If you haven't already, update your bookmarks to www.soonerfans.com, as the old link to www.soonerfans.com/forums will only give you a blank page now. Everything isn't completely finished yet, but it's done enough to reopen the board. There are still quite a few behind the scenes things left to do, including monitoring the server load with the new software so that we can optimize the server and upgrade to the proper hardware. My goal is to have the site able to handle the massive traffic during games without having to close it to unregistered users, turn off avatars, etc.
As you can see, the title bar is black in honor of Austin Box and Brandon Everage, and will remain so until the season ends.
In any event, there are a lot of new features on the board, including our cool new video highlight section over there on the right side. You can scroll back for highlights from last season, and once football begins, there will be fresh highlights there every week. We are terminating the site sponsorships. If you are on a monthly sponsorship, it will be cancelled so you aren't charged any more. If you paid for a yearly sponsorship, just let me know if you want a refund for your remaining time, and you will receive it.
Privileges will now be determined by longevity, basically. If you are in the General Population (regular users, basically) you have the ability to post photo albums, your own blog, and a number of other new features.
Also, we have a new front page section, for the first time in forever. I'll be writing regular articles for the site again, and I have invited Jay over at Sooner Spectator to contribute as well. I'll also be posting flashbacks with some of my old game reports and stuff from prior years. I'm also going to try out Twitter updates on game days, and maybe some videos for road game trips. If anyone makes a post that deserves it, we'll bump it up to a front page article. You can also bump your posts over to blog entries on your personal blog. If you're interested in submitting an article, just send it on and, if it's good enough, it'll get posted on the front page.
We also have a politics board now, which means no more politics posts on the South Oval. You will also notice that John Kerry has been replaced by Brack, and Bush 43 has been replaced by Rick Perry on the disembodied head smilie icon thingies. We've got a bot posting Sooner article links in the News Wire forum, and we have resurrected the Sports Book, just in time for football season. We'll need a volunteer or two to post and update the games for all the pretend betting action with fake money.
There are still a number of things left to do as far as the site itself, but they can be done while it's open. One of those things is mobile support, including SF.com iPhone and Android apps for quick mobile access that works directly with the site's back end software. If you see anything that is a problem or needs to be fixed, let me know. Other than that, welcome back, explore the new software and tell me what you think, and have fun. BOOMER SOONER!
Advertisement