SRL Archive - News and General

Hi,

In the coming weeks I'll be doing some upgrades to the forum. The currently vBulletin is in a poor state (when has it been otherwise with vBulletin), and it needs some patching. I can't give you an exact date as to when these updates will take place, but don't be surprised if you find the forum closed for 24+ in the next few days.

- SRL Staff

what shall it be replaced with?

~shut

I'm pretty sure just a new version of vBulletin. It is currently 4.*.

Wizzup does not want to upgrade vBulletin 4

Also ABOUT TIME

Oh, then no clue. IPB and myBB are my favorites :p.

Well, I'm not entirely sure. vBulletin 4.x would be logical step, but I'm quite pissed they don't give security updates if your license expires. I mean, that's like biting your customers. Another issue with vBulletin is that I really, really want to switch to PostgreSQL, and only phpBB offers this. phpBB (with some plugins) has a feature parity compared to vBulletin 3.x, so it'll either be vBulletin 4.x or phpBB 3.0.

I know that some of you think badly about phpBB, but all I can say is: give it a better look. The current upgrades though will hopefully be limited to upgrading the portal (I just did this) and upgrading our current 3.x to solve the code tags issue.

phpBB might give some issues when trying to import the current database, so I'll really have to play with it locally for some time.

From: Wizzup?
Well, I'm not entirely sure. vBulletin 4.x would be logical step, but I'm quite pissed they don't give security updates if your license expires. I mean, that's like biting your customers. Another issue with vBulletin is that I really, really want to switch to PostgreSQL, and only phpBB offers this. phpBB (with some plugins) has a feature parity compared to vBulletin 3.x, so it'll either be vBulletin 4.x or phpBB 3.0.

I know that some of you think badly about phpBB, but all I can say is: give it a better look. The current upgrades though will hopefully be limited to upgrading the portal (I just did this) and upgrading our current 3.x to solve the code tags issue.

phpBB might give some issues when trying to import the current database, so I'll really have to play with it locally for some time.

Not phpBB :(. Please man. I strongly dislike it.

From: Sex
Oh, then no clue. IPB and myBB are my favorites :p.

IPB? Wtf is wrong with you.

SMF 2.0 just came out and I like it quite a bit and it supports PostgreSQL

Well worst case with phpBB is we don't like it and then Wizzup changes it. I'd say the free alternatives to vB are a good thing to try.

I can buy Wizzup an IPB license for $25. My friend has an expired one from a long time ago and the price to renew is the same as it was when he got it.

Money is not the issue. Can you state what you do not like about phpBB?

I like the phpBB option, or making our own forum (python) P=

From: Wizzup?
Money is not the issue. Can you state what you do not like about phpBB?

I'd like too know to? =)

Not sure if my problem has anything to do with this, but since earlier today I can't actually see the forums. I can see the main page (with links to stats/wiki etc.), and the only way I can view threads is to click on the Recently Posted In links on that page. If I click on the SRL Public Forum link above (below the nav bar) I can see the forum, but when I click on SRL-Forums I get taken back to the main page. There's no way for me to view the forum as a whole, displaying all separate sections. Is anyone else having this problem?

From: Rich
Not sure if my problem has anything to do with this, but since earlier today I can't actually see the forums. I can see the main page (with links to stats/wiki etc.), and the only way I can view threads is to click on the Recently Posted In links on that page. If I click on SRL Public Forum above, below the nav bar I can see the forum, but when I click on SRL-Forums I get taken back to the main page. There's no way for me to view the forum as a whole, displaying all separate sections. Is anyone else having this problem?

I am having this problem

Fixed. (Did I say I love git?)

From: Wizzup?
Fixed. (Did I say I love git?)

Lol thanks Wizzy :) love it too

From: Wizzup?
Fixed. (Did I say I love git?)

Yup. (Did I say I love Wizzup??)

From: Wizzup?
Money is not the issue. Can you state what you do not like about phpBB?

Well, in phpbb when I checked it out, there wasn't that many admin options and such..but that wasn't phpBB3. I haven't looked at that yet.

From: Sex
Well, in phpbb when I checked it out, there wasn't that many admin options and such..but that wasn't phpBB3. I haven't looked at that yet.

Have a look at http://www.phpbb.com/about/features/?from=submenu&sid=14ce1e8e0d69363b2671d70252ba4c30

From: Wizzup?
Have a look at http://www.phpbb.com/about/features/?from=submenu&sid=14ce1e8e0d69363b2671d70252ba4c30

Wow, I looked it over, and performed a test install. It actually looks great. Although I just really dislike the default theme for some reason. That can be changed of course :). I'd have to say I'm leaning towards phpbb now..even though the vBulletin AdminCP was kinda cool. But whatever. I'm not an admin here anyways so it doesn't matter.

