Happy Birthday to BallOfSpray & big changes are coming

[Horton]

14 years ago this weekend BallOfSpray was born in its current form. I want to thank all of you who visit and post on a regular basis. At this moment we are working toward moving to a new software suite. I am sure there will be some confusion and kerfuffles when we make the change. Please be patient as we go through this transition.

[Mateo_Vargas]

What took you so long?

[ETskier]

Happy birthday and thank you.

[Skoot1123]

Awesome and Congrats @horton. Thanks for being here for us crazy skiers!!

[swbca]

BOS is already published on one of the best forum platforms that I have seen. Looking forward to seeing what's next.

[Cooper_Trelawney]

I remember when I was 14. Got into plenty of trouble ?Could be a wild year for BOS!
I look forward to what comes next.Thanks @Horton for keeping this site going!

[Luzz]

What a milestone! Congrats @Horton, very curious to what is to come.

[BKistler]

I’m a newcomer to the anthill but I’ve been impressed with the functionality of the forum. Well done @Horton.

[thager]

Don't Puck it up!

[motoskier]

H

[DW]

Damn, we are getting old! You know that when you remember Coyote Bros. and tried a carbon fin. :oCongrats and many more to come.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@DW yikes! I had almost forgotten about Coyote Brothers. But then again, I have forgotten a lot of stuff.I did try a Carbon fin and it sucked to ski on, but found a very useful repurpose.https://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/14688/carbon-fins-are-awesome

[motoxr]

Congrats and thank you so much Horton!

[JayG80]

No Forum discussions show up unless you Sign In.

[Keith_Menard]

Is this where we discuss politics now?

[skibackwards]

Horton and BallOfSpray has gotten me through the last 14 winters. Thank you.

[ForrestGump]

I remember day 1, thinking "Ballofspray? What is this idiot doing?"

[swbca]

Things are already changing . . . must log in to see discussions today. That must be a transitory state otherwise it appears guests would be locked out.

[Horton]

Sorry about the need to log in for the last few days. I was cleaning out the system and go carried away. The new site needs just a few more tweaks. Sooon I hope.

[MattP]

@Horton did we loose our stared/favorite threads in the merge from Vanilla?  Would there be a way to get those thread links or titles at the least?

[Horton]

@MattP

Yes. That data is lost. The upside is that the new search functionality is so extremely good that you should be able to find anything you're looking for.

As you know any data migration is like making an omelet. We had to break a few eggs and to be honest at the moment there's still some shell in there but it's going to be good.

[MattP]

@horton bummer. Yea I under stand the merge and growing pains. This is the 5th? 6th? version of the forum over the years?  The new search functionality is good, but not sure I will waste my time trying to find those threads. Some were good to go back through every year or so. I don't think I could even begin to remember what to search I let the fav list curate that knowledge to save me some brain space. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by MattP

[Skoot1123]

@Horton - on the Vanilla forums we could see our comment history and all the threads we started. Is that info part of what was left behind?

[Horton]

@Skoot1123Yes and No and Maybe... My dev still has some data to be added into some profiles. I am not totally sure what is in there.  For now click on your user icon- top tight of the screen and click on Profile & then "See my Activity". Look around in there. 

[Horton]

@MattP BallOfSpray was a Vanilla Forum from 2007 to 2023. Same system and database the whole time. All the posts since May 2007 are still here. I just found posts that I imported from EzBoard in may 2007. in The new system is way better once you get your head around it. 

[alex38]

you had me at carbon fin

[Skoot1123]

Is there any way to shorten or minimize the font size of the description of each thread?  This would allow a user to see more than three or four threads at a time. Just a thought. 

[Horton]

@Skoot1123

Phase 1 was getting all the data moved and the functionality straight.

Phase 2 is to make things pretty and smoother. I am now looking for a developer to help with Phase 2. 

[Skoot1123]

Makes sense - I really appreciate all you do for us @Horton!  Thanks for a great product and place for us waterski crazies to congregate!

[Hucklefin]

Sorry I do not know if this is a known issue or not, but when searching google "..... ballofspray' when doing research on something, clicking on any of the ballofspray links just brings me to an error page. 

[Horton]

@Hucklefin

Yea I know. I hired a new programmer to day. Working on it.

[skibrain]

Update looks great.

How about an “About” in the nav. that provides a new visitor a little info regarding what this site is?

[Horton]

@skibrainI'll try it by the time I get to it you will have figured everything out

[Rednucleus]

@Horton Just an fyi, I clicked on "forums" looking for a thread and found several unread posts that were not responding to the "unread content" click. Approx 10 half way down p1, just a few on p2-3, none after that.

Love the new format, keep up the awesome work!!

[skibrain]

Forum threads from iPhone are looking wonky this evening. 
 

 

[chaloux]

Yeah super wonky on mobile right now. 

[S1Pitts]

Also funny on pc. Grey area along the sides is new and making center text area skinny.

[Horton]

Thanks guys. Yes I have a dev doing some work in the background.  It was funky for a few hours. 

[chaloux]

Looks good now.