Phase 1 and Phase 2 were "silent" upgrades to members. It was all admin, behind-the-scenes upgrade. Each one required the forum database be backed up in duplicate. The upgrades were tested on the one backup, and then implemented on the main database. The third backup was a safe restore point, just in case.
Phase 3 is starting today, and won't require any downtime.
Phase 4 is the big one. It will require more downtime on (probably) a Sunday -- not sure which one -- and the changes will be quite obvious. We have several neat things in store for digitalFAQ.com (and another site
) members.
This is something that's been planned since 2012. And it's almost done!
After this, we'll move on to the main site, and both update and expand it. None of that will require downtime, as we can update on-the-fly with it.
