James Shadle
12-07-2008, 03:16 PM
Here is the low down on the way the forum look and function has changed over the last few days.
The cause:
Recently, over a 5 day period, our team of moderators banned over 350 spammers. Our moderators did such a great job it's unlikely our members realized how offensive in nature and voluminous the spam had become.
We are on the map now, our demographic and traffic make us a natural target for spam and other Internet security risks.
It was absolutely necessary to upgrade our forum software to the most secure version available. I am happy to say we have stopped what is called "robot" attacks by spammers and virtually no spam is getting through. Of course our moderators stand on guard against individuals who try to post spam messages.
The security upgrade caused conflicts (to say the least!) with our custom forum layout and several custom features we had built into the software code.
The upgrade documentation suggested backing up our database before attempting the upgrade (of course),however the possibility of custom code conflicts was something not mentioned.
You will see the look and features you are familiar with as well as some exciting new "Member" features coming on-line as the code is modified to work properly with the security upgrade software.
The look of BPN is slowly returning and everything seems to be running properly. Getting the thumbnails back up is priority one! As soon as the code is ready, we will have the thumbnail functionality back on.
Everyone has been very patient and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I'm a photographer, not a software engineer. I'm a photographer who thought bringing together a team of elite photographers from around the world, all who work for free, teaching their craft by example and critique was a good idea. I now think it was a great idea!
Our staff and ownership group(Artie,James,Alfred,Fabs,Blake,Robert and Robert) have made it possible to help photographers from all over the world rapidly improve their ability to create beautiful images. We know we aren't everyones cup of tea. As a matter of fact, if you just want to have your ego inflated with a "great shot" comment, we probably are not for you. If you want to be a part of a growing community of international photographers who love to have fun, teach, learn and show off a little:D. BirdPhotographers.net is the place for you.
We are going as hard as we can, please continue to be patent.
I would like to mention Chris Ober has been offering his Vbulletin expertise, Blake is working on a top secret BPN/BAA project (he better be close to finished) and our staff and owners are all going "above and beyond" to get us through this transition.
Again, thank you.
James
PS The orange buttons will be replaced with the blue!
The cause:
Recently, over a 5 day period, our team of moderators banned over 350 spammers. Our moderators did such a great job it's unlikely our members realized how offensive in nature and voluminous the spam had become.
We are on the map now, our demographic and traffic make us a natural target for spam and other Internet security risks.
It was absolutely necessary to upgrade our forum software to the most secure version available. I am happy to say we have stopped what is called "robot" attacks by spammers and virtually no spam is getting through. Of course our moderators stand on guard against individuals who try to post spam messages.
The security upgrade caused conflicts (to say the least!) with our custom forum layout and several custom features we had built into the software code.
The upgrade documentation suggested backing up our database before attempting the upgrade (of course),however the possibility of custom code conflicts was something not mentioned.
You will see the look and features you are familiar with as well as some exciting new "Member" features coming on-line as the code is modified to work properly with the security upgrade software.
The look of BPN is slowly returning and everything seems to be running properly. Getting the thumbnails back up is priority one! As soon as the code is ready, we will have the thumbnail functionality back on.
Everyone has been very patient and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I'm a photographer, not a software engineer. I'm a photographer who thought bringing together a team of elite photographers from around the world, all who work for free, teaching their craft by example and critique was a good idea. I now think it was a great idea!
Our staff and ownership group(Artie,James,Alfred,Fabs,Blake,Robert and Robert) have made it possible to help photographers from all over the world rapidly improve their ability to create beautiful images. We know we aren't everyones cup of tea. As a matter of fact, if you just want to have your ego inflated with a "great shot" comment, we probably are not for you. If you want to be a part of a growing community of international photographers who love to have fun, teach, learn and show off a little:D. BirdPhotographers.net is the place for you.
We are going as hard as we can, please continue to be patent.
I would like to mention Chris Ober has been offering his Vbulletin expertise, Blake is working on a top secret BPN/BAA project (he better be close to finished) and our staff and owners are all going "above and beyond" to get us through this transition.
Again, thank you.
James
PS The orange buttons will be replaced with the blue!