Roadmap To Go Live - Updates Often

We need to start out with the understanding that not everything is going to be perfect with the launch. The theme discussion is a nice example, some want dark colors, some want light. There is no way everyone will be happy. The following is my detailed plan for migration, a road map to follow. The idea is the get things moving along.

Prerequisites for Migration

1. Hyperwolf needs to get me admin access to Drupal and the Domain name.

I have full admin access to XLNation, Hyperwolf maintains the domain admin. This is considered complete.
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2. XLEX needs to be moved manually to the new site

HW let me know that the XLEX was a custom mod coded by a previous moderator of XLNation. The XenFORO Resource manager is also an add-on module.

There are around 850 Mods to Migrate. Get some people organized and it should not be that difficult a job. You guys should start a new discussion about this topic and take charge.

I personally consider the XLEX the most valuable thing at XLNation. We have a chance to get it right. The cost to attempt a migration for so little data is not worth it. There are too many variables. A human that understands CitiesXL is a wiser choice.
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3. Tutorials need to be moved manually to the new site

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4. Prune the Forums

Clean up all the crap, the less we have to migrate the lower my cost. Consider it a Spring Cleaning. Don't go crazy with it though. Let me know when its done. Agree on the Forum structure at the new website. Let me know about any adds, changes, or deletions. You may want to start a dedicated topic on this.
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5. Let the general community know what is coming

At some point the generally community needs to be made aware of what is going to happen. During migration XLNation will be offline between 4 and 5 days. I little communication goes a long way. You all know what it feels like to have no one at the helm of a website.​

6. Prune the User List

I will prune the user list of anyone that has not logged in to XLNation in a year.
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7. Network Expansion XL (NEXL)

Someone from the NEXL team should be in charge of moving this stuff. I noticed (at least when it comes to Trams) that the version on the left column does not seem to be the most current? There seems to be a forum discussion with a more recent version.
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8. General Modding Index under XL Exchange

Someone needs to go through it and migrate the useful stuff over to a new category in the resource Manager for "External" download links​

Migration

1. XLNation Offline from 4 to 5 days

2. The existing XLNation will be "frozen" with no more registrations, posting etc

3. Select Users will be asked to check the migration. Once we accept the migration a mass email will be sent to all users informing them of their temporary passwords for accessing XLNation again.

4. I will work my magic to get XLNation pointed to the right place I hope without screwing up Drupal



Post Migration

1. The Old XLNation will remain online with just the City Journals available read only. A link will be placed on the New XLNation to that area.

2. The XLEX will also be available in case we screwed up our manual migration and need to reference back.

3. The Forums on the old XLNation will be deleted.

4. A Donation Campaign will be started to raise funds to migrate the City Journals to the new site

5. I know everyone wants a new "home" page right away. The way drupal was setup on the server I could end up breaking Drupal. You may need to give me a little break here.

6. I will work with gConverter to get the cost to migrate the City Journals. Once we raise the funds that project can start.

7. Migrate XLNation to a brand new web server. Yup my company is going to purchase a new server and XLNation will get to ride along for free. New server installed, this is completed.

8. Finally retire all parts of the old XLNation.

 

That is a great idea, what staff name should I create?? XLNation?

 

At this point no, the entire community can "rate" mods. It could be changed to select users if the community desires