UPDATE Sunday, December 22, 2013 4:30 AM ET: It’s taken some time, but it’s finally arrived! The SON Community Message Boards have been upgraded to the latest software and this time, we weren’t accepting the tired default theme that comes with it.

Over the course of 3 hours, I was able to customize the MB’s to keep some of the elements of the default theme, but also add new tools and abilities while making the community more sociable and cleaner at the same time. At faster speeds (based on several browser tests), the community is the fastest it has ever been, while maintaining the integrity of the place and keeping member issues and concerns at the top of the list.

As a result of the update:

• Blogs are back! They are fully functioning and ready for new rants, raves and fanfics
• Gallery is fully operational and usable for uploading images without having to utilize a third party, such as flickr, tumblr, twitter, etc.
• There is now a floating menu bar that will help you navigate from one area of the community to another (forums to members, calendars, etc) without having to scroll
• The registration page no longer asks what your favorite soap is (this feature had not been updated since 2005!) – member registrations should run a lot smoother
• Social icons to allow members to interact with the website outside of the community is now possible

Let us know if you encounter any problems or if you have any issues with the update. Without your comments, we wouldn’t know what works and what doesn’t.

PREVIOUS: Beginning Saturday, December 21 at 11:59 PM ET and until Sunday, December 22 at 3:00 AM ET, the SON Community message boards will be offline due to scheduled maintenance that will hopefully resolve several long standing issues, including membership verification problems and accessing blogs/mySONTV.