SIRIUS Backstage » Blog Archive » The All-New SIRIUS Backstage Site

The All-New SIRIUS Backstage Site

New Backstage

We are proud to unveil a completely new SIRIUS Backstage website.

The SIRIUS Backstage community has experienced explosive growth since we founded it in 2002. To give our members the best online experience, we have upgraded to the leading online community solution available - vBulletin. vB powers many of the largest and most popular Internet communities.

In addition to the new features that come with vBulletin, we have introduced a new site design. The mission of SIRIUS Backstage is to offer a place for fans to interact with other SIRIUS listeners, and to get an Inside experience on what’s going on with the service, like a V.I.P. at a music concert.

To honor our ‘SIRIUS Insider’ member experience, we are incorporating a new music theme, while still keeping the easy to use, easy to read forum layout that everyone has grown to love. Not only does the site sport a new look, but there are also a whole host of new features that will make using the forums easier, more reliable and fun.

We would now like to extend thanks to our members who have made our site the most popular place to talk about SIRIUS Satellite Radio. Our Top Dogs deserve special recognition for their feedback and help in testing the new site, along with our moderator team and the designers at LMNtal Design. Our faithful Site Admin RyanM deserves a special thanks for making the transition smooth, and ensuring that our post history has been preserved. Kudos to Ryan for his tireless work to make this upgrade a success.

If you’d like to learn about all of vB’s new features, you can view the forum FAQ here.

Now grab a seat and ‘Let’s talk SIRIUS’.

Posted by TulaneJeff on Friday, May 26th, 2006 at 1:30 am.
Filed in Sirius Backstage.
You can leave a trackback from your own site.

Comments:

Looks really great, Jeff! Hats off to you and your moderator team for not sitting on your laurels, but improving the best SDARS site on the net! by RoadRunner
I really like it! It has more of a "professional" feel about it. Nice job!

BTW, where's all the old emoticons? by Chad
Thanks Chad and RR, apprecite it!

The emotions will be coming back soon.

Jeff by TulaneJeff
Looks good. Keep up the good work, guys.

And Baba Booooey to y'all by TheScionicMan
Now THAT is what I call... Big Maintenance!

Looks great guys! Nice job! by Santinelli
It'll take a little getting used to, but I already love it. Great job, everyone. by DamnDJ
FABULOUS! Thanks for all your hard work and determination. by laurie
It really looks great! Good job folks! by TX WJ
What happened to the "view post since you last logged on" tab?? by badmotherfarker
Quote:

Originally Posted by badmotherfarker

What happened to the "view post since you last logged on" tab??

Click on "New Posts" on the black bar at the top. by Michigan Made
Quote:

Originally Posted by Michigan Made

Click on "New Posts" on the black bar at the top.

Doh!! Ok, I see it now. Here's another question though (that I'm sure I'll again look dumb for asking)- how do you attach/link images in the reply field? Can I just use HTML?? Let me try...

<img src="http://www.tcf.net/HOWARD-STERN_files/image036.jpg">

Edit 1: Ok... so HTML doesn't work. by badmotherfarker

Quote:

Originally Posted by badmotherfarker

Doh!! Ok, I see it now. Here's another question though (that I'm sure I'll again look dumb for asking)- how do you attach/link images in the reply field? Can I just use HTML?? Let me try...

<img src="http://www.tcf.net/HOWARD-STERN_files/image036.jpg">

It's basically the same as before. Nothing there really has changed.
Use the [img] tag. by DaJoker

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaJoker

It's basically the same as before. Nothing there really has changed.
Use the [img] tag.

Ok, I know I probably shouldn't be drinking this early... but... is there the same tool bar with all the [quote], [img] tags or do you have to type it? I'm feeling like a retard here but I can't find it. by badmotherfarker
Yep. Go all the way to the bottom of the page. See the Posting Rules section? Look at the "vB code" link. by DaJoker
Quote:

Originally Posted by DaJoker

Yep. Go all the way to the bottom of the page. See the Posting Rules section? Look at the "vB code" link.

Yea, I know the code- was just looking for the toolbar. by badmotherfarker
Glad to see the new forum up-and-running! Great job!! by HarleyJoel
Great job everyone!

It's great to see out little community continuing to grow! by srm59
When I first logged in, I thought I was at the wrong site for a second. I really like the new update! Took me a few minutes to get familer with some of the new things. Keep up with the great work guys by WolfViper
Looks great!

How do you show emotions on a reply? (other then typing them in yourself)

And how do you use the quick reply at the bottom of the page?

