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A quick note to let you all know that we just handed over the data files to
start the migration. They'll import the user data and get things
configured. Connie and I will review to do a Q check and then we're going
to have Eric change the techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com email address over to
the new system.
It hasn't happened yet and we'll send you a few notes letting you know when
everything is finished. This note is to give you a heads up that you may be
getting welcome messages and other things over the next few hours. Or
something may go wrong and the entire Encyclopedia Britannica may find its
way into your account, but we think this is very unlikely. :)
The overall process has been straightforward but far more intricate that
anticipated. We have three groups of people - those who get every note from
the system, those who get a summary from the system and those who get
nothing from the system. We share this little fact because we've done our
very best to ensure your address has been placed in the correct group. But,
mistakes happen since we did all of this by hand and the size of the list
made my Excel awfully angry a few times.
However, correcting our mistakes is far easier with the new system than the
old. Other than if you dislike, hate, would like another user name
everything else can be updated by you in the user profile settings. The
user name can't be updated by you, but it can be updated by us so please
just email us and we'll make the update as soon as possible.
There will be a little more chatter on the new platform because we will
also have comments and discussions started on TechWhirl.com. These are
relevant to all of us on the list but we have noticed the style of
commenting is different than a lot of the conversations here. We'll take a
temperature sometime in the future and then decide if we move the
TechWhirl.Com comments into a separate category so those who want to opt in
can or not. But, for today the Jets and the Sharks are going to hang out
near the same water and we'll see how it goes.
The system also provides awards and has a little gamification built into
it. For instance, we've created a TECHWR-L badge for everyone being moved
over. It uses an older TECHWR-L Logo and will be displayed by your profile.
The system is set to send you a note and let you know when new badges are
added or your rank increases. Anyone coming from this list will have a Rank
of 2 and a few longtime members will have a Rank of 3. Other than possible
taunting, this doesn't really mean much today but we can enable additional
capabilities per level. A good example will be the ability to upload files.
It's off but will be turned on for 3s first, then 2s and probably remain
off for Level 1 folks since if they're active they should clear through
level 1 in about a month.
Level 0 - or newbies - won't be able to post in HTML, upload or use the T
key. Well, 2 out of 3 of those are true plus they'll be moderated as well.
###
Daily Digest - Still a work in progress and we anticipate having something
in place today or early tomorrow. The system doesn't have it baked in like
MailMan so we're looking into 3rd party options. The Data refining has
taken longer than anticipated, which has impacted the search for our Daily
Digest solution.
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Thank you all for being members and for your patience. Our goal is a 100%
satisfaction but statistics suggest about 90% of this going well and most
people being setup great, 5% will need some updates and 5% will be really
upset. Our goal is simply to get everyone happy and comfortable. We didn't
intend to mess up and will work hard to fix whatever this change has broken
so we ask for at least one kind shot across the bow before ya rip us. We
screw up twice then pull the trigger privately; somehow fumble 3 times then
go for the public rebuke but we don't anticipate it coming to that. :)
Take care and we'll be in touch - hopefully on the new system.
Our current system will run up to the cut-over so feel free to chat - we'll
work to move over the conversations that are occurring as soon as possible.
al
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