Just downloaded the cap paul template direct from the server - so can categorically state that we haven't lost any files, pics or attachments.
For some reason the forum software is claiming the attachments folder is either not there or has wrong permissions.
As far as I can tell both are incorrect: ie it's both there and has all the correct permissions - so it's probably the bloody paths file again.
Just got to copy the backed up forum to my workshop pc and I'll try and fix it.
Also the variances between older and newer user accounts does seem to be independant of web browsers.
which makes even less sense.
On the bright side, I'm almost pathologically stubborn, so I can guarentee that at some point everything will be working properly. Just bear with me folks - this stuff is fiddly and whether something work or not can depend on some pretty obscure and tiny detail in an obscure file.
User friendly it's not.
To be honest it's worked better and sooner than I thought it would
And in case anyone hasn't worked it out yet - crashtestdummy=curious_aardvark
we is one and the same