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The Message Board Conundrum!

Forums New posts

Which Forum Software Should We Use?

  • Stay with vBulletin

    Votes: 5 29.4%

  • Switch to Invision Power Board

    Votes: 6 35.3%

  • Who cares?

    Votes: 5 29.4%

  • Switch to Burning Board

    Votes: 1 5.9%
  • Total voters
    17
Gene Steinberg said:
Exactly. But I just don't think the present economic climate makes it possible for people to want to buy into premium content right now. Maybe in the future.
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as long as we don't use the same format that the BWBK forum uses I'll be happy. There is always problems searching threads, whether it is searching users posts, new posts, and unread posts, the system rarely works.

I don't know what format they use, but here's the website.

Bravewords.com > Where Metal Lives!
 
Gene Steinberg said:
Even more confusing is a third forum option, which has blue chip clients that include BMW and a number of famous show biz personalities:

WoltLab GmbH | Products | Burning Board | Purchase

Anyone hear of Burning Board?
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Never heard of it, but it looks great. I don't speak German, but it made enough sense. I took a look at the screen shots and it looks similar enough to what you have now. If only I could find some testimonials to see how reliable the service is...
 
As an old foggie I like the current system. I looked at the other one and it seems 'busy' to me, but that may just be the config. he has set up. I believe a fairly simple approach is best. FWIW print size is an issue. So many systems use smaller print or even that horrid black background/white print that I pretty much give up before trying it. Because of my eyes I need lots of contrast and print that's bigger than classified ads. I don't need large type, but I need normal instead of tiny. Just FYI.
 
Schuyler said:
As an old foggie I like the current system. I looked at the other one and it seems 'busy' to me, but that may just be the config. he has set up. I believe a fairly simple approach is best. FWIW print size is an issue. So many systems use smaller print or even that horrid black background/white print that I pretty much give up before trying it. Because of my eyes I need lots of contrast and print that's bigger than classified ads. I don't need large type, but I need normal instead of tiny. Just FYI.
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Most systems let you define default type sizes, so that shouldn't be a serious issue regardless of what direction we take.

It hasn't been decided yet.

In the end, it may be that, imperfect as it is, we are better off paying the piper and sticking to what we have.
 
If we do move to the new version of vBulletin, it'll still be a tad difficult, because some elements of the upgrade are convoluted. Don't ask. :)
 
Hello Gene,

Well like you stated you have 3 message boards and with vBulletin 4.0 costing $195 a pop. It's steep during these times, unless you only upgrade one of your forum sites. Letting the other two be upgraded at a later time. (monies permitting)

Otherwise since i'm not techno savy. I couldn't recommend which of the 3 forum systems you may be able to afford or prefer.

vBulletin may be the most popular but it is also the most costly as you've explained it. So probably second best may be the way to go. Until that is circumstances and financing get better in the future.
 
My concern is that vBulletin sprung this last-minute deal on us weeks ahead of the release of the new version. It's a draconian change, as styles and mods will probably be incompatible. They claim the styles (the look and feel of the board) will be imported, but mods (the stuff that adds extra features) may not be. It may be near as much work upgrading as just going to something else.

I also worry about the way this was handled, giving people almost no time to decide to buy a lower-cost upgrade. Sounds as if the company has cash flow problems and needs to pull in orders immediately. That doesn't auger well for continuity over the long haul if they pull a stunt like this. They have already been blasted from end to end by customers who can't afford the cheaper upgrade prices right away.

Some feelings about the other choices: Invision Power Board has an ugly-ass control panel and the default style is dark and depressing. Burning Board is not so well known in the U.S., but has blue chip clients in its native Germany, such as BMW and lots of famous show biz personalities. It also has a butter-smooth automatic installation and upgrade process, more like a desktop computing application rather than a Web-based product. I have been playing with a test board using their limited feature free version and I expect, with a few minor sacrifices, to be able to graft a fair amount of this style onto it. But we'll see what we shall see.

I'm just worried about vBulletin considering the suspicious way they are handling the upgrade process, and discarding all previous license policies.

If we do go with one of the other forum systems, I'm going to need some volunteer assistance to help adapt styles, and make the upgraded board run as smoothly as this one.

Doing nothing isn't viable, because it's questionable how long vBulletin's publisher will support this version with security updates, and support contracts will ultimately expire and won't be renewed.
 
Hello Gene,

Thanks for your articulate response its appreciated.

My concern is that vBulletin sprung this last-minute deal on us weeks ahead of the release of the new version. ---Gene Steinberg.
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This is the same dilemma the staff at a smaller gamer enthusiast community i belong to is experiencing. They also utlize vBulletin as the forum system and i'm not sure how they are going to proceed.

Since you've explained the "pro's & cons" well enough between Invision Power & Burning Boards. You welcome to discount the vote i added to Invision Power as ill informed and re-dedicate it to "Burning Boards" instead.

Heck, i'm a Floridian we're great for recounts. :p

In regards to upgrading all 3 of the forum sites you maintain. I made a quick lurking visit to your science fiction forum. It hasn't had a new thread created since November of 2008. So that forum site may not be as a priority in upgrading as "The Paracast" and "The Tech Night Owl" may be currently.

I hope my chad isn't hanging. :D
 
Gene, you sound really stoked on the Burning Board option. Go with your gut feeling :).

However, like Schuyler, readability of the pages themselves are a high priority to me. Black or other dark backgrounds do my eyes no favours...
 
AnnetteMarie said:
Gene, you sound really stoked on the Burning Board option. Go with your gut feeling :).

However, like Schuyler, readability of the pages themselves are a high priority to me. Black or other dark backgrounds do my eyes no favours...
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Whatever choice we make, color combinations would have to be extremely close to what we have now, and the text sizes would also be comparable.

I would never sacrifice readability. The goal in moving to something else, other than having a reliable app around that won't put us through this upgrade-or-else dilemma we're in now, is to make the forums better.

For that, we'll need some volunteer help from you people to tweak styles and such so we can continue with as little interruption as possible.
 
bobheck said:
Gene, have you given any thought to using YaBB?

http://www.yabbforum.com

Thing is, I don't think you will be able to transfer all the posts, regardless of what you choose.

That would be a shame.
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It ended up, Bob, being more efficient to just stick with vBulletin and upgrade to version 4 -- and hold off buying new licenses till this summer when the current ones expire. We had to build the styles and themes all over again, and replace the various modifications that give our forums special features. There are still a few software bugs left, such as not jumping to a new post in a thread, but that will be fixed soon by an expected update.
 
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