SMF Newsletter - 2

[Trekkie101]

Its been a while and there hasn't been much of an update to the newsletter and no new releases but I'd like to assure you all that everything has majorly sped up around Simple Machines. Exams and work have taken a toll on most of our team lately but thats close to the end and everyones starting to come back at full speed and later on I shall talk about some of the new developments.

Get to know the team is nearing completion, and with nearly all volunteer's exausted we'd like to know what you want to see next, within reason ofcourse

You know those little bots that crawl the net with the bugging attitude of registering and posting as many junk links as they can? Well they've really started to make an advance on SMF communitys and to counter it we now have a captcha system. You may be thinking its taken a while to come to existance but we took it a step further and have an audio version to make sure we never compromise on accessability, it just isn't something we are prepared to do. Not everyone likes captcha, so in the admin panel you can turn it off.

Many cultures use SMF, and with that many languages are needed and we're happy to say that we support 31 languages, now in UTF-8 format. We ofcourse would love to expand so if you know a language we don't have and are willing to translate for us, please do tell us

Theres a small group of beta testers who are on the edge of their seat with burning news thats coming very soon, too big for this newsletter so keep watching SimpleMachines to see whats under wraps. RC3 is almost ready to make an appearance to the public. RC3 will be the last RC before 1.1 Final. Since its often requested for a release date, I can now say as long as their are now major problems it's due out within the month.

TinyPortal has had an issue with its shoutbox, with its big user base it usually appears as though SMF has been hacked, we assure you it is not an SMF issue, and their is now a patch for TinyPortal available to fix this issue.

Server Problems, it really hasn't been our best month for server reliability, again it's not an SMF issue but rather a server configuration problem that we have been experiencing, we are stedily getting to the end of the problems and we are sorry for the problems it causes.

To be finished, checked, proof read and all that jazz later.

[Compuart]

Wohoo, a new newsletter

Maybe a nice addition would be a link to an interview with a few team members.

Also it would be nice to add something about the internationalization. Something like

As of 1.1 RC3 Simple Machine Forum will have full support of UTF-8, the character set containing almost all characters known to exist. Anticipating the release of 1.1 RC3, we have converted simplemachines.org to UTF-8 and added all downloadable languages to a dropdown menu on the upper right corner of the default theme.

[Amacythe]

Its been a while and there hasn't been much of an update to the newsletter and no new releases but I'd like to assure you all that everything has sped up around Simple Machines. Exams and work have taken a toll on most of our team lately but thats close to the end and everyone's starting to come back to full speed.

Get to know the team is nearing completion, and with nearly all volunteer's exausted we'd like to know what you want to see next, within reason of course

You know those little bots that crawl the net with the bugging attitude of registering and posting as many junk links as they can? Well they've really started to make an advance on SMF communities.  To counter it we now have a CAPTCHA system. You may be thinking its taken a while to come to existance, but we took it a step further and have an audio version to make sure we never compromise on accessability.  Not everyone likes captcha, so there is an option in the admin control panel which allows you to turn it off.

Many cultures use SMF, and with that many languages are needed and we're happy to say that we support 31 languages and will be adding number 32 shortly.  As of 1.1 RC3 Simple Machine Forum will have full support of UTF-8, the character set containing almost all characters known to exist. Anticipating the release of 1.1 RC3, we have converted simplemachines.org to UTF-8 and added all downloadable languages to a dropdown menu on the upper right corner of the default theme.  We of course would love to expand so if you know a language we don't have and are willing to translate for us, please do tell us

There's a small group of beta testers who are on the edge of their seat with burning news thats coming very soon, too big for this newsletter so keep watching SimpleMachines to see whats under wraps. RC3 is almost ready to make an appearance to the public. RC3 is expected to be the last RC before 1.1 Final. Since its often requested for a release date, I can now say as long as there are no major problems, RC3 should be out within the month.

TinyPortal has had an issue with its shoutbox, with its big user base it usually appears as though SMF has been hacked, we assure you it is not an SMF issue, and their is now a patch for TinyPortal available to fix this issue. Add a link.

