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Major update - Anarcho-Punk.net Version 2

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Anarcho-Punk.net, May 24, 2017.

  1. Anarcho-Punk.net

    Anarcho-Punk.net Experienced Member Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    Hi all, welcome to Anarcho-Punk.net version 2 !


    New features
    • New website design - tell us what you think about it !
    • 100% mobile friendly - forum can be browsed using smartphone or tablet
    • Built-in notifications system
    • New modern and professional licensed forum software (XenForo + custom mods)
    • Better dedicated server with faster speed and better hardware
    • Bought a license of a faster webserver (NGINX)
    • Faster download speed
    • Lots of new features in the forum
    • Built-in social network
    • Hardened security against hackers + secure SSL encoded connection (https)
    • Upgraded to latest version of Linux + PHP + SQL + NGINX + cPanel (bought all paid licenses)
    • Better social network integration. We also got a new automated facebook page sharing daily anarcho-punk bands images/biography.
    • Stronger anti-spam protections
    • New features added June 2017:
    • Modern live chat room
    • Improved search engine with A.I.
    • New smilies + integration of hundreds of classic Emojis
    • Optimized alerts - You can now subscribe to forum notifications to get alerts in your browser (Chrome or Firefox) or push notifications to your Android or iOs device
    • Improved member profiles. On top of avatar you now can set your own profile banner just like on Facebook
    • Preview of external link when mouse pointer is over the link
    • Giphy integration to post animated images in replies
    • Forum tour and help function for new members to learn how to use the forum
    • Optimized images
    • Dozens of other minor improvements and new backend functions
    • Improved subcategories sorting for International Anarcho-Punk Downloads section

    Also see:
    Introducing the new & improved APN Downloads System

    No data was lost. All downloads were migrated to the new website.


    Why a new website ?

    8 years ago, Anarcho-Punk.net was launched using a customized version of a forum software called phpBB. The forum system was heavily modified to fit our needs for a music download database, making it almost impossible to upgrade and this is why the website didn't have any major update since 2009. The Web changed a lot since 2009 and APN couldn't keep up with modern technology anymore.

    - There was many securities issues with the old version and running outdated software was putting us at risk against hackers. First, the connection on the website wasn't even properly encrypted with a secure SSL connection. Also, phpBB lacks of a good anti-spam security so we got a lot of spam. Mar from the moderator team has been dealing with spam bots almost everyday but the problem kept getting worse.

    - The old version was so outdated that it wasn't even optimized for smartphones and mobile devices. Today, statistics shows that average websites gets at least 50% of its traffic from mobile devices. This means that half of the web traffic can't even navigate on this website. Also, google search engine downrank websites that are poorly optimized for mobile devices, which means we also get less traffic from computers. All of this means less people were coming on this forum.

    There's was only one solution and it involves serious investments in time and money. We have to start over from scratch and rebuild this website. This update has been on our todo list forever but i just never had the time to do it. However recently we started having bigger problems and now members were getting disconnected while browsing the forum, making it totally unusable.


    Website is still under construction

    So here we are. During the next days and weeks this forum will be under construction so don't be surprised if you see big changes or weird things going on during the update. The new website will have a better design and we're going to add a lot of features to this forum so it may take some time until everything is ready. We hope everything will be finished until 1 month.

    When Version 2 is completed, we're going to send an e-mail message to all members about the update in order to make the forum alive again.

    Hopefully No-Gods-No-Masters.com tshirts shop has us covered with the fees and will be donating over $1000USD to upgrade this forum. I'll work for free as web developer to lead the migration and we hired professionals to help (same team as NGNM). We bought a modern forum software and we're modifying it to look similar to the old forum while ensuring it's future-proof and upgradeable. Don't worry we're not asking for money and we don't need fundraisers. If you want to help, just spread the word to help make this community alive again.

    One year ago we did the same thing and upgraded the old french-speaking "Resistance Forum" which became Libertaire.net. Over 12 months, we doubled the statistics of the website and the forum is now receiving twice more traffic as before. Check it out here to see what can be done: Libertaire.net - communauté militante et ressources anarchistes
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 6, 2017
    ungovernable and punkmar77 like this.

  2. punkmar77

    punkmar77 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member


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    Yes!
     
  3. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    Lots of work has already been done, still some bugs to fix and new features coming, but the new forum is already around 60% complete ! We're working really hard to get this done. Let's bring back this community alive ! :D
     
    detached805 and punkmar77 like this.
  4. Alice.f

    Alice.f Member Forum Member


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    the new website is amazing!!
     
    ungovernable likes this.
  5. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    For the last 2 weeks the team has been proceeding to a major update of our backend, especially the download server which hasn't been updated for years. Broken links will be fixed, major new features added, and more to be announced soon.

    During this update, you may see some glitches on the forum, and some broken download links. All issues will be fixed in a couple of days.
     
  6. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    We're doing a long due hardware upgrade and APN will be moving to a new server. NGNM just acquired 2 new servers for us because the ones we're using are getting old and the Linux version we are using isn't supported anymore. We also chose to move from cPanel to Plesk to cut costs.

    If you see anything strange on the forum (bugs etc) after the migration, please report it to me. I will post updates during the migration.
     
  7. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    Sorry guys - we messed up

    We had a lot of unexpected issues during the migration and we had to restore a backup two times. During the process, some posts were lost.

    Forum messages posted between July 25th and August 5th were lost - please accept my apologies for anyone who posted or registered between these dates.

    A migration with a server as large as this one is a very complex and risky task. Sometimes there may be unexpected problems and complications. Computers can be a pain in the ass sometimes.

    We spare you the boring technical details, but for the technical team, several days of work were lost because we were forced to start the migration again twice. Fortunately, I had the help of NGNM Tech Team or I would have lost my mind.

    The good news is that once this shit is all over, we will be able to stay on this server for 5 to 10 years before having to do a migration again.

    If you see a bug on the site, report it here so we can check it out.
     
  8. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    Throwback from the past! Just found an old screenshot of the first version of Anarcho-Punk.net from 2009 back when we were still running phpBB. A lot of things have changed in 14 years!

    apn_old.jpg
     
    Spike one of many likes this.
  9. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    Just a quick update - we have added over 125 media platform websites to the list of supported platforms for video embedding. This means that bandcamp links are not automatically converted to embedded media player on the forum.

    Full list of supported sites:
    Example of a bandcamp link:
     

15 members have read this thread this month

  1. Red Menace
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  3. RiseAbove
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  8. ungovernable
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