Update on the New Site

All in all, the launch of the new site went pretty well, all things considered. Please read this update for info on Internet Explorer issues, plus a problem with those of you who use Comcast.

Here are some notes, in no particular order:

1.) Comcast users: Yesterday, Comcast was rejecting any emails that our automated system sent out, and labeling them as SPAM. So if you were using (for example) our “Forgot Username/Password?” function to retrieve your login info, Comcast would block the email, and it never get to you. We think this has cleared up, but if you experience difficulties, just email us at [email protected], and we’ll help out.

2.) Internet Explorer 8 (and maybe IE7) problems: This is one of the biggest issues we have affecting users right now. We have worked on cleaning up some of the formatting issues, but IE8 is also running our site much slower than other browsers. We’re not sure exactly why this is occurring, but we’ll continue to work on it. Many of you are in a corporate environment where you have no choice in what browser you use, but if you have a choice, try something different (Firefox or Chrome) until you find something that functions better, and we’ll keep troubleshooting on this end.

3.) UWS forum: All you UWS fans (you know who you are) can now find your favorite board listed (temporarily) at the bottom of our Forums list. Or you can just go here: UWS Forum.

4.) Subscription processing: It looks like this is functioning well. We haven’t received a SINGLE email from anyone needing help with renewals, and the first set of auto-renewals under the new system went out this morning without a hitch. We would like to hear about the total experience from those of you who have renewed, though — did you get email reminders? How was the process on the site? Clear? Confusing? Hard? Easy? Chime in below or via email with your comments.

5.) Speed issues: For some — like me — the site is blazing fast. For others, it’s crawling. Some of the slowness might be related to what browser you’re using (see above), or it may be related to DNS changes associated with the new site hosting setup propagating slowly through your ISP or corporate firewall, thus slowing down how our site functions. I suspect that most browser-independent speed issues will clear up over time, so please be patient, as we work on the stuff we can control, and the stuff we can’t control happens on its own.

6.) In case you missed it, read our brief primer on how the message boards work. You can select the first item under the Forums menu, or you can click here: Brief Primer on the new Message Boards.

7.) Also, click the “Help/FAQ” link in our upper nav menu above for some commonly asked questions on the new format.

8.) Message board font size: True, it is kinda small. We’ve got an email into the programmer about increasing the font size.

9.) Take some time and explore the features of the vBulletin message board system we have installed. Did you know you can create and post polls? Did you know you can create photo galleries (they’re called albums)? There’s lots you can do with vBulletin, so if you’re just reading and posting, take a few moments to find out what else you can do.

And remember, “Reply With Quote” is your friend. That way, everyone will know whom you’re talking to.