It's time for another software upgrade 
Schedule
My plan is to do this at some point the week of Monday January 18th through Sunday January 24th.
What Will Happen
The site will be taken offline briefly once the update begins. If you visit during this period you should see a maintenance message but you may also see an occasional dire-sounding error message. These very severe-sounding messages are usually temporary and occur as critical files are being overwritten.
Total offline time is expected to be approximately four hours once the upgrade begins, if all goes well. The site may go offline intermittently for shorter periods during preparations, restart, and follow-up.
After the Update
This update is substantial and will noticeably affect the look-and-feel of the site. The new appearance will be more streamlined and easier to maintain over the long haul but it will be considerably less customized.
Our site uses several third-party add-ons to provide additional features and functionality beyond that of the core software. Updating these third-party add-ons will be on-going for an indeterminate period of time but generally do not take the forum off-line. Some features (for example, sticky notes) may no longer be available for the new software version or substantially delayed.
If you experience unexpected behavior while using the site, please post in the support forum so that I can track and document any issues that need addressing (and to alert other site users of the issue).
Thank You
Thank you for your patience as we update the site for security and performance.
