Steve

Ok.. migration complete. i need a drink. j/k we (I) will be tuning the server for the next few weeks to improve performance, but it should be better than before already. let me know if you get any error messages etc.

I added the #lastsparrow feed to the right side of the forum - thanks for the awesome idea @Lori Todd !

Ok - we have confirmed that the switch to the new server will happen starting around 8pm PST tonight. LST should be offline for less than 30 minutes - might be a good time to watch some interviews on our youtube channel or something. ..insert clever ideas of other stuff to do here...

Heads up that we're probably moving to the new server tomorrow night. Fingers crossed there will be minimal downtime, but after last nights' shenanigans by the web host I'm crossing fingers and toes on both hands and both feet. Regardless, we WILL end up live on the new dedicated server with enough hardware to easily handle the site's growth for a good while. There will probably be some performance issues and what not for the first day or two while we tune the server, but it should be smooth sailing by the end of the week. Thanks again to everybody for putting up with it and not complaining too much lately. Not that we mind bug reports etc, but you know what I mean. There have been some especially craptastic moments lately.

Remember that your username is case sensitive, so it has to be entered exactly like this, with the space in the middle: Mark Bee

just to confirm, your username is: Mark Bee (not your fb login)

Have you tried using your fb name and password?

You can see the stats at the bottom of the main forum page: Tattoo Forum | Last Sparrow Tattoo We're at 4,464 and counting.

Hey everybody, Just wanted to let you know that we have purchased a new dedicated server for LST and plan to migrate the site to it sometime next week. We're beefing up the hardware considerably, so we should see an end to the periodic dreadful sluggishness that we've been plagued with recently. Thanks again for your patience with the site performance in the meantime. (Until we move know that when it does slow down it rarely lasts for more than ten minutes or so.) Thanks to everyone for helping LST grow so quickly!

Hi Rob You're right there was a big spike on the server just before you posted, but it's settled back down now. Good news is that we're upgrading the server hardware next week so we should be seeing an end to these occasional slow downs altogether. Thanks again to everybody for putting up with the occasional slowness, we do appreciate your patience, and we're working hard to resolve the issue. Cheers

Hi Ian, Thanks for letting us know! We have occasional peaks in usage that slow things down a bit. The slowness usually goes away after about 15 minutes. We are working hard to resolve this issue and we're confident that we will eventually get rid of it for good! Thanks again for the heads up, and also thanks to everybody for tolerating occasional the slowness when it happens. Know that we are aware of it and working towards a solution. Cheers

Your assumptions are true about our Gallery not being supported by forumrunner or tapatalk. You can only post and view images in forum threads. I agree that the latest version of TapaTalk is nicer than ForumRunner - it is possible to 'like' posts with tapatalk - just long press on the post and the option will pop up.. that's enough in itself. We will one day have a mobile app that supports the Gallery - thanks for your patience in the meantime.

Thanks for the heads up! The posts that you were mentioned in were 'auto-moderated' since they were added by a new member. I have approved them - let me know if you see any other issues. Cheers

Please help us welcome @Iwar as the latest addition to the LST Moderation team! Iwar has been with LST since the very beginning and as you all know is a very level-headed, cool cat and we're thrilled to have him on the team. Some of us have been lucky enough to meet him in person during his visits to the states from Norway, from whence he hails. Now we've got all the time zones covered for 'round the clock moderation - spammers beware!

Good news! 14 of Dan's machines were returned thanks to a tip that came into @Juan Puente at BlackHeart. They're still working on recovering the remaining machines. via instagram: Photo by dringenberg • Instagram

Lol. Loving this thread. @Pugilist you read our mind. We will post an uber faq in a prominent location. Keep the commandments coming!

Hey folks - I just installed the Tapatalk mobile app system on LST. it's pretty similar to forum runner, but it supports the 'Likes' system! It looks like it costs around $3 to purchase for either iPhone or Android, and we don't get paid for that just so you know. after you install it, you just do a long press on a post to select the 'like' button. Still no support for the gallery system yet unfortunately.. Forum Runner still works - so now you can choose between either one. Let me know if you find any errors, issues etc. Enjoy. Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quoord.tapatalkpro.activity iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tapatalk-forum-app/id307880732?mt=8

Ok - thanks guys. I've turned it off for now. I'll figure it out tomorrow - sorry about that! Let me know if you continue to get the error.

I have increased the minimum-characters-in-post requirement for new members to 60 characters. This only applies to the first ten posts, but should help reduce the problem with people dropping a bunch of short meaningless posts everywhere just to get their post count up. Please let me know if people with over 10 posts are getting an error popup saying your post is too short. Thanks

Reposting additional info from Tim Hendrick's blog: --------- Attention all tattooers: Dan Dringenberg had approximately 20 machines stolen recently in the San Francisco area. Here is a list of all the machines with descriptions and their numbers. If you encounter someone attempting to sell any one of these machines please take the necessary course of actions. This picture below can be easily downloaded and printed out for any shop to keep as reference for the ‘shady’ machine vendors. Please keep your eyes and ears open, we all owe it to tattooing to help each other out. Thank you ------------ This LST thread is the first result for 'stolen tattoo machines' in google - so hopefully people will search before purchasing. https://www.google.com/search?q=stolen+tattoo+machines&pws=0

Yes sir! All the mods have the ability to lock threads, delete threads/posts, ban users, and we can even block their IP address so they can't even get to the site. We also have a ban 'nuke' button that bans a user and deletes all of their posts in one click - and reports their email and IP address to stopforumspam.com and akismet.com - to help with auto-moderation on other forums. If you encounter a spammer, please just report their post using the little black triangle with exclamation mark directly under the post - instead of responding to the content of the post itself - that way, when we do ban the user and their posts are deleted - the thread will still make sense to those who read it in the future.. Thanks again to all of you who help us stay on top of the spammers - we are constantly improving our automation tools, but some of them will always be able to slip through the cracks and require manual intervention.

20 Tattoo machines and two ipads were stolen from Dan Dringenberg's car last night, 1/26/13, while it was parked outside Blackheart Tattoo Shop in San Francisco, CA. Dan is offering a generous reward for any information that leads to the return of his stolen property. In addition, LST is donating an additional $250 toward the reward. Any information given will remain confidential. Please call Blackheart at 415.431.2100. Or email [email protected] with any information. Lets come together as a community and help Dan recover his property. Please repost to all your social networks ASAP.

We have updated the new user notifications and welcome PM/email to make it clear that the first ten posts must be quality/thoughtful posts. We are watching this more carefully now - and if you see someone engaging in this, please report their posts. Ideally, a new user should start with a thoughtful introduction thread and strive to get their post count up right there in their intro thread. I'm still looking at switching to a 'likes' count system - I hope to have that working soon.

If it's any consolation, this LST thread is now the first result in google for the phrase 'Paul Cramman Tattoo' https://www.google.com/search?q=Paul+Cramman+tattoo&pws=0 ..above his own facebook page..

thanks for the thoughtful feedback everybody! we truly cherish your suggestions and are always keen to make LST better and better. We will be upgrading our new user approach soon - and the ideas you have posted here will be carefully considered. I love the 'liked' posts idea - that one hits it on the head, just not sure if it could be automated or not.. off to research!