The Orchard -- the official forum for the band Over The Rhine -- has enjoyed tremendous success since throwing open these old wooden gates in November of 2003.

More than 84,000 posts have been made, and more than 790 members are registered on the Orchard.

The Orchard runs forum software called Invision Power Board, version 1.3.1. A short time ago, Invision released a new version, 2.0.x, of their forum software with a variety of new or improved features including:

* Forum users can quote MULTIPLE messages in one reply.
* Quoted posts have a small icon which takes you back to the original post that is being quoted.
* Multiple Attachments with auto-thumbnail generation.
* Ability to place attachments inline within the post.
* View all topic attachments in one window.
* Ability to search in topics.
* Optimized search result display.
* Ability to attach files to polls when starting a poll.
* Multiple 'views' of topics -- view the forum the way you want!
* New Topic & Forum subscription options:
- None: This will not send out any emails but it will retain the forum or topic in the subscription panel which will allow you to 'bookmark' favorite topics or forums.

- Delayed: This is 'classic' mode. The board will email you notification when you're not active on the board.

- Immediate: This will email you immediately after a new topic has been made (forum subscription) or reply has been made (topic subscription). This will send an email regardless of activity and it will send multiple emails if there are multiple replies.

- Daily Digest: This will email you a digest of all new topics (forum) or replies (topic) in one email -- once per day.

- Weekly Digest: This acts in the same way as the daily digest but it will digest the week and send it once per week.
* Ability to attach files to a Personal Message.
* Improved new PM notification.
* Full-text searching.
* Custom BBCode support.
* ...and more.

Invision's forum product is no longer free with version 2.0.x. A strategic decision to keep Over The Rhine's online forum on the cutting edge was made and Over the Rhine purchased a 'lifetime' license for Invision Power Board. Shortly, the Orchard will be upgraded to the new version of Invision Power Board. Thanks to Karin & Linford for supporting the Orchard by licensing Invision Power Board!

The upgrade to the new version of Invision will retain everything from the previous version. All messages, users, avatars, and everything else will be safe through the upgrade. A small bit of downtime (during which time the Orchard will be unavailable) is necessary; I am told that it will take about 2 hours to complete the upgrade, though I do not yet know when that downtime will be. I will attempt to minimize the disruption as and get everything back up and running as quickly as possible. I will notify users as far in advance as possible of the required downtime for the upgrade.

The 'skin' (which defines the colors & 'look' of the Orchard) has already been upgraded to the 2.0.x version as have the few modifications that we use. Once the upgrade is completed, the Orchard should look pretty familiar.

After the new software is installed, we will provide a series of "Tech Tips" in the "Forum Stuff" forum that describe some of the new features and how to use them. These new "tech tips" will start with IPB20: in the title to help you differentiate them from older topics. As older topics are updated, their titles will be changed to include the IPB20: prefix.

Should you have questions or comments about this upgrade, please post them below.

Cool! Many thanks to Drew, Karin & Linford for keeping us among the vanguard of cyberspace community building.

who the hell is over the rhine?

~fff

Thanks for the time and effort in achieving this! Thanks to K&L for giving so much for the good of Rhinelanders everywhere!

One question: Will this increase the storage space of PMs?

Yowzah....Yippidy doo dah...
Thank you.
Thanks so much to Karin and Linford for supporting our beloved family and allowing us to optimize our playground 'forever'.
You guys are my musical heroes...I sincerely means that.
Thank you, Drew...you are da man, dood.
We are so fortunate to have your expertise and enthusiasm and commitment to our online community. The 'Big Apple' Rocks my world.

Good dogs, everyone.
::pant pant::

This made me laugh out loud.


WooHoo on the upgrade. Thanks Karin and Linford, and to Drew for your time and effort.

very nice drew. thanks for the effort and the update.

and as always, much thanks to K&L for the consideration and commitment to their fans, it is apprectated.

Thanks to Drew, Karin & Linford!

That's all nice and well, but I could use a little more cowbell.

It should be noted that the new version of Invision has 83% more cowbell, so everyone should be happy.

This is exciting! Thanks to all who are making this possible.

