if you search Google for 'A2OC CCCU Replacement', Google returns a link to my thread about this topic ...except the link is dead and returns a 'the requested document was not found on this server' error.
I'm concerned that, for a lot of average people who use Google to help resolve problems with their A2, A2OC is no longer the easily accessible database that it used to be. I realise that all the examples I've used so far relate to my threads and, in some cases, my services, but they're just the examples known to me. My CCCU replacement thread details all the problems that arise from a failed CCCU - interior lights, boot/fuel release, alarm, central locking, electric windows, etc - and then spells out clearly what the problems is. I know it's helped people in Romania, in Italy, in Spain, in Finland, etc to banish the demons from their A2. They found the thread by Googling their car's symptoms. Yes, the thread then proceeds to outline the details of my service, but I care most of all about this information being accessible to everyone and keeping A2s on the road. Do we know what's happened here?
3) Whilst this seems like a minor issue, we appear to have lost almost all the 'likes' from posts made prior to the forum software upgrade. Is it possible for these to be carried across? I know some people won't care, but I used to get a great sense of satsifaction from posting something that was heavily 'liked', even if it didn't garner much written response; it was nice to know that my contribution was appreciated.
Sorry to raise my head out of nowhere and appear to be whinging, but I'm not; I just want to help to get things right following a major step change.
Warm regards,
Tom