Thanks... by semipenguin
Love the new site. Great job. by BoSox

Quote:

Originally Posted by WolfViper

When I first logged in, I thought I was at the wrong site for a second. I really like the new update! Took me a few minutes to get familer with some of the new things. Keep up with the great work guys

Go update your avatar! by badmotherfarker

I love the new "New Posts" option... I like how it's in bold if you're not the last poster. Great feature for us comment whores. by badmotherfarker
Great job, looks nice, will take some getting used to.
I am looking forward to seeing all the new available features. by 7Aaron
Nice work! Awesome functionality and absolutely gorgeuous page layout and color pallet. It pretty much matches my Incredimail "Space Age" skin. I love it.

Thanks for your guyses hard work... by LarryBS
Quote:

Originally Posted by badmotherfarker

Go update your avatar!

I just did it by WolfViper

Quote:

Originally Posted by semipenguin

Looks great!

How do you show emotions on a reply? (other then typing them in yourself)

And how do you use the quick reply at the bottom of the page?

Thanks...

I'm sure RyanM is working on the smilies situation.

Next to quote there is a button that looks like ">>|", click that to enable quick reply. by SISO

Quote:

Originally Posted by WolfViper

I just did it

Thank you. Seeing names without avatars just fucks with my head!

by badmotherfarker
Thanks SISO!

Worked just fine... by semipenguin
I Like the new forum look and feel...thanks all !!

I've run into a couple of "server too busy try again" errors but I guess some
kinks will need to be worked out..... by newtoyz
Looks great! Congrats on the move to vBulletin, you could not have picked a better forum software, PHPBB is good to start, but when you start growing and get lots of folks online (as you have done) you need to go to the next step.

I am proud of SiriusBackstage with this move!

Congrats!

Scott by Scott Greczkowski
Quote:

Originally Posted by badmotherfarker

Thank you. Seeing names without avatars just fucks with my head!

ditto, but I saw this other feature here you can have a buddy list. So I just added quite a few names to the buddy list. So I now know who is on cool! by WolfViper

Quote:

Originally Posted by WolfViper

ditto, but I saw this other feature here you can have a buddy list. So I just added quite a few names to the buddy list. So I now know who is on cool!

Hmm... I'm going to look into that.... by badmotherfarker

Quote:

Originally Posted by semipenguin

Looks great!

How do you show emotions on a reply? (other then typing them in yourself)

And how do you use the quick reply at the bottom of the page?

Thanks...

Quote:

Originally Posted by SISO

I'm sure RyanM is working on the smilies situation.

Next to quote there is a button that looks like ">>|", click that to enable quick reply.

I do know if you type : p, without the space in the middle you get this

the sticking out toungue. I hope their a way getting the lol quy back -

When I was about to post this I got this error message:
You have included 5 images in your message. You are limited to using 4 images so please go back and correct the problem and then continue again.

Images include use of smilies, the vB code [img] tag and HTML <img> tags. The use of these is all subject to them being enabled by the administrator

That is good you are limit to certain amount of images in each post, too many images would flood the post! by WolfViper

Quote:

Originally Posted by WolfViper

Images include use of smilies, the vB code [img] tag and HTML <img> tags. The use of these is all subject to them being enabled by the administrator

You're not speaking my language...

I do know that I can click on your name and a drop down menu appears and I can send you a PM...

by semipenguin

Quote:

Originally Posted by semipenguin

You're not speaking my language...

I do know that I can click on your name and a drop down menu appears and I can send you a PM...

I didn't see that feature yet, I read your PM got my

by WolfViper

Got yours. I also have a message that was from 12-31-1969 in my inbox... by semipenguin
New site looks great! by limegrass69
New site looks great!! Congratulations, guys! I agree it will take a little time to get used to and to learn the new features, but I'm looking forward to it. by PhillyPhan
FINALLY! vBulletin and a quick reply! (You have to work on that stripslashes() part for converting phpBB to VBB via signatures [coders note]) by realwx
Glad to see all the stickies made it over safely. :P

I miss the pull down menu for switching between forums. by myquealer
Still there.. just at the bottom now.. by DaJoker
Quote:

Originally Posted by DaJoker

Still there.. just at the bottom now..