Yes, but will there be a logo next to the orchard url in my browser?

Patrik

This is exciting... In fact, it's moving very quickly.

The new forum has been purchased and received, and the upgrade will likely occur sometime today (January 13, 2005).

What you can expect... The Orchard will be unavailable for a short period of time. After that time, it will come back up (new version) with a weird looking skin. Once the Orchard is back up, I'll be replacing the skin with the new version and making a few other tweaks. Then we'll be back to full operation.

I dunno... That may be something I can arrange... Lemme get through the upgrade first, and then we can consider that, eh?

Here we go, folks... The new version of Invision Power Board is installed. The skin changed just a little bit, but I think it's close enough that you'll still feel comfortable.

I'll be posting helpful articles, and am anxious to answer any questions you've got.

Let me know if anything doesn't work as you expect...

It looks funny in here!
Where am I?
~m

I kindof like the new look. I think.

There are some interesting icons....

Thanks, Drew.

You'll get used to it quickly!

WOWZA!

It's like a brand new toy!

I like that it shows right up front where we're from.

Eek! The text is waaaay too legible now.

Drew, sir? YOU, sir, rock.

Thank you, Karin and Linford! We'll make it up to you in ticket sales!

Drew, Is there a list of the meanings of all the icons?

Ooo... Now you can spy on where people are!

What a neat surprise to find this morning! Thank you Time Difference, I logged on today and it was all done already.

A big "wow" to you, Drew, and a thank you as well and extended gratefully to Karin & Linford.

Drew..Are we supposed to be in outline, standard or linear?

Standard does the usual format we're used to, Trudy. Outline displays the first post and then a list of the others in reverse chronological order. Linear displays the first post and then the current page. (I played around earlier.)

I prefer STANDARD, but you can use whichever one you like! Try 'em and see what appeals!

Hey Drew, all the new tech tips are listed in "View New Posts," but not under the "Forum Stuff" heading when I click on it. Do I have my settings wrong?

EDIT: Never mind ... I was thinking they were pinned. :: sheepish grin ::

Drew, I hope this is not posted somewhere else and I missed it.
The arrows (up and down) next to the report icon only seem to work to go to the top. Is it supposed to go to the end as well?
DUMB.

They only go back to the top, Trudes...

This is weird. It is like the home got new furniture or something.

And a new furnace, plumbing, and electric service. There's a lot of new good stuff here.

Explore, enjoy, and let me know of any questions!

I love the fact that the "report" button is way far away from the reply and quote functions. That rules. I don't know how many times I've accidently hit report instead of quote.

Is this the skin we will have? Coz I think it's kind of space consuming... Especially the search result page...

Patrik

And the colors are v. muted. Is this all set in stone?

thanks, Karin, Lindord, and Drew.... two thumbs way up in my book.

oh, and K&L, please come out west.... i'll support you guys for sure if you come out there.

I know how many times you've done that!

This skin is pretty close to final. There are a few changes I'm hoping to make, mostly small and cosmetic.

I know the colors are rather muted. That's one of the things I really like about it.

Something realy annoying is that in quick reply, "Enable email notifications of replies" is checked unless I uncheck it. Is there someway we can change this default to unchecked?

My Controls->Email Settings.

HRM. That doesn't seem to help it. I'm exploring... If anyone else finds a solution, lemme know.

'cept now Drew will be getting reports from me when I miss the arrow-up icon.

One problem I have had so far is I keep hitting the wrong Quote button...If I want to quote the last post, I always seem to hit the quote button from the post above it....

There does not seem to be any clear division between posts, the icons related to posts are unclear which they are going to....or maybe I just keep clicking the wrong buttons because I'm stupid...

No, I keep having that issue too, Stiv... It takes some getting used to!

OK...good to know I am not the only one.

Oh...is that why I keep getting emails? I've been confused.

you're getting emails cause we love you lara, silly girl . . . .

tee-hee.

xoxo

Awwww...

Love you too, cutie.

The most users online was reset I think....we lost our record of 41.

And I like how I can set my own 'custom' title.

I love the members search, members name begins with....