Roger
He/him
- AKA
- Minato
You get there via the About page but here's a straight link.
https://thelifestream.net/donate/
Also, I'm all for the XF train.
Forum software upgrade (for real now)
- Thread starter Cthulhu
- Start date
You get there via the About page but here's a straight link.
https://thelifestream.net/donate/
Also, I'm all for the XF train.
fancy
pants
- AKA
- Fancy
Yesss, I fully support the move to XF and am ready and willing to pay monthly monies to the site via patreon. A fiver or tenner a month (or however much one is willing to give) is no biggie, but that times ten, maybe twenty of us a month is 
EDIT:
What are some perks we can give to more generous patreons? A basic one for small donations, naturally, would be being featured in the end credits of our YouTube vids or sommat. Folks love seeing their name on screen
EDIT2:
Never mind, just realised this probably isn’t the thread to be having this discussion... but I think it’s something worth mentioning and to keep in mind.
EDIT:
What are some perks we can give to more generous patreons? A basic one for small donations, naturally, would be being featured in the end credits of our YouTube vids or sommat. Folks love seeing their name on screen
EDIT2:
Never mind, just realised this probably isn’t the thread to be having this discussion... but I think it’s something worth mentioning and to keep in mind.
Last edited:
Mage
She/They
- AKA
- Mage
EDIT:
What are some perks we can give to more generous patreons? A basic one for small donations, naturally, would be being featured in the end credits of our YouTube vids or sommat. Folks love seeing their name on screen
EDIT2:
Never mind, just realised this probably isn’t the forum to be having this discussion... but I think it’s something worth mentioning and to keep in mind.
I will go full frontal.
Because what people want is a chubby bird with translucent skin. 
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
@Yopy.
You could always become an IRL streamer on Twitch who just goes to pubs
@Fancy. That's such a good idea about having the patreon names in the youtube video! Plus it would help our non forum using members of the community (i've noticed a few repeat names in the YT comments) possibly donate too.
I propose instead of a credits scroll someone here raps out all their names
edit:
@X - I forgot to add on to your comparison point but yeah the only big gaming related forum I could think of that uses Discourse is the official Gearbox one and even there it still looks and feels clunky
https://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/
This is a AAA game making developers forum. And imo even they couldn't make it good. It's like that software just gives 0 fucks about formatting or just completely gives up once something is like longer than 1 sentence lol.
You could always become an IRL streamer on Twitch who just goes to pubs
@Fancy. That's such a good idea about having the patreon names in the youtube video! Plus it would help our non forum using members of the community (i've noticed a few repeat names in the YT comments) possibly donate too.
I propose instead of a credits scroll someone here raps out all their names
edit:
@X - I forgot to add on to your comparison point but yeah the only big gaming related forum I could think of that uses Discourse is the official Gearbox one and even there it still looks and feels clunky
https://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/
This is a AAA game making developers forum. And imo even they couldn't make it good. It's like that software just gives 0 fucks about formatting or just completely gives up once something is like longer than 1 sentence lol.
Last edited:
Cthulhu
Administrator
- AKA
- Yop
@Yopy.
You could always become an IRL streamer on Twitch who just goes to pubs
That would involve me going to the pubs though, <_<. Those things are loud. Sponsored alcoholism does sound somewhat attractive though.
When I can be arsed,
. I mean we'll have to buy the license, set up a test forum, do a test migration and either decide to just yolo go for it or wait until I can arse myself to do a theme.
Lestat
He/him
- AKA
- Ergo, V
@Yopy.
You could always become an IRL streamer on Twitch who just goes to pubs
That would involve me going to the pubs though, <_<. Those things are loud. Sponsored alcoholism does sound somewhat attractive though.
When I can be arsed,
Immigrate to Scotland, alcoholism to most countries is a Saturday night for us.
You could put it out to the community whether or not folk can chip in and do some of the work if you don't have time?
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
When I can be arsed,
I think that Lex's ready to acquire a license at basically any time. Setting up the test forum and testing a migration will be the bigger steps, and I'd bet that once the test forum is up, any number of us folk'll be happy to help in getting a theme sorted out for it, so that you don't need to bother yourself with that bit unless you really want to.
X
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
When I can be arsed,
I think that Lex's ready to acquire a license at basically any time. Setting up the test forum and testing a migration will be the bigger steps, and I'd bet that once the test forum is up, any number of us folk'll be happy to help in getting a theme sorted out for it, so that you don't need to bother yourself with that bit unless you really want to.
X
Heck in regards to theme work I'm pretty sure from a bit of discussion I saw on the creator discord we might have someone lined up already
Lestat
He/him
- AKA
- Ergo, V
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Like in a "This uncharacteristic wave of initiative is quite pleasant" kind of way or a "Caution: Something's not right" kind of way?
Mage
She/They
- AKA
- Mage
Flintlock
Pro Adventurer
Hi,
I was chatting with Crash last week and she brought up this thread, specifically that momentum seems to be swinging towards Xenforo and that some people have concerns about throwing away the work I've done on Discourse already. I felt the need to make a post.
