GF Future Poll 1

What forum software would you like to see GF on next year?

  • IPB 4.0 (upgrade from what we have now)

    Votes: 5 45.5%
  • Xenforo

    Votes: 3 27.3%
  • I don't care

    Votes: 3 27.3%
  • Other software

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    11

Demon_Skeith

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I need this poll and a reply given by all active members. By doing so you will earn 10k GF shards.
 
I've been around here long enough to say that personally don't care. A change would be nice though. For me, I've never liked Xenforo even though everyone seems to prefer it over other software. It wouldn't be enough of a problem to affect my activity though.
 
I've only really ever used Xenforo as a member. So I have no idea what it'd be like for staff. Though I have heard that it's not that great for larger forums. (Since once forums reach a certain size the ACP just times out rather than completes tasks. So you start having to use cPanel/PHPmyAdmin to make changes.)

In terms of using Xenforo as a member... I think it's ok. It's not my favourite to use though just because it goes a bit too heavy (for my tastes) on hover/pop up menus. And I just don't care for them all that much. I also find that they don't work as nice when trying to browse from a phone. (Again, goes back to the hover pop out elements...) where other forum software (like IPB) I can use them in desktop mode on phones with minimal issue.




IPB 4, as far as I know, isn't actually out yet so it's kind of too soon for me to really make a judgement on it. About the only thing I've heard is that it's phasing out BBcode for WYSIWYG editors. (Which I'm not overly fond of because I find them to be a pain to use at times. Especially once quoting and embedding images/video get involved.)

I would presume though that their ACP isn't going to change that much from IPB 3.x to 4.0 though, so you'd be more use to it than Xenforo's. 




If memory serves you've stated in the past that you're not overly fond of MyBB. But I think you may want to re-evaluate it for a viable alternative option.  (It doesn't cost you anything to try it out.)

MyBB 1.8 has been released and although it uses a WYSIWYG editor by default, there is an option in the user control panel to turn that off and make it function exactly like MyBB 1.6's normal post editor. 
Plus 1.8 uses jQuery natively now so no more reliance on prototype.js or having to link in your own version of jQuery (and deal with possible conflicts).

Skin design on 1.8 is still largely the same as 1.6, most templates have been kept the same. Though coming from IPB this could be a pretty big change regardless.
 
I voted to stay with the current platform, I am not a huge fan of Xenforo and updating it sucks. IPB is much is easier to update and 4.0 looks amazing. I have played around with it and I think it's a lot better than xenforo.
 
VirusZero said:
I've only really ever used Xenforo as a member. So I have no idea what it'd be like for staff. Though I have heard that it's not that great for larger forums. (Since once forums reach a certain size the ACP just times out rather than completes tasks. So you start having to use cPanel/PHPmyAdmin to make changes.)

In terms of using Xenforo as a member... I think it's ok. It's not my favourite to use though just because it goes a bit too heavy (for my tastes) on hover/pop up menus. And I just don't care for them all that much. I also find that they don't work as nice when trying to browse from a phone. (Again, goes back to the hover pop out elements...) where other forum software (like IPB) I can use them in desktop mode on phones with minimal issue.




IPB 4, as far as I know, isn't actually out yet so it's kind of too soon for me to really make a judgement on it. About the only thing I've heard is that it's phasing out BBcode for WYSIWYG editors. (Which I'm not overly fond of because I find them to be a pain to use at times. Especially once quoting and embedding images/video get involved.)

I would presume though that their ACP isn't going to change that much from IPB 3.x to 4.0 though, so you'd be more use to it than Xenforo's. 




If memory serves you've stated in the past that you're not overly fond of MyBB. But I think you may want to re-evaluate it for a viable alternative option.  (It doesn't cost you anything to try it out.)

MyBB 1.8 has been released and although it uses a WYSIWYG editor by default, there is an option in the user control panel to turn that off and make it function exactly like MyBB 1.6's normal post editor. 
Plus 1.8 uses jQuery natively now so no more reliance on prototype.js or having to link in your own version of jQuery (and deal with possible conflicts).

Skin design on 1.8 is still largely the same as 1.6, most templates have been kept the same. Though coming from IPB this could be a pretty big change regardless.




Considering the issues you and BA have had with MyBB and the fact there is little support for the software, it's not something I would go around promoting. I do thank you for saying that Xen has issues with larger communities, I will look into that.
 
AidsorHIV said:
I've been around here long enough to say that personally don't care.
^ This. I'd like to see GF using xenForo but it doesn't really matter which forum script the site uses, it wouldn't affect my activity (maybe alerts might do a thing or two, but hey). 
 
