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If you've been around Head-Fi for a while--and if you're reading this now--you have certainly noticed that Head-Fi has undergone some significant changes in the past week. Most noticeably, we switched forum platforms. A lot of people are asking us why we've changed and are discussing what's different, so I thought I'd answer some of the questions and statements I've seen posted:
We switched forum platforms because we had to. I love the Huddler forum platform (the forum platform we were on), and still feel it's the best forum platform out there. However, we were informed that Huddler would be phased out, and so the Huddler platform (along with our long partnership with Huddler/Wikia) would be coming to an end.
No. We can't go back--none of the Huddler sites can. Again, they're shutting the Huddler platform down.
Some of the things you're used to aren't where they used to be because we're now on a completely different forum platform. That said, we are trying very hard to restore as many familiar elements as we reasonably can, as fast as we reasonably can. Despite these efforts, we will never get this system to be exactly like Huddler.
It's important to understand that Huddler (the system we were on) was a built-from-the-ground-up, custom, closed system, so there was no place, no alternative forum platform that would readily accept a direct port of everything in Huddler. For example, the Gear For Sale / Trade area of Huddler was completely unique to Huddler--the "bump" mechanism and other functionalities, the user interface / formatting...all custom.
Transitioning 16 years of content to another platform from Huddler is not a simple task. If you want to keep all the content, formatting, URLs, and functionality intact, it is in fact a monumental undertaking, especially for a small team like ours. Again, Huddler is a proprietary platform (with key components of it customized for Head-Fi), and there were no pre-configured migration tools like the kind available to get from one open licensable forum platform to another.
(By the way, the Gear FS/T area is one place where a lot of work is also happening with our team now--we know that area needs work, so we're working on it, and it's a job that requires a lot of custom coding on our side.)
Once we're past the headaches of the initial phase of the transition--once we've fixed most of what needs fixing, and improved most of what needs improving through the first part of the transition--then there's a lot of fun and exciting stuff for the site ahead. We now have a lot more latitude to work with to move Head-Fi forward now that we're fully independent. We've grown our team, and we now have full-time engineering and development in-house.
First, we fix the bugs, we make the place more livable, we complete the transition of some of the key functionalities from the Huddler platform that we weren't able to finish to our (and your) satisfaction ahead of the transition date. One thing (among many) we're working on now is differentiating logged-in and logged-out user experiences, as we did on the Huddler platform. It won't be long, and, as before, logged-in users will have fewer ad units shown, among other things.
I'll leave you with this thought for now: Over seven years ago, when we transitioned from vBulletin to Huddler, the response was...rough (to put it mildly). The first days after the change are always the hardest. Just as we did with Huddler, we'll once again quickly get ourselves situated into this platform, with a lot of work over here, and with the help of your feedback. I promise you'll be seeing continuous adjustments, optimizations, feature restorations, and fixes.
There's a reason this has only happened once before in Head-Fi's 16 years--because it's hard on the community and hard on the people behind the scenes who have to make those changes.
Thank you for your understanding and patience, everyone.
Why did we switch forum platforms?
We switched forum platforms because we had to. I love the Huddler forum platform (the forum platform we were on), and still feel it's the best forum platform out there. However, we were informed that Huddler would be phased out, and so the Huddler platform (along with our long partnership with Huddler/Wikia) would be coming to an end.
Can we just revert back Huddler?
No. We can't go back--none of the Huddler sites can. Again, they're shutting the Huddler platform down.
Why didn't you discuss this with us beforehand?
By the time we found out we had to move and did our preliminary project planning to figure out what needed to be accomplished and how long it would all take, we knew we would need every minute we had until the transition due date. I felt that putting this out there for discussion would have been rather disingenuous, as we simply had no time to discuss and debate this (again, moving was mandatory, not optional), nor did we have the time to do a proper beta test beyond our internal testing.
Why is X feature missing? Why is Y feature missing? Why are things not where we're used to them being?
Some of the things you're used to aren't where they used to be because we're now on a completely different forum platform. That said, we are trying very hard to restore as many familiar elements as we reasonably can, as fast as we reasonably can. Despite these efforts, we will never get this system to be exactly like Huddler.
It's important to understand that Huddler (the system we were on) was a built-from-the-ground-up, custom, closed system, so there was no place, no alternative forum platform that would readily accept a direct port of everything in Huddler. For example, the Gear For Sale / Trade area of Huddler was completely unique to Huddler--the "bump" mechanism and other functionalities, the user interface / formatting...all custom.
Transitioning 16 years of content to another platform from Huddler is not a simple task. If you want to keep all the content, formatting, URLs, and functionality intact, it is in fact a monumental undertaking, especially for a small team like ours. Again, Huddler is a proprietary platform (with key components of it customized for Head-Fi), and there were no pre-configured migration tools like the kind available to get from one open licensable forum platform to another.
(By the way, the Gear FS/T area is one place where a lot of work is also happening with our team now--we know that area needs work, so we're working on it, and it's a job that requires a lot of custom coding on our side.)
Once we're past the headaches of the initial phase of the transition--once we've fixed most of what needs fixing, and improved most of what needs improving through the first part of the transition--then there's a lot of fun and exciting stuff for the site ahead. We now have a lot more latitude to work with to move Head-Fi forward now that we're fully independent. We've grown our team, and we now have full-time engineering and development in-house.
First, we fix the bugs, we make the place more livable, we complete the transition of some of the key functionalities from the Huddler platform that we weren't able to finish to our (and your) satisfaction ahead of the transition date. One thing (among many) we're working on now is differentiating logged-in and logged-out user experiences, as we did on the Huddler platform. It won't be long, and, as before, logged-in users will have fewer ad units shown, among other things.
I'll leave you with this thought for now: Over seven years ago, when we transitioned from vBulletin to Huddler, the response was...rough (to put it mildly). The first days after the change are always the hardest. Just as we did with Huddler, we'll once again quickly get ourselves situated into this platform, with a lot of work over here, and with the help of your feedback. I promise you'll be seeing continuous adjustments, optimizations, feature restorations, and fixes.
There's a reason this has only happened once before in Head-Fi's 16 years--because it's hard on the community and hard on the people behind the scenes who have to make those changes.
Thank you for your understanding and patience, everyone.
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