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I've been working on the next version of Northwest Firearms for well over a year now, a huge update including a completely re-written front-end and redevelopment of many popular features (classifieds being the big one, finally!). I'm happy to report that we're very close to the update here. Early access to new features and additional input are a couple benefits of being a Supporting Member here, and thankfully those who've volunteered for beta testing have had mostly good things to say.

Every time we have a big update people complain about the necessity of it, so I'll mention the reasons again. In general, it's best to keep software up-to-date for security, regardless if it's website software, your home computer, or your phone. It's a constant back-and-forth between developers and those who wish to do you harm, with exploits being discovered and patch releases to fix them happening frequently. Those who run dated software by choice are assuming a risk larger than I'm willing to take. The other is that developers don't develop for outdated software (unless you pay them $$$$), so new features require the latest version. I know some of you are base model guys who don't care for options and features, and that's fine. Personally, I'm the opposite, you couldn't pay me enough to go back to vBulletin :D

Speaking to that point though, I admit I've made some mistakes with these big updates over the years. In the past I didn't fully grasp how annoying it is to have to learn a new version of a familiar system from the ground up. As I get closer to middle-age I'm now starting to see the light. One of the main goals of this update was to change as little as possible on the front-end, so as not to lose that familiarity you guys have gained over the years. I think I've done a pretty good job, but I won't know for sure until you guys weigh in.

Those who have been through these updates before know that our rollout plan usually consists of the initial development phase with input from staff, a beta period where we open it up to Supporting Members, the Southwest Firearms update and non-supporter input phase, and then the Northwest Firearms update a couple weeks later. I'm happy to report that, as of yesterday afternoon, Southwest Firearms is now running the new version. I still have a mile-long to-do list, but for the most part there haven't been too many issues. I'm posting this thread now that we're at the third step, to get your thoughts before we go live here. Head over, check it out, and let me know what you think :)




Please note that the new Classified System is not yet live, that will be coming at a later date (late spring, most likely). Supporting Members who want to check it out do still have access to the beta, see this thread for details :s0155:
 
Good. Thank you, Joe. We tend to be a bunch of nay-sayers, but forums are going the way of the dinosaur. SocMed will not accept us, so we'd darned better support this platform! We are extremely fortunate to even have a gun related forum. Two other forums that I frequented (50,000+ posts), went poof when they were no longer profitable. Profitable.

This is by far the largest special interest free classified section that I know of. Since one must pay for little nickel ads, newspaper adds etc., how about, say a periodic $5 to post classifieds? Everything is being sold at the "viral" price, so what's $5?

Someone(s) has to step up.

Oh! I am on two other XenForo forums. They have the "New" button on the top right of the page. Used to be there (in red) on this forum, right?
 
Last Edited:
I've been working on the next version of Northwest Firearms for well over a year now, a huge update including a completely re-written front-end and redevelopment of many popular features (classifieds being the big one, finally!). I'm happy to report that we're very close to the update here. Early access to new features and additional input are a couple benefits of being a Supporting Member here, and thankfully those who've volunteered for beta testing have had mostly good things to say.

Every time we have a big update people complain about the necessity of it, so I'll mention the reasons again. In general, it's best to keep software up-to-date for security, regardless if it's website software, your home computer, or your phone. It's a constant back-and-forth between developers and those who wish to do you harm, with exploits being discovered and patch releases to fix them happening frequently. Those who run dated software by choice are assuming a risk larger than I'm willing to take. The other is that developers don't develop for outdated software (unless you pay them $$$$), so new features require the latest version. I know some of you are base model guys who don't care for options and features, and that's fine. Personally, I'm the opposite, you couldn't pay me enough to go back to vBulletin :D

Speaking to that point though, I admit I've made some mistakes with these big updates over the years. In the past I didn't fully grasp how annoying it is to have to learn a new version of a familiar system from the ground up. As I get closer to middle-age I'm now starting to see the light. One of the main goals of this update was to change as little as possible on the front-end, so as not to lose that familiarity you guys have gained over the years. I think I've done a pretty good job, but I won't know for sure until you guys weigh in.

