Hi all, sorry for the long delay in any kind of news. I’ve been working hard at some other things to clear up some time for exciting new things headed this way (and yes, tackingling the huge list of stuff on hold).

The system has been pretty stable since our move to a new server from the same host. The trouble turned out to be a massive hardware failure.

So, since we are good, check out the plugins menu and see some new widgets.

I’m working on that image thumbnail creation and upload issues people are having.

Oh, and thanks a bunch for all the birthday wishes.

This is official notice I will be doing some heavy-duty work on the site starting Nov 22nd. Thankgiving for most of the users on this site.

I will be updating the code a bit and doing some heavy-duty technical things in the backend that you won’t see, but will give everyone more breathing room with their data. For technical folks, we’re moving to a multi-db setup and doing some server optimization. The end result will be more plugins to play with and some massive new features you will *love*. I’ll also be optimizing and fixing (hopefully) the last of the bugs.

Longtime users know the drill. Newer users – this doesn’t happen more than a couple times a year, and I hope this will be one of the last times. When you come back with a belly full of turkey, it will be like Christmas came early.

I recently found out about two contests for HEKs, so I thought I’d pass them on.

- Homeschooling Awards logo contest. Design a logo for these awards, win $100. for parents too, I think.

- “Why Homeschool is Cool” video contest. Do 60 seconds and youtube it.

Please see both sites for full details and requirements. Spread the news far and wide.

I’ll be working on some files on the server, doing soem minor line-by line upgrades and security patches. If things go wonky, hang tight. They’ll iron out in a few minutes.

Edit: fixed and you have a post box again. Actually, it was there under the “code” tab, it just didn’t feel like showing up under the “visual” tab.

Totally forgot to mention this, but you may already have noticed. Now you can get your comments out of the spam filter! Just go to Manage and there should be a sub-item there called Spam Karma 2. You’ll be presented with a simple non-scary page listing the most recent comments caught in the filter. Just check the ones you’d like to recover and click the button.

I’m also testing a couple of new features that I haven’t announced. See if you can find them.

Another upgrade is in the works; I just haven’t scheduled it yet. (Ron is on vacation next week and our old house is now on the market.)

Any visitor to this site, logged in or not, casual user or just stumbling by, is expected to refrain from harassement, intimidation, stalker-like behaviour and just plain nastiness. If done so, they will have their IP banned and their actions reported to their provider.

And by “this site” I mean any portion or section thereof; both member blogs on subdomains, in the forums and comments. Your actions can and will be monitored.

You know, every day I try and see the good in humanity, and almost every day I am let down by some idiot’s actions. NOBODY hassles anyone on this site. Got it?

We’ve had a slight change of plans, so to ease the suffering on all of us, I’ve scheduled some down time for Monday May 14th, starting whenever I get up to whenever it’s fixed. I know, that’s real specific, but I do get up ahead of almost everyone here, what with being in the Atlantic time zone, and at worst, it should only take a few hours. Everything will be backed up before then as well.
So that’s two weeks, for the calendar-less. Between then and now I’ll continue to recover (I had surgery, I’m fine thanks – just fuzzy headed now,)  and I’ll make sure my local backup copy has as many kinks worked out as I can predict.

I’ll be fixing and tweaking a lot of backend issues, as well as upgrading the code. This run will not include theme issues and theme upgrades – including header changing ability for most themes, or new plugins. Sorry! But those are coming after that. Speaking of themes, head on over to the forum and make a wishlist! It’ll help me out lots.

Just a heads-up; sign ups will continue to be closed until we get everything fixed and moved off to a new server. I can’t apologize enough for how long this is taking. Ron has a few details here. You can also read my blog for more details about the personal reasons why the delay. I have surgery coming up on March 30th, and in the next week will be seeing how far I can get before then.

After that date, I’d like if our members can help each other. You do a fine job already, bu t while I’m recovering, I’d like for people to ask for support in the support forums first, and for people to check in there to see if there’s anything they can answer. Likely, I will not be on top of my email for the first week.

Edit: I have been so out of it these past few months, I completely forgot to mention TWO other homeschool blogging providers. They both use the same software that we use here, although some frills and options may be slightly different.

http://homeschooldiary.com/
homeschooljournal.co.uk

I have emailed the other site owners before (one we know fairly well) and we don’t see our sites as competing, but rather providing you with many choices.