FORUM UPGRADE on 12/4
We are now LIVE on the Xenforo2 platform (as of 8pm CST on 12/4). We'll have some more updates to the site that may require a few brief minutes of downtime but not much more than that. Read this thread to find out what's coming!
We are excited to announce that on Wednesday, 12/4/19, we expect to unveil the message board platform on TideFans.com !! During this time the message boards may be down for a relatively brief period of time (possibly a few hours). You will see a message indicating this is the case. Do not panic! 
What is the new platform?
We are moving from the outdated vBulletin 4 to the much more popular, better supported, and better user experience of Xenforo2. Your TideFans.com username, password, post count, etc. will all transfer over, as will all threads and posts. Because Xenforo is developed by the original VBulletin developers, the overall feel of how to use the forum is very similar but the experience will be much better and updated to modern standards.
Better mobile experience
Some of the expected new features are listed below, but we are confident one of the biggest and best new features is a much better user and mobile experience. Thus, we will no longer be using TapaTalk since the new platform is responsive (i.e. adjusts properly on your screen, of any size, automatically) no matter which device you use. We also will no longer have "left side" ads option available on the desktop.
iPhone & Android notes...
On your iPhone or Android phone, there will no longer be an "app." (at least not in the near future - we're looking at options) Instead, use your browser, go to https://TideFans.com and bookmark the site and place it on your "homepage" on your phone for easy / quick access. The site is now fully responsive meaning no matter the size of your screen it should adjust automatically with respect to the size available.
Forum example is Gopherhole.com
An example of a message board that uses the new Xenforo platform that we will move to is https://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/
(Obviously, TideFans will be a a bit different but gopherhole uses the same Xenforo2 platform and general design we will use and is hoted by Richweb.com like us. We will add some additional features they don't use and layout & navigation will be a bit different.)
What to do if you have any glitches after the migration
When the transition happens, we request your patience as we fix technical issues that may arise. I ask that you give me a bit of time to fix obvious issues, but feel put them in this thread so we can address them and/or others on the forum can answer them for you as well. If you have any direct questions you can post them in this thread, the troubleshooting forum, or PM me with all the specific details including screenshots as appropriate. Don't just say something "doesn't work."
Some of the new features
Some of the Xenforo features versus VBulletin (some of these may not be available immediately but we will get them up an running this week):
Other features we expect to add over the next week or two
Features we expect to add over the coming days and weeks once we have the core functionality up and running:
--threadmarks/bookmarks
--more bbcodes
--PM improvements
--User @ tagging & alerts
--User moods
--multiple prefixes
--Enhance profiles
--Enhanced navigation menus
--Image optimizers
--Member maps
--similar threads
--Giphy integration
--Spotify integration
--Calendar integration
--Badges
--Enhanced notifications
--Enhanced searches
--Advanced statistics
--Enhanced warning system
--User notepads
--Enhanced smileys
--Trophies (maybe)
--Media/video manager
--Enhanced moderator & admin functions
--Integrated Pick'em system just in time for bowl games!
--and possibly others!
Thanks for your patience and support as we work through this migration. I appreciate that support and your continued patronage of TideFans and those who make it possible!
RTR!
Brett
We are now LIVE on the Xenforo2 platform (as of 8pm CST on 12/4). We'll have some more updates to the site that may require a few brief minutes of downtime but not much more than that. Read this thread to find out what's coming!
What is the new platform?
We are moving from the outdated vBulletin 4 to the much more popular, better supported, and better user experience of Xenforo2. Your TideFans.com username, password, post count, etc. will all transfer over, as will all threads and posts. Because Xenforo is developed by the original VBulletin developers, the overall feel of how to use the forum is very similar but the experience will be much better and updated to modern standards.
Better mobile experience
Some of the expected new features are listed below, but we are confident one of the biggest and best new features is a much better user and mobile experience. Thus, we will no longer be using TapaTalk since the new platform is responsive (i.e. adjusts properly on your screen, of any size, automatically) no matter which device you use. We also will no longer have "left side" ads option available on the desktop.
iPhone & Android notes...
On your iPhone or Android phone, there will no longer be an "app." (at least not in the near future - we're looking at options) Instead, use your browser, go to https://TideFans.com and bookmark the site and place it on your "homepage" on your phone for easy / quick access. The site is now fully responsive meaning no matter the size of your screen it should adjust automatically with respect to the size available.
Forum example is Gopherhole.com
An example of a message board that uses the new Xenforo platform that we will move to is https://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/
(Obviously, TideFans will be a a bit different but gopherhole uses the same Xenforo2 platform and general design we will use and is hoted by Richweb.com like us. We will add some additional features they don't use and layout & navigation will be a bit different.)
What to do if you have any glitches after the migration
When the transition happens, we request your patience as we fix technical issues that may arise. I ask that you give me a bit of time to fix obvious issues, but feel put them in this thread so we can address them and/or others on the forum can answer them for you as well. If you have any direct questions you can post them in this thread, the troubleshooting forum, or PM me with all the specific details including screenshots as appropriate. Don't just say something "doesn't work."
Some of the new features
Some of the Xenforo features versus VBulletin (some of these may not be available immediately but we will get them up an running this week):
- Xenforo has drag and drop image uploading - which is much more intuitive.
- You can mention a user by putting @ before their user name in a post. For example: When you do this, user bobjones will receive an alert that he's been mentioned, so he knows to check out the post.
- Private Messages are similar, but are now called "Conversations". We will still refer to them as PMs.
- In addition to email notifications, Xenforo has "alerts", which is a count of items related to a user's account next to the username on the top-right of every page.
- Xenforo is fully responsive to screen size and will collapse menus and screen items based on screen size. When it collapses a menu, the menu tabs turn into a menu button which when clicked slides the menu into view from the left side of the screen.
- Xenforo has support for Emojis, so users have the ability to be expressive beyond whatever smilies are installed.
- Xenforo automatically embeds a Youtube video player in posts when users post a link to Youtube. No more need to use a "video" bbcode!
- Xenforo uses less system resources than VBulletin, so during busy forum times you generally won't see site response time impacted as much. This is HUGE for us.
- Xenforo has stronger one way password encryption than VBulletin. The first time you log into Xenforo with your existing VBulletin user id and password, it will re-encrypt your password using the stronger Xenforo method.
Other features we expect to add over the next week or two
Features we expect to add over the coming days and weeks once we have the core functionality up and running:
--threadmarks/bookmarks
--more bbcodes
--PM improvements
--User @ tagging & alerts
--User moods
--multiple prefixes
--Enhance profiles
--Enhanced navigation menus
--Image optimizers
--Member maps
--similar threads
--Giphy integration
--Spotify integration
--Calendar integration
--Badges
--Enhanced notifications
--Enhanced searches
--Advanced statistics
--Enhanced warning system
--User notepads
--Enhanced smileys
--Trophies (maybe)
--Media/video manager
--Enhanced moderator & admin functions
--Integrated Pick'em system just in time for bowl games!
--and possibly others!
Thanks for your patience and support as we work through this migration. I appreciate that support and your continued patronage of TideFans and those who make it possible!
RTR!
Brett
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