Your Opinion Counts! - Should we upgrade the forum software?

[Scott Greczkowski]

As you may have noticed we are running phpBB as our forum software, this software is a little different then the software most are accustomed to (that being Vbulletin)

phpBB is quite customizable, however it does not do things the way people are use to.

A few people have asked me to consider upgrading to Vbulletin which I have no problem doing, however it is really cost prohibitive at this time.

We do have money in our account from members who have donated to help the site out (thank you)

We also have plans for making the site self supporting but we are still a few weeks out on that.

The thing that matters most to me however is that you feel at home here at SatelliteGuys.US so if I can upgrade the software to comething yu are more comfortable with then I feel this is a good thing for everyone.

If we were to change software there could be a chance (although slim) that users would have to resign up again. Also many people have commented they like the look of this board over other boards. I am happy to report that if we did switch much of the look would be the same.

Also if we did upgrade we would NOT be running the new VB3 beta software, we would of course upgrade to the new software after it was officially released.

So the choice is up to you our members to decide what we do. It is best in this early stage of the site that if we make a major change we do it now.

Thanks to everyone for their support of SatelliteGuys.US

And BTW a few big things coming in the next few weeks.

 

[James]

While I prefer vB, this is fine with me. phpBB has become very popular. We might as well get used to it.

 

[n0qcu]

Even tho I kinda prefer vB, it doesn't really matter to me.

I do think that IF the change will be made, it should be done as soon as possible.

 

[markusian]

I kinda' like the new interface but I miss some features. How about setting up a suggestion box to allow members to ask for phpBB customization.

 

[tom-008]

Scott you have been my "721" for over a year now.
Makes no difference to me about the software you
use. I know it will "remain a class act".

 

[silversurfer]

I prefer the feel of the board just the way it is. It looks great!

 

[John Corn]

I prefer vb over phpbb. Maybe I should give phpbb more of a chance?

 

[James]

Maybe we should all come up with a list of what we liked in vB and we should see if we can mod phpBB to work better.

I for one would like the "First Unread" link at the top of each page. I hate having to figure out where I last read in a long thread.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

James that is one of my peeves with this software, I have not found a good solution to this yet.

 

[James]

I swear I figured this out, but I can't find my code. Maybe I'm just dreaming I had that working at Aximsite.

 

[Roger]

I voted for the upgrade and since Scott knows that s/w like the back of his hand I say change it unless there's a more professional version of this s/w. I was a fan of the other s/w before Dbstalk even used it and I think DBSforums s/w is rather lame.
Perhaps it's just that missing Avatars is that case.

 

[James]

Roger, you don't support Open Source? Its a great freedom...

 

[Roger]

Open Source? In English James.

 

[James]

Read up here...

http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

or

http://www.gnu.org/

Basically the software has no cost. The users of the software help develop it. Lets say Scott makes a great improvement to the board, he can submit it back to the project and then everyone else can use it. FreeBSD and Linux are two great examples of open source. Its the opposite of Sun and Microsoft.

 

[Roger]

Got you, James! I hate this s/w because it doesn't work well with my Anomy service. For example: I can only view the first page of a thread. If I hit a number like 2 through 5 the first page keeps reloading which sucks!

 

[James]

Just download the code and write your own routine for it.

 

[Roger]

"Just download the code and write your own routine for it. "

Perhaps I should open up a DBS service while I'm at it.

 

[James]

Ah, no rolleyes yet!

 

[Roger]

Change it Scott since I just lost a long, freindly post addressed to James which is lost forever.
It appears if I don't make a quick response then my post get lost due to whatever. I suppose I can't keep a cookie for long or it may be the s/w with my s/w.

 

[rtt2]

I like the new look of the site and if you can maintain it really does not matter to me what you choose. Overall I think the most important part is the content and so far I am quite happy visiting no matter the software. Keep up the good work Scott & others