From a purely personal perspective, I wish that all these reservations had been brought up earlier, but I understand that the project has been a long, slow one and that people have probably never felt an urgent need to do so until now. It's frustrating that it seems like I've wasted my time and effort, but that shouldn't make any difference to your final decision. Even in absentia, I want what's best for this community, and if you collectively decide that that's Xenforo, then you should go for it. Please don't worry about me at all.
The current Discourse test forum remains a work in progress. As I said before, I took it as far as I intended to for the time being, with further adjustments to be made after it went live. X said he would sort out the forum structure, which, as far as I can tell, he hasn't, which is a shame, because that seems to have played a big part in people's first impressions.
But I'm not a Discourse fanatic by any means. My biggest concern with Xenforo has always been that it's proprietary software, which means that TLS could find itself in exactly the same position in a few years' time, where the software is no longer supported, or is supported by means of an update that we don't want, or is vulnerable to attack. If that happens, we'll be completely stuck and will have no option but to move again. With Discourse, even if it stops getting official updates, we could switch to a fork, or fix any major vulnerabilities ourselves. The fact that Discourse is free and Xenforo is (to me) expensive is another consideration, but if you want to put the money up, then go ahead. Just be aware that it's not a one-off purchase, but $140 and then $40 for every year of upgrades/support – and the price could go up. But I can't deny that it would be a more comfortable transition from VB for the vast majority of people, which is extremely important.
TL;DR: Do what you think is best, you have my blessing either way. And good luck.
I was chatting with Crash last week and she brought up this thread, specifically that momentum seems to be swinging towards Xenforo and that some people have concerns about throwing away the work I've done on Discourse already. I felt the need to make a post.
From a purely personal perspective, I wish that all these reservations had been brought up earlier, but I understand that the project has been a long, slow one and that people have probably never felt an urgent need to do so until now. It's frustrating that it seems like I've wasted my time and effort, but that shouldn't make any difference to your final decision. Even in absentia, I want what's best for this community, and if you collectively decide that that's Xenforo, then you should go for it. Please don't worry about me at all.
The current Discourse test forum remains a work in progress. As I said before, I took it as far as I intended to for the time being, with further adjustments to be made after it went live. X said he would sort out the forum structure, which, as far as I can tell, he hasn't, which is a shame, because that seems to have played a big part in people's first impressions.
But I'm not a Discourse fanatic by any means. My biggest concern with Xenforo has always been that it's proprietary software, which means that TLS could find itself in exactly the same position in a few years' time, where the software is no longer supported, or is supported by means of an update that we don't want, or is vulnerable to attack. If that happens, we'll be completely stuck and will have no option but to move again. With Discourse, even if it stops getting official updates, we could switch to a fork, or fix any major vulnerabilities ourselves. The fact that Discourse is free and Xenforo is (to me) expensive is another consideration, but if you want to put the money up, then go ahead. Just be aware that it's not a one-off purchase, but $140 and then $40 for every year of upgrades/support – and the price could go up. But I can't deny that it would be a more comfortable transition from VB for the vast majority of people, which is extremely important.
TL;DR: Do what you think is best, you have my blessing either way. And good luck.
Last edited:
Cthulhu
Administrator
- AKA
- Yop
Small detail, it's $140 for the first license and $40 for follow-up years; I did see they recently released Xf 2.0 though, I don't know if that upgrade requires you to cough up another $140. this page has some Concerns with 2.0 too, but that seems mostly aimed at people already on 1.0 - notably, addon compatibility (and the addition of paid for / subscription based addons) is a point of er, interest?
Lex
Administrator
I will buy a Xen license on Monday. Yop can you spare some free time on Monday evening to chat about the technical aspects/ get the ball rolling in setting up a test server etc?
The majority of the work we have to do is in structure/ skinning. Even with a move to more similar forum software I want to rework our category trees etc for the forums to streamline where possible. Let's do this right, but let's not procrastinate this time.
As I said previously money is not an issue, I'm committed to paying for it (including annual update pricing if required). I still anticipate some hot debate about major forum features that need to go or drastically change regardless though.
The majority of the work we have to do is in structure/ skinning. Even with a move to more similar forum software I want to rework our category trees etc for the forums to streamline where possible. Let's do this right, but let's not procrastinate this time.
As I said previously money is not an issue, I'm committed to paying for it (including annual update pricing if required). I still anticipate some hot debate about major forum features that need to go or drastically change regardless though.
Mage
She/They
- AKA
- Mage
I believe Yop is already onto getting a licence sorted before you go ahead and purchase one.
There is always the donate function if anyone wants to pitch in without committing to anything specific (yes yes I know money isn't an issue but people like to feel involved even if they can't offer tech assistance).
There is always the donate function if anyone wants to pitch in without committing to anything specific (yes yes I know money isn't an issue but people like to feel involved even if they can't offer tech assistance).