CABL Forum - New stuff

I've fixed many of the problems but I still have a long list to get to. Overall it's gone better than I expected, though.

The primary goal of this change was to upgrade to a better database platform. The last major renovation I did was in 2001 when I changed from a text system on Apache/Linux server to a "real" database on IIS/Windows. That database was basically the same as what Microsoft Access used at the time. Even Access has stopped using it now so it was really, really time to change. The change meant completely rewriting everything from scratch, so it wasn't something that would be quick or painless.

I tried very hard to maintain the character of the old site. I know everyone hates change but some was necessary. The loose threading and mixed up listings in the forums were confusing and very often made some think I was deleting their messages because they'd get broken from the main thread and buried. The 2 frames approach that mimicked an email reader is still preferable, in my opinion, to a lot of forums out there (that make you click back and forth between list and messages) but it was awkward to utiilize for anything but reading messages. At one point I had a complete split-screen replacement of it working (much like the private messages still) but scapped it all for the one page method which I think is smoother and overall the best.

This has been over 3 years in the making and I've been 2 weeks away from making it live for the last 2 years. Something always came up to change or add and I would want to get it in now so I wouldn't have to make a big change to the database later. I had to pull the trigger now. I'm sorry for all the little problems that have to be worked out still but if I had waited any more it probably would've slipped to 2010. I'm getting the problems fixed as quickly as possible and thanks to everyone for their help and patience.

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New stuff