Brand New Forums at Big Fish

Hondo wrote:Hey everyone!

Wow, it sure has been a while since I've made an appearance, hasn't it? Seine has been doing a fantastic job filling in for me since I returned from paternity leave, but it's finally time to reveal the BIG project that I've been working on...

BRAND. NEW. FORUMS.

Yes, you aren't dreaming. They really are coming. And I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am! :D

For more details (including a preview screenshot), head over to the blog post I just published. This post also reveals my true identity for those who are curious! :O

One section of the post that I wanted to make sure and highlight for our current forum users:

What you need to do to prepare

In short, not much! While other companies might've used this as an opportunity to start over with a fresh slate, we did everything in our power to move over all of the content you've created to the new forums. The good news is that we will be bringing all of your public content, like posts and threads. The less-than-perfect news is that we aren't able to bring your private content over with us.

This leaves you with two tasks to complete before we make the move:

1. Create a backup of all the names in your address book.
2. Print out (or save into a Word doc) any private messages that you don't want to lose.

The other thing you'll need to know is that the current forums will temporarily be put into a read-only state while we undergo the big move. What this means is that you'll be able to continue browsing the forums during this time, but you will not be able to create any new posts until the new forums are up and running.

While the exact times are subject to change, right now we're looking at a 10-12 hour period for maintenance. We'll update this post as soon as we know the exact date that this will happen. We're also pretty certain that we'll be able to give you at least a 24-hour notice, but we'd still encourage you to back up your info as soon as possible.

I know you've got questions, and I'll be around for a lot of the day to answer them. I can't reveal everything quite yet, but I promise to answer as many questions as I'm able to.

YAY!!!!!

Hondo
Community Manager

Hondo wrote:Ok everyone, sorry to keep you waiting.

First things first, blog post. :O

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Also, I have a BIG announcement to make...

You know how we said that the New Forums were coming soon, and that I'd let you know as soon as I had a firm date? Well... I now have that date.

If you read the blog post, you already know that during the first phase of our release, the current forums will be in a read-only state. This means that you will be able to continue browsing the forums during this phase, but you will NOT be able to post any new content.

***This phase will begin TOMORROW (6/18) night at approx. 10:00pm Pacific Time.***

If all goes well, this phase is expected to last about 12 hours. After that (so around 10:00am Pacific Time) the New Forums will be LIVE!

Of course, if we come across any major issues during the release, we may decide to roll-back and reschedule for another day, so even this time is subject to change, but I wanted to let you know now to give you as much heads up as possible. (And it isn't much, I know.)

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So that's that! I'll be moving on to answer some of the questions that have been asked over the last 24 hours or so now.

Hondo

Update #3: June 19, 4:30pm PDT
We’re sorry, but our Forums will be closed for maintenance for an additional 12-24 hours.
During this time, you will NOT be able to sign into the Forums with the email address and password associated with your Big Fish account.
We truly apologize for this inconvenience and thank you for your continued patience.

Hondo wrote:Hey everyone, Hondo here!

While making the big move over to the New Forums, we ran into a few issues that are taking a bit longer to resolve than we had originally anticipated. Don't worry, we're still hard at work!

Rather than leave the Forums down indefinitely until everything is resolved though, we wanted to make sure you still had a place to go for game help and to chat with other gamers, and so until we've finished working out all the kinks, please feel free to resume using our current Forums.

We apologize for the prolonged downtime we experienced, and thank you all for your continued patience and understanding!

Hondo
Community Manager

Hondo wrote:
Over the years, our forums have been one of the key ways we communicate with you, and have served as an integral source for game-play help. We have always strived to provide you with the best experience possible, and we value your input and dialogue. Unfortunately, our current forums just haven’t been meeting our expectations of providing a first-rate customer experience.

Recent attempts to upgrade our forums highlighted certain critical issues that cannot be resolved forcing us to abandon the new solution, and we simply cannot continue to sustain our current forums while also maintaining a positive customer experience.

As you may know, our current forums have been unstable for quite some time. In order to shore up and scale our existing forums, we have made the difficult decision to remove Chit Chat Corner and other general forums in order to maintain a very critical forums service – the game forums. We will continue to create, support, and maintain our game-specific forums so you will have continued access to game hints and tips from both Big Fish and other players.

Beginning Tuesday, August 13th at 3:30pm PST, our forums will enter maintenance mode so we can modify our service and address key technical and performance issues. When the maintenance is complete, the game forums will return but all other general forums will have been retired. We estimate the maintenance period may last several days.

We’re committed to providing great games and great game-related experiences. We invite you to complete this survey and let us know what type of community engagement and social sharing you’d like to see in the future. Additionally, we encourage you to visit a dedicated news and forums site at GameBoomers if you would like to participate in their forums community.

vervaine wrote:I hope they don't go under, though. I like my purchase history there. ;)

genkicoll wrote:It might work for Amazon.uk -- I know that Ebates works with Amazon.com, so maybe.  It's worth checking out

vervaine wrote:

The game Auron is talking about is Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, a shop simulation / dungeon crawler. A great game, I also recommend it to everyone :D

vervaine wrote:

genkicoll wrote:It might work for Amazon.uk -- I know that Ebates works with Amazon.com, so maybe.  It's worth checking out

I don't think it works. Google is not giving me any results and I can't find anything on eBates page. Oh well, I'll live

No loyalty to game companies either... In a way, I'm loyal to least intrusive game managers :p I'll do business with whoever has the least DRM and buggy/bloated/annoying managers. I don't mind BFG's. At least it eats up less resources than Steam.

The game Auron is talking about is Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, a shop simulation / dungeon crawler. A great game, I also recommend it to everyone :D