Forum change and some bad news

Hialmar · Post by **Hialmar** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:33 pm

Sooner or later we will have to make the transition from phpbb2 (our current forum) to phpbb3 (the new version of this forum).

Why ?
Because, sooner or later, the developers of phpbb2 will stop working on it. In fact it's already the case because they are only bug fixing now.

You can see a list of the features that phpbb3 brings when compared to phpbb2 here:
http://www.phpbb.com/about/features/

And you can check the forum here on this website:
http://www.alandfaraway.org/phpBB3

It would help us if you could test this new forum and tell us what you think of it and if it is faster than the current forum for you.

Now about the bad news: when we will migrate to the new forum it will be very hard to import all the messages we have in this forum.
What we think would be the best is to keep this old forum in read-only mode (only for archives and reference purpose) and to start with a new/empty forum (but with the same structure).

Of course if we need some posts from the old forum we can copy/paste them manually.

Can you post here your reactions about his ?

Thanks.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:39 pm

Said this elsewhere, but will repeat here:

Having much of the forums accessible as a seperate archive wouldn't, from my PoV, necessarily be anything disastrous. Right now there are a fairly limited number of heavily-active areas that could perhaps be carried over to a phpBB3 set up, while leaving the bulk behind?

I estimate that we could easily archive 95% of General Discussion, 99% of OT, 90% of Admin/DM, 50% of Projects, and 90% of Staff. Where very old posts are currently deliberately kept, it's often simply to serve as a record and archiving does not impair this function at all.

So, I'd like to see us move to a phpBB 3 forum, and I don't think archiving is an insurmountable barrier to that.

Wynna · Post by **Wynna** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:54 pm

I don't see any problem to that at all. If old messages are around to reference, that's better than a clean start. We've moved forums before and retained an archive. It was no problem then.

Thanks for keeping on top of this, Hialmar!

hollyfant · Post by **hollyfant** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:36 pm

It appears I can't log in on the new forum.

Hialmar · Post by **Hialmar** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:38 pm

Ah yes I haven't transfered the accounts yet.

You just need to register on it.

hollyfant · Post by **hollyfant** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:49 pm

Won't registering now fsck up a later transfer?

Roekemoes · Post by **Roekemoes** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:12 pm

No it won't. Before we do the immense conversion of the database we will erase the phpBB3 database. You can do whatever you want for testing on the phpBB3 at the moment because we will start from scratch when we will convert.

I currently have a lot of time so I will start ASAP with rewriting website scripts to fit the new phpBB3.

ç i p h é r · Post by **ç i p h é r** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:23 pm

Will the subALFA forum template carry over?

Roekemoes · Post by **Roekemoes** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:28 pm

I suppose I can rewrite the .tpl files as well. Shouldn't be too hard I think because there isn't much of a difference between phpBB2 and phpBB3 there.

Also the forum will be embedded in the main website like it currently is. So with that in mind I don't think NOT carrying it over is not an option. We basically can't go without it because it would look horrible.

indio · Post by **indio** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:41 pm

I don't understand something Hialmar. phpbb2 works fine, has for years, why will it stop working just because it's no longer supported? It's not like we need their support, is it?

Rotku · Post by **Rotku** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:56 pm

URL Link Redirect Forums

That could be handy. Would make some important wiki pages more accessable.

And a few handy PM features - save copying and pasting the same PM two dozen times:

Send to Multiple Recipients
Send to Multiple RecipientsGroups and/or Users
Send Blind Carbon Copies
Send to Groups
Conversation View

I would have thought that given th e popularity of the phpBB forums that there would be some pretty good converts around for us to use?

JaydeMoon · Post by **JaydeMoon** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:04 pm

The forum has just passed level 12 and is now level 13 and needs to be retired.

Anyhoo...

Right off the top of my head, I can see 'suspensions', which would allow enforcement of censure penalties that restrict forum access for 24 hours or a week.

Customizable BBCodes may get interesting.

Loss of HTML support in posts may be lamented by some, but for others it may welcome. It is by me, at any rate, for various shallow reasons.

The 'Quote Multiple Posts' function seems very useful for those of us who like to just repeat what other people say in order to lengthen our own posts and feel smarter.

The ability to add file attachments? Neat.

Updated polling options a plus, very neat for analytical folks who know how to take polls and turn them into usable statistics.

Profile edittability.

Stronger parameters functions.

Many additional forum management features that will undoubtedly be of great help to Hialmar.

User management functions.

A friend/foe list? HELLO!!! Something we DEFINITELY NEED! (I don't evenknow what it would do/be, but come on! It's a friend/foe list!)

Multiple PM recipients. VERY useful.

To BCC people on PMs.

Stronger usergroup/moderator/administrative functionalities.

And more!

JaydeMoon · Post by **JaydeMoon** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:10 pm

Friends enable you quick access to members you communicate with frequently. If the template has relevant support any posts made by a friend may be highlighted.

Foes are users which will be ignored by default. Posts by these users will not be fully visible. Personal messages from foes are still permitted. Please note that you cannot ignore moderators or administrators.

Werd.

Veilan · Post by **Veilan** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:15 pm

I, for one, have full confidence in the Infrastructure Administration's call on this - if they think we gain from moving, and the short-term discomfort pales to the long-term benefits, then that's more than good enough for me. They're the experts, and it's cool they do this stuff. Circles of experts are certainly expediant and efficient

.

So, thanks Pat & team.

Rotku · Post by **Rotku** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:32 pm

JaydeMoon wrote:
Friends enable you quick access to members you communicate with frequently. If the template has relevant support any posts made by a friend may be highlighted.

Foes are users which will be ignored by default. Posts by these users will not be fully visible. Personal messages from foes are still permitted. Please note that you cannot ignore moderators or administrators.
Werd.

Given that half the regular forum users are moderators/administrators, the Foe list won't be very useful