Hey, all. We have a bit of a problem.
We have been living with this problem for a long time, involving the forum software we are running. A completely new build of SMF has been available for several years now. Because of our extensive modifications and customizations here, we have elected to stay with the older SMF 1.x.x branch of the forum software. With the latest security patch installed this morning, we are being notified that the end of 1.x.x is pretty much here.
Trying to keep it running this long has been a challenge, as the current software is not compatible with updates and changes in server operating systems and languages. For example, we are unable to advance to PHP5 because of usage deprecations. These deprecations are not going to be addressed, and they do not exist in the newer SMF 2 software. (PHP is the language of all the data handling aspects of SMF.)
A couple years ago, mu spent a staggering amount of time preparing us for the move to SMF 2. That project was never finished because we never did end up with a skin. In addition, all our front end is handled with a rather kludgy system called Drupal, which has been tied in to our user database with custom code.
The bottom line is this is all coming down to only a few possible choices:
1) We end up with a new tech guru with a whole lot of time on his or her hands and a willingness to deal with all the transitions
2) We do a fresh start with SMF 2 and move forward as time permits. (My time is not available for any more than I am currently doing, and even that has been problematic for me and my family lately.) In doing so, we give up a lot of what makes MM unique for at least a while and maybe much longer.
3) We continue trying to prod this existing system along until we experience either a major security breach or a major technical change that cripples or shuts us down completely.
The second choice seems like the obvious one to me, given our present circumstances and activity levels. At the onset, however, we will be losing pretty much everything that makes the Mortal Mist forums uniquely suited for lucid dreaming - in particular the Dream Catcher package and the integrated chat. Chess would also likely go away. All of these things could be brought back in time, given the skill, time and attention are available to implement them, and we would at least be up and running in the meantime.
There are multiple opportunities and challenges available with this kind of a change, of course. The Mortal Mist community owns several premium domain names that might be considered, including lucidwiki.com. The front material (currently under Drupal) can be handled with an alternate domain or using various SMF extensions under the Mortal Mist domain, one which I am already somewhat familiar with from another SMF2 forum I help administer.
There is no great rush on this, but we all need to be aware that we are reaching the end of this road. The sooner we make a decision, the more options we can consider, the more graceful the transition will be, and the less likely we will be racing to deal with a catastrophe at some point in the future.
