Forum software suggestions

[DanR]

We will be moving this forum to a new ISP and server later in the week. As part of this move we are considering changing the message board software. The two current candidates are vBulliten and myBB.

If anyone has any insight into either of these products, please feel free to post here or email me at support@videoredo.com

Thanks.

[HyperReality]

Invision Powerboard isn't an option then?

I find that the current version of phpBB that you are using doesnt result in new posts being flagged correctly all the time (eg new posts are shown on the main page, but when I click on a subforum then it doesnt show any new posts even though they are there), which can be a pain.

The version of phpBB being used on the DigiTV forum here (http://www.digitv-forum.co.uk/) does a better job (and the custom "Last 10 active posts" section on the main page is useful - I can see if I can get you the code for it if you want).

I've personally found Invision Powerboard based forums to be much easier to use, and that they do a much better job at keeping track of unread posts than some of the other forum software. EDIT: That said, one forum I use (which uses Powerboard v2.1.1) doesnt do as good a job as another forum that uses v2.0.4 - at least when I use Opera or FireFox browsers (I never try with Internet Exploder).

I dont regularly use any forums that use vBulliten, so I cant really comment on it.

Just my 2 cents worth (plus applicable tax of course). :)

[Anole]

Wow, have you ever hit my hot button!

Several years ago, my SETI team (http://kwsnForum.com) ran field tests of various forum software, as a replacement for one we were going to lose.
At that time phpBB won the competition, as it was head and shoulders over the others!
And being an unfunded club, the free aspect was appealing, too. ;)

Also, at that time, my experience with (admittedly older) vBulletin was very negative.
Lately, I've been frequenting some boards who've moved to the latest vBuletin, and if you would consider using it, this forum would be even better! (if that's possible)

I thought phpBB was the best thing going, 'till I played on the new vBulletin 3.5.
Of course, if converting over is a big hassle, phpBB is (now) my very strong second choice!


Digital Home Canada (http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/index.php?) runs vBulletin 3.5 and rocks.
You'll find my postings mainly in the Satellite | Express Vu forums, where I brag about VideoReDo from time to time.
Talk to Hugh over there, it's his baby.

SatelliteGuys (http://www.satelliteguys.us/index.php?) was supposed to upgrade, but they seem to be at 3.0.6
Even so, that forum is very nice !

Vetrun (http://www.vetrun.com/forums/index.php?), an Aussie satellite site runs vBulletin 3.0.10

Specific features of the latest vBulletin I love, include:
1) being able to see if you've ever posted to a thread
2) being able to highlight in your post, then click to add italics, bold or underline.
. (phpBB does this fine)
3) highlight text and add a URL without all the B/S of most forums!
. ( some require you to add "=" and paste the URL)
. ( some require you to retype the highlighted word!)
4) when you get email notification of an update to a thread you're subscribed to, the subject, poster, and his post are sent.

One thing I don't love about any forum, is the inability to easily indent your post.
Multiple spaces are compressed out.
But, they all seem to do that, and it's a small price to pay for either of the two forum softwares I've discussed in this post.
.

[Anole]

No, probably not.
Ya seemed to be well on the path.
But, I must certainly congratulate you on the new board.
Hope it turns out to be easy to administer and operate.

[DanR]

Anole, Actually I didn't see your post until after the decision to move to vb had been made. You might find our reasons for using it useful (these are in no particular order of importance).

1) Its fully supported. phpBB only has community support. For vb's reasonable price, having a support organization to help us if we need help is critical.

2) Its more secure. phpBB has had numerous security issues, and each release is supposed to be the one that closes them all. This is why we run the message board on different server than our main site.

3) More option settings. vb has lots of standard features in the product. phpBB has similar features via their mods, but then you end up with a non-standard version and can't upgrade.

4) Better google SEO capability. You can setup vb so that google can search your threads. Again, this requires a mod in phpbb.

5) Easier to customize the look. Our marketing people wanted a more consistent look between the forum and the site. This is much easier to do in vb than phpBB.

6) Built in attachment manager.

Hopefully our decision was a correct one.

[Anole]

Old users might want to review and edit their personal settings.
Not all were transfered intact.

I noticed in particular, the subscribe to thread, and the notify user need attention.
All old threads I was subscribed to, didn't follow me to the new forum.

Likewise, the default edit mode needs to be set to at least the middle level, not the lowest level.

Oh, and I almost forgot, reset your time zone or you'll see your posts at the strangest of hours. ;)

These concerns are minor, and I think everyone will find the new forum their favorite.
Not only for first-rate service and help, but for style and features as well.

[Anole]

Custom Avatars are now enabled.
Thanks Pat.

Still not sure if email notification is working.
Haven't had a hit, yet.

One fine forum!

[phd]

Try resubscribing to the threads. It should be enabled now.

[Anole]

Okay, I resubscribed to my 65 most recent threads.
Reply here, and let's see if the server emails me a notificiation.
Thanks.

[phd]

OK, we'll see if it works.

[Anole]

Just checked five hours later (from your post) and no email notification has been received

[phd]

After resubscribing, checking the boxes, etc. Did you go to the bottom and select method of notification and press the "Go" button?

After you exit your user profile and reenter your user profile, did it list your newly subscribed threads?

[Anole]

Let's see if this posts correctly:


User Control Panel
Subscribed Threads
List Subscriptions ;65 threads subscribed on 4 pages
;all are shown with instant notification

for page 1 through 4,
click check box beside "Notification"
;this highllights all check boxes on this page
under "Selected Threads:", change to: "Instant Email Notification"
click "Go"
do next page
end
These are the steps I took , and still am not getting notification when someone posts to my subscribed thread.

[DanR]

Anole, I'm getting instant notifications just fine, such as this one which just arrived.

Did you check to see if they are picked up as SPAM?

[Anole]

Getting all sorts of notifications from other forums through the Yahoo mail filter.
I have just turned it off.
Will try again.

[DanR]

Here's a test msg to see if you get a notification.

[Anole]

Yea, that was it.
Yahoo flushed your message right down the toilet.
I'll work with it to see if I can correct that situation.
Not sure why all the other forums (including vBulletin and your old forum) came through okay...