Thanks, I just noticed that and was coming back to mention it myself. by myquealer
Just getting used to everything myself by perogy
Great look on the new board guys! It'll take a little bit to get used to (I just updated my avatar). One question though which hasn't been mentioned yet, will we be getting our dog paws back? I know I really miss 'em, and I'm sure other will. Beyond that, the site works better than ever with greater reliability! by AKmaro1
Thank you for your time and effort. As I see I'm not the only one up late at night. Once again I'm kind of new to certain websites. I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions? The personal pictures under our names, can we still input them and if so where do I go? Also the little icons that I see there now under some of the other members (like the little man, something that looks like a danger sign, and a flower) where do they come from? And I'm really glade that the "emotions" will be back. Also I hope that this is myspace to "quote" in

Thank you Jeff,
deedee by deedee

Quote:

Originally Posted by deedee

Thank you for your time and effort. As I see I'm not the only one up late at night. Once again I'm kind of new to certain websites. I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions? The personal pictures under our names, can we still input them and if so where do I go? Also the little icons that I see there now under some of the other members (like the little man, something that looks like a danger sign, and a flower) where do they come from? And I'm really glade that the "emotions" will be back. Also I hope that this is myspace to "quote" in

Thank you Jeff,
deedee

1. Go to User CP (far left on the black bar) then "edit avatar".
2. If members have those little icons they have provided their screenames to AIM, etc. To do so go to User CP then "Edit Profile". by SISO

Quote:

Originally Posted by deedee

Also the little icons that I see there now under some of the other members (like the little man, something that looks like a danger sign, and a flower)

Thanks deedee,
We hope you enjoy the new site. Ask away, we're here to help get everyone familiar with the new tools.

The

shows up if someone lists their AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) username. The

icon shows up if they have an ICQ chat id. The

is for Yahoo IM.

The

icon is a 'report this post' feature. If someone notices an offending post, click that and one of the moderators will be alerted to take a look.

Jeff by TulaneJeff

Couple things I've noticed:
1. The drop-down menus (Quick-links, username, etc.) the different menu items have spaces in between them so you can see the web page. It is like this in Firefox 1.5.0.3 on Win2k. Other vBulletin forums are not like this. (See attachment) Edit: Just checked with IE, seems to have the same problem.
2. When you've "Marked a forum read", it goes to the sub-forum list instead of the main forum list. It maybe a personal preference, but I like it when it defaults back to the main forum, not the sub-forum.
When I first logged in, it told me I had 59 messages stored when 50 was allowed. Didn't realize that all of the sent private messages are also included. So I purged those, and I also noticed a message from 1969, but there was no subject or author to click on. Probably just a conversion bug.

Good work guys! by scb147
Quote:

Originally Posted by AKmaro1

One question though which hasn't been mentioned yet, will we be getting our dog paws back?

The paw user rankings will be back soon.

Jeff by TulaneJeff
Oh, and the thread ratings should be "dog bones" instead of the lame ASCII character faces by scb147
scb147,
The version of vB we are using may be a lot newer than other sites. Check their version numbers at the bottom for comparison.

For instance, TiVoCommunity.com does not have the transparent space, yet they are running vB 3.0.6. We are currently running 3.5.4.

I think this is intended functionality, but I'll have to double check.

Thanks for the feedback.

Jeff by TulaneJeff

Quote:

Originally Posted by TulaneJeff

Thanks deedee,
We hope you enjoy the new site. Ask away, we're here to help get everyone familiar with the new tools.

The

shows up if someone lists their AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) username. The

icon shows up if they have an ICQ chat id. The

is for Yahoo IM.

The

icon is a 'report this post' feature. If someone notices an offending post, click that and one of the moderators will be alerted to take a look.

Jeff

Your all great, thank you for the into. Now go take a nap!

deedee by deedee

Quote:

Originally Posted by myquealer

Glad to see all the stickies made it over safely. :P

Thanks for the reminder. Many of the stickies have been removed to make it cleaner and easier to read.

Jeff by TulaneJeff
love the new site can you still sort by unanswered post? by CrutchfieldTech
like the features of Vbulletin but preferred the layout of the old site. Just seems too busy and less straight forward to me but I'm sure you're all still workin out the details and when all is said and done it will be fine. by soxnationonline
Glad you guys made the move to vBulletin

If you guys ever needed any help with hacks and add-ons for vB, I could actually help now by Mr Pappagiorgio
thanks for all the hard work, everything looks great! by ro_tunda
Quote:

Originally Posted by CrutchfieldTech

love the new site can you still sort by unanswered post?

You can... On the forum menu (black bar above beginning with User CP), the Quick Links drop-down has an entry called Unanswered Posts.