Server Problems.  It really hasn't been our best month for server reliability, again it's not an SMF issue but rather a server configuration problem that we have been experiencing, we are steadily getting to the end of the problems and we are sorry for the problems it causes.  Although we are proud to say we've grown more than we expected to when we got our new main server last November, that is no excuse.  We have attempted to plan ahead for even more growth and use that information to replace our main server very soon.

Proofed while still half asleep and added a few additional comments not including those Compuart suggested.

[Dannii]

CAPTCHA is an acronym, so it should be capitalised.

Looks good. some more detail would be better, and more links.

[Grudge]

I think the language needs cleaning up a bit (In particular the use of ofcourse) but sounds good.

EDIT: Looks like Amy may of cleaned it up

[Amacythe]

Yes, I may HAVE cleaned it up, but I'll have to read it again when I'm awake.  Two and a half hours of sleep isn't enough for me on a weekend and I HATE waking up before the sun comes up.

* Amacythe crawls back to bed

[Compuart]

Oops, I read too fast, there was already an internationalization paragraph. Hmm, maybe the two paragraphs can be merged

[H]

Looks good to me.

Could we post this newsletter in general support or general discussion and feedback?

The users who are moaning are the users that don't seem to look in the general boards

[Trekkie101]

Its been a while and there hasn't been much of an update to the newsletter and no new releases but I'd like to assure you all that everything has sped up around Simple Machines. Exams and work have taken a toll on most of our team lately but thats close to the end and everything is nearly at full speed once again.

Get to know the team is nearing completion, and with nearly all volunteers exhausted we'd like to know what you want to see next, within reason of course  . For those intrested in a more formal set of interviews I'd like to point you to a recent set taken by the AdminFusion Community featuring Amacythe, Thantos, Compuart, and David.

You know those little bots that crawl the net with the bugging attitude of registering and posting as many junk links as they can? Well they've really started to make an advance on SMF communities.  To counter it we now have a CAPTCHA system. You may be thinking its taken a while to come to existence, but we took it a step further and have an audio version to make sure we never compromise on accessability.  Not everyone likes CAPTCHA, so there is an option in the admin control panel which allows you to turn it off.

Many cultures use SMF, and with that, many languages are needed and we're happy to say that we support 31 languages and will be adding number 32 shortly.  As of SMF 1.1RC3 will have full support of UTF-8, the character set containing almost all characters known to exist. Anticipating the release of 1.1 RC3, we have converted simplemachines.org to UTF-8 and added all downloadable languages to a dropdown menu on the upper right corner of the default theme.  We of course would love to expand so if you know a language we don't have and are willing to translate for us, please do tell us

There's a small group of beta testers who are on the edge of their seat with burning news thats coming very soon, too big for this newsletter so keep watching Simple Machines to see whats under wraps. RC3 is almost ready to make an appearance to the public. RC3 is expected to be the last RC before 1.1 Final. Since its often requested for a release date, I can now say as long as there are no major problems, RC3 should be out within the month.

TinyPortal has had an issue with its shoutbox causing a security hole, as the mod is widely installed it is often mistaken for an SMF issue, we assure it is not, the issue itself is not harmful and will not cause dataloss, but please do apply the patch that is now available from TinyPortal.

Server Problems. It really hasn't been our best month for server reliability, again it's not an SMF issue but rather a server configuration problem that we have been experiencing, we are steadily getting to the end of the problems and we are sorry for the inconvenience it causes.  Although we are proud to say we've grown more than we expected to when we got our new main server last November, that is no excuse.  We have attempted to plan ahead for even more growth and use that information to replace our main server very soon.

[codenaught]

"team lately but thats close"
that's (that is)

"As of SMF 1.1RC3 will have full support"
As of SMF 1.1RC3, SMF (1.1) will have full support (?)

"Anticipating the release of 1.1 RC3"
Is it 1.1 RC3 or 1.1RC3? Use only one.

"We of course would love to expand so if you"
Comma? - We of course would love to expand, so if you

"RC3 is expected to be the last RC before 1.1 Final"
I'd not abbreviate: RC3 is expected to be the last release candidate before 1.1 Final

"the issue itself is not harmful and will not cause dataloss"
'Loss of data' may sound more familiar.