Those who have been through these updates before know that our rollout plan usually consists of the initial development phase with input from staff, a beta period where we open it up to Supporting Members, the Southwest Firearms update and non-supporter input phase, and then the Northwest Firearms update a month or two later. I'm happy to report that, as of yesterday afternoon, Southwest Firearms is now running the new version. I still have a mile-long to-do list, but for the most part there haven't been too many issues. I'm posting this thread now that we're at the third step, to get your thoughts before we go live here. Head over, check it out, and let me know what you think :)




Please note that the new Classified System is not yet live, that will be coming at a later date (late spring, most likely). Supporting Members who want to check it out do still have access to the beta, see this thread for details :s0155:
Does the new reply function for classifieds eat in to our pm storage limits?
 
Does the new reply function for classifieds eat in to our pm storage limits?
Good call...........So just tell us the New Price for this site with zero ads /lots of pm storage/ and no bs..?

Are we grandfathered in from 09?....I think we were about 1500 members when I signed up.
O Boingo got this rolling..We were all out of work.

How many times a year is this gonna change?
I left for a while after one of them...Let me guess...hmmmGoing to Canada like every other Forum.
Then ditch politics..well thats how those folks think.....

Leave well enough alone....

td
 
Good. Thank you, Joe. We tend to be a bunch of nay-sayers, but forums are going the way of the dinosaur. SocMed will not accept us, so we'd darned better support this platform! We are extremely fortunate to even have a gun related forum. Two other forums that I frequented (50,000+ posts), went poof when they were no longer profitable. Profitable.

This is by far the largest special interest free classified section that I know of. Since one must pay for little nickel ads, newspaper adds etc., how about, say a periodic $5 to post classifieds? Everything is being sold at the "viral" price, so what's $5?

Someone(s) has to step up.

Oh! I am on two other XenForo forums. They have the "New" button on the top right of the page. Used to be there (in red) on this forum, right?

I appreciate the kinds words. The new button is at the top left on desktop, and the first item on the list in the mobile menu (in this version and the new version) :s0155:

1614011590541.png

1614011672864.png
 
Questions are a separate "function", which work the same as asking a question on a resource in the Resource Guide. They're public and do not count as a conversation/PM.

Contacting a seller privately via the contact button works the same as it is always has (by creating a conversation between just you two).
 
Questions are a separate "function", which work the same as asking a question on a resource in the Resource Guide. They're public and do not count as a conversation/PM.

Contacting a seller privately via the contact button works the same as it is always has (by creating a conversation between just you two).
Excellent thanks for clearing that up.
 
I haven't heard too much one way or the other. If you guys have any opinions, now is the time to share them! :)
 
Whenever there is a software upgrade, there will be complaints. Some people say that Grumpy Old Men was modeled after NWFA members, but I don't think so. Nevertheless, all get used to it, settle down, and business retirns to normal.
 
Whenever there is a software upgrade, there will be complaints. Some people say that Grumpy Old Men was modeled after NWFA members, but I don't think so. Nevertheless, all get used to it, settle down, and business retirns to normal.

Too accurate :s0113:

I've made several forays into beta. Sorry to report I have no scaldingly witty complaints to register. I even posted a photo without a problem.

Fantastic! I'll take lack of complaints as a good sign.

Unfortunately I know that no matter how much I ask before the update, the complaints won't start rolling in until afterward. I try to get feedback ahead of time, particularly during the development phase, so we have sufficient time to evaluate and fix issues. Once we're live there's a strong possibility it could take weeks or even months to address complaints, and if they're baked into the code because input wasn't provided beforehand, it might take years.
 
I wonder the possible value/usefulness of some kind of comment/tally/poll indicator apart from reading the body of various essays following on any in a given time frame, regarding such as SB544 etc? Sometimes it's hard to follow various threads tacked on to some OP posting a given issue.
 
I wonder the possible value/usefulness of some kind of comment/tally/poll indicator apart from reading the body of various essays following on any in a given time frame, regarding such as SB544 etc? Sometimes it's hard to follow various threads tacked on to some OP posting a given issue.

I agree. Before the update work began I was looking into ways to organize content within a thread. There were some promising ideas that I'll be revisiting once we're done with this.
 
As to forum software, NWFA members have it very good indeed. I am active on forums in various areas of interest across the US, the Netherlands and in the UK. It seems that long ago forum software engineers all got together and agreed that the only thing they would have in common is total difference and lack of intuitive navigation.

From the user's vantage point, if the forum is set up to be intuitive in operation, things follow logically and access to various features do not require navigating through a hierarchy of pages, it will do fine. With the great increase in bandwidth, storage and ease of uploading images, things have only gotten better. Some forums are virtually incomprehensible.

The page access buttons at both the top and bottom of each page are very nice. Very few forums have this seemingly obvious feature.
 

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