Or, you can bookmark this URL
http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum...=0&dontcache=1

Oh yeah, notice how the URL above was shortened with elipses? If you want to copy and paste a URL that's been shortened, don't highlight it and then copy it. You should right-click on the link and use your browsers "Copy Link Location" (or equivalent) option to put the URL on your computer's clipboard. by RyanM
So this is what happens when I go away for a few weeks.

VB is my all-time favorite board software, the interface is nice, and very easy to use. Plus all the high-traffic sites use VB because it works so well. Good call! by Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by TulaneJeff

The

icon is a 'report this post' feature. If someone notices an offending post, click that and one of the moderators will be alerted to take a look.

Alright! I've been requesting a "Report This" link for quite sometime.

Beware all shills and spammers...my trigger finger is itching and I'll push that button faster than you can sell your first bottle of penis enlargement pills! by Chad

What happened to the drop down list of all the forums. It seems now you have to go back to the forum home to switch between forums. There were quite a few that I would jump between on a daily basis. How do I do that now? by Siread

Quote:

Originally Posted by Siread

What happened to the drop down list of all the forums. It seems now you have to go back to the forum home to switch between forums. There were quite a few that I would jump between on a daily basis. How do I do that now?

The drop down is now at the bottom of the page, instead of the top. by RoadRunner

Looks good and professionally done. I'll need some user time before I have a true input, but so far so good. by JetsCuseFan
The only suggestion I'd like to make is the coloring of the subjects in the topic view. It's a dark-lightish blue font on top of light blue table cells, which can make for some difficult browsing.

Maybe a darker font would work better. *shrug* Just my opinion. by DamnDJ
I wish all the migrated posts used the same background colors as the original forum did. Now some of
my embedded images who's backgrounds were made to match the old backgrounds now don't match.

Here's an example:

Also my old shortcuts on the desktop to go directly to pages don't seem
to work.

But I guess Change is good. At least it keeps things "Fresh"

Thanks for all the hard work! I know migrations can be a Real PAIN IN THE A@! by me_rubin
Quote:

Originally Posted by Chad

I really like it! It has more of a "professional" feel about it. Nice job!

BTW, where's all the old emoticons?

Also - I miss the old main page with it's dark colours and image enhanced headlines that you can scroll down and take a quick glimpse on what's been going on the past couple of weeks. The new main page is week and bland. by satbrat
Quote:

Originally Posted by satbrat

image enhanced headlines

Can you explain what you mean by this? by RyanM
They're using Wordpress instead of putting the phpBB news articles on the frontpage. *cough*i have a plugin*cough* by realwx
Quote:

Originally Posted by RyanM

Can you explain what you mean by this?

He means with the image on the right and the text on the left... something yahoo news-style. by realwx
Overall I like the new site, I am still adjusting to it. The main page is just too plain though. by DLariv308
dont really like it, it looks like all the other cheesee forums.

But, i guess i'll get used to it. by deadhead13
I like this layout , it is just like the other boards I frequent . I also made sure to change my options to full wysiwyg editor . So powerfull without having to type all the code . The only thing I didn't like was the fact when I came back I had someone else's signature , or sabotage by pauly383
I would like to personally thank RyanM for all his hard work on making the transition very smooth and seemless! I'm truly glad to see our forum move over to vBulletin as well... by roscoryan
Quote:

Originally Posted by RyanM

Can you explain what you mean by this?

Sure.
Basically, when I would log in to the main page there would be a big picture of let's say Howard Stern, the S50, the new Sportster, etc. and there would be a caption (or headline) describing info on the thread. There would be several "headlines" on the main page with pictures and I could scroll down through several days of Sirius news and skim over what's been going on. If something caught my eye I would just click on the thread to read more about it. I really miss that. by satbrat
How do I see my recent posts? I used to be able to do that.

Thanks! by shade4five
Quote:

Originally Posted by shade4five

How do I see my recent posts? I used to be able to do that.

Thanks!

Click on your name in the left side of one of your posts. Highlight and click "find more posts from shade4five." Then it will list all your posts. by Michigan Made
I'd rather see more time spent on merging duplicate threads than making the site pretty. For me, the content posted is way more interesting that the layout of the website.

There are way too many re-posts. Maybe that is just the nature of bulletin boards, but I think if someone came up with an innovative file directory structure, users would be able to drill down to specific areas of interest without having to use a search button - which it appears nobody uses anyhow

Imagine Backstage designed like this site: www.liveplasma.com

How cool would that be? by taxinvestor
I have an idea.

