Hi folks. Welcome back from the weekend.
I’ve got a lot of great stuff to share this week, but unfortunately things have gotten off to a bumpy start. If you tried to visit earlier today, you might have noticed some weird things going on with the design and/or server.
It wasn’t you. It was me.
I got the impulse about midnight last night to finally do an upgrade to the WordPress blogging software that runs BikePortland.org. And, as usual when I try to get to techie, things didn’t go quite according to plan.
The site is up and running now, and it’s finally upgraded to the most recent software (!), but you’ll notice there are still a few kinks in the design and layout and several features are not working. I’m dealing with all that stuff now and hope to have everything figured out soon.
The good news is that, with the upgrade, I’m now full-steam ahead in adding some new features and other things I’ve been waiting on. The most exciting of those is the new Close Calls/Collision Map I wrote about a few weeks ago. I’m working with map creator Joe Broach to get it going live any day now.
Thanks for your patience and expect more news and other stories very soon.
Thanks for reading.
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Well at least comments work (Or, if they don’t, you will never see this comment)
And congrats on going WordPress.
If you created your templates correctly, future upgrades should be as smooth as virgin asphalt.
Jonathon, so what is up with the triune article quoting you saying something to the effect that you think something could be gained by licensing bike riders? I was shocked when I read it.
Glad to see you back up and running…
Now, lets get back to work! 😉
Rubberside Down!
Congrats on getting the site back up and running.
One, or maybe two, questions:
Did the upgrade add a mobile version of the the site? I view this site and pretty much all of the inter-webs by my iPhone. Now the BP.org page views like an RSS feed. I can’t see the styles, only the headlines. When clicked on they open the entire article minus images.
Now I can’t access, view or make comments via this “mobile” view; is that permanent?
Thanks for all your tireless hard work Jonathan, keep it up!
so lesson learned? … in your readership you probably have a zillion techies who would willingly assist ( or take over the whole project) leaving you much more time for what YOU do best..
we were born with two hands..one for giving, one for taking..
That’s why I’m too chicken to install the WordPress upgrade. 🙂 I guess they are coming out with release 2.7 soon, though, so maybe I’ll do it after that.
I learned not to do any upgrades or major uploading on Sunday nights, especially from midnight on, because that’s typicaly when servers are doing their back-ups or other tweaks.
I will admit I was also taken aback by the comment in the Tribune article that appeared to be in support of Licensing cyclists.
I also understand that many of the things reported in our local media are entirely taken out of context, and was hoping that was the case with your quote.
Please say it is so.
Jonathan, I have to echo Joe’s comment above. Software upgrades are rarely smooth, and planning and forethought are key. Otherwise, you have a site that is down.
No doubt, there are a lot of folks here who can help. Fortunately for you, I’ve forgotten how to do this stuff, so other than war stories, I can’t help much.
good grief, I think at one point I started getting DTs yesterday.
thanks for the hard work (and works in progress) to keep this site going Jonathan!
“Jonathon, so what is up with the triune article quoting you saying something to the effect that you think something could be gained by licensing bike riders? I was shocked when I read it.”
Coyote,
First, please realize Mr. Stanford is a columnist, not a news reporter. As such he must write things that have an “edge”. Also, realize that I said many things to him and he only chose to publish a very small bit of them.
That being said, I do think licensing bikes is a conversation that needs to be had. I am not completely against it and I do feel like something needs to change.
I will deal with this issue soon.
thanks.
Bikeportland has stopped updating in my RSS reader (coinciding with the software update). Is it you or is it me?
Jonathon, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. I have been turning the licensing idea over in my head, and I honestly cannot find any redeeming value in further segregating roads users, nor do I find any benefit to creating barriers for new uses of urban public space.
While this is off the main topic of this thread; I have no problem with bikes and bike riders being licensed. It would make it a whole lot easier to track down stolen bikes. How many times have you seen some transient riding a bike more expensive than yours? Bike ID numbers are not readily visible and can be filed off.
Of course my sympathy goes out to those who own many bikes (I only have two.) However, I also think the fee should be based on the weight of the vehicle. If a car costs $35 or $50 or whatever it is these days, a bike should be a buck or two.
Just to follow up: RSS feed just started working again. Thanks, Jonathan.
@ k-dub,
Yes this is also off topic, but…
“How many times have you seen some transient riding a bike more expensive than yours?”
And how sir, did you know that the person was a transient (and a bike thief)? Maybe it was me on the weekend. Or, maybe it was Gary Fisher.
Registering bike serial numbers and licensing riders are two separate issues. Fee requirements would discourage people from bicycling and that is counter-productive to a sustainable future.