I refer to the terrific www.cloudynights.com website, the premier astronomy website with articles, reviews, classified ads, and a huge discussion board (about 77,000 members last time I checked!). Many folks will remember when we rolled out CN 2.0 to update the aging and difficult-to-maintain original software (in use on CN for over ten years). Thinking that folks wanted a new, modern look we didn’t make much effort to maintain the fit and feel of the original setup. There was a very substantial backlash and loads of complaints so it was rolled back to the original system while a more suitable replacement package was found, obtained, and configured. That’s been going on in the background ever since. Testers report a much more comfortable transition, with much of the original fit and feel maintained while still adding useful functionality.
It’s going to take time to transfer the huge databases (ten years worth of content) into the new structure – and, of course, any traffic added during the transition would just confuse things.
Here’s the plan. Some inactive content is being converted right now while the old system continues to operate. The old system will go dark this weekend while the bulk of the conversion takes place. Barring unforeseen complications, the new site should be up by Monday morning. Same URL, same usernames, same passwords. Just use your old account.