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Old 06-13-2016, 04:58 PM
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Default New messageboard software for us?

I ask about this issue because vBulletin 3.8 seems close to reaching end-of-life status. It's now only being updated for bug fixes and security fixes, and the earlier versions of the vB software are now effectively if not officially end-of-lifed.

This board's software seems to have been modified quite a bit, and it may be difficult to carry over those modifications to other software. But moving onward may still be worth considering.

Freeware:
phpBB
Simple Machines

Payware:
vBulletin -- now at 5.x
Xenforo -- created by some ex-vBulletin programmers

Among other possibilities
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  #2  
Old 06-13-2016, 05:22 PM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

If you want to try out Xenforo, you can use/set up your own free demo version here:

https://xenforo.com/demo/

It expires after three days.

alternatehistory.com have recently moved to Xenforo if you want to see what a real forum using it looks like.
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Old 06-13-2016, 06:27 PM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Can't we just knock up a quick GUI in Visual Basic?
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Old 06-13-2016, 06:57 PM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeP View Post
Can't we just knock up a quick GUI in Visual Basic?
Why do you think that that would work?
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Old 06-13-2016, 08:00 PM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Because it's funny.
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Old 06-13-2016, 08:13 PM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Quote:
Originally Posted by lpetrich View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeP View Post
Can't we just knock up a quick GUI in Visual Basic?
Why do you think that that would work?
It's a joke based on this scene from a bad TV show.


Ha ha, JoeP! I'm explaining your jokes!
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Old 06-13-2016, 08:47 PM
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I read some of your foolish scree, then just skimmed the rest.
 
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

But our oldies will have to memorize a whole new set of DOS commands to access it!
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Old 06-13-2016, 09:32 PM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Give me GeoWorks Ensemble, or give me DOS!
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Old 06-13-2016, 11:16 PM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Mission: derail thread
Status: accomplished
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Old 06-14-2016, 12:42 AM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Quote:
Originally Posted by lpetrich
This board's software seems to have been modified quite a bit, and it may be difficult to carry over those modifications to other software. But moving onward may still be worth considering.
I do occasionally shop around, but yes the extensive modifications we've done to the :ff: make the prospect of upgrading, not to mention migrating, a daunting proposition.
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Old 06-14-2016, 05:38 AM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Quote:
Originally Posted by lisarea View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by lpetrich View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeP View Post
Can't we just knock up a quick GUI in Visual Basic?
Why do you think that that would work?
It's a joke based on this scene from a bad TV show.


Ha ha, JoeP! I'm explaining your jokes!
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Old 06-14-2016, 06:43 AM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

I strongly do not support “upgrading” to a version of vBulletin past 3.8. I have used vBulletin 4 extensively and it’s a piece of shit. It has the dumbest fucking control panel I’ve ever used (seriously, I don’t know what kind of crack they were smoking when they came up with a style editor that requires you to load literally hundreds of different fucking pages to customise everything, but whoever decided that was a good idea should be fired and never allowed to work in product design again), and it’s slow and uses an absurd amount of resources. vBulletin 5 does not appear to be any better.

I strongly doubt I will ever upgrade my own board past 3.8. Xenforo looks nice, but my own board is so heavily modded (the literally hundreds of skins to start) that upgrading to anything would be more trouble than it would be worth for a board that gets as little traffic as mine does. :ff: actually gets enough traffic that the effort might actually be worth upgrading to something else, but all the smiley modifications and stuff can’t be easy to port.

I’ve also played around with Discourse and it’s pretty cool, though it’s way different from vBulletin in interface and function. I think it has an auto-refresh feature for threads using Ajax or something, which is pretty cool.

I wouldn’t mind us having software that has a proper mobile style. I’m not going to use Tapatalk and most of the vB mobile styles I’ve seen are too limited. Beyond that, though, I don’t mind ol’ vBulletin 3.8. It may be old, but it’s still functional, which is more than I can say for newer versions of vBulletin, and it’s honestly pretty charming.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lisarea View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by lpetrich View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeP View Post
Can't we just knock up a quick GUI in Visual Basic?
Why do you think that that would work?
It's a joke based on this scene from a bad TV show.


Ha ha, JoeP! I'm explaining your jokes!
Wait, she actually said “GUI interface”? That may be even dumber than “PIN number” or “ATM machine”, because even though those are redundant, at least they’re in common usage. You can’t even say that for “GUI interface”.
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  #13  
Old 06-14-2016, 06:59 AM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Are you all so sure she didn't say "a gooey interface"? Hmmmm?

I demand to see the script!
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  #14  
Old 06-17-2016, 02:19 AM
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

phpBB has a rather aggressively short life cycle for the newer versions, and the library of extensions has yet to fill out as well as the library of modifications for the older versions. I'm running it on a couple of forums and it works okay, though. YMMV etc.
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  #15  
Old 06-21-2016, 01:00 AM
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lpetrich lpetrich is offline
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Default Re: New messageboard software for us?

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Man View Post
I strongly do not support “upgrading” to a version of vBulletin past 3.8. I have used vBulletin 4 extensively and it’s a piece of shit. It has the dumbest fucking control panel I’ve ever used (seriously, I don’t know what kind of crack they were smoking when they came up with a style editor that requires you to load literally hundreds of different fucking pages to customise everything, but whoever decided that was a good idea should be fired and never allowed to work in product design again), and it’s slow and uses an absurd amount of resources. vBulletin 5 does not appear to be any better.
So there goes vBulletin. I recall other people saying that vB3 was the last good version of vB.

Quote:
Xenforo looks nice...
You can even get a demo of it at XenForo Demo | XenForo -- it lasts for 3 days, and you get full admin access to it. So you can directly experience what using and adminning Xenforo would be like.
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