"Server Problems. It really hasn't been our best month for server reliability"
Drop the 'Server Problems' intro, it is not a heading. Maybe replace it with, 'You may have noticed some problems with our server recently'

[Thantos]

"RC3 is expected to be the last RC before 1.1 Final"

Do we really want to go down that road again?

[Compuart]

It just has to be the last RC

[Thantos]

Yeah but what if it blows up like RC2 did?  We'd seem like even bigger fools if we keep going "no no this one will be the last RC.  Oh wait, nope we need another."

Why corner ourselves if we don't need to?

That said it better be the last RC

[Compuart]

Even if there were a need for an RC4, imho we shouldn't do it. We should just stick to the final and hope it'll be as bugfree as it'll get.

[Trekkie101]

Yeah but what if it blows up like RC2 did?  We'd seem like even bigger fools if we keep going "no no this one will be the last RC.  Oh wait, nope we need another."

Why corner ourselves if we don't need to?

That said it better be the last RC

Well then make a developent plan and stick to it and we won't need to worry We've only underestimated the cycle once, we dont have a habit of it, and passing that on just makes sure that everyone knows we are very close to going final.

[Grudge]

Even if there were a need for an RC4, imho we shouldn't do it. We should just stick to the final and hope it'll be as bugfree as it'll get.

Agreed - otherwise 2.0 will be coming out before 1.1 goes final.

[Thantos]

I still say we should move to Google's development cycle

[Trekkie101]

Its been a while and there hasn't been much of an update to the newsletter and no new releases but I'd like to assure you all that everything has sped up around Simple Machines. Exams and work have taken a toll on most of our team lately but that's close to the end and everything is nearly at full speed once again.

Get to know the team is nearing completion, and with nearly all volunteers exhausted we'd like to know what you want to see next, within reason of course  . For those intrested in a more formal set of interviews I'd like to point you to a recent set taken by the AdminFusion Community featuring Amacythe, Thantos, Compuart, and David.

You know those little bots that crawl the net with the bugging attitude of registering and posting as many junk links as they can? Well they've really started to make an advance on SMF communities.  To counter it we now have a CAPTCHA system. You may be thinking its taken a while to come to existence, but we took it a step further and have an audio version to make sure we never compromise on accessability.  Not everyone likes CAPTCHA, so there is an option in the admin control panel which allows you to turn it off.

Many cultures use SMF, and with that, many languages are needed and we're happy to say that we support 31 languages and will be adding number 32 shortly.  As of SMF 1.1 RC3 we have full support of UTF-8, the character set containing almost all characters known to exist. Anticipating the release of 1.1 RC3, we have converted simplemachines.org to UTF-8 and added all downloadable languages to a dropdown menu on the upper right corner of the default theme.  We of course would love to expand, so if you know a language we don't have and are willing to translate for us, please do tell us

There's a small group of beta testers who are on the edge of their seat with burning news thats coming very soon, too big for this newsletter so keep watching Simple Machines to see whats under wraps. RC3 is almost ready to make an appearance to the public. RC3 is expected to be the last release candidate before 1.1 Final. Since its often requested for a release date, I can now say as long as there are no major problems, RC3 should be out within the month.

TinyPortal has had an issue with its shoutbox causing a security hole, as the mod is widely installed it is often mistaken for an SMF issue, we assure it is not, the issue itself is not harmful and will not cause a loss of data, but please do apply the patch that is now available from TinyPortal.

It really hasn't been our best month for server reliability, again it's not an SMF issue but rather a server configuration problem that we have been experiencing, we are steadily getting to the end of the problems and we are sorry for the inconvenience it causes.  Although we are proud to say we've grown more than we expected to when we got our new main server last November, that is no excuse.  We have attempted to plan ahead for even more growth and use that information to replace our main server very soon.

"Anticipating the release of 1.1 RC3"
Is it 1.1 RC3 or 1.1RC3? Use only one.

That was due to Amy and I writing different parts, I changed my version to 1.1 RC3 to increase readbility The rest are all now changed

[Amacythe]

It sould be 1.1 RC3.  It was a typo due to the fact that I was still asleep dead

[Trekkie101]

It sould be 1.1 RC3.  It was a typo due to the fact that I was still asleep dead

oops I wasn't clear, I had it wrong, still half asleep but double as brilliant