Elshara Silverheart

Error
Database query error

Hey guys. For years I've been a fan of Dolphin 7 because I was able to achieve so much with it. The profile match maker and form builder was a huge reason for me to keep it going. But, as it's reached end of life, well I figured I'd give Una a shot.

Before Dolphin, I used Social Engine. After migrating to there from PHPFox. I also used SocialEngine to migrate from Ning. I used a migration script to transfer my Ning data to PHPFox. And from PHPFox to Social Engine. I couldn't migrate anything to Dolphin until Una came out. So now I'm in a situation where I want to do that. And everything goes real well up until the point where Una fails to access the SocialEngine database. See error above.

I have a couple of questions. Mainly:

1. Why has this migration script not gotten an update since Una 9? Social Engine is working on and passing an update with v6 right now.

2. I don't know if this database error has anything to do with the php version of the server or not. But to me, it sounds like something isn't loading properly which leads me to suspect this may be the case. Do you know what PHP version Una 9 was compatible with for me to test further?

3. What actually gets imported into Una from Social Engine? Am I to believe it's just photo albums and blogs with profiles? Has anyone ever done an import before with the script created from Git Hub?

4. Why is some of the scripts, SEMigration included only available in Git Hub code reposatories rather than the Una Market? I assume this has to do with version numbers limiting installation or purchase capabilities. If that's the case, I definitely would consider Una not production ready even though it's turning out to be a real promising project.

Some suggestions:

1. Try getting Social Engine migration script ready for v5 as that has come and gone. If it's as simple as updating a database prefix in a row of tables when looking for existing data, nothing else would've changed too much.

2. Lets talk custom imports. By URL. By CSV. By users themselves, and. By administrators in bulk. For both content and modules respectively. With the option of exporting content in a universal format as GDPR would encourage. User's data belongs to them. Which means, they should be able to share it cross platform with little manual work. Obviously a custom embedding solution would need to be put in place. However, specifying what part of a website actually generates user content is key. and that can be done using simple HTML or text based formatting for the most part.

3. By current standards, Dolphin 7 still has more to offer than Una 13. Lets talk file albums. Sounds. Links. Apps. Importers. Matching. Custom sign up process. All the things that members really care about by how they are able to interact themselves with the website. Including having their own profile appearance. And word press integration. Social Engine, PHPFox and Ning has something Una doesn't have. That's activity. Ning because of profile customization. Social Engine because of unified navigation and page builder concepton a page by page basis. And PHPFox because of infinite scrolling for posts and pages for all apps. Yes Una has a page builder, but it's complicated to use and all the code is displayed in a php block. One wrong character accidentally entered, and you can't restore the original. Something all other platforms I'm trying to migrate away from has built in shields to prevent.

Basically I'm saying, what am I migrating to and why can't I complete the process for what your script supports out of the box from an install that hasn't changed from the core plugins in 7 years?

OK -  DIARY OF A NEW CUSTOMER !!

Today 2nd June. AM

Just signed up for the $50 + 50 plan (Apps & Hosting) 

Impressed  with the slick stripe payments. Its very good btw!

But apart from a 'Red Dot" in the Licence Field, I'm totally lost as to what to do now, or where to even look  / go now !

I've so many questions now.  I want to get started, i'm excited for sure, but I'm not been pointed in any specific direction.

First impressions - there are no obvious instructions to follow for a new user! At least nothing apparent to me, at first glance.

Like -

Where - do I go to "see' the back end of my potential new website?

Can - I start to experiment, build an "off-line'  version, get my toes wet, see how it look and feels before going live?

What - happens now?

Today 2nd June. PM

Launching the launch window!!!!

OK - Licence Bought - Go to activate / Launch said Licence, and ran into problems with the correct naming of servers, again I feel the fact that I needed to summon Help to even activate the site was not good. Should be a case of; [ imput company name here ] & Click GO!! That said, getting help here, was super quick, through the UNA site. The new message alerts on my phone were also impressive, ditto for the UNA - device APP itself.

Overall

I feel the whole UNA "shop window' is very confusing indeed.  I mean - I'm never quite sure whether I'm actually on my OWN SITE, or UNA's !!!! at any one time, it's very confusing, seriously. Suggest colour code, UNA have a  different back round colour to own site.

Pricing

Probably be happy paying $100 p/m ok, (if I was actually making progress building a site) I'll talk about this in a while. In my opinion, having your 'business plan" priced at $800 a month (as it stands), when you can not tell me definitively, what exactly i will get for it!!! is plain pointless, to a small business, with a budget in mind!!  Mind the Gap!!  Big jump from $100 p/m to $800 p/m !!!  My site could take anything from a few hours, to months to implement, and there is no apparent tangible way of telling me in advance, what it's going to cost me???, come on! and that's not workable for any business.  Consider offering a "white label, ready to go template, out of the box, design and implementation for a set fee, payable per month, all I need to do is change the logo, up-load some pic's turn on/off the modules i want or need, and i'm LIVE!!  A "definable feature package'  memberships, forum, live chat, blog, photos etc for $xx per month, designed and implemented. That would interest me!

The Software itself

For sure, there is evidence of brilliance everywhere, Seeing how the template it looks and functions on my various devices, it's very impressive, the notifications everything, (on your own site that is! - UNA!) But the Achilles heal of the software is that it is designed by; Expert Tech geeks, for Competent Tech Geeks.  If your not a programmer, your lost here. Its not for any "Idea Person" in my view.  It's for a Competent Tech Geek, with an idea!  In short - as it currently is - the software is not 'user-friendly" enough for the mass market your after.  I've stated THIS as the standard you need to aim for ;- 

http://www.vistaprint.ie/websites 

The CMS is as easy to edit as a word doc, and modules and pages are simple ON/OFF options, money back guarantee, and outstanding tel support.  

I feel, UNA would need to offer some form of "support" at the start in order to "be at the races" as a product. Assign each new customer of UNA, to an "angel" initially as part of the deal, supported via a "P.C anywhere" type support / with chat.  Get um up and running with a revenue generating prod, and you have a good shot at retention.  But after 1- DAY on this, I'm so far a little disappointed, I thought I would be able to do more for myself. I'll try again tomorrow!!            

Just wondering, if anyone actually got a site up an running on this platform yet? TEST POST as well!