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#127339 12/08/05 01:59 PM
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Anonymous
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have you thought about replacing the current forum with phpBB ?
it looks nicer, has more features and better functionality.
that's about it. cheers.

#127340 12/08/05 03:05 PM
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Fjord artisan
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I totally agree! This request is seconded.

#127341 12/08/05 03:52 PM
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Hoopy frood
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Considering I run 2 phpBB boards, I'd agree as well. Besides, it's free and even has many converters for moving from different forums (like UBB) to phpBB. Still, I have a feeling we won't be changing forums anytime in the near future.

Maybe when Olympus comes out (phpBB 3.0), we could manage to talk them into it... but even then, I have a feeling we may stick to this one.


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#127342 14/08/05 07:50 PM
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Hoopy frood
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I think VBulletin, phpBB or IPB (invision power board) would be better, so I agree smile


New username: hixxy
#127343 16/08/05 10:24 AM
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Hoopy frood
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PHPBB is also prone to a few security issues. This happens with any software that is popular and I have lost count of the number of times I have visited a board powered by that software that has been owned by kiddies who knew of some exploit.

This board and it's predecessor, Infopop, is a little better in that respect, in my view anyway. I see no reason to change to another board because of the look - ever heard of CSS? - which is obviously well used here.

The other thing is, I don't want to have to register my name for a third time, or are the databases perfectly interchangable?

#127344 16/08/05 10:31 AM
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Hoopy frood
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I agree with Watchdog, particularly about the fact phpBB is regularly exploited. It's something we simply can't risk with this board for any reason. Nothing is bug free and we take a certain level of risk with any message board software (including this one), but there are different levels of threat. Personally, I feel phpBB is on the high end of that threat level. I also feel given its reputation and widespread use by just about every site wanting a free forum, it seems rather unprofessional.

That said this board's branch of development at Infopop will stop soon enough (that being UBB.Threads) so they can concentrate on 'Eve', which personally I don't like that much. I do like FusionBB which another moderator is using for their own boards, and enjoys.

Regards,


Mentality/Chris
#127345 16/08/05 01:10 PM
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Hoopy frood
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Watchdog, yes, the databases are fully interchangeable thanks to phpBB's support group. Also, what's CSS to do with anything? Most decent boards use CSS. I'm not sure what you're referring to with that comment...?

As far as exploits, yes, people do tend to try and exploit it more than other forums. However, by keeping the board up-to-date and keeping regular backups, there's nothing to worry about with it. There are also many good security things you can do to prevent many such issues (such as disabling HTML and having certain settings in the .htaccess file).

As far as being professional, you can make it look however you like so that it's not the same as everything else. And, in all honesty, this forum doesn't look very professional to begin with. smile

Anyhow, I'm not saying phpBB is the only way to go. I personally like it and use it without any issues and with good security settings, but that's my choice. However, I do believe we should consider using a better forum. If not phpBB, then something else. Just my opinion.


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#127346 16/08/05 03:28 PM
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Hoopy frood
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Quote:
And, in all honesty, this forum doesn't look very professional to begin with. smile

I think it does, it has a clean interface, it is readable, it loads incredibly fast, it can search through old posts, with multiple terms and date range, you can even hide signatures and everything. And, I haven't seen this on many boards: the threads don't run away, they stay where you put them!

So, what's missing or faulty here?
- It doesn't have all sorts of animated borders -> Great, please keep it that way
- There's less than 2000 different colors in use -> Great, please keep it that way
- It doesn't let me bump my threads up -> Great, I hate those people anyways
- Dunno if you can use images as signature, I think not, thanks to the hide signatures setting I don't even need to know, I don't miss it anyway.
- There's too few smilies: maybe, but that's not a reason to change the entire board
- Default search period of 1 week is way too short -> yes, but I don't believe that can't be changed with UBBThreads.
- Older, still active posts can sometimes disappear to page 2 -> yes, this is a problem

#127347 16/08/05 05:23 PM
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Hoopy frood
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Hoopy frood
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Hehe. It was just my opinion. smile

Personally, the choice of colors and lack of border around some sections of the forum make it look almost like it is designed for children, in my opinion. I know it is set to match the site itself. I admit it is clean and easy to read and use. Just has a feel of a forum for kids to me. No offense meant to the site.

Animated borders? I'm not sure that I've seen many with animated borders. And, I wouldn't want them, either. smile

Low color use... well, that is possible in virtually all forums. I agree that too many colors is bad. Other than my logo, my two forums are basically white/gray/black and some shades of blue here and there. Crisp and clean. smile

Bumping threads... I'd actually prefer this to be a user option. I'd rather see threads at the top rather than see a new reply that's 5 pages back in the forum. Granted, we can change the "view __ days old" or whatever it's called, but it won't save to under 1 month and is just a pain, in my opinion. Allowing a user option for it would benefit everyone. I don't know about mods for this forum or other forums, but I do know phpBB has at least one mod that will do that.

Signature images... I don't use one and for forums that allow all sizes of images, it gets annoying. I have no problem with not allowing images in a signature. I think many (most?) forums have the option to not allow images in signatures... by default or with a mod/addon.

Smilies... I think there are enough here, but I have no problem with allowing more. I ended up adding maybe 20 more than default on one of my boards... just because i happened to like some of them.

Search period should be changed... regardless if we stay with UBB or not. Agreed.

Anyhow, none of those are why I mentioned it not looking professional. It just appears more like a forum for kids to me. And it looks like the forum was made 10 years ago and never updated with the minimal design. You can have a very clean forum with low graphics/colors and nothing special about it and have it look very professional... I just don't think this fits that description to me.

Again, that's just my opinion. I wouldn't be here with close to 1000 posts if I had a problem using the forum. laugh


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