You've probably noticed a long list of items on the website wishlist (both internal and posted by users on the forum), but none of them happening in recent months.

Why? Simple: The infrastructure under this site was just too darn old to upgrade any further, and we were facing more and more compatibility issues with every change we tried to make.

So we locked the developers in the basement and told them they weren't allowed to come out until the site had been rebuilt with modern underpinnings. That was six weeks and many many billable hours ago, and now they're finally finished.

There's one phase of the project left before the new site can be launched: Testing. And while I could probably find a few bugs on my own, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to let our community take this new build for a test drive, too, since you're going to be the ones riding around in it.

What's Different:

From your perspective, the new site should be exactly the same as the old site. We haven't made any user-facing changes. Once our new underpinnings are finished, we'll be able to get back to upgrading and adding features.

What to Watch For:

If anything isn't working as expected, or is working differently than it does on the real website (this one) please post in this thread and we'll fix it.

About the Database:

In order to properly test the new website, it uses a completely separate database from the standard site. It's built with a copy of the database from mid-December, so anything posted after that won't appear. Likewise, anything posted on the test site won't appear on the standard website. Anything new posted to the test site during testing will be wiped before launch.

Access Information:

If you're feeling brave, you can access the GRM test site with the following credentials:

https://li176-228.members.linode.com/
username: staging
password: ZGuV&VF7*FHs[9?5

And you can access the Classic Motorsports test website with these:

https://li317-166.members.linode.com/
username: staging
password: ZGuV&VF7*FHs[9?5

Thanks, everybody! And happy testing!

So that alternative universe that we thought was created by a vessel capable of being paddled through shallow water WAS real. 

I may stick with the red pill, at least until I'm on lighter pain meds. 

Oh, and if the text explanation was too complicated, here's what we're basically dealing with:

 I can't log in to the test forum itself, so I can't test posting.

But there's one improvement I see already:

The popup Jump To menu doesn't have that weird little stutter it used to, where you would be just about to select a board and then it would tack Classic Motorsports onto the bottom and nudge all the other selections up a bit.

Duke said:

 I can't log in to the test forum itself, so I can't test posting.

But there's one improvement I see already:

The popup Jump To menu doesn't have that weird little stutter it used to, where you would be just about to select a board and then it would tack Classic Motorsports onto the bottom and nudge all the other selections up a bit.

 

Same re: login. Tried a few times to make sure I didn't mistype the first time.

I'll give it a go when I get home. 

Same, will play with this more this evening after work..

Ok, we have our first bug: Some users are unable to login. On the list.

Keep them coming, everybody! This helps a ton.

Looks the same as here but older.  Think that was what you were going for.

I can't sign in either

I was able to log in and navigate, post, upload a test picture.

stafford1500 said:

I was able to log in and navigate, post, upload a test picture.

+1

Clicking "new topics" gave me a 404 right after posting.

Thumbs up/down doesn't appear to be working. 

In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :

Or thumbs down, or vote topic up.

Quoting/Replying works

Also Edit/Delete functions as they should

Another odd one. When I watch a topic and then go to my watch list and click on the topic, it takes me to a different topic that I'm not watching but that I did start. 

Edit: Watch list shows correct topic. "Welcome to the test website..."

Where the link takes me. Looking at the image, the web address looks correct. 

Latest Topics came up empty for me after successfully posting, editing, uploading a picture via paste (logged into Classic Motorsports).

My Posts comes up fine.

Leaderboard gets a "Something Went Wrong"

Watchlist gets a "Something Went Wrong"

New Topics link gets an older looking CM 404/get out the map, we're lost

FF on Win10.

Tried logging in again and it didn't work, but this time the page failed to load instead of the "something went wrong" page. Chrome on android.

It was a page of text code, with this at the top. 

IntegrityError at /login/

(1048, "Column 'added' cannot be null

Posting here as a reminder to myself to try this.

Not sure if anyone (GRM?) is interested, but in a UX course I took, there is a Heuristic evaluation form designed for exactly this thing (beta testing new sites).  I would suggest it is a good way to provide feedback.  Its format is like this

Finding (#): Super shot description of finding

Severity: 1-4 (see here for scale: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-to-rate-the-severity-of-usability-problems/)

Heuristic Violated:  Which heuristic(s) are violated (see here for list https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/)

Detailed description: Self explanatory

Picture of finding: This should be self explanatory 

Recommendation: Description of a better solution

Picture of solution:  photoshopped image of future state if possible

Can't thumbs up or down a post. 

Can't remove a thread from my watchlist

Is the Content Index a new feature? 

I tried editing my profile, when I clicked "save" I got the following message:

Only my signature line and career fields were changed.

In reply to ProDarwin :

I'll use this, thanks!

I'm not a dev, but they might want to know our browser and machine OS as well.