Change the color of the Top Dogs. That orange no longer goes with the theme of the site and to me looks ugly.

Maybe make the Site admins the black, change the color of the moderator to the same color as the blue on the site and make the top dogs either yellow or grey matching some of the colors on the site.

This is only my opinion but I really hate the orange on this new format. Sticks out like a sore thumb.

In fact I'll post up some new ones that I think go with the new site format by AmuN

Quote:

Originally Posted by taxinvestor

There are way too many re-posts. Maybe that is just the nature of bulletin boards, but I think if someone came up with an innovative file directory structure, users would be able to drill down to specific areas of interest without having to use a search button - which it appears nobody uses anyhow

The search engine that powers vB is much improved over the phpbb version.

We've also added the ability to search the blog, or just the forum, which will lead to more relevant posts.

New people join all the time, so redundant questions are the nature of a community. It's part of the education process.

There are initiatives pending that will bring more tools to new members and catalog information in an easy to use format.

Jeff by TulaneJeff

Quote:

Originally Posted by satbrat

Sure.
Basically, when I would log in to the main page there would be a big picture of let's say Howard Stern, the S50, the new Sportster, etc. and there would be a caption (or headline) describing info on the thread. There would be several "headlines" on the main page with pictures and I could scroll down through several days of Sirius news and skim over what's been going on. If something caught my eye I would just click on the thread to read more about it. I really miss that.

The blog does feature images associated with the story. While some recent entries don't at the moment, going forward the front page blog will always have a related image to go along with the story.

Thanks for the feedback!

Jeff by TulaneJeff

One thing that has definitely improved for me... I no longer have to log-in everytime. The forum "remembers" me now, whereas before it never worked for me, I had to log-in every single time ... Another example of progress. by 7Aaron

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michigan Made

Click on your name in the left side of one of your posts. Highlight and click "find more posts from shade4five." Then it will list all your posts.

Thanks! I've been trying to figure this out for days. by shade4five

Woohoo! vbulletin is actually saving my login! For some reason my cookie would never stick with the old software. I had tried everything. by jubrand

Quote:

Originally Posted by jubrand

Woohoo! vbulletin is actually saving my login! For some reason my cookie would never stick with the old software. I had tried everything.

Same thing here. Very nice! by Blink

Sorry Jeff, question, when I go into the Sirius Pop section I have a (check) and the title for it reads "you are subscribed to this thread" what does that mean, because the other sections I visit do not have the check. Gosh I hope I didn't give you a headache.

Thank you so much,
deedee by deedee

Quote:

Originally Posted by deedee

Sorry Jeff, question, when I go into the Sirius Pop section I have a (check) and the title for it reads "you are subscribed to this thread" what does that mean, because the other sections I visit do not have the check.

If you post in a thread, you are automatically subscribed to that thread. by DAB

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAB

If you post in a thread, you are automatically subscribed to that thread.

Thank you, I should really stop and read before I go and ask. Once again Thanks for the help!

deedee by deedee
Quote:

Originally Posted by deedee

Thank you, I should really stop and read before I go and ask. Once again Thanks for the help!

No problem at all, glad to have you aboard here at Backstage! by DAB
I think the new design looks really cool. Congratulations to all involved by DanMona
Hey, it's ai4i's birthday, today.

Is there going to be a Happy Birthday sticky now?...

Anywho, Happy Birthday, ai4i!... by semipenguin
The calendar works the same
by WolfViper
There's no real need for a "sticky" on birthday's since it's already announced at the bottom of the main forum page. by HarleyJoel
Everything looks great! by sportboy
the new site looks great. i always thought it was vbulletin this whole time. whatever you did it was seamless, great job. by Morning Wood
Been off a few weeks. Stuck on a project that has been taking all my time. Nice changes. After making it past 2 pages of "frontpage" announcements and finally logging in, I was treated with the new forum interface. by RoadClosed
After I log in and put in my password, I go do my thing either it be a "post reply" or "quote" when I go to sumit reply I'm being told that I'm not loged in.

Did I do something wrong??

Thank you, deedee by deedee

Quote:

Originally Posted by deedee

After I log in and put in my password, I go do my thing either it be a "post reply" or "quote" when I go to sumit reply I'm being told that I'm not loged in.

Did I do something wrong??

Thank you, deedee

Try clicking the remember me box next to the log in. by Michigan Made

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michigan Made

Try clicking the remember me box next to the log in.

Will try it, once again, Thank You!! by deedee
Looks great! by IMPAQ

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The All-New SIRIUS Backstage Site

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