This page documents the historical changes to the WeaselTech site. Entries are in reverse chronological order (latest release on top). Please note that release numbers are not always sequencial.
Release 3.0.94: 2007-11-03
Added some log pruning code to the Diablo II game history page. After a few
thousand page reads, the log will stay pruned to about 6 months. This
should make the pages that deal with this data run a bit faster.
Release 3.0.93: 2007-11-02
Fixed the quarantine report so it actually works. You ABMs really need to
PM me when something is truly broken. I had no clue. Added JavaScript
client-side sorting while I was in there.
Release 3.0.84: 2006-04-04
Added the new Hellgate:London guild to the WeaselTech system.
Release 3.0.82: 2006-03-31
I hosed some code last night while "optimizing" the security module. As a
consequence, WeaselTech ignored the permissions of nearly all
some members of our community. Sorry about that. Things should be back
to normal now (where nobody notices my goof-ups).
Release 3.0.76: 2006-03-26
The user search tool was tweaked yet again. I added some new client-side
JavaScript to sort the columns without pinging the server. Faster for you,
less CPU for the server and less network traffic for everyone. What's not to
like about that? Note: if you click the header of a column consisting
entirely of identical data, you won't get the red arrow; this is "normal"
behavior (it's actually a bug workaround to avoid random ordering) - trust
me, it's nicer this way.
Release 3.0.71: 2006-03-23
The user search tool was tweaked again. An interesting by-product of the
clever new URL mangling for the regex/sort was that it triggered my add
blocker which silently removed that nifty WeaselFeature right off the page!
I've got a permanent solution in mind, but it will require re-coding the way
the pages handle user entries (which is already a major PITA). My interim
solution was to remove the icons and replace them with a text link.
Tweaked the HTML-generation code on several pages to produce an HTML 4.01 compliant document. Tweaked the CSS definitions and usage a bit. Nearly all of the pages are validated now. The only warnings that remain are trivial cosmetic issues on pages that I'm going to remove-or-replace anyway.
Release 3.0.70: 2006-03-21 (in the afternoon)
The user search tool got another facelift. Fixed a problem with backslashes
in the regex field. Tweaked the layout, added several fields and links, added
a temp table to accumulate the new data.
Release 3.0.69: 2006-03-21 (in the wee hours)
The user search tool got a facelift. Actually it was rewritten from scratch
to give some admin-class behavior to the public user search. This type of
functionality is what the admins are used to seeing on WeaselTech. Now, you
can play a bit too (albeit a very small sandbox). A new feature introduced on
that page is the display of the pre-mangled forum-name text to help you
construct regex expressions that work with what is inside the database. That,
and the URL construction that preserves the regex special chars when using
the resorting links. Those two features aren't even available on the admin
pages yet.
Tweaked the CSS a bit and added a fresh new look for fun (the first example is the user search tool). Tweaked the table definitions to accomodate Internet Exploder's inability to adhere to standards (some of which are over 15 years old). WeaselTech looks trashy in Internet Exploder, but I just don't care anymore. I'm simply NOT going to break all my page designs to accomodate it's lame behavior - not even for the 800 pound gorilla.
Get yourself a real browser and WeaselTech will look nice - just as I designed it. As a sidenote, WeaselTech is not fully compliant yet as I'm in the process of removing tables and designing a new menu layout that I'm hoping will be free of tables and cheesy x.png tricks. I want it to be fluid and it must scale properly if the text size changes. I expect WT to be compliant with at least HTML 4.01 and CSS level 2 when it's finished. I don't see any motivation to use XML / XHTML, but I'm all ears if you have a reason that I should know about.
Enhanced the security for the login page. If you miss-type your password, you'll be mildly annoyed, but it was a necessary evil to discourage brute-force attacks on your forum passwords. The kids they let loose on the Internet nowadays - sheesh.
Release 3.0.66: 2006-03-17
Began the process of restructuring the WeaselMenu and page layout to remove
the table kludge and require the users to use a real browser that supports
CSS. If the site looks broken, please make sure you're using a
standards-compliant browser, and then let me know about the problem.
Release 3.0.61: 2006-03-09
Complete rewrite of the backend data engine to take advantage of the latest
SQL server (upgraded last week). Removed the server load bar graphs to remove
clutter and improve the WT page load times.
Release 3.0.53: 2005-12-09
Fixed lots of buglets. Added the public Diablo II password entry page and
then added the option to disable passwords. Modified the realm password
change to use the new password pool. Added many new tools for the
anti-troll patrol. Added JavaScript menu-popups. Made many refinements to
the internal data schema. Corrected several design limitations of the info
tables. Corrected design limitations in the block ID tables. Added
functionality to the block ID script. Modified the User info script to fix
mangled emails, fill-in missing emails, and remove obsolete forum links.
All reported bugs have been addressed, but a number of features are still
missing. The code base is considered stable (finally).
Release 3.0.34: 2005-11-05
This is a rushed release. I need people to hammer on it and let me
know what breaks. Note: the muti-forum name tool is temporarily unavailable
and will show an access-denied error. Note: there is an odd situation where
the blue menu expands momentarily to the full browser width until the page
fully loads. I'm working on that issue.
Please report bugs and user interface issues to AllWeasel early so I can get them fixed. I know some tools are missing, please let me know what tools *you* think are missing so I can get them written in priority order.
Modified WT internals to handle the upgraded forum data structures. The GW guild can now be supported and several older forums have been retired. Added a "My Settings" page which includes a list of your current WeaselTech permissions for all of the forums, your connection info etcetera.
