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Here the state of the nation.
We are currently sorting the T-shirt order with our supplier. Not got an ETA from them on completion but I'll be back with an update when we do. We are putting in an order for almost 200 t-shirts!
VIP migration is going well and to plan. The new site is pretty much set up on the new server now and is functioning pretty well. We are at the optimisation stage ie. making sure it is speedy and the cache is set up as best as it can be. The site search has blown me away with how quick it is. We have a meeting with the WP VIP engineers scheduled for Thursday where we'll be explaining to them how we need the site to operate. The plan from there is they will help us get everything running as fast and efficiently as possible.
The schedule for release of the site on the new server is still the end of this month.
Finally the current 502 Club raffle for the Niner Jet 9 RDO currently has just over £3k in tickets sold. It's a bike worth almost £5k so if you know of anyone who would like a ticket then please share the heck of it. I know that reduces your own odds of winning but it's the right thing to do and you are good people 🙂
Cheers everyone.
Mark
Fantastic news! Appreciate the update.
Just a reminder... At launch the site will look the same as it does now. Once we are happy with that first step we will start on the development and improvements.
Also, while this is all good news and things with the server are going to plan, we are still not financially safe, yet. The big server bill has been paid (Thanks to you) but we are still working hard to ensure the rest of the business works sustainably. So many of you have donated and subscribed and I'm not asking for you to do more, but if you know of anyone who may like to join us or buy a raffle ticket then please spread the word.
Things you can do that help us.
Click links in the PSA thread and in the RH column on desktop (Those at the bottom are pretty much all affiliate links that we get commission from - some we get a small amount just for the clicks).
- Spot deals around the web, please post them in the PSA thread with a working link.
- Sign up to our mailing lists. (The larger our opt in mailing list the greater the opportunity we have to get sponsors on board.)
- Watch our videos.
- White list us in your adblocker (I know.. I know)
While you do that we are working hard to create content that sponsors are interested in paying us to be part of. The more we get sponsors on board the less reliant we need to be on the types of ads that just piss us all off and the better the experience for all of us.
Cheers everyone for you support.
Mark
We had a meeting yesterday with the Wordpress VIP engineers who are supporting us through the migration process. It was very positive and between us we have identified some important areas where we can improve the response of the site. They are about to start a process of load testing on our new site on their servers. This will take some time but it will lead us to where the pain points so we can fix them.
Anthony and Andy are working really hard to get everything ready for the new launch but to manage expectations it does look like it launch will be in June rather then end of this month. It depends on how the testing goes and what it shows up. But so far so good.
I thought you might like to see a short clip of the new search that we have with the new server. It's rudimentary at the moment. It surfaces results as you type and it pulls in forum content too. At the moment it is only indexing the topic titles and the OP content and not replies, but we are working on that. Ignore styling and stuff.
https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/VIP-search.mp4
I just checked my tickets and it looks like I must have come 2nd. Great news for the winner and I really hope the money helped* STW.
*I only bought the tickets to help the great work you and your team do so not worried about not winning this time.
Glad to hear the migration is going to plan behind the scenes. 👍
@WorldClassAccident I came second too! 👍😁
Update: 28th May
The new site caching is starting to fall into place which is making moving from page to page really quick. Of course, there's no load on it yet which is why the VIP engineers are running load testing (Simulating 500-1000 people at once accessing the site).
The site search is coming along nicely. It's currently indexing the site (over 10 million posts), which is a job that will take at least 24 hours. The bulk of all the images (almost a quarter of a million) are now transferred and in the right places.
😊
All good news - but don’t forget to ask the VIP engineers to test the site load for when tjagain gets revved up in a debate! It could push it over the edge! 😀
Mark, I'm a digital only subscriber and have tried a couple of times to upgrade to print and not been able to complete. It may be user error on my end but it it seems quite hard to work out process. I just want to pay the difference (plus donation) to jump to print. I'll get in touch and do it over the phone but might be worth testing this from user perspective to make sure people are easily able to upgrade and help out.
