On 13-Jan-2024, we launched Polestar Forum software to power our forums. The same developer, Josh, created a Content Management System (CMS) and he's shared it with us as well and it's now live - you're using it! When the forums launched, I created a thread within them about this and modified the main home page to link to it for information about that change and Josh also posted a little bit about his Polestar software projects. (In case you missed it, you can check out the thread Polestar Forum Software.)

Why Polestar?

I was in the middle of a complete ground-up rewrite of the entire NormanNetworksITS website when Josh reached out to me about trying out his software. Having seen what he'd done on his own site, I just couldn't resist having a look as he'd quite literally accomplished many things I was trying to do. As I mentioned in the forum launch thread above, I genuinely felt as though I was reinventing the wheel for myself even though I've been well aware of many CMS options available - there was always something missing or not quite what I wanted. The concepts Josh uses in his Polestar projects are very much nearly spot on with the vast majority of things I was looking to accomplish.

Where did SporTracker go?

As of this moment, SporTracker is the only niche bit missing from the site. I'm not abandoning it, though I admit the development has been completely paused since January. With the new changes, I have a little bit more work to do in order to bring it back as it needs to be tied in with user authentication, which has been completely revamped for Polestar software implementation.

As always, you'll be kept posted right here with the latest developments!

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