Yup, this is not a false alarm, we actually taking action with the new hosting later this week. On Friday, I get my account and will purchase the domain, hosting, and forum license. Nibordude and I are assembling the funds for the site. It will cost us $120 splits for the first year, but only $37 splits after that. This doesn't factor in the domain or the cost of the forum import. However, I will register the domain for 2-3 years and the forum import shouldn't be much. If everything goes to plan, this free forum will be abandoned by early next week, depending on how quickly the new forum can be made ready. The settings will remain the same and no posts should be lost.

The incoming Summer is also a great time to get some major site work done, since the SEO measures I have been taking will kick in as soon as the site propagates on a new domain.

Cool, one question though. What's SEO?

Search Engine Optimization. Basically, doing little things in order to improve a site's rankings in search engines. That will one day draw in our own unique traffic and revitalize this forum. Of course, that also will change our atmosphere as well. We will probably have to face reality and write up an actual forum rules set. It is a shame, but quality degrades in everything once it gets bigger; it happens to companies, nations, just about everything. It will eventually happen to Buzz Bee Toys as well. SM will try to hold on, but I can't make any promises when we start getting new members who have never seen an online forum before...

You can count on me remaining the crazy old guy with a shotgun that scares away the little kids.

Good luck with the domain and forum change. SoakerMedia has really grown. It's hard to believe it's been around for almost two years now...

Wow, this must be really exciting for you, Duxburian. Congratulations on having kept everything going so far--and I'm sure things won't get excessively out of control with SEO. What forum manager are you going to use?

We plan on staying with Invision [the paid version though].

Due to stupid factors, I haven't been able to buy yet. On Friday afternoon, I should have plenty of time to deposit the $225 and get the ball rolling.

So... *waiting impatiently*... any idea on when the next phase of Soaker Media development will be well underway?

I've been tempted as well to get an Invision Board license, but am still looking for forum options that use ColdFusion instead of php for site compatibility issues. Me, I'm curious how easy the transition will be and seeing how SoakerMedia evolves will help in my own decision making.

B)

The money is in. I have to go on errands, then will be back to buy the stuff. The forums license, hosting, and domain should be bought by tonight, but I think domains take about 1-4 days to function. I also don't know how long a forum import takes.

EDIT:

Hosting = Bought

Domain = Pending

Forum License = Bought [I have no idea how to physically download/install the board however]

So, how long is it going to take for the new boards to be up? I knew snail mail was slow, but I didn't think it was this slow.

I suppose while electronic submissions can be processed automatically, physically-mailed ones must be processed by real humans--and that can probably take a while. Either that, or the switch has been delayed for some other reason...

The switch has been delayed because I've been focused on the Apocalypse Nerf war this Sunday. That and my job, since the Post Office always closes right before I get home. Last day of work is tomorrow, meaning I can finally mail the darn payment.