Site Upgrades (May 2012)

[trilobyte]

Over the next couple days, I'll be updating the installation of the PHPBB software that ePlaya runs on (from version 3.0.7PL to 3.0.10). This is a pretty minor update, fixing a number of very small bugs and improving security against the spammies and the baddies (a detailed changelog can be found here).

This will require some site downtime, since it involves taking the board offline, making backups, and updating the databases. Total downtime could range from under an hour up to three hours. I plan on doing the work at night, when there's less traffic (I'll probably start sometime after 11pm PDT). If you experience any bugs or errors, please report them in this thread or via email to eplaya@burningman.com.

[trilobyte]

The upgrade is complete! Sorry for any inconvenience caused by the downtime, and please report anything unusual here or via email.

[trilobyte]

A couple other ePlaya updates...

We've added two new user profile fields - get the skinny on that over here.

And we've opened up the doors on a new section - Overview of the ePlaya.

[trilobyte]

There have also been some changes/fixes to the way that images are handled on the boards.

Previously, when someone embedded a big image file, it would 'break the board' in many web browsers/operating systems and cover up whatever was on the right side of the screen. With the PHPBB 3.0.10 update, that was fixed - now the image will be cropped and won't cover up the mini-profiles. Hooray, now I don't need to mess around with adding an image resizer plugin.

Attached images were still a problem. If somebody attached/uploaded an image and then clicked the little 'place inline' button to embed it into their message, the picture would get cropped and the board would be fine in every browser, operating system, and device. But if the person uploading the image didn't place it inline (and most people don't), then we'd still end up with big images messing things up on the right side of the screen for a lot of users. As a solution, I made some changes to the board's settings. When you upload an attached image, the board will automatically make a thumbnail of up to 600 pixels wide. That size seems to be a sweet spot for ePlaya's layout - it works on anything ranging from most smartphones and tablets to netbooks and their smaller screen sizes, but it's still big enough to look respectable on machines with bigger screens. And it keeps your full-size image - when you click on an attached image, it opens the image up at the original resolution it was uploaded. Take a look at the attached image below for an example.

[Pop_Tart]

Excellent Work!
I can see my dome from here!

[C187]

Minor bug.
Entering a date into the Burning Since field and saving, then removing the date so the field is blank and saving. Will result with the number 0 showing up on the mini-profile for the Burning Since section.

[jkisha]

Minor bug.
Entering a date into the Burning Since field and saving, then removing the date so the field is blank and saving. Will result with the number 0 showing up on the mini-profile for the Burning Since section.

Sounds like somebody posted a year and then decided against it.

[C187]

Minor bug.
Entering a date into the Burning Since field and saving, then removing the date so the field is blank and saving. Will result with the number 0 showing up on the mini-profile for the Burning Since section.

Sounds like somebody posted a year and then decided against it.

Actually I saw ensimismada had his/hers at 0 and I thought I would duplicate (or is it divide?) it.

[trilobyte]

Yeah, that's a known thing. Once you've chosen to enter a number, it expects there to be a value in there - if you junk the entry, it defaults to zero.

[Sail Man]

Thanks Trilo and the other mods for the fyi's on this, and the work....

[trilobyte]

I'm going to be all kinds of annoying and flush out all the 'Burning Since' user data that people have entered so far. I needed to make a change to how that profile field works, and in order to be able to do so I've got to delete it and then re-build it from scratch. Apologies for the inconvenience.

[trilobyte]

I reworked it so that "Burning Since" is now a drop-down, listing choices from 1986 through 2016 (for those planning now for a future trip), as well as an "I'm not sure" option for those who, well, aren't sure.

I'm also making Burning Since a required field for the new user registration process. This will give us the added bonus of better defending the site against spambot attacks, since spammers will have to create a custom template in order to be able to register accounts on the board.

[junglesmacks]

When you go to the member list and try and click any letter to sort by first letter, a page not found error is coming up.

[trilobyte]

I'm seeing that too, and will investigate. As a workaround, it does work without an error if you bring up the memberlist, then click on the word USERNAME (to sort by username) first, then click on the letter you want to sort by.

[trilobyte]

This should be fixed.

[junglesmacks]

Nice..

However, now when you click on a users name anywhere on the board, an error pops up.

[Eric]

Nice..

However, now when you click on a users name anywhere on the board, an error pops up.

Happening to me as well.

[jkisha]

Click on any user name under their post and you get this:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in /www/eplaya.burningman.com/cache/tpl_ePlaya_memberlist_view.html.php on line 100

[junglesmacks]

viewtopic.php?p=833615#p833615

I even PM'd him about it just in case it got buried..

[trilobyte]

Bug threads merged, and bug should be fixed.

[jkisha]

The one I found has been fixed.