Since people have been saying they don't understand the reason for the upgrade, here is a list of things about the current site that this upgrade is supposed to fix (in no particular order):

• Content management is difficult. Adding pages, modifying faqs, etc. requires administrative privileges, knowledge of HTML, etc. Solution: A Content Management System (we're using Mambo) allows users other than the administrator to contribute and maintain content.
  
• Forum is outdated and lacking many useful features. For example, currently there is no login system (which has advantages and disadvantages), messages disappear from the threaded view after only a few days, the search is slow and fairly ineffective. It is important to note (as others have) that the current forum has many advantages -- it's not all bad, and we're working hard to preserve those advantages. Solution: Upgrade to a more modern forum system, which includes the ability to log in and have the forum "remember" which posts you've seen and which you haven't, the ability to page through all of the posts, a fast and effective search, etc.
  
• No picture upload. Photobucket is a pain. Every few days a FAQer posts about "how do I upload a picture?" etc. Solution: Integrated photo uploading in the forum makes attaching images as easy as attaching to an email.
  
• Other additional features. There are lots of good ideas out there for how to make the site better -- car profiles, photo galleries, personal pages, etc. The old site was not set up to handle these things. With the new site, they become easy.
  

As an additional note, I'd like to remind people that we're trying to be as sensitive as possible to the desires of the FAQ'ers. The upgrade was in response to repeated requests for the things listed above (and others I've forgotten, I'm sure). It's still your board, and we're not going to rest until you are happpy. As you all know, the current 02faq is a unique and closely knit community built around the site. Many people have pointed out advantages that the current site has in comparison to this one, and we don't want to lose those! Bear with us, continue to give feedback, and we'll get there. Thanks for helping!


Last edited by mmccurdy on 10-30-05 05:54; edited 1 time in total