I personally dislike the look of PHPBB.. it just feels more "clunky" to me. VB4 is a lot worse though, so lolidunno. If PHPBB can be skinned to look exactly how villavu is now, it'd be so much win. Good luck with the fixes though.

Just upgrade to anything that'll keep the look of the forum the same, or close to this one, and pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease add mobile support.

From: Sex
Wow, I looked it over, and performed a test install. It actually looks great. Although I just really dislike the default theme for some reason. That can be changed of course :). I'd have to say I'm leaning towards phpbb now..even though the vBulletin AdminCP was kinda cool. But whatever. I'm not an admin here anyways so it doesn't matter.

Yeah, I don't like the default theme at all either. I'll play around with a phpBB setup when I have some time.

PHPBB3 is grate and easy to use. I have used it to create my own forum and its my first time in making a site/forum which I got to say isn't anywhere near finished yet lol. plenty of mods out for it, I like the arcade mod :) Go for PHPBB I say:thumbsup:

Is mobile browser support being looked into?

From: footballjds
Is mobile browser support being looked into?

Yep. That's probably not a huge issue with phpBB3.

Nor with tapatalk.

Nor with any other big forum software? I'm sure you can find a mobile theme/add-on for vBulletin too (like tapatalk).

From: footballjds
Is mobile browser support being looked into?

Deffinatly a good idea, you got a mod for phpbb that does that.
E: Here is thae mod i found http://www.phpbbhacks.com/download/8891

From: Wizzup?
Yep. That's probably not a huge issue with phpBB3.

From: Markus
Nor with tapatalk.

could you let us know what viable options you are considering? Or if you'd like any input from this general public? Tapatalk seems nice and decently feature rich without seeming to "fill up" the screen with useless stuff.

http://phpbb-mobile.com/

As pointed out before, I'm not installing tapatalk. It's extremely silly to pay for browsing a forum in an alternative way. ``There's an app for that'' is not for the SRL forums.

From: Dgby714
http://phpbb-mobile.com/

From: Wizzup?
As pointed out before, I'm not installing tapatalk. It's extremely silly to pay for browsing a forum in an alternative way. ``There's an app for that'' is not for the SRL forums.

that looks promising?

From: Wizzup?
As pointed out before, I'm not installing tapatalk. It's extremely silly to pay for browsing a forum in an alternative way. ``There's an app for that'' is not for the SRL forums.

As I pointed out before in the thread i made about mobile support, we are not forcing people to pay. It is merely adding a option that doesn't exist, so the people who want to pay can pay, or they can just cough*jailbreak*cough. Also it doesn't have to be tapatalk, just anything that will make it easier for people to browse the forums on mobile devices.

From: footballjds
that looks promising?

It looks nice indeed.

@KingKong, not entirely true. By advertising it as the only way to get a mobile version you're still indirectly helping commercial software. I'd really prefer a free alternative.

Im sure everyone would like a free alternative, and most people who said tapatalk like tapatalk because its actually good(ive tried it myself). I don't think anybody is actually advertising it as the only way, just saying its the best one so far

But anyway, since you're going to upgrade the forums you might want to look at this:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=228986&page=5

From: Wizzup?
It looks nice indeed.

@KingKong, not entirely true. By advertising it as the only way to get a mobile version you're still indirectly helping commercial software. I'd really prefer a free alternative.

Then get tapatalk functionality and a mobile version for smartphone browsers.

From: Floor66
Then get tapatalk functionality and a mobile version for smartphone browsers.

Or just a mobile version. ;)

From: Wizzup?
Or just a mobile version. ;)

Yeah I think phpBB-mobile just replaces your forums main style with a mobile friendly version.

Please don't change to phpBB. The look of it turns me off life.

Styles can be changed.

Making it mobile friendly is ridiculously easy now with the media css attribute.

Also I'm a bit of a fan of SMF.

Wait, this thread is called 'Forum upgrades'. So why is there talk about downgrading to phpbb?

From: Markus
Wait, this thread is called 'Forum upgrades'. So why is there talk about downgrading to phpbb?

Its not a downgrade if you look at vB3 -> phpBB….

Anyways take a look at phpBB before saying anything a lot of people have said they don't like it then change there mind when looking at a demo site.

From: Dgby714
Its not a downgrade if you look at vB3 -> phpBB….

Anyways take a look at phpBB before saying anything a lot of people have said they don't like it then change there mind when looking at a demo site.

Looks neat. There are so many styles to choose from!

