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Candlefind

*UPDATED 7/12/20* Candlefind Forum Update: Moving Forward

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Thanks to everyone who has taken time to vote and/or weigh in on what they would like to see regarding the Candlefind forum. I have had time to consider all the feedback and have discussions with the team about how to move forward with this forum. We have decided to do the following: 

  • Downsize the forum: The forum is massive and consumes a lot of resources. In its heyday, there were several sections that were regularly visited and active. Although we currently have a number of guests that view several parts of the forum, there are many sections that do not have active uses. We will be eliminating these sections to help free up some space. We will be eliminating: 
    • Banner Announcements
    • Candlefind Giveaways (If you want to stay updated on the Candlefind Giveaways, please visit the site or Facebook, where we do post that information. We will also be creating a Winners Page on the main website for your reference.) 
    • Welcome, Guests
    • Daily Package Report
    • The Melting Pot
    • Let's Talk Candles
    • Other Home Fragrance
    • Home Fragrance Sales & Coupons
    • Picture Perfect
    • Wax Tips & Tricks
    • Fragrance Inquiries
    • Rants & Raves
    • All under Reference Point
    • All under Off Topic
    • Winner's Circle
    • Forum Contests
    • Enter To Win
    • Testing Testing
    • The Vendor's Corner will be closed.
    • All Legacy Topics will be removed. 
    • Scent Of The Day threads that are more than 1 year old. 
  • The forum software will be upgraded and a new theme will be installed. As I have not been happy with most of the available themes on the market, this will most likely be a custom built theme. 
  • Member Purge: We have almost 2500 members! All members that have not logged in at least once during the past year will be deleted from the system. In order to keep our databases more manageable, this will be done on a quarterly basis from here on out. 
  • Clubs will be deleted as they are not being utilized. 

By completing the above, we will be able to leave the main areas of use intact so that those who do use the forum can continue to do so in the spaces that are used the most. 

A few important things to note about the above plans: 

  • We anticipate rolling out this plan starting May 1st. This will take time to accomplish, but here is the order in which things will occur:
    1. Member Purge
    2. Club Deletion
    3. Forum Downsize. I will begin with the top of the list above and work my way down. 
    4. Software update & custom theme installation
  • All data that is being removed from the forum is going to be saved in a DropBox file. In the future, should there be a need to restore any of the information, we will be able to do so, but it will be the information only. We will not be able to restore information about the original poster and respondees. 
  • The above does NOT apply to member information. All membership data, including email addresses, will be digitally shred for the members that are being purged. 
  • Any member who has been deleted is free to register a new account. This includes vendors. 
  • If there is information you believe may be useful to you in the future, please copy and save it now. The process will be slow, but once we begin work on this, we will be eliminating subforums and topics without further announcement. The best way to keep track of what is up next for elimination is to follow the list above. We hope to have all phases completed by the end of August 2020
  • Once we do start this process, we will be doing ongoing maintenance to keep the database sizes manageable. This will include
    1. Quarterly deletion of any member who has not logged in during the past 365 days. 
    2. Deletion of old Scent Of The Day Threads (ones that are more than one year old). For example, if an August 2020 thread is posted, the August 2019 thread will be removed. 

Whew! I hope the explanation and outline of the plans above are helpful for those of you who want to keep the forum alive, as well as for any guests and new registrants we may have. 

If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to reach out. 

Thanks!

 

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Hi, guys! We are moving forward with the above process and things are going as planned, with a few exceptions. I wanted to update you on the overall status: 

  • The membership purge is being done concurrently with other downsizing efforts. Each member deletion is being done one at a time and is a much slower process than anticipated. 
  • Effective today, new membership to the forum is closed. Once the forum has been downsized and if former (or brand new) members want to join, we will look at opening back up registration. 
  • Threads and forums are still being deleted, but we are not following the schedule outlined above. All deleted threads have to be redirected somewhere (to keep the Google powers that be happy), and some redirections are more complicated than others. We'll need to create landing pages for some of the deleted threads so that there is not a mass of internet confusion if anyone in the future happens to come across an old, deleted link. As we continue to work out where everything needs to re-route, we'll continue with thread and forum deletion. We'll be doing this more in a random order than the list outlined above, so be sure to capture/save whatever information you might want sooner rather than later. I can't promise when a certain section might be up for deletion. 
  • Due to the above taking longer than anticipated, the forum software update and custom theme installation will need to be pushed back. The new projected date for completion of everything is November 2020

In the meantime, please continue to use the forum as you have been doing. We will not limit or change any of the functionality of those areas of the forum that are actively being used. If you do have any problems, please respond below to let me know. 

Thanks! 

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Hi Cyn!  

Thank you for this update.  It sounds like a ton of work and I know we all appreciate it.  The forum is so huge and although I have greatly enjoyed going back and reading posts from days gone by, it's true that most of us who still come here mostly use SOTD or Games.  What you're doing makes total sense to me, and I hope the others agree as I am a relative newbie (coming up on only three years in January).

Thanks again for the huge task you're doing, and I hope you are doing well during this very strange year of 2020! ❤️🥰

Best wishes, Amy

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On 9/8/2020 at 12:27 PM, AmyJo said:

Hi Cyn!  

Thank you for this update.  It sounds like a ton of work and I know we all appreciate it.  The forum is so huge and although I have greatly enjoyed going back and reading posts from days gone by, it's true that most of us who still come here mostly use SOTD or Games.  What you're doing makes total sense to me, and I hope the others agree as I am a relative newbie (coming up on only three years in January).

Thanks again for the huge task you're doing, and I hope you are doing well during this very strange year of 2020! ❤️🥰

Best wishes, Amy

Hi, Amy! I am so sorry I'm just now seeing this. 😔 Thank you SO much for the kind words. Yes, a lot of work but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 🙂 

I hope you're doing well & staying safe. I'm tired of the 'new normal' and just want 'my normal' back. 

Have a good one! 

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Cyn!  Now I'm the one apologizing...I missed your sweet reply.  Will we ever go back to normal - only time will tell!!  I always think things happen for a reason and there must be lessons to be learned through all of this... Fingers crossed!! 

Take care friend!

Amy

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