As many of you have noticed the next version of RPoL, version 1.5, has been a long time coming.

There's a lot of reasons for this and while I won't bore you with my real life woes I will say that I have not been able to dedicate the time I've needed to complete, what has become, a very large project.  The upcoming change is so large that it really requires me to sit down for a solid month and work it all out, finish it all up.  Alas that's pretty much impossible and I find myself having to take breaks from coding and when I finally come back to it I've forgotten where I'm up to, what I've done, and (in some cases) wonder why I've even done it.

I can't set aside the large block of time that I need to finish the site.  I want to but I can't.  The interruptions set me back hours, if not days, work making it a daunting (and unappealing) prospect to resume two steps back from where I left off.

Basically, I bit off more than I can chew.

So I need to take smaller bites.

Thus I'm here to say that 1.5 is coming, hopefully very soon.

But it's not the 1.5 that we've been talking about.

The version numbering strategy for RPoL requires me to increment the number after the first decimal point whenever a major revision change is made to the site, normally some fundamental underlying structure or very large user-perspective change.

The "original" 1.5 was so large a change that even implementing part of it is a major revision.  That's what I'm about to do; implement parts.  So here's the plan;

• Version 1.5
   - Migrate the user database to mySQL and generate unique IDs for each user
   - Migrate the user 'stickylist' to mySQL
• Version 1.6
   - Implement rMail
   - Optimise (completely redo) the cookie routines
   - New "Wanted - Players" advertising mechanism
• Version 1.7
   - Migrate the character database to mySQL and generate unique IDs for each character
• Version 1.8 (a.k.a. "1.5")
   -  Start utilising the unique IDs generated above (the biggest coding change)

The other 100+ minor changes that the original 1.5 has will also happen throughout this process.  Changes such as a revised web layout, much nicer help system and new GM menus.  1.5 through to 1.7 should happen a lot faster than the last, so I will endeavour to implement as many of the minor changes as early as possible.

This is the current plan.  It is not set in stone.  I might find that two things are easily done together, or two shouldn't be done together.  But I'll do my best to keep you informed and you'll hopefully see the site resume the development cycle we had nearly two years ago.

Good stuff Jase. No need to feel like you need to rush it - I'm sure I can vouch for everyone when I say that I'd rather wait longer and see the already high quality of RPoL be increased to an even higher level, rather than see a rushed job and suddenly find myself wishing that 1.5 had never happened.

In short - take your time ;)

~J

Couldn't agree more with what Jaguar said. In cases like this, quality takes precedence over deadline.

=D

Don't sweat it, jase. We're all running here on your good graces, graces that we only get because of your generosity. If it's ruining your RL, don't do it. :)

What they said!  We love Rpol, most of these changes are just gravy and we can afford to wait for them.  Take it easy and don't forget that you are the benevolent dictator, not us!

True, very true. Each and every one of us (right?) could wait for a long time, but your RL can't. Go with what's important first, then after that, you can have an easier time doing the rest. :)

No worries. Just because it's taking a while doesn't mean we don't love you *hug!* I can't wait to see what an awesome job it'll be!

Jase, while we appreciate your time and effort, we all understand the efforts and callings of the dreaded real life.  Don't feel you have to kill yourself for us.  We're all fine with the way the system works now, even though we may offer a suggestion now and again.  This is your house, not ours.  We're all guests here, and if you want to clean it up, that's fine.  But don't feel you have to on our account.  Friends don't worry about things like that. ^__^

Take your time, Jase.  Go out and have fun.  Don't worry about 1.5 so much.  We're here for the duration, no matter what.

Thank you for what you have done to this point.  It's great that we all have a place like this to play.

Jase,
I think we're all in agreement that the site you've built thusfar is a winner, and that we'd all rather make sure you're not going nuts trying to get everything up and running all at once.

You've given us all a place to have some fun, and even if you never changed a thing here, we'd all still be riding this digital horse to Gamingtown.

So thanks for all you've done, and a huge thanks for all you still want to do.

I whole heartily agree with all that has been said and I would like to say THANKS For without this site these last 4+ years my gaming life would have been for naught during my RL gaming groups little break up periods.

Yup, I agree with all the aforementioned statements.  Besides, if you rush it and it cuts into your RL, then it becomes a chore not an enjoyable pasttime.  In a nutshell, you will start to despise even doing it.  Therefore, take your time and we can all just sit back and enjoy what we got right now.  *g*

Yes, what the last 10 people said.

Heck split it up even more and add a few more steps, make the final version of this set of changes version 2.0!

Jase, the site is plenty good enough, ANYTHING else you add is icing on the cake.

If you push yourself too hard, and you'll just get fed up with the place.  I suspect you don't get much time to actually use RPoL yourself, and it was originally created for your benefit.

Work on v1.5 at your own pace, and take a little time out for yourself.

Ditto on BBR...'Nuff said

Not to follow the crowd, but thanks for everything so far, jase, and take your time with the rest of it. We all appreciate what you're doing!

One question, though... where do the Mature flags and pay-to-play Adult games and all those other "controversial" things get implemented?