Well, I thought an upgrade + Moblie pack would be a good idea. But appearantly, you all want to do it the hard way :)

From: WT-Fakawi
Well, I thought an upgrade + Moblie pack would be a good idea. But appearantly, you all want to do it the hard way :)

All ?? :rolleyes:


Why pay money for something that can be done for free I say.
There are loads of mods and styles plus very easy to change about or make your own styles.
For people that are learning php, html, css could contribute in making some styles to put on the site as admin could set it up so people could chose a personal style for the site as they view it.
I also really like the arcade mod I added to my site the other day, took me 3 hours to do lol but well worth it.
phpbb3 is a good thing to as this community is about being FREE and open source which phpbb3 is.

Well, phpBB certainly is the hard way. I'd have to play around with it and see how far I can get when it comes to importing and keeping all the thread links alive. Otherwise we'd just import the users and keep vB around as an archive. I think Markus sent the vB patch source somewhere so I'll probably be able to patch the forum. (Not that there are any known vulnerabilities, I think)
If I'm not able to patch the forum we might have a problem and then vB 4 would be the only quick solution.

Having to recreate the threads would be very unfortunate/time consuming (even through copy/pasting).

From: Coh3n
Having to recreate the threads would be very unfortunate/time consuming (even through copy/pasting).

Its been done before and I believe Wizzup did it with scripts, so its not that hard.. just might be down for longer.

From: Nava2
Its been done before and I believe Wizzup did it with scripts, so its not that hard.. just might be down for longer.

I wouldn't make those promises if I were you, since I'm the one who'll have to do it. ;)
Anyway, yeah. It might be possible, but it is possible that it's not possible (yep) to import the complete database. I'll just have to try and see how it works.

Right, so I think I've personally made up my mind about a new bulletin board for the future, and it'll be phpBB3. We can style it ourselves to make it look somewhat like the old theme, it has a great security record ever since the security audit(s). They also provide very quick updates. They have lots of plugins, extensions, theme's. I think you'll find it very comparable to vB 3.x. And for what it's worth, I heard vBulletin 4.x was pretty bad anyway.

Feel free to discuss / comment / rant. It won't be happening that soon.
Oh, and I think it'll be very possible to port the database.

The sound of progress, my friend.

vb4 sux

phpbb will be cool as long as everything will be ported over and look pretty well the same (including stuff like proggy tags).

From: Wizzup?
Right, so I think I've personally made up my mind about a new bulletin board fro the future, and it'll be phpBB3. We can style it ourselves to make it look somewhat like the old theme, it has a great security record ever since the security audit(s). They also provide very quick updates. They have lots of plugins, extensions, theme's. I think you'll find it very comparable to vB 3.x. And for what it's worth, I heard vBulletin 4.x was pretty bad anyway.

Feel free to discuss / comment / rant. It won't be happening that soon.
Oh, and I think it'll be very possible to port the database.

sounds good imo, phpBB has a nice look to it.

I never saw this thread earlier.. I can't believe they don't give you the updates after your license expires.. that's some hefty price tag on it too

maybe we can do something like
new.villavu.com and have a semi beta test for the new forums while all the data is all ported over? just a suggestion, but if you think it'll port over no problems then sounds great!

Yeah I would like the beta.villavu.com especially so the staff can get use to it before opening to public. I hated PHPBB in the past, mainly because their admin controls looked like someone took a box, took a dump in it, shook it all up and called it a CP. That is my only concern.

http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation/3.0/adminguide/admin_control_panel.php

Beautiful, much better. My qualms have been resolved, still would enjoy that beta idea though :) if you need any help wizzy let me know :)

The ACP looks nice :) When do you expect to have some free time to port the database?

~BraK

Sorry for the small bump but I'm surprised no one brought up Xenforo.

I've used it alot in the past and it's very customizable; including a very clean Admin panel.

http://xenforo.com/

No , Don't close close it! </3 I'll miss SRL.

I may be posting completely out of the blue on this topic (Only read a few posts)

MyBB has been a great forum for my usage at least not sure if it matches the security standards of a high level forum (as this) though. (Free)

I just took a look at xenforo looks great, is the company new?

From: R4nd0m
I may be posting completely out of the blue on this topic (Only read a few posts)

MyBB has been a great forum for my usage at least not sure if it matches the security standards of a high level forum (as this) though. (Free)

I just took a look at xenforo looks great, is the company new?

There little over a year old.

From: wyn10
Sorry for the small bump but I'm surprised no one brought up Xenforo.

I've used it alot in the past and it's very customizable; including a very clean Admin panel.

http://xenforo.com/

This does seem quite nice. :)

From: Nava2
This does seem quite nice. :)

:smile:

If this idea is really brought up upon I'm willing to put up a test board so people can play around with it.

Too bad they charge money and have the same problem as vB: Only MySQL support.

From: Markus
Too bad they charge money and have the same problem as vB: Only MySQL support.

What other support besides mysql would you want for a forum…?

Also 140 isn't as expensive as Vb…And Xen has alot more.