Which issues (that I've had) are you referring to? 

As for little support...
1.8 released and they've good a good support team going now. Sure earlier this year their support team was less useful, but things have improved here. 
 
I thought I read BA saying you were both having trouble on something, I just know BA was having a hell of a time with mybb and not something I want to mess with, even though their support does seem better now.


For the xen issue, I couldn't really find anything on it.
 
VirusZero said:
Which issues (that I've had) are you referring to? 
 
As for little support...
1.8 released and they've good a good support team going now. Sure earlier this year their support team was less useful, but things have improved here. 
Eh, its still pretty bad. Quite a lot of questions go unanswered, not too much has been updated to 1.8 (a few main developers of plugins left ect.), mobile support is still nonexistent and I think a fair few staff members can be rude.

Interesting to hear about the xF issues mentioned earlier, with timing out. I've never heard or had that issue and I've ran a 500k forum on it and had nothing but good things to say: mobile is great, nice modern UI, extensive controls from an admin POV, ect.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about xenforo being tough for larger communities. There are a lot of massive communities such as digitalpoint that uses the Xen.

mybb, I would worry about though. It's never been the "That software is awesome" conversation anywhere. In general vbulletin, IP, and xen have been leading the game. phpbb is what I am most familiar with but don't even think about getting that. phpbb is a bandwidth hog and once your forum is large your host starts demanding more money or shutting down your site because of the power loss on their server.
 
The only issues I've had were:
1- when I was developing my own plugin, I was having trouble getting that to work. But that wasn't the software's fault. (It was mine, I was using the wrong method at first.)
2- when my host got DDoSed. (Again, not the software's fault here that someone decided to attack my host.)
 
Otherwise I've had pretty good luck.
 
In terms of BA's issues, I know of most of them... Again some of her issues were hosting related (Arvixie), others were due to conflicts in jquery code, and then a few cases of permission issues.  (Which, not going to lie, doing permission configuration is very easy to make a mistake in. Especially if you'e doing them early in the morning.)
Other than that it was just learning how to customize the software and dealing with templates.  And all of this was nothing BA couldn't handle.
 
 
For the Xenforo issues, the site I'm referring to had about 750,000 posts, tons of forums and over 30 member groups. And so much use of the like button. So it's possible that all of this contributed to a massive strain on their server. (This is not the first time they've had issues either. They were on IPB before Xenforo.)

Eh, its still pretty bad. Quite a lot of questions go unanswered, not too much has been updated to 1.8 (a few main developers of plugins left ect.), mobile support is still nonexistent and I think a fair few staff members can be rude.
 
I said better... I didn't say perfect. They could still use a few more staff though to help handle the work load.
 
As for mods and stuff, quite a few of them can be updated simply by adding 18* to the compatibility line in that mod's php file. 
Mobile support is there via GoMobile (which, like mentioned above, works once you add the 18* to the compatibility line). I don't know about tapatalk or things like that though (probably a similar situation, just need to change that compatibility line). 
But I do think they should get as many mods updated to 1.8 as quickly as they can. I'd imagine quite a few people are holding off until their favourite mods are fully verified compatible before updating.
 
I haven't seen their staff be rude, though I also haven't spent a lot of time there. Can you PM me to any places where they've been rude? (I wouldn't mind having a read of them for interest sake, but I don't want to derail this topic on that issue.)

It's never been the "That software is awesome" conversation anywhere.
That you've seen. 


Still, I maintain not to write it off immediately as an option. It is a solid software with plenty of options. And it's not like this move is happening in the next few weeks. So by the time any move would be going on, next year say, things could very well be a different story. More mods could have been upgraded, or newer ones developed to replace older ones. 


Also, I should be clear what my position is...
I don't really care if GF goes to Xenforo. It won't cause me to leave on that alone. But I'm not going to advocate moving to it.

Staying with IPB and upgrading to V4 would probably be the easiest thing to do. (Since any sort of transfer is a pain in the butt since database converters get involved and errors/issues can happen.)
Though definitely get a copy of your database pre-upgrading anyway (just in case).
 
I'm fine with IPB since it would be familiar to use for members, and moderators.
 
Look as a member I'll never know the extend of frustration you may experience from the administrative duties. 
In the end, it is the people what makes it worthy to stay. I might not visit much but I really enjoy the pl;ace the few times I give myself time to catch on.
Xenforo, IPB or something else I am sure we can adapt. Take it easy and choose what makes you feel more comfortable. If you're happy with your place, it'd be easier for us to follow suit. :3
 
Xenforo.
It's simply amazing.

Personally, I prefer mybb over everything :grin: 
 
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