Heck, call it RPol XP and we'd still use it Jase.

It matters not what you number it, how many steps you need to acheive it, just do your best and the hell with the rest of us. This site is your baby, you just let us space and stuff. We love you worship you for this and everything you do for us on top of the current site is just gravy.

Don't let those who moan put you off. RPOL is a great place and will remain so for as long is it exists.

I couldn't agree more.

*glances at the list*
what about the adult and the mature things?
has that changed yet or about to be changed to what has been discussed for months?

just curious because I do not think I saw it on the offical list in this thread

"Me too!"  :)

They probably aren't major changes (in terms of required coding) so I'd think they fall under this statement:

*nod*
i suppose ^^

   Okay, I may be in the minority here, but do we need a 1.5? I mean yeah, all the suggested changes sound great, but the site is already so great that I'm like, "Ok, why?" Not that I'm trying to argue against the change, just saying that it's not like the change is to fix something that needs fixing. It's like the difference between getting plastic surgery becos you were in a fire and getting surgery becos you don't like your nose, you know? So my point is just that it takes however long it takes, and til then I plan to keep enjoying what is already a near-perfect setup, that's all.

   ps: Thank you so much for this site. It has helped me, literally, in more ways than just entertainment.

Thanks for the love guys 'n' gals, I can feel it down here in Oz!  (c;  Nobody's ever expressed impatience with the development cycle, except myself.  I think the biggest indicator that I needed to chop it up was the fact I wasn't looking forward to coding, which I normally do.

Good question about the flags.  There were so many cool features in 1.5 that I might end up making the new 1.5 a fairly large change anyway, I just want to implement them all!  And because they're not horribly large and complex coding changes, I'm looking forward to coding them again!  (c;

When I said 100+ changes I wasn't kidding.  Here's the old minor changes list;

Minor:

