Forum Software Update Question

[ten888]

I will try to save iTrader or at least see if it can be ported in to something new.

The problem is iTrader is an unsupported mod/hack from several years ago so the fact that it still run on 3.8 is surprising in it's own right.



What ever we go to if iTrader is not portable I will make sure a more modern rating system is available for it.

[FresnoRob]

Years ago I played with setting up a forum. I knew squat. I went with SMF.
VB4 might be more familiar to you, but since they are at VB5 now, how confident are you it won't be EOL quickly?

Of course you could always go Xenforo just to piss off readysetgo.

This.

And this.

Whatever you do, don't use whatever bladeforums went to. That software sucks az!

Anyway IBTL (the big lock)

Eta: bladeforums IS xenforo. Which means xenforo is the devil. I will boycott if you go that route (which may or may not motivate you )

[meno377]

Wouldn't the easiest transition be V4? And wouldn't it be simple securing data? I can adapt to any of them but I would think V4 would be the easiest transition.

[CandG]

Wouldn't the easiest transition be V4? And wouldn't it be simple securing data? I can adapt to any of them but I would think V4 would be the easiest transition.

This is exactly what I'm thinking, too.

Also, I know many members use Tapatalk, and it seems like everyone's tapatalk accounts and whatnot would transition much smoother this way.

[CandG]

As far as user interface is concerned, the other options you provided are all terrible.

I've used a lot of web forums over the years, and Calguns has always been my favorite one to navigate. I doubt I'm alone in this. If you change it dramatically, you risk confusing and alienating people who have grown used to it over the years.

IMHO.

[OHOD]

I like the clean look of Xenforo.

[Kestryll]

Years ago I played with setting up a forum. I knew squat. I went with SMF.
VB4 might be more familiar to you, but since they are at VB5 now, how confident are you it won't be EOL quickly?
That is a legitimate concern, vBulletin5 is six years old which means vB4 is even older.
The onlly redeeming aspect is that the vB3-4 license is inclusive where vB5 is a separate license so if you own 3 or 4 you're fine but 5 is a new purchase.
A lot of people don't want to do that so vB4 has a following, it's kind of Win7 to vB5's Win 10.

Of course you could always go Xenforo just to piss off readysetgo.

Don't think that doesn't have value in it's own right...

Wouldn't the easiest transition be V4? And wouldn't it be simple securing data? I can adapt to any of them but I would think V4 would be the easiest transition.

You'd think that but vB4 is so substantially different than vB3 that it's not much different than converting to another software.
vB4 uses PHP completely differently than vB3 and has a different 'engine' as well.

There are some aspects of transferring the database that would be easier but overall the process would be similar.

This is exactly what I'm thinking, too.

Also, I know many members use Tapatalk, and it seems like everyone's tapatalk accounts and whatnot would transition much smoother this way.

Tapatalk will not be affected no matter what.
You access it through their interface and software, on our end it's just a plug in that is avaialbe for any of these forum softwares.

As far as user interface is concerned, the other options you provided are all terrible.

I've used a lot of web forums over the years, and Calguns has always been my favorite one to navigate. I doubt I'm alone in this. If you change it dramatically, you risk confusing and alienating people who have grown used to it over the years.

IMHO.

As I mentioned earlier, my preference would be to not change a thing but that's becoming less and less of an option. Soon it simply won't be an option.

With no patches coming security is going to become a problem and it's not just the forum software it's the server as well.
With vB3.8.x we're locked in to an old version of PHP and MySQL which means server security and stability can be compromised as well.

[CandG]

That makes sense... but even if "ease of transition" is not a factor, then my recommendation is still vB 4.

From my post only hours ago in another thread:

[randomBytes]

What are these various systems implemented in?
I'd avoid anything that used PHP ;-)

[freonr22]

silly question, but what are the soft and hard cost differences between these?

[1bulletBarney]

As I mentioned earlier, my preference would be to not change a thing but that's becoming less and less of an option. Soon it simply won't be an option.

With no patches coming security is going to become a problem and it's not just the forum software it's the server as well.
With vB3.8.x we're locked in to an old version of PHP and MySQL which means server security and stability can be compromised as well.

We can't have another attack from the dreaded spambots or Russians...

Git-r-done...

[recoil_lover]

If vBulletin 3.x is EOL then I'd suggest doing an interim upgrade to vB 4, but with a long-term migration plan to Xenforo.

[CandG]

Based on the information provided, wouldn't the open source product that comes with regular free upgrades be best? None of them are much graphic design wise. Are they all roughly equal functionality wise? That was not in the OP.

But if the open source one, which is likely free(?), also happens to be the most resource efficient, maybe there's something here I'm not understanding, but this sure seems like the proverbial 'no-brainer' to me.

Someone please tell me why we would NOT use the open source product?

As far as graphic design goes, they can all be tweaked to Kes's (and/or our) liking visually-speaking, the more important thing is what the software limitations are, and what features they might lack, or have implemented differently.

[readysetgo]

There is no Bacon option in this poll = poll failure.

I vote create your own software...Baconorumapatalka. Be the leader, top of the food chain, change the game, neva bin dun befo.

[Foebia]

Used invision powerboard many times, not sure of its current feature set.

https://invisioncommunity.com/