Over the coming weeks WSF will be moving forum platform. For many years we have used vBulletin 3 to run all of our WSF Forums. From February 2012 we will be upgrading our forum boards to use vBulletin 4. vBulletin 4 has been released for over two years and is now reliable and stable enough for WSF to begin the conversion.

vBulletin 3 came to the end of its life in February 2011, and I believe it only right to move forward and replace what is now aging software with this new incarnation. The move is essential to make sure WSF is fully up to date, future proof and ready to add new features that cannot be integrated with vBulletin 3.

Whilst vBulletin 4 uses a radically different style and template system compared to vBulletin 3, I have as far as far as possible tried to design the site along the same lines as what we have now. You will be familiar with the “WSF Blue” colour splashed across the site and for the most part – the site will look much as it does now but with a slightly cleaner and sharper look.

Some items have had to move location but the site will include some guides on where items have moved to – and of course, if you get stuck at any point, myself and the WSF moderating team are only a PM away.

Over the past week we have opened the test forum up to a select group of WSF users who are now actively engaged in using the new software. This is essential testing to iron out any bugs in the system before it goes live. We will be inviting more users to use and comment on the test forum shortly.

So far, comments have been positive.

For those of you interested, some of the main features of the new forum will include:

• New and improved editor with more options.
• Facebook account integration.
• Ability to embed video content into posts directly.
• iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android platform App (coming June/July 2012).
• Mobile friendly skin (February/March 2012).
• Improved password and account security.
• Enhanced attachment management for uploading files.
• Editor “Post Auto Save”

The current time frame for launch is within the next 2 to 3 weeks. There is still a lot of testing to be done and some minor tweaks to apply. As far as possible, I aim to have the new software functioning as well as it can do as soon as the upgrade is complete. But I do expect there to be at least a week to two weeks of “bedding in time” once the upgrade is complete.

The upgrade will happen on a Sunday Morning most likely the 29th January or the 5th of February. The upgrade procedure will begin at 00:05am and will be indicated by all WSF Forums being closed down. From there on in, I anticipate the forums should be back up and running in their new guise by around 9am Sunday Morning.

For those of you who are out and about wetting a line this weekend, I hope you have an enjoyable and successful trip!

Tight Lines

Mike Thrussell Jnr