Status of the current downtimes and server issues

[Brian]

Only managed to get on now after rebooting the server.
Seems that for some reason, the software is hammering the CPU useage up to 100%. After days of no issues, suddenly nothing loads again and CPU useage is up to max.
I have now found a serious developer who will be doing the maintenance, looking into this issue, and also assisting with the update to the new software.
he'll be working on the CPU issue now, and the software update likely end of the month.
So please bear with me. We are now working on it, I have some quotes, and I am going ahead, so if the forum loads slowly, please know that we are doing something about it and at the end of this, I'll make sure we have a fast, reliaible service.

[Brian]

My developer has identified a very complex and way above my pay grade set of reasons for all the issues, and has a plan in place.
Some of it will be done soon, some towards the end of the month when we upgrade the software. We also have some great plans in place to improve the forum, the main homepage, and really jumpstart everything.
Yes..this all comes at a cost, but thanks to the Gold members, the current auction sword donator, Sam and the buyer..and others who support us, we have this under control.
I'm feeling better about getting everything sorted and looking forward to the next few weeks.
Thanks for your patience all.

[Brian]

One thing I NEED to mention, and I KNOW there are going to be a ton of people who only visit every few weeks or months that are going to me emailing me complaining they can't access the forum after the upgrade.
So I am warning everyone NOW.

Conventional forum security practice nowadays is NOT to use login names to login anymore. Because these are visible, so only the password is needed to hack an account, and there are ways to get those.
So modern forums are going towards using your EMAIL to login, along with your regular password.
Your username still shows with posts etc, but you will be using your registered forum email to login, not your username.
For now, you can use either. After the update, only the email will be allowed to login.

Soooo...I suggest EVERYONE goes into their profile, and makes sure they know what their forum email is that they used to register with.
If it's old or obsolete, change it now. Or message me if you really don't know how to do it. Not all at once...we have a few weeks. But keep this in mind. 

Again...start getting used to logging in with your email and password. You'll be doing that in the future. No-one else can see your email, and your display name stays the same. It's just the login name that changes.
You can do that now already, and change your browser saved login details for the future.

Thanks.