Forum Software upgrade begins

[Diane Duane]

Folks,

This is just a quick note to let everyone know that we're about to upgrade the vBulletin forum platform software to the much newer and shinier current version -- vBulletin 5 -- with its new, feature-rich Connect package. Details about vB5 Connect's many new bells and whistles (including mobile device support via its own app) can be found here:

https://www.vbulletin.com/en/overview

At the same time, we'll be moving the Forums to a new home at http://YoungWizardsForums.com. Once the upgrade is complete, the old installation at YoungWizards.com will be deleted. Users who try to visit the old YoungWizards.com/forums/ URL will be automatically redirected to the new location.

The upgrade should be complete within a few days. That said, please note that from Tuesday, December 8 through Friday, December 11, the forums may experience unpredictable outages from time to time while the installation process is ongoing.

Thanks for your patience -- and we look forward to seeing you in the forums' new home!

All the best --

[Diane Duane]

...And just to let everyone know: as of January 28th -- later than originally anticipated, but whatever -- the upgrade, or at least the first part of it, is complete. Later today the plug will be pulled on the old YW.com/forums installation.

For those of you frequenting the YW.com domain, you may (or may not) note brief outages in the sites based there as we change over from the old php 5.x web modules presently running there to the newer, more secure 7.2 version. Any interruptions shouldn't last very long: just long enough for me to make the rounds of the sites and flush all their caches.

--DD