State of the Forum

[Unition]

To be honest I'm not entirely sure it is safe to upgrade the live forums at this point, after I've done a little research I will have a better idea.  But I do think the forums need to be kept up to date - there are a lot of neat new apps that newer versions can run that this one can't, that I think will help the community do things like plan events and communicate more efficiently.  Forum games and facebook-like functionality for example.

As for the official new version - no idea when that's coming out, I suppose I should check that out as well.  If a new official version is coming out next week it makes sense to hold on and wait.

[Calmcacil]

To be honest I'm not entirely sure it is safe to upgrade the live forums at this point, after I've done a little research I will have a better idea.  But I do think the forums need to be kept up to date - there are a lot of neat new apps that newer versions can run that this one can't, that I think will help the community do things like plan events and communicate more efficiently.  Forum games and facebook-like functionality for example.

As for the official new version - no idea when that's coming out, I suppose I should check that out as well.  If a new official version is coming out next week it makes sense to hold on and wait.

As far as keeping an updated forum goes, a conversion of forum softwares would probably provide with better updates and features, the real shame is that such a change would require a licence, not that there arent boards running vB without a lisence... but yeah i do agree that upgrades are necciary, but usually RC's are flustered with bugs and very often exploitable weaknesses, considering the userbase on this forum i dont think its in a danger of being "attacked". if you need help with anything though as previously stated, dont hesitate to talk to me, i have a pretty good idea about whats going on in the forum world.

EDIT:
As a lisence holder of vBulletin im allowed to setup a temporary test forum which could be used to see how the forum conversion to forexample vBulletin would be doable on how the result from doing this would look and how good a change it would be. Just a lil helping paw for possible improvement ;3

[Vanilla Skunk]

I don't think that switching forum software to something completely different would be a very good idea.  Not only would it be a pain to migrate, but Database migration would not include everyone's userpics and attachments in their posts, as they are files on the server, not database items.  It would take over a month to get everything working again.

Furthermore, Ratt already said that the forum will not be migrated to a release candidate.

[Calmcacil]

I don't think that switching forum software to something completely different would be a very good idea.  Not only would it be a pain to migrate, but Database migration would not include everyone's userpics and attachments in their posts, as they are files on the server, not database items.  It would take over a month to get everything working again.

Furthermore, Ratt already said that the forum will not be migrated to a release candidate.

As far as i know Impex (vBulletin product) has flawsless import mechanics from most forum softwares, including SMF

[Vanilla Skunk]

Now that I'm off work and have more time to say what is necessary...

I don't see much point in switching forum software when what we have is free, and works perfectly.

Switching to a release candidate would be a bad idea, because as it very well could have security holes, glitches, and whatever else, we have already been attacked, and guarenteed it will happen again.  It is better to not take unnecessary security risks.

Also, why does this forum need to cost more money?  Ratt is already paying for domain services, and hosting.  We already have free forum software that has all the same features as most of the licensing based forum softwares. 

We will not do things illegally, so we are not going to crack a copy of vBulleton to get around the licensing cost. 

The administration and moderation teams would then have to learn the new software, and all of the mods and customizations we have already done would have to be done again.

In the end, it would simply be a big unnecessary project.  I would support fully, upgrading to SMF 2 when it is officially released.  But, I do not support switching forum softwares.

Don't fix what isn't broken, right?

[Calmcacil]

Now that I'm off work and have more time to say what is necessary...

I don't see much point in switching forum software when what we have is free, and works perfectly.

Switching to a release candidate would be a bad idea, because as it very well could have security holes, glitches, and whatever else, we have already been attacked, and guarenteed it will happen again.  It is better to not take unnecessary security risks.

Lastly, why does this forum need to cost more money?  We will not do things illegally, so we are not going to crack a copy of vBulleton to get around the licensing cost.  The administration and moderation teams would then have to learn the new software, and all of the mods and customizations we have already done would have to be done again.

In the end, it would simply be a big unnecessary project.  I would support fully, upgrading to SMF 2 when it is officially released.  But, I do not support switching forum softwares.

Don't fix what isn't broken, right

Granted, the work involved and the costs make it pretty unrealistic, all in all vBulletin may be a better software and more safe, but SMF probably provides more than whats needed in these forums.

I was simply making a suggestion if it was in the interest of the administration to do something like this to obtain a more secure system with lots of power and dedicated developers making mods and templates, i dont have enough basis to say its better than SMF as ive never had any serious experience with it, ive used IBF for 2 years and vBulletin for 5, my vbulletin forum has yet to be "attacked" had some trolls but thanks to the tools at hand in vBulletin they were dealth with and thats the end of that. spambots is a problem in any forum software, heck even recaptcha has been cracked, its quite a hassle really.

But as i said it was a suggestion for the forum admins incase they had any desires to move on to something that in my experience seems to have better functionallity than any of the other forum softwares i tested, ultimately its their call to do whatever they feel is best for the boards, i merely said i'd help test the conversion process in advance if its something they would consider trying as i have the lisence and the tools to do such a test.

[Calmcacil]

Update;

would implemention of Tapatalk be possible for these boards? it would make it friendly for iPhone/iPod touch owners, which well i dunno how many of us there are here (android&blackberry support is said to be planned/in beta too)

I run it on my own forums and ive tested for "securty holes" and i havent found any.

[Kithop]

Just FYI, back when I worked at Nettwerk we did a bunch of migrations of various artists OFF of things like vBulletin to SMF; we standardized on SMF for all our forums and the various art teams did just fine re-theming/skinning, adding features, etc.

Personally, I'm a big free (as in speech as well as beer) software advocate, and would rather see us stay on and utilize as much free software as possible - especially in the case of open source, you're not beholden to one company to fix or support things, and you're free to fix and modify as much as you like.

[Acco]

No vBulletin. No need for it.

[Vanilla Skunk]

Speaking of which, I just signed up for another forum that uses vBulletin, and then tried to use the site on my phone.

SMF works flawlessly, in full browser mode.  I changed my avatar from my phone.

vBulletin gives me more errors trying to load than I've ever seen in my life for a single webpage.  I can't even post.

Sometimes free really is better.

[Runix]

Upgrading to an RC 3.0 will break everything on the forum, and you will then have to wait for the addons to catch up (if any want to)

[Selkit]

Wee bit of a necro here? You missed by about a year.

[Runix]

Wee bit of a necro here? You missed by about a year.

your posting is irrelevent, just stating the truth, even with current builds