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2021 changes


Erin

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Hi, all. I'm guessing few of you here know me; I don't post here much at all.

 

I'm the one who runs the site, maintains the software, etc. It's been pretty much a passion project for some 20 years now. (I make very little money from ads, not enough to pay for the server.)

 

But I keep the site going! Now with the pandemic, I have more time to devote to this forum. You probably know that forums ain't what they used to be--the big sites, such as Facebook and Reddit, have taken most of the interaction that used to exist in forums. Nothing against them; I am a daily user of both of those sites. But I do think there's still a place for independent forums such as this one, one that's not designed solely to mine your data and track your identity.

 

So, in the coming weeks and months, I am planning to make some changes (improvements). First, I want to move off this forum software; it's not being updated. I've been researching alternatives, from the old standbys, such as vBulletin (the current version), and phpBB to new challengers, such as Discourse and Flarum, which attempt to modernize the old forum experience.

 

I am also hoping to add a few extra features, such as tracking programs, schools, etc. for admissions information. And in other sections of the forum, some kind of system where people can post their essays to get feedback. I will also be moving to a better, faster server, which will reduce or even eliminate time-outs.

 

The biggest changes will be in the look and usage of the forum. But I don't think there will be much of a learning curve. Also, links will likely change. That will break a lot of existing links, but there's not much I can do about that, unfortunately, and sometimes, you have to make changes like this to move forward.

 

I'm posting here because this is the most active forum, and I wanted to let you folks know directly. I'll also be posting a general announcement.

 

Also, it appears we could use another moderator or two.

 

Thanks for reading!

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  • 8 months later...

Wow. Thank you for keeping this forum going and providing this public service for 20 years. I remember that this forum used to be affiliated with Test magic or something like that, which if I recall correctly provided for profit test prep and application advice. So I always thought that this forum was free because it was affiliated with a for-profit business. 

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