Beta 2.96: 2004-11-17
Added a server load indicator under the information section of the
WeaselMenu. When the server feels overloaded, you can see *how* overworked
it really is. Hover your mouse over the graphic image to see the load
number. Modified the WeaselMenu to display all links regardless of how
your default guild is set.
Release 2.95: 2004-11-11
Added a "Global Name Tool" tool that allows you to set your name, password,
and email address in all of the basin guilds at once. You can find the link
under the "WeaselTech" section of the WeaselMenu. Keeping all your accounts
in sync is required by the admins, so please give the tool a try and sync
your accounts today!
Release 2.90: 2004-10-05
Removed the Ds and Eq guild references. Added a "global user" rename tool
for admins. If you can't logon due to multiple global user records, the
admins can fix it for you now. Made a few other changes due to user
request. The Weaselboy welcomes imbtf as the first
non-rodent WeaselTech haxxor. Imbtf will be adding some new pages in the
future.
Release 2.85: 2004-06-27
Various trivial changes. Several weeks ago, I had to replace my hard
disk and reload everything from scratch. You cannot imagine how much
"stuff" is needed to simulate the basin environment on my test
platform.
The good news is that most of it is in place now and I have the *capability* to make changes to WT once again. The bad news is that WeaselTech is now in "maintenance" mode. For health reasons, I have not been able to put any time into WeaselTech lately. Currently, the only plans I have for WT are bug fixes and minor changes to stay in sync with the forum source code changes.
My hope is that WT remains usable until the basin decides to retire it (as opposed to letting WT become obsolete because it couldn't adapt to a changing the environment). I honestly don't know if I can deliver on that hope. Time will tell.
Release 2.83: 2004-04-11
The most notable change is the new D2 game application page and all the
infrastructure to support it. For the most part, it seems to work properly
and nearly everyone was automatically "grandfathered" into the games without
delay. A number of internal bug fixes and enhancements since version 2.73,
mostly to "the tools we don't talk about". The WOW forum became public so
WeaselTech support for it was enabled. A bug on the "Edit D2 game passwords"
page was reported and fixed. It had been there since before the previous
version. Obviously, the other page for setting passwords was the one
actually being used. Various other cosmetic changes.
Release 2.73: 2004-03-13
Hopefully, the latest changes will put an end to the bug where the
permissions got lost and you had to logoff to recover. Added auto-logoff to
all pages. Auto-logoff will send your browser to the logoff page just before
your session times out. This will help make it more obvious that the current
session has expired. Added automatic page-switch on the D2 games page. This
one sends your browser to the main WeaselTech page after you've been parked
on the D2 game page too long. This prevents users from using old (invalid)
passwords (because they forgot to refresh the page before entering each
game). Various other cosmetic changes.
Release 2.71: 2004-03-11
Guild members page was completed. A link on the WeaselMenu was
corrected.
Release 2.68: 2004-02-26
All of the internal multi-guild security enhancements were completed.
Restructured the database to implement the multi-guild pages. Added
multi-guild support to many of the existing pages, both the public
pages and the member-only pages. Added a WT-specific logon page.
Completely removed the dependance on forum cookies. WeaselTech will
automagically find all of your forum accounts when you logon. The WT
logon is now required after you close your browser windows or your
session times-out.
Implemented auto-leave on the D2 game page to prevent new passwords from being overlooked. Implemented a unique background color for official admin verbiage (and snippets). The trusty old WeaselMenu got a facelift with a separate section for each guild, a default guild selector, a link for The BasinWear Store, and a revamped user information section. Of course, the new multi-guild menu only displays links that you are authorized to use, just like it always has.
Re-coded the guild member page to show guild members in each forum using the current default guild. Removed old history from this news page.
Release 2.58:
Added a new page. The privacy policy page can be found under the
WeaselTech menu. Modified the channel banned list per Flick's
request.
Release 2.53:
Added a new page. The credits page can be found under the WeaselTech
menu.
Release 2.50:
First public view of the site running the new security model under
the covers. D2-specific pages are more isolated and have been
renamed. This will make it easier for me to keep track of them and
break a lot of bookmarks as a side-effect. Gotta break some eggs ...
I suppose.
Release 2.44:
Special thanks to BugBoy for crafting better HTML and suggesting
other improvements to WeaselTech. We grow day by day and we hope that
we shall never grow so arrogant as to ignore a good idea. Special
thanks to Kevin Steele for the matrix weasel picture. Gotta love that
user-submitted artwork.
Release 2.43:
Added time stamping to the game table. Implemented timezone fly-overs
on the game list page. Special thanks to IMBTF for crafting the
javascript used in the timezone fly-overs (and other fields). Began
the conversion to guild-specific permission checks.
Release 2.40:
The server had to be rebuilt from scratch and SSO wasn't available.
The WeaselTech internals were re-coded to work without SSO. The
current kludge is to use the forum cookies for the WeaselTech logon.
I will figure out a more elegant way to handle that issue later.
Huge internal changes to lay the foundation for multi-guild usage of WT. Several new database tables were created and and least one was removed to allow for multi-guild operating. Guild-specific fields and settings were added to accomodate a few projects that haven't been made public yet.
Release 2.19:
Added swg guild to the user search page.
Release 2.18:
Added admin verbiage to the countdown message.
Release 2.16:
Added non-regex searching for the multi-guild username searches.
Release 2.11:
Fixed a bad link for the SSO logoff.
Release 2.07:
Fixed a bug with the guest logon while under SSO.
Release 2.00 and older:
Notes prior to this version were removed on 2004/02/26.
