Understanding the recent changes

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Michael Branning
Registry Trustee
Posts: 773
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 1991 2:08 pm
Location: Arden NC within sight of the Blue Ridge Parkway
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Understanding the recent changes

#1 Post by Michael Branning »

I have added this new forum temporarily, so members can better understand the recent changes, some problems that occurred that are making things harder, and where/how to get help logging in to 356Talk.

The club has had 2 websites for many years, although it looked like just one. The first I’ll call the “main website” and the second is this site, the “356Talk forum”. The main website is located at https:\\porsche356registry.org and the 356Talk forum at https:\\forum.porsche356registry.org. This hasn’t changed. What has changed is the old main website had custom coding that overrode the 356Talk website separate user name and password system. This is not supported by ClubExpress so we’ve gone back to the way it was prior to 2014, where there is a separate use name and password stored for the forum.

We appreciate this is a point of frustration for a number of members and we are working hard to get everyone access to the sites.
Michael Branning
356 Registry Vice President/Trustee
'64 SR Coupe
61 S90 Roadster

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Michael Branning
Registry Trustee
Posts: 773
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 1991 2:08 pm
Location: Arden NC within sight of the Blue Ridge Parkway
Instagram: @mtbranning
Contact:

Why Change?

#2 Post by Michael Branning »

Why change? The old main website site was obsolete and couldn’t support the club’s ongoing needs.

The old website was custom-coded with Ruby on Rails. Any feature we wanted we had to pay for…and there was a lot missing. The new website platform is built with standard software vs full-custom software and is 10x more capable. It is supported by a company dedicated to Membership organizations. (Www.clubexpress.com) It runs the club’s business functions and can be continuously updated by our volunteers. (Before, we had to pay a software engineer just to change text on some of the pages!) ClubExpress even provides US-based technical support by phone and email to the Registry staff and also for members. They continually add features to the software which benefits the 2500+ organizations using their software.

The 356Forum software hasn’t been upgraded in years. It was running non-secure HTTP protocol as well. With the launch of the new website we’ve upgraded to HTTPS and also adjusted the server to have more bandwidth, so the slowdowns you’ve seen in the past are far less likely.
Michael Branning
356 Registry Vice President/Trustee
'64 SR Coupe
61 S90 Roadster

User avatar
Michael Branning
Registry Trustee
Posts: 773
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 1991 2:08 pm
Location: Arden NC within sight of the Blue Ridge Parkway
Instagram: @mtbranning
Contact:

Login challenges: User Names

#3 Post by Michael Branning »

Each of the 2 websites has independant usernames and passwords. These can be made to match for ease of use, but first you have to get logged in. Some members have had problems and its not all their fault.

Main website
We imported everyone’s previous user names from the old website into the new main website to help make the transition easier. Members have to establish a new password on their first login for the main site. Unfortunately, there was a problem with ClubExpress that removed the space between some members names: For example “Mike Smith” became “MikeSmith” which caused a lot support calls and confusion. This didn't affect all members. This has been fixed, but those user names in ClubExpress still have the space missing.

356Talk has a separate username/password system which wan't changed. Most members user names match, but those that had the space removed in the main website do not. So in my example:

Member Mike Smith
Main site username:MikeSmith
356Talk username: Mike Smith

Once you are logged into the main website you can edit your user name to restore the space. (We as administrators cannot change it.)

If you are having problems with logging in to either site, this may be part of the issue. Contact us if you need help…contacts on this page:
https://porsche356registry.org/content. ... _id=503555
Michael Branning
356 Registry Vice President/Trustee
'64 SR Coupe
61 S90 Roadster

User avatar
Michael Branning
Registry Trustee
Posts: 773
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 1991 2:08 pm
Location: Arden NC within sight of the Blue Ridge Parkway
Instagram: @mtbranning
Contact:

Password Headaches

#4 Post by Michael Branning »

Having to keep up with passwords is a pain. Unfortunately if we didn’t restrict the site it would be full of spam. Most people would be shocked at the number of bots and scammers constantly attacking websites in general. So we are stuck with them.

For this transition we took on Feb 15, both websites needed new passwords to be established. All members were pre-registered on both sites, but password resets were required. It is OK and probably easier to use the same password on 356Talk and the main website. (And set the user names the same too).

Each site stores its own password, so the password you set on the main site will not work the first time you log into 356Talk.

If you are having problems getting logged into the main website, please reach out to ClubExpress Support. Lori Schutz is also available to you as am I. If you have 356Talk login problems, we can help as well. Support options are listed on this page:

https://porsche356registry.org/content. ... _id=503555
Michael Branning
356 Registry Vice President/Trustee
'64 SR Coupe
61 S90 Roadster

User avatar
Michael Branning
Registry Trustee
Posts: 773
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 1991 2:08 pm
Location: Arden NC within sight of the Blue Ridge Parkway
Instagram: @mtbranning
Contact:

Why can't I post and search the Forum?

#5 Post by Michael Branning »

You are not logged in as a member. Many members have been confused and re-registered, instead of just resetting their password for the forum. The new registration doesn't have member rights including posting and searching.

The short version: The main site and the forum have separate user names and passwords. All your posts and stuff are still there on the forum. See the link below and then email me if you need help.

https://porsche356registry.org/content. ... 602&actr=4
Michael Branning
356 Registry Vice President/Trustee
'64 SR Coupe
61 S90 Roadster

User avatar
Michael Branning
Registry Trustee
Posts: 773
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 1991 2:08 pm
Location: Arden NC within sight of the Blue Ridge Parkway
Instagram: @mtbranning
Contact:

Why doesn’t the Link in a forum post work?

#6 Post by Michael Branning »

There are many embedded links to the old website, often to technical documents. All of that content was moved to the new website in the document library in PDF format.

The best approach for finding the information is the Technical Library page: https://porsche356registry.org/content. ... _id=481598

There are direct links to many of these documents in the Master Index. You can also search the technical library.
Michael Branning
356 Registry Vice President/Trustee
'64 SR Coupe
61 S90 Roadster

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