Please Migrate to a modern forum platform

[reidfo]

Yeah and everyone knows TBBS was the best.

Well, actually TAG was the best.

I've been searching several over forums over the last few days, and there were several that when I visited I thought were pretty awful. Didn't realize it at the time, but they all ran Discourse. I'm happy with the forums here, but an update would be nice.

[thymer]

Deja Vu?

http://blueirissoftware.com/forum/vi...p?p=1352#p1352

[outbackrob]

Deja Vu?

http://blueirissoftware.com/forum/vi...p?p=1352#p1352

Perhaps not.

[Tomgru]

I don't really care either.... but I will say there are two features that I love on another forum i'm on that I can't find here.

I usually go straight to "new posts" from the nav on the top when I start in the forum.

I click on a thread, and it goes to the first page. Or... I click on the last page number to go to that page, assuming I've at least read till there. Then I start scrolling to where I left off last in the discussion.

1. on my other forum, if you just click the topic link, it always takes you to the last post read, across all devices. Love that. I see that I can click into the link, and then at the top go to last post read.... but it's an extra click and never really seems to work.

2. once in a thread.... if i'm at the bottom of a long thread and want to go back to the top to click on "new posts" again.... I have to scroll and scroll back up.... My other forum has a floating arrow on the page that if you click, automatically takes you back to the top. Just quick and nice.

1rst world problems. :-)

[macromark]

New Message Board? Looking for Feedback.

******** NOTE: This post and following ones were merged from a new thread******

Has anyone used a "Discourse" message board? If so, did you like it? This board software has become extremely popular in the past few years. Please have a look at the examples in the link below and let us know what you think.

https://www.discourse.org/customers


Thanks!

[randy]

I looked carefully at several Discourse forums during the thread that Jon linked. I don't like it much, but I am really not that big on the whole social aspect of people liking or not liking what others say. Giving people the incentive of being "liked" puts completely new motivations on posting, many times to the detriment of honest discourse. The other issue is relegating the past 18 years of discussion to a static archive. I think it would be very difficult to retain community continuity with a sharp transition to new software.

Of course this 3.XX vBulletin software is a couple of generations old and the 4.XX and 5.XX versions are generating a lot of complaints, so the choice becomes more difficult. I built several forums on vBulletin 3.XX and my last was on 4.XX. We were able to make the 4.XX forum look and work very well and there were a lot of useful add-ins and good looking skins, but it was not starkly different from 3.XX. As I understand it there are some security issues with 3.XX that have not been addressed. If I was starting a new community, I would still consider vBulletin because of familiarity, but because of the new ownership I would have to dig deeper and look at competing options. I frequent several forums that have moved to vB 4.XX or 5.XX and they are quite good. They were able to keep their data from the 3.XX instances that were replaced. Any forum software is only as good as the configuration. They are all highly customizable and can look and feel very individual.

[macromark]

Mark,

Did you see this discussion? https://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=195459

Nope, did not. Thanks!

Of course this 3.XX vBulletin software is a couple of generations old and the 4.XX and 5.XX versions are generating a lot of complaints, so the choice becomes more difficult.

We've been getting warnings from Google about 3.x not being secure and they've been recommending the upgrade. However, we did try upgrading to vBulletin 5.x a few years ago. UNBELIEVABLE SLOW SOFTWARE. That triggered a full-scale revolt and we had to revert to 3.x. So... now we're looking for a suitable replacement. It would be a big job though and moving posts from one platform to another might not be possible. Anyway... just investigating the possibilities now.

[rmasonjr]

I've grown quite fond of Tapatalk over the years, so as long as the new board supports it, I am good.

When I do use the browser version, scrolling is kind of a pain and I do wish it had the floating 'top' button - like eBay and others.

[macromark]

I've grown quite fond of Tapatalk over the years, so as long as the new board supports it, I am good.

When I do use the browser version, scrolling is kind of a pain and I do wish it had the floating 'top' button - like eBay and others.

Tapatalk doesn't appear to support Discourse. But... you might like the Discourse forum as is? Maybe try one of those sites on your phone..

[randy]

Nope, did not. Thanks!
We've been getting warnings from Google about 3.x not being secure and they've been recommending the upgrade. However, we did try upgrading to vBulletin 5.x a few years ago. UNBELIEVABLE SLOW SOFTWARE. That triggered a full-scale revolt and we had to revert to 3.x. So... now we're looking for a suitable replacement. It would be a big job though and moving posts from one platform to another might not be possible. Anyway... just investigating the possibilities now.

If it was a few years ago it likely was 4.XXn unless after 2013. If it was a few years ago on 5.XX, that might explain the slowness. 5.XX was a mess when it came out of beta in 2013 and wasn't at all stable for a year or more.

We didn't find 4.XX to be any slower than 3.XX, both running on identical Digital Ocean "Droplets". As a couple of examples, the Denver Broncos use 4.2.2, the Houston Texans use 5.2.3.

I have changed forum software on a few communities, the largest having about 15,000 members. Regardless of what you choose you can count on it being a big headache and there will be a large numbers of members who either love or hate the change.

[macromark]

We didn't find 4.XX to be any slower than 3.XX, both running on identical Digital Ocean "Droplets". As a couple of examples, the Denver Broncos use 4.2.2, the Houston Texans use 5.2.3.

I have changed forum software on a few communities, the largest having about 15,000 members. Regardless of what you choose you can count on it being a big headache and there will be a large numbers of members who either love or hate the change.

I contacted vBulletin a year or so after the disaster we had and asked if they were able to improve the performance. They said "sort of..". It was explained to me that the underlying database architecture was completely different than that of 3.x and 4.x... and that it wasn't as efficient with larger boards.

As you say... any change is going to get a mixed reaction. 4.x would probably yield the easiest change but.... it's also pretty long in the tooth too. That wouldn't improve shelf life too much.

[donstephens]

I don't have any issues with the present setup, aside from the poor search function.

[Uncle Michael]

Has anyone used a "Discourse" message board? If so, did you like it?

I visit a few sites that use it. I don't find it to be "better" or "worse" than vBulletin, but it definitely has a different structure and feel, and will require an adjustment period.

If it improves security, then I could justify the change, but it's "more modern" interface is just a different interface as far as I can see, with some benefits and some shortcomings. (It seems inefficient in the use of screen real estate, for example.)

[scorp508]

I've been a fan of whatever software community.sense.com and community.rachio.com use, but they are much smaller communities.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TeleFragger]

******** NOTE: This post and following ones were merged from a new thread******

Has anyone used a "Discourse" message board? If so, did you like it? This board software has become extremely popular in the past few years. Please have a look at the examples in the link below and let us know what you think.

https://www.discourse.org/customers


Thanks!