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Discussion Forums will be under contruction starting Mar. 17

Kyle Deery
over 3 years ago
On Wednesday, March 17, the USMS Discussion Forums will be shut down in preparation for our move to a new platform with updated functionality and features. This new platform, which will be rebranded USMS Community, will be launched on March 30. Community will include discussion groups, forums, and threads in a modern environment that we hope more USMS members will use to connect with fellow swimmers. We will slowly roll out additional changes so we can gather feedback and make strategic adjustments. Community will also allow for more robust profile details, recognition of achievements through badges, and management of some membership information. Forums and forum threads from the current USMS Discussion Forums will be transitioned into Community. Usernames will be included for all posts from USMS members who originally linked their forums account to their USMS membership record, including those who arenâ€Tmt currently members. However, users who were never USMS members will lose the link to their posts; all of those posts will be from a generic username. Some forums that havenâ€Tmt been active for a while will be archived. After reviewing the Discussion Forums posts, weâ€Tmll be enhancing the forum structure to make it easier to follow certain topics and more clearly define areas. Community will also be a membership benefit, so only USMS members will be able to contribute. Some of the Community functionality will be similar. But like with any new software, adjusting to the interface can take some time. Blogs, images, documents, post links, emojis, and formatting, as well as profile information, wonâ€Tmt be transitioned to the new platform. As a part of the Community upgrade, we have also enhanced a few other areas to make My USMS-Community integration, site navigation, and membership self-service easier. We will send out more information and FAQs in the coming weeks. The important dates to note are: - March 17: USMS Discussion Forums will be shut down - March 30: USMS Community will tentatively be soft launched - April 5: USMS Community will be publicly launched and announced We want to thank you for your patience and canâ€Tmt wait to connect, learn, and share with you in our new USMS Community. Your Friends at U.S. Masters Swimming
  • over 3 years ago
    Where is the damn Canadian Swimming Forum?Skuj, I relocated to Canada at the start of 2019 after my whole life in 'murica. The Canadian Masters swimming scene, while robust (pre-COVID), seems fractured. For instance, here in Ontario, there's this "turf war" (or maybe, more accurately, "lane war") between: the legacy, independent organization Masters Swimming Ontario (ms.mastersswimmingontario.ca/default.php) and the Swimming Canada group Swim Masters Ontario (www.swimontario.com/page.php. At the national level, I cannot tell who really runs the show, as there appears to be Independent national organization #1 - www.mastersswimmingcanada.ca/.../ Independent national organization #2 - canadianmastersswimmers.ca/ Swimming Canada's Masters organization - www.swimming.ca/.../ Apparently, these divisions get quite heated. If you're a Monty Python fan, think back to the People's Front of Judea bit in the Life of Brian and you'll get the picture. I've taken the path of joining any and all organizations that host a pool meet or open water event. I've tried to understand the history and the slights, slings and arrows between these various efforts, but I can't wrap my head around it. So, I'm just trying to join in, swim and make as many swimming friends in my new country as possible. But, across all of these different entities, I cannot find anything like USMS Forums. I would suggest to you that the money spent on an annual USMS membership is money well spent, particularly if you plan to ever travel to the US. Beyond the meets and the forums, the single greatest benefit of being part of USMS is rolling into a town and dropping in with a team. While many of the teams will let "foreigners" in, I've never had a team turn me away as a USMS member and the majority of my time, I get a free workout and meet some new people. This virtual community is great, but if you're ever going to cross the border to travel, you'll get to build a real community in real life.
  • Former Member
    Former Member over 3 years ago
    I could be a rebel - living in BC, but going to meets with USMS membership. People will say "Wow, he travelled a long way. He must be good."
  • over 3 years ago
    Is there a specific reason we want to prevent input from the larger swimming community? I think we sometimes gain members by way of forum relationships. Just wondering.... This seems like an important point. I found the forums when searching the web for training ideas, after which I was a "lurker" for a few years and the value of the forums was one of the motivations for joining USMS. It is the only reason for being a USMS member right now.
  • over 3 years ago
    This seems like an important point. I found the forums when searching the web for training ideas, after which I was a "lurker" for a few years and the value of the forums was one of the motivations for joining USMS. It is the only reason for being a USMS member right now. I agree with you and Red. As for your comment about it being the only reason for being a USMS member right now, I also love reading Swimmer Magazine!
  • over 3 years ago
    This seems like an important point. I found the forums when searching the web for training ideas, after which I was a "lurker" for a few years and the value of the forums was one of the motivations for joining USMS. It is the only reason for being a USMS member right now. I have no idea how I found teh forums, but I started paying to have access to the workouts, and it is an absolute bargain.
  • over 3 years ago
    .... Community will also be a membership benefit, so only USMS members will be able to contribute. ... Is there a specific reason we want to prevent input from the larger swimming community? I think we sometimes gain members by way of forum relationships. Just wondering....
  • over 3 years ago
    So I just did a cursory Google for exporting vBulletin posts to different files, and came up blank. It might cause some slightly screwy formatting, but you could copy/paste page by page instead of post by post - looks like each page displays 20 entries, so that's a little faster. I have 47 pages on my blog, that wouldn't be too bad, but kristilynn has like 150 pages (or 3000+ blogs) to transfer, and in her case the distance animal she is, that's close to 15 million yards of swimming.
  • over 3 years ago
    I have had to CTRL+C and CTRL+V each workout one by one into word. I got through roughly half my blog and took a break, that was a few months ago. I have zero idea what they mean by copying it to a new platform. vBulletin is like dinosaur age forum technology. At this point it would be like saying "I got this recording on an VHS and I want to know if I can copy it to Blu-Ray." If anyone finds a simpler way let me know. I reached out to ask if the old forums will at least be archived to buy me more time to finish copying everything over. I figure I have about 8-10 hours of work still to do to copy the rest of the stuff over.
  • over 3 years ago
    I'm sorry to hear about the hassle you all have to go through with saving everything. What a pain in the :mooning: ! Good luck, and I'll see you on the other side at the end of the month. :wave: