Post by Doo Wop Mike D on Oct 17, 2006 20:45:39 GMT -5
To all DWPL message board members:
This message board will be closing down for good on November 1, 2006. We will be moving to a new message board system which will be hosted on our own server (doowopusa.org) which will allow us more control over the appearance and features of the board, and hopefully a better overall experience for everyone.
I'll take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued active participation on this message board which has surely exceeded all of our expectations in becoming what is probably the most active, interesting, informative, and sometimes quite entertaining forum of its kind on the internet regarding the Wildwoods and, of course, in particular, efforts to preserve and promote our Doo Wop architecture and heritage.
This message board started essentially as an experimental idea to see how much interest and dialogue it would generate about the DWPL and its efforts in the Wildwoods. Since originally launching in January 2005, it has certainly done that and more, dramatically opening up the lines of communication between the local Doo Wop movement and all of those across the country and globe who support it, and facilitating connections and friendships between many with common interests that perhaps would not have otherwise been possible. With success comes the need for change however, and we have been in need of a move to a better (and internally hosted) message board system for quite awhile now, rather than the current ProBoards system which, while it has served us well, has outlived its original "experimental" purpose. The time for change has finally arrived and, as mentioned, we will be shutting down this board and opening the new one on or around November 1, 2006. We'll time this to coincide with some other new features and updates we hope to be debuting on the DWPL website shortly.
In reality, not a whole lot needs to change in terms of how we will all continue to use the boards, but there are a couple of issues:
- Unfortunately, it is not possible to migrate member and posting data from ProBoards to another system. This means all current members will need to re-register when the new board debuts. We will of course monitor this process to ensure that all current members are able to re-claim their original usernames. On the same note, posting will have to begin from scratch as all the ProBoards threads will be "retired" once we abandon ProBoards and open the new board since, again, it is not possible to migrate the data. What we may do is keep the ProBoards forum available for viewing for a little while longer, but with all threads locked, to allow users to re-post or re-create some outstanding threads they wish to continue on the new board.
- As long as we're making a big change like this, its a good time to change some of the finer details too... so there'll be some re-arranging of the structure of the message board to keep things fresh and more in line with where the DWPL and its topics of discussion are today. We might ::gasp:: also try to be a little more formal with the boards this next time around and with a little more in the way of closer moderation to keep things focused and relevant.
- We're going to try to get some more active involvement by people close to specific DWPL projects and areas of interest so in addition to continuing to function as an open discussion forum for anyone interested in talking about the Wildwoods and Doo Wop architecture, there'll also be the opportunity to ask questions of and hear from specific people with specific knowledge of specific topics.
- We are also open to any ideas or suggestions anyone may have on how the boards could be improved as we get ready to make these changes.
At this point, I would advise everyone to look through the boards for any outstanding topics/threads they wish to comment or close out a thought on before we lock up and shut down. If there are any posts that are particularly important or valuable to you, you might want to copy, paste and save the posts to your own computer for your own future reference or to copy, paste and continue on the new board because I cannot guarantee how long after November 1 the ProBoards site will still be available for viewing.
Appreciate everyone's cooperation and understanding of the need to make this move, hope it doesn't cause anyone too much pain and suffering in the transition (as I know this board has become a pretty regular part of some people's lives... including my own, even though I don't get to post as often as I'd like), and look forward to seeing everyone on the new board in November!
Keep checking the DWPL website www.doowopusa.org for the new link to the new message board when its ready. The same news will of course also be posted on this board when the time comes.
- Mike D
This message board will be closing down for good on November 1, 2006. We will be moving to a new message board system which will be hosted on our own server (doowopusa.org) which will allow us more control over the appearance and features of the board, and hopefully a better overall experience for everyone.
I'll take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued active participation on this message board which has surely exceeded all of our expectations in becoming what is probably the most active, interesting, informative, and sometimes quite entertaining forum of its kind on the internet regarding the Wildwoods and, of course, in particular, efforts to preserve and promote our Doo Wop architecture and heritage.
This message board started essentially as an experimental idea to see how much interest and dialogue it would generate about the DWPL and its efforts in the Wildwoods. Since originally launching in January 2005, it has certainly done that and more, dramatically opening up the lines of communication between the local Doo Wop movement and all of those across the country and globe who support it, and facilitating connections and friendships between many with common interests that perhaps would not have otherwise been possible. With success comes the need for change however, and we have been in need of a move to a better (and internally hosted) message board system for quite awhile now, rather than the current ProBoards system which, while it has served us well, has outlived its original "experimental" purpose. The time for change has finally arrived and, as mentioned, we will be shutting down this board and opening the new one on or around November 1, 2006. We'll time this to coincide with some other new features and updates we hope to be debuting on the DWPL website shortly.
In reality, not a whole lot needs to change in terms of how we will all continue to use the boards, but there are a couple of issues:
- Unfortunately, it is not possible to migrate member and posting data from ProBoards to another system. This means all current members will need to re-register when the new board debuts. We will of course monitor this process to ensure that all current members are able to re-claim their original usernames. On the same note, posting will have to begin from scratch as all the ProBoards threads will be "retired" once we abandon ProBoards and open the new board since, again, it is not possible to migrate the data. What we may do is keep the ProBoards forum available for viewing for a little while longer, but with all threads locked, to allow users to re-post or re-create some outstanding threads they wish to continue on the new board.
- As long as we're making a big change like this, its a good time to change some of the finer details too... so there'll be some re-arranging of the structure of the message board to keep things fresh and more in line with where the DWPL and its topics of discussion are today. We might ::gasp:: also try to be a little more formal with the boards this next time around and with a little more in the way of closer moderation to keep things focused and relevant.
- We're going to try to get some more active involvement by people close to specific DWPL projects and areas of interest so in addition to continuing to function as an open discussion forum for anyone interested in talking about the Wildwoods and Doo Wop architecture, there'll also be the opportunity to ask questions of and hear from specific people with specific knowledge of specific topics.
- We are also open to any ideas or suggestions anyone may have on how the boards could be improved as we get ready to make these changes.
At this point, I would advise everyone to look through the boards for any outstanding topics/threads they wish to comment or close out a thought on before we lock up and shut down. If there are any posts that are particularly important or valuable to you, you might want to copy, paste and save the posts to your own computer for your own future reference or to copy, paste and continue on the new board because I cannot guarantee how long after November 1 the ProBoards site will still be available for viewing.
Appreciate everyone's cooperation and understanding of the need to make this move, hope it doesn't cause anyone too much pain and suffering in the transition (as I know this board has become a pretty regular part of some people's lives... including my own, even though I don't get to post as often as I'd like), and look forward to seeing everyone on the new board in November!
Keep checking the DWPL website www.doowopusa.org for the new link to the new message board when its ready. The same news will of course also be posted on this board when the time comes.
- Mike D