Earlier this week, somebody turned loose a PHP vulnerability on the world. PHP, for those of you fortunate enough not to know, is the programming language that keeps this old heap of machinery running. The result was a genuine pain in the ***. We had to shut the Ford Barn down to logged-out visitors for over 24 hours while we figured out how to keep the wolves away from the door. We got everything patched, no user data was compromised, and the crisis passed. But the message was clear.
We can no longer afford to run the Ford Barn on software old enough to qualify for Social Security.
Now, I know my audience. A good percentage of you are older gentlemen who regard change with the same suspicion ordinarily reserved for government agents and suspicious noises coming from the basement. And believe me, I understand. The last thing I want to do is spend 100 hours over five days dragging this old ******* into the modern world while fielding complaints about buttons that moved three inches to the left. But here we are.
The simple fact is that protecting your data is more important to me than preserving everyone's comfort with an interface that belongs in a museum. And at this point, doing nothing would be irresponsible.
So, sometime very soon, the Ford Barn will be moving to the latest version of XenForo. If you've spent any time on the Garage Journal or the Jalopy Journal, you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Your login information will remain the same. Your threads, posts, and photographs will all survive the transition. We aren't burning the archives or starting over. We're simply replacing the ancient machinery underneath them before the whole damned thing catches fire.
I fully realize that some of you will hate it at first. Some of you may hate it on principle. A few of you will probably compose lengthy dissertations on the moral collapse of Western civilization because a particular button isn't where it used to be. I accept all of this. I don't particularly enjoy change either, but I enjoy data breaches considerably less.
I'll keep everyone informed as best I can, and all I ask in return is a little patience. This is a massive undertaking, there will be some downtime, and there will undoubtedly be a few bugs to sort out.
Right now, the plan is to make the switch next week.
We can no longer afford to run the Ford Barn on software old enough to qualify for Social Security.
Now, I know my audience. A good percentage of you are older gentlemen who regard change with the same suspicion ordinarily reserved for government agents and suspicious noises coming from the basement. And believe me, I understand. The last thing I want to do is spend 100 hours over five days dragging this old ******* into the modern world while fielding complaints about buttons that moved three inches to the left. But here we are.
The simple fact is that protecting your data is more important to me than preserving everyone's comfort with an interface that belongs in a museum. And at this point, doing nothing would be irresponsible.
So, sometime very soon, the Ford Barn will be moving to the latest version of XenForo. If you've spent any time on the Garage Journal or the Jalopy Journal, you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Your login information will remain the same. Your threads, posts, and photographs will all survive the transition. We aren't burning the archives or starting over. We're simply replacing the ancient machinery underneath them before the whole damned thing catches fire.
I fully realize that some of you will hate it at first. Some of you may hate it on principle. A few of you will probably compose lengthy dissertations on the moral collapse of Western civilization because a particular button isn't where it used to be. I accept all of this. I don't particularly enjoy change either, but I enjoy data breaches considerably less.
I'll keep everyone informed as best I can, and all I ask in return is a little patience. This is a massive undertaking, there will be some downtime, and there will undoubtedly be a few bugs to sort out.
Right now, the plan is to make the switch next week.
