Future of NZFF- Important Announcement

[ardypilot]

Hi everyone,

We have some very exciting news concerning the future of NZFF to share with you all!

After over a years worth of operation on the free invisionfree forum server, we have made the decision to upgrade to the much more advanced payware invsionPOWER board. This will allow the New Zealand Flightsim Forums to continue growing successfully and rival other world-class flight simulator websites.

We feel that we have outgrown our free board, and as a thriving simming community, it no longer caters for our needs. Our new online system will have many great improvements, being more secure and featuring many exciting new options such as blogs, image galleries, RSS content sharing, personalised user profiles and powerful customization options!

All the existing content currently on NZFF (The threads, posts, polls, member accounts, statistics etc ) will also populate the new board- nothing will be lost in the transition- it will be exactly the same as before, only better!

To complement this, we have now purchased our own domain name: NZFF.ORG
This new URL is shorter, easy to remember, and more professional than our existing .CO.NR cloak. In addition to this, the admin and moderating team will each have their own easy to remember "username@nzff.org' e-mail address' in case you need to contact them in a hurry.

However, as you can imagine - all these new things don't come for free. If you would like to make a small contribution, Robin Corn has offered his online processing facilities. To donate, visit the Godzone Store http:// www.windowlight.co.nz/godzone/store. Payment may be made by credit card, internet banking, bank deposit or Paypal.

If you have any questions about the process, feel free to contact any of the admin. We are happy to help in any way we can to make NZFF a more fun experience for everyone in the future!

Cheers,
Andrew, Alex and Robin

[Alex]

And just to add a little note, we plan to be making the move between 27th and 29th June, or failing that, during the week after.

Alex

[travnz]

Well done guys!!

[ZK-Brock]

Very cool news

[Mattnz]

Awesome
I was wondering why www.nzff.co.nr kept redirecting to www.nzff.org

[toprob]

Oops, kinda took me by surprise -- I've quickly added a 'product'to the Store to collect donations.
A quick description of how it would work:
You can donate however much you like, however via credit card there is a minimum of $5 because of my bank's rules.
The 'product' shows as $5. To donate a different amount you could either:
Just add more of this 'product' to your shopping cart before checkout;
or let me know via the 'comments' box how much you really wish to donate when you checkout.
Paypal is a little different -- you will be charged for the total of your 'order', so make sure that your total is correct!
Any questions let me know.
-Robin

[Ian Warren]

Oops, kinda took me by surprise -- I've quickly added a 'product'to the Store to collect donations.
A quick description of how it would work:
You can donate however much you like, however via credit card there is a minimum of $5 because of my bank's rules.
The 'product' shows as $5. To donate a different amount you could either:
Just add more of this 'product' to your shopping cart before checkout;
or let me know via the 'comments' box how much you really wish to donate when you checkout.
Paypal is a little different -- you will be charged for the total of your 'order', so make sure that your total is correct!
Any questions let me know.
-Robin

Hey Matey , since i cant access the store have a cheque here for ya

[toprob]

A reminder about how the online Store works --
This is just in case you all want to send emails to all your mates telling them what a great idea it would be to donate:)
Please don't copy the address bar from the Store and include it in any emails or online messages -- it normally includes a Session ID which is part of the address bar, and shouldn't be copied! It can cause problems, such as:
Someone might click on the URL, visit the Store, and decide to donate -- the Store would know that the Session ID is invalid, so you wouldn't be able to finish the transaction;
...or, worse still, if the original person is still in the store, the Session ID would still be 'live', and the two orders would get horribly mixed up.
To send the URL, use this:
http://godzone.windowlight.co.nz/store/ ... ucts_id=46

[Jimmy]

Awsome news guys

Glad to see the forum always getting better, is great to be here.

Any estimates as to how much this will be costing? Or not the sort of thing you would publish here?

Thanks
James

[Alex]

Any estimates as to how much this will be costing?  Or not the sort of thing you would publish here?

We don't really want to blab too much. I will say the total is less than $500.

Alex

[toprob]

Yes, I was going to say that if 20% of the members donated $5 each, it would be probably be enough!

[jastheace]

when i get some spare cash in the next week or two i will be donating, great news, it will be soo much better for us!!

[Naki]

Nice one guys - I'll try and get some money through within the next week.

[Alex]

One other thing I forgot to say was that;

We will have all content on the new forum, except for content that was created between the time we take the 'snapshot', and the new forum created.

For example, the snapshot of the forum is 'taken' on Wednesday at 7pm, and the new forum is up and running on Friday at 7pm, all posts between those two times will not be present on the new forum, and the same with any new members. So feel free to re-post or re-register if this applies to you.

I'll try and put a post up after the snapshot has been taken telling people again.

Alex

[scon]

Cool, will put some money through next week

[Mark Richards]

Well done Team and when I get home from work in the morning, I will take the time to make a suitable contribution. I know from personal experience just how much running a site like this takes.

As for the "snapshot", could I suggest that just prior to the snapshot that you lock posting on the forums? I for one would rather have no forum for a couple of days than have some messages missing. Just a thought.

All the best

Mark

[ardypilot]

could I suggest that just prior to the snapshot that you lock posting on the forums? I for one would rather have no forum for a couple of days than have some messages missing. Just a thought.

I also think that is quite a sensible idea, and will advoid confusion.

[creator2003]

sounds good guys and ill dig out some change when i go in to pay for my marlborough godzone
are we going to have to do this on a monthly bases or every 6months or something ?
i mean donate ?

[Alex]

Nope, its a one-off thing.

Alex

[creator2003]

yup thats sweet, what will happen each time you need to renew web $$$$ will you just asks again or will you admin cover the cost ? or is there a sponser that we dont know about yet that will help with costs ,
also a counter of how much to date you have reciveed will help get those donations in as ppls will see etc....
ill try get my moneys in by the end of them month
good work guys moving forward again