• Made all the <table>, <tr/h/d> commands case insensitive.  Forced display to lowercase for valid XHTML.
• Added 'minus' symbol to deleted games that a person used to GM.
• Fixed SQL query error when trying to resurrect a game with no posts.
• Separated the general CSS into simple and advance files for old and new browsers.
• Allowed enters between table commands and displayed the intentional new lines inside table cells.
• Intelligent 'Go back' button.  Works with browsers that do and do not support javascript.
• Nicer, cleaner warning and error messages.  Sometimes.
• Fixed the link to 'View character description' when the GM updates a description.
• Removed the 'number of games created in the last 7 days' line from the RPoL information screen as linux doesn't actually store a file creation date.
• Allowed ' /' at the end of img links (ala XHTML format).
• Permitted the use of <hr> (and <hr />) in messages for horizontal lines.
• Allowed more complex linking (url and images) and better security checking thereof.
• Allowed more ISO codes, such as ½ (&frac12;).  Allowed uppercase in ISO codes.
• New & cleaner message icons.
• Forums can no longer advertise for new players, the flag bit used for thread bumping (see next point).
• Ability to turn off the date updating for threads when a reply is made.
• Games are now considered inactive after 61 days of no posts (61 being (normally) closer to two months than the old 60 days).
• Added an extra warning to the login screen regarding allowing mail from rpol.net.
• Standardised page numbering and modified the layout.
• Fixed routine that was supposed to display page specific help for the GM menus so it now does.
• Stopped email addresses in subjects being hyperlinks to the email address.
• Fixed dice roller so that 'on behalf of' rolls are now shown for the character they were done on behalf of.
• Expanded the dice roller functionality to allow multiple rolls (eg "1d6,1d4" (not multiples of a roll)).
• The GM can now configure the dice roller to have dice and options preset and preselected.
• The dice roller can now record individual rolls, max of 20 die.
• Improved blank line suppression from removal of private lines.
• Reduced the instances of the [quote] link when it either shouldn't or couldn't be used.
• Added a 'Mature Content' flag.
• Improved login procedure.  When signing up for the first time RPoL will display a peliminary welcome screen with quick-link to the login screen until they login with the password sent to them.  It then asks the user to change to a better password (and continues to ask every time they login) if they're using the pregenerated one.
• (Hopefully) slightly clearer profile information screen for user information.
• Changed the default colour scheme (for visitors and new users) to white as that's the most popular scheme.
• 'Login' quick link now returns to you the page you were last on.
• There is no longer a 'Thread Closed' hyperlink (in closed threads) that sends you back to the game/forum menu, just the inactive text.
• Fixed double processing of some ampersand codes.
• Gave more control to moderators.
• Permitted the renaming of games and changing of the game owner at the same time.
• Fixed bug where game names containing "& " (trailing space intended) were not allowed.
• Fixed bug where viewing the character information wouldn't display the 'not available' image when the image server wasn't.
• Fixed the redirection routine that could lose some passed information (namely after an ampersand).
• Added warning message when a user goes to leave a page with a composed message.  IE4+ only (afaik).
• Moderators (only) can now search for the text within threads (in a forum).
• Fixed some security flaws (too restrictive and too loose) in the GM module.
• GMs can now permanently delete player deleted messages.
• After posting a message the redirection now pauses for two seconds, allowing further destinations to be selected.
• Merged the GMs map upload script into the main game admin script rather than it's own separate one.
• Expanded game searches so that a GM Alias can be searched for.
• Fixed per forum banning so it actually works.
• Changing from fixed to variable width in character sheets changes the onscreen editing layout (requires javascript support).
• Improved composition of messages.  Bold et al will now alter the selected text if there is some, or insert at the current cursor if there is none.  (Limited browser support).
• Fixed access requests with long game names; automatically truncate subjects over 60 characters.
• Updated the cookies so they are www sub-domain independent.  i.e. browsing www.rpol.net and rpol.net both sets cookies for 'rpol.net'.
• Added the xxx.my.rpol.net wildcard domain to still allow one unique cookie per domain for those who share computers and used to use "rpol.net" and "www.rpol.net" with separate logins.  Bob and Jane can now still share using "bob.my.rpol.net" and "jane.my.rpol.net" (or whatever they like).
• Fixed a bug that would allow the user to list all the threads in a game (though they still could not view them).
• A warning is displayed if a character sheet is submitted (by either uploading or editing) that contains tabs.
• Increased the map size allowance to 50kb (from 30kb).  Estimated an increase in traffic of 3GB a month.
• Added check for the portraits server to the "Miscellaneous RPoL Information" screen under FAQs.
• Added 'Mark all as Read' link for forums to set all thread indicators for the forum as read.
• Added column and individual cell alignment for tables in messages.
• Fixed the large security flaw that would allow anyone to update any character description.
• Fixed an error that could occur when updating the portraits.
• 'Refined' the colour schemes and 'improved' the message layout.
• Moderators and admins can now create forums (rather than having to create a game and then mess around with files).
• Added <small> and <centre> (or <center>) code for formatting text.
• Completely redone rPoll, now supports sub-polls and error checking.
• Added the Earthdawn system to the dice roller.
• Added 'Bump' checkbox to the edit message screen for GMs and Moderators so they can automatically update the thread on editing.
• Expanded the thread management utilities.  GMs and Forum Moderators can now merge threads and delete messages en masse.
• Added and refined the Storyteller/White Wolf/World of Darkness dice roller options for all (most) systems and versions.
• Changed the dice roller so it didn't use any square brackets so it caused problems when copying and pasting into private lines.
• Added more warnings as to what the "Clear the game new message indicators" under "Your Game & Forum Sticky List" does.
• Better 'Spaminator' e-mail address detection (and thus protection).
• Fixed a coding oversight that would allow any GM to delete a game.
• More error checking and retrying on game creation.
• Fixed row highlighting and hyperlinking so that shift-clicking (to open in a new window) doesn't open the link in a new window as well as the current one.
• Creating a new account now automatically looks up the mail servers for the domain and checks that the email address is valid and active.
• Password retrieval requests now include the IP address of who requested it (unless it's a moderator or admin, in which case it'll state that instead).
• Improved profanity checker for game names.  No longer falsely detect profanities in phrases like "Star Wars Emperor" or "It's Progress".
• Increased the maximum allowed number of consecutive alphabetical characters to 60.
• Post count on a message is now inclusive of the post you've just made.
• Implemented a message size limit due to previous instances of message sabotage.  51,200 bytes (characters).
• Stopped public/archive threads being editable by anyone but the GM.
• Game introduction can now display images and hand coded hyperlinks, like a GM normally can with in-game messages.
• Added a button (javascript) to increase the size of the message body on the composition screen.  (No, there isn't a global option available.)
• Better group membership detection on message replies so you don't get drop-down choices of one character.
• Improved (X)HTML layout to improve rankings in (most) search engines.
• Added Deadlands & Deck of Cards to the dice roller.
• Added 'Unique Die' for rolls so people can ensure that the same number is not rolled twice for a set of die.
• Fixed detection of linked images in messages; namely accidental complete removal and, more importantly, permitting extra code.
• Fixed the hackmaster penetration system on the dice roller.
• Fixed a problem with private threads that have being removed off a users list not reappearing when someone replies.
• Allowed game searches of 3 or more characters (rather than 4) considering 4 was the minimum so that game systems couldn't be searched for but the game acroymn list was just modified to 4 characters to get around this.
• New, dynamic, game limit algorithm.  Automatically allows established users more games.
• Faster dice rolling results.
• Added audible alert to the stickylist.
• Fixed some spelling errors, made some more.  Drank some coffee.
• Improved the new-column rendering on the main menu, less lop-sided lists.
• Increase in game groups from 10 to 16.
• Changed the layout of the help screens to a much larger and much more user-friendly setup.
• Fixed incorrect rendering of ampersand codes.
• Games are now listed against the users RPoL user name, not their GM alias.
• Increased the maximum length for fake (fudged) dice rolls from 40 to 100 characters.
• Migrated the message error text to a more visible location.  It now lists all errors, not just the first.

And I'm aware I didn't answer the question.  Probably 1.5, but maybe not.  (c;