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Jim Oaks
Just some guy with a website
Administrator
Founder / Site Owner
Supporting Vendor
Article Contributor
TRS 20th Anniversary
VAGABOND
TRS Event Participant
GMRS Radio License
TRS 25th Anniversary
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2000
- Messages
- 14,988
- Age
- 57
- City
- Nocona
- State - Country
- TX - USA
- Other
- 2005 Jaguar XJ8
- Vehicle Year
- 2021
- Vehicle
- Ford Ranger
- Drive
- 4WD
- Engine
- 2.3 EcoBoost
- Transmission
- Automatic
- Total Lift
- 3.5-inches
- Tire Size
- 295/70/17
Hey all,
Over the last couple of days The Ranger Station and the forum went through some updates and a few changes. Chances are, you haven't noticed.
The forum software was 5-years old, and we recently had problems with it becoming slow or unresponsive for short periods of time. During those times the server was using up a huge amount of memory. Over the previous two weekends I had to re-start the server several times to get it back online. I think some of these issues were with AI Bots overwhelming the server. There's nothing like being 1.5 hours from home and getting a text message from one of the TRS forum staff and having to pull into a parking lot to restart the server from my phone. LOL.
The server operating system, MySQL (MariaD) and PHP were all updated to newer software and then the website and forum software was updated. The forum actually had to be updated twice. Once to a newer version, and then this newest version. The forum was too outdated to jump straight to the newest software. Once the forum was updated, I merged the old template styles so that the forum still had the same look and feel.
Advanced Search:
There is a link in the bar at the top of the forum (second line) and in the dropdown menu if you're on a cellphone for Advanced Search. Advanced search will let you search for shorter inputs such as 2.9, 4.0, etc. The main search box won't do that. It's a great feature but it uses a lot more resources than the regular search box, so try to refrain from using it unless you really need to search for something specific like a 4.0 pushrod and it didn't come up in the regular search. Only registered members have access to the Advanced Search. Forum Members have access to the Advanced Search. Lurkers and newly registered members do not.
Updating Your Account Details:
I have made a few changes in the Account Details. There is now a drop-down menu to choose your State - Country for USA and Canada members. There are also (3) new questions to see if you're interested in attending a gathering at a car show, off-road gathering, or going on an adventure / overlanding style trip. I have added a feature that allows myself and the staff here to be able to search for people based on their interest and location. So, if we want to put together a gathering at a car show in PA, we can see who lives in PA and has an interest in attending a car show. If we want to have an off-road gathering in Texas or an adventure trip in Idaho, we can search to see who in those regions would be interested in those types of events. We can also use it to see if there's even enough people in an area to justify trying to put something together. So please make sure you update all of that information.
Please go to your Account Details page right now and update it before you forget!
If you couldn't access the site Monday night or Tuesday morning or got on the forum and it looked weird and not the right site, I apologize for the inconvenience.
Thanks!
Over the last couple of days The Ranger Station and the forum went through some updates and a few changes. Chances are, you haven't noticed.
The forum software was 5-years old, and we recently had problems with it becoming slow or unresponsive for short periods of time. During those times the server was using up a huge amount of memory. Over the previous two weekends I had to re-start the server several times to get it back online. I think some of these issues were with AI Bots overwhelming the server. There's nothing like being 1.5 hours from home and getting a text message from one of the TRS forum staff and having to pull into a parking lot to restart the server from my phone. LOL.
The server operating system, MySQL (MariaD) and PHP were all updated to newer software and then the website and forum software was updated. The forum actually had to be updated twice. Once to a newer version, and then this newest version. The forum was too outdated to jump straight to the newest software. Once the forum was updated, I merged the old template styles so that the forum still had the same look and feel.
Advanced Search:
There is a link in the bar at the top of the forum (second line) and in the dropdown menu if you're on a cellphone for Advanced Search. Advanced search will let you search for shorter inputs such as 2.9, 4.0, etc. The main search box won't do that. It's a great feature but it uses a lot more resources than the regular search box, so try to refrain from using it unless you really need to search for something specific like a 4.0 pushrod and it didn't come up in the regular search. Only registered members have access to the Advanced Search. Forum Members have access to the Advanced Search. Lurkers and newly registered members do not.
Updating Your Account Details:
I have made a few changes in the Account Details. There is now a drop-down menu to choose your State - Country for USA and Canada members. There are also (3) new questions to see if you're interested in attending a gathering at a car show, off-road gathering, or going on an adventure / overlanding style trip. I have added a feature that allows myself and the staff here to be able to search for people based on their interest and location. So, if we want to put together a gathering at a car show in PA, we can see who lives in PA and has an interest in attending a car show. If we want to have an off-road gathering in Texas or an adventure trip in Idaho, we can search to see who in those regions would be interested in those types of events. We can also use it to see if there's even enough people in an area to justify trying to put something together. So please make sure you update all of that information.
Please go to your Account Details page right now and update it before you forget!
If you couldn't access the site Monday night or Tuesday morning or got on the forum and it looked weird and not the right site, I apologize for the inconvenience.
Thanks!
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