From: wyn10
:smile:

If this idea is really brought up upon I'm willing to put up a test board so people can play around with it.

They offer their own test boards and if we really needed a long term test board it would be restricted to staff to play around with and almost all of us individually have enough resources to be able to host it. Thanks for the offer though ;)

From: wyn10
What other support besides mysql would you want for a forum…?

Also 140 isn't as expensive as Vb…And Xen has alot more.

From looking it as briefly as I did, it doesn't seem to have anything vB4 doesn't have. AdminCP wise, I would say vB gives you more direct control.

I like how clean cut it is but it's too… noob friendly… for my liking (Administration wise).

From: Hobbit
They offer their own test boards and if we really needed a long term test board it would be restricted to staff to play around with and almost all of us individually have enough resources to be able to host it. Thanks for the offer though ;)



From looking it as briefly as I did, it doesn't seem to have anything vB4 doesn't have. AdminCP wise, I would say vB gives you more direct control.

I like how clean cut it is but it's too… noob friendly… for my liking (Administration wise).

Owell. Thought I could give a purpose for my Xen license but eh.

VB admin side I find it way to messy.

From: wyn10
What other support besides mysql would you want for a forum…?

Wizzup wants to trash MySQL for PostgreSQL as it can handle the load better.

From: wyn10
What other support besides mysql would you want for a forum…?

Also 140 isn't as expensive as Vb…And Xen has alot more.

PostgreSQL. It's stupid to run two different database engines on one machine.

From: Markus
Wizzup wants to trash MySQL for PostgreSQL as it can handle the load better.

is mysql just slow? I use mysql for a few things, just wondering I don't really know all the differences between sqlite, mysql, postgresql etc

Interesting comparisons:
http://www.forum-software.org/forum-comparator/phpbb3-vs-simple-machines-2-vs-vbulletin4-vs-xenforo

wow, xen seems to be pretty good and compatible (besides databases) never heard of it until the other post

I like the mouseover to see first post, I assume that is a plugin any other forum can install though

If I can properly convert our current database to phpBB, I will go for phpBB. If it proves to be hard, we'll have to upgrade to vB 4.0 and install mysql as well, which would be stupid. I'm not sure a fresh start on phpBB would be a good idea.

From: PhpBB3
Supported
Forum Migration

PhpBB 2.0.x
TikiWiki
UBB.threads
IPB
vBulletin
Php-Nuke
Wordpress
Proboards
SMF 1.1

^this

From: Hobbit
^this

You'd have to wonder how well that works though. :)
But we'll find out…

Why does nobody like IPB? :( It's a hell of a lot easier to mod, skin, and integrate as-well as being a lot easier to manage (from experience). It has an awesome plugin system with lot's of free plugins to download. Also offers great SEO support and a native mobile skin.

And to be honest I prefer the nice, professional layout of IPB boards. And it also has nice support for PostgreSQL :D

Official Website
Feature List

From: Daniel
Why does nobody like IPB? :( It's a hell of a lot easier to mod, skin, and integrate as-well as being a lot easier to manage (from experience). It has an awesome plugin system with lot's of free plugins to download. Also offers great SEO support and a native mobile skin.

And to be honest I prefer the nice, professional layout of IPB boards. And it also has nice support for PostgreSQL :D

Official Website
Feature List

It also uses alot of cpu load compared to other "Big" forum software out there.

Thanks for announcement.

From: NexPB
Thanks for announcement.

Please refrain from comments like that in the future, Nex. This announcement was posted in June, and although there are comments from last week, I still consider your comment unnecessary and an attempt to slide in a comment for post count. I would rather see someone with 10 posts that contain useful information, than 60 posts like that one.

I think the forums need an upgrade to their servers. With 467 people it was really slow, Imagine like 1000!

From: tommyboy12
I think the forums need an upgrade to their servers. With 467 people it was really slow, Imagine like 1000!

Maybe it's your connection? The forums work great for me, I have no idea what you're talking about.

it might be, my brothers were watching netflix on their 3ds's. it works fine now though.

From: tommyboy12
it might be, my brothers were watching netflix on their 3ds's. it works fine now though.

I've never noticed any lag. I am quite sure it was your connection! The server we are on now is brilliant. :P

these forums are always instant with 2+ people watching netflix and my forums running / game servers at this house

DO ETT!! Wizzup, I'll help you with it if you need?

From: Dgby714
DO ETT!! Wizzup, I'll help you with it if you need?

I've already offered like 100000 times but he ignores me :p

From: Hobbit
I've already offered like 100000 times but he ignores me :p

hmmm, We needa talk him into it!

As long as you can keep this theme (this one, the one used by the Kaitnieks forums), I don't care what software you use.

But I must admit, I do like all the "flash" that comes with IPB :p

EDIT: Oh yeah, and usernames/cups on top and not on the side!