[Brad]

I still have a few code modifications laying around in my files but I am hoping to do away with them in time.

After doing an upgrade from 3.5 RC 2 to 3.5 RC 3 and not losing anything I am a beliver in the new plug-in system, it cut my normal upgrade time from just over an hour or so to under 15 minutes over internet and in just a few minutes over the local network.

My old upgrade method:

1. Download new files from members area
2. Re-hack the entire source with the .txt I make for myself for every forum I hack listing file modifications. (this can be anywhere from a few minutes to many hours depending on what forum I am updating )
3. Upload freshly hacked files to server
4. Run upgrade scripts
5. Make sure forum is in good running order and do any template changes needed (for bug fixes)

My new method:

1. Download new files from members area
2. Upload files to web server
3. Run upgrade scripts
4. Make sure forum is in good running order and do any template changes needed (for bug fixes)

My dev forum still has a lot of added code over many files, but this is mostly stuff I've added for de-bugging.