Forums upgrade/migration

Pat DiPersia

SCCoA Admin
I've begun researching upgrading or migrating the SCCoA forums. We currently run vBulletin software, version 4.2.5. vBulletin version 4 was released in 2009; 4.2.5 is the last update for version 4 and there will be no more updates. 4.2.5 was released in May 2017. Support ended on vB 4 in December 2017. That means any security vulnerabilities that exist in 4.2.5 (Since May 2017) are still there and aren't going away.

There is a vBulletin version 5. But I have yet to find anyone online that truly recommends the upgrade to version 5. Comments I've heard is it's slow, unwieldy, etc. And the best part? There is no easy migration path from v4 to v5 in terms of look and feel. You need to redesign your site from the ground up, though content will come over.

So with that, I am considered either an upgrade to version 5 or a migration to completely new/different forum software. There's a small handful of forum applications that are on par with vBulletin. I'll most likely work with a consultant to help handle most of the heavy lifting of the migration as I don't have the time or knowledge to do it all myself. Unfortunately, this means money - both for the software and the consultant. To that end, I'm also looking at bringing back SCCoA merchandise to help finance some of the costs. This will be done through an on-demand print type company, which means higher prices for merchandise, but no effort on anyone's part here. Vendor will simply print/make whatever we have setup in our store and ship it on demand as opposed to someone handling inventory. More on that later.

Wanted to give everyone a heads up this is in the works (No timeline established yet, very early on.) While I'll try to incorporate everything we have here in terms of look and feel, there WILL be changes. I know we don't like change, but it's inevitable, and hopefully those changes make the forums even better over time. Regardless, we need to get on a supported and secured platform.

When the time comes, I may setup a thread requesting opinions on option A or option B in terms of how the forums might operate or look/feel, when we have an option. I'd like the forums to represent the community that we are and try to take in as much feedback as possible, though obviously won't be able to conform to everyone's opinion.

I'll be in touch!
 
It seems that Facebook has taking away much of the Forum business. I like SMF a/k/a Simplemachines and they still update it. They just came out with a new version.

I have been dragging by A$$ on updating my security/ firewall apps for it. I plan to do it but I have been busy...
 
My fave software is what SVT Performance uses. It felt as not much changed when they switched.

Forum software by XenForo™ ©2010-2016 XenForo Ltd. | XenTrader by NixFifty ©2015
 
My fave software is what SVT Performance uses. It felt as not much changed when they switched.

Forum software by XenForo 2010-2016 XenForo Ltd. | XenTrader by NixFifty 2015

That's GREAT to hear because that's exactly what we're moving to. I've spoken with a few folks that support vB and they all recommended making the move to XenForo instead of vB 5. I actually gave the consultant the go-ahead over the weekend and have purchased the licenses.

Hope to have a "preview" site in place soon for folks to check out and give some feedback on.
 
I know it is obsolete, so I assume the garage will be going away?

If so, can you give everyone a heads-up so that we can backup our pages?
 
Kurt's right - the garage is long obsolete (Surprised we kept it running this long) and is going away. ONLY TO BE REPLACED WITH SOMETHING NEW! And the best part? I'm told we can migrate data from the garage to the new system!

So I'm always a proponent of backing your stuff up. So feel free. But there may not be a need. Once we get the bulk of the data migrated and see how things look, then we can determine what, if any, action is required in the garage.
 
Looking forward to the new setup. Any interesting plugins for XenForo that you are thinking about trying out?
 
No, haven't gotten that far yet. For now, it's just the actual forums and garage. If you know of any cool ones, let me know.
 
Pat,

Any chance this new software will have ability to automatically resize photos so they can be uploaded direct from your phone ? This would also stop people from uploading images that are too large, which really slows down loading of pages.

Thanks, David
 
Pat,

Any chance this new software will have ability to automatically resize photos so they can be uploaded direct from your phone ? This would also stop people from uploading images that are too large, which really slows down loading of pages.

Thanks, David

Yup. My understanding of how the new system handles this is we will set a max size and max dimensions for photos. If your photo is over any of these limits, it's supposed to automatically resize down. Hopefully it works as designed. The new system is also supposed to work much better on phones in general.
 
Yup. My understanding of how the new system handles this is we will set a max size and max dimensions for photos. If your photo is over any of these limits, it's supposed to automatically resize down. Hopefully it works as designed. The new system is also supposed to work much better on phones in general.

Awesome ! That will be great and will make posting here a lot more convenient.

Thanks, David
 
Test migration has been completed. I'm looking for a few folks to test out the new forums for me. Just poke around, etc. If you wish to do a test post, please do it in the test forum. Do NOT make any changes to the garage area, but feel free to browse. Would appreciate to hear from just a few people that really have some time in the next few days to play around. Thanks.
 
If you are still looking for testers Pat I have some time to give it a test drive over the next few days.
 
Thanks - I'll be in touch shortly. Still going through some permissions that are outstanding on the new forums. Once I have those ironed out, I'll have you guys (And any others that want) play.
 
Yup. My understanding of how the new system handles this is we will set a max size and max dimensions for photos. If your photo is over any of these limits, it's supposed to automatically resize down. Hopefully it works as designed. The new system is also supposed to work much better on phones in general.
Pat,

Did something change ? I tried uploading a photo earlier this week and it was rejected saying file was too large. I think it was only around 2.5MB. Just tried again and got the same message.




File too large.jpg
 
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No, nothing changed around the image stuff. Just verified - image/attachment limit is 10 megs still. Double-check the file size for me.
 
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