ADMIN: Impending forum upgrade

Post by **rich** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 9:33 pm

All,

I hope to upgrade to the most recent version of the forum software we're using, <a href="http://www.phpbb.com/">phpBB</a>, this weekend. This means three things:
<ul>
<li>While I'm testing the upgrade process on a copy of the forums, these forums will be slower than usual
<li>While I'm doing the upgrade, these forums will be outright unavailable
<li>When I'm done, things will look different and in all probability some things might even break (!)
</ul>

But it's all for the best! It's shiny and has a bunch of nifty features which I think you'll like. I can't promise that I'll enable all the bells and whistles, but it'll be improved by leaps and bounds over what's here.

It's not necessary to report performance problems over the weekend, but if things are actually breaking please <a href="mailto:rich+chiff@lafferty.ca">let me know</a>. Similarly, once the new version is available, please let me know of anything wacky you see.

Cheers,
<ul>-Rich</ul>

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 9:44 pm

Thanks Rich.

Philo

McHaffie · Post by **McHaffie** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 10:42 pm

better define 'wacky' Rich... I know a lot of people...

Thanks for all your hard work. Can't wait to see it!

Take care,
John

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 5:46 am

we can live without the bells, but PLEASE keep the whistles!

Damien · Post by **Damien** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 8:07 am

oh yes, phpBB2 is a major step from this, hehe.

glad to see you guys are upgrading.

TelegramSam · Post by **TelegramSam** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 8:59 am

I *still* think you'd be better off with a nice vBulletin...

*sigh*

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 9:33 am

As everm Rich, thanks.

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 10:30 am

I belong to another group that uses php boards. They upgraded last year to the newest (at that time) version after we were hacked. Thre are some pretty nice features. but I think it's slower than this one. I think maybe they put a little too much fancy stuff on there which slowed it down. A lot of that may be because of the fancy color schemes etc. Anyway, I'd like to keep this place as fast as it is.

Just my 2 cents.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 11:32 am

Thanks Rich!

serpent · Post by **serpent** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 1:48 pm

The only thing I have a problem with here, is the use of the word "impending". I always associate that with "doom"...

serpent

Post by **rich** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 2:03 pm

On 2003-03-01 11:30, FJohnSharp wrote:
I belong to another group that uses php boards. They upgraded last year to the newest (at that time) version after we were hacked. Thre are some pretty nice features. but I think it's slower than this one.

That has a lot to do with the computer behind it all. The software we're using is very much someone's first take on a forum, and a lot of mistakes -- especially in the search bits -- are fixed in the new version, making it considerably faster.

(We're also getting a new disk controller on the machine we're hosted on soon -- that's really the only bottleneck on the server itself, and the new gear ought to fix that up .)

Cheers,
<ul>-Rich</ul>

Post by **rich** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 2:04 pm

On 2003-03-01 14:48, serpent wrote:
The only thing I have a problem with here, is the use of the word "impending". I always associate that with "doom"...

serpent

That's ok, I always associate the word "upgrade" with "doom". I seldom accidentally choose words!

<ul>-Rich</ul>

[edit -- I regularly accidentally mispel them.]

[ This Message was edited by: rich on 2003-03-01 15:05 ]

Post by **rich** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 2:20 pm

On 2003-03-01 09:59, TelegramSam wrote:
I *still* think you'd be better off with a nice vBulletin...

VBulletin isn't open-source software. I don't really think it's necessary to pay for forum software given the excellent alternatives, but more importantly, I'm not willing to run software that I don't have the right to modify and redistribute when there are other options with which I do have that right.

(PhpBB2 is <a href="http://www.phpbb.com/license.php">released under the GPL</a>.)
<ul>-Rich</ul>

TelegramSam · Post by **TelegramSam** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 3:07 pm

But they're so pwitty...

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 3:53 pm

VBulletin isn't open-source software. I don't really think it's necessary to pay for forum software given the excellent alternatives, but more importantly, I'm not willing to run software that I don't have the right to modify and redistribute when there are other options with which I do have that right.

For what it's worth, I think you've got your head on pretty straight about this one.

Also, if you are ever worried about the boards being hacked, open source is miles ahead of proprietary software in terms of security.

Best,

--James
http://www.flutesite.com