Forum software upgrade (for real now)

[X-SOLDIER]

Cthulhu wrote:

vB 5 will need a full styling jerb though, probably can't easily transfer the current style over. Mind you it'll probably take just a couple hours to get 80% of the way there, but that also involves me becoming unlazy and TBF I sometimes feel like I want to move away from software development given how much I don't feel like doing it sometimes.

Can't make money off of alcoholism though.

Well, I say let's just transfer what we can over ta vB 5, especially since that's the smallest impact on your cba, and I'm sure that we can collectively figure out the rest in relatively short order for the remaining parts that're still a bit weird. I'm sure that filling any of the gaps to, "make the house liveable" will be straightforward, and that the perfectionists will help out with the bits that're still strange. The Creators Discord is popping with activity when things need ta get done, so I've got faith that we can tackle a relatively small move like that with pretty small growing pains.

My only advice is possibly decide to be unlazy before Mage eats you alive?

But really, if there's anything I can do to help out aside from throw cash to cover the cost, just lemme know.





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[Addy Carver]

X-SOLDIER wrote:

My only advice is possibly decide to be unlazy before Mage eats you alive?

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IN MY DEFENCE he did ask me to keep prodding. Also I think you'll find that only Cthulhu eats victims, it is known.

[Lex]

Don't do anything yet because I'm about to throw a spanner in the works.

vB5 should be avoided at all costs. It sounds attractive but it'll be no easier to skin than Xen and Xen will actually offer more familiarity with the current board. The devs who made vB up to V3 (our current board) left and started Xen after. By all accounts vB4 was poor and vB5 is a horrific resource hog with a shitty backend.

Xenforo is the spiritual and literal successor to our current forum software and if we're not going with discourse then that's the software I'd recommend. vB5 wasn't even a consideration during previous discussions in part because Aaron was so vehemently against it. I know there's some weird feelings when it comes to Aaron but by jeebus did he know what he was talking about when it came to forum software. I am dead opposed to vB5 unless someone can convince me otherwise, there's nothing to suggest its situation has changed (I actually suggested vB5 way back when and Aaron put the brakes on it).

And enough about the monetary aspect, I've already committed to paying for a license. It's the least I can do for TLS after all these years. If others want to commit to chipping in for updates down the line that's all for the better.

But it's important to note that regardless of what we go with (even if somehow we end up trying vB5) there'll still be a shitload of work to do.

EDIT: Also really worth pointing out is that the general internet consensus right now is that Discourse is the future. Obviously that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best thing for TLS, but go googling and that's all you'll see. It's actually the closest "mordern-acceptable" version of an internet board.

[Literally Who?]

Segways were the future too

YouTube Video

[Fangu]

I just want to add in that I've had the words 'sunk cost fallacy' in my head for the last three days.

/ not being useful

[Ergo]

Without going into full project manager mode has anyone considered making a time/cost graph to try and map out expected outcomes from.each option?

[X-SOLDIER]

Well, I'm not even sure that general internet consensus is that Discourse is the future, especially when you start looking at OUR specific use-case for moving to new forum software. When you look at Xenforo's top sites, they include IGN, ResetEra, & Gamestar.de – relatively high-traffic gaming sites where we'd be most likely to see user crossover.

I think that the biggest difference is that Discourse feels like a long-form chat room, and Xenforo feels like a categorized forum. I think that basically everything that differentiates user wants and usability differences between them are the basic mindsets for those two things.

So... are there any really compelling reasons to avoid Xenforo?





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[Ergo]

My only issue with xenforo is the annual costing for a site that doesn't really bring in revenue.

[Claymore]

Lex wrote:

And enough about the monetary aspect, I've already committed to paying for a license. It's the least I can do for TLS after all these years. If others want to commit to chipping in for updates down the line that's all for the better.

I think we can stick a fork in that particular discussion. Any other reasons though?

[Chloe Frazer]

Look while I'm still fine with discourse I'm going to vote we move to xenforo. It has the best balance for us right now of not being crap like vb but not too radically different like discourse. But we need to move from this outdated as fuck forum and mainly the dumpster fire that passes for its mobile version.

[X-SOLDIER]

Ergo wrote:

My only issue with xenforo is the annual costing for a site that doesn't really bring in revenue.

Claymore wrote:

Lex wrote:

And enough about the monetary aspect, I've already committed to paying for a license. It's the least I can do for TLS after all these years. If others want to commit to chipping in for updates down the line that's all for the better.

I think we can stick a fork in that particular discussion. Any other reasons though?

Yeah, associated cost is definitely a non-factor.




X

[Cthulhu]

Ergo wrote:

Cthulhu wrote:

Can't make money off of alcoholism though.

Could become a whisky taster?
Or a wine taster?
Beer taster....cider taster....vodka taster........

God I need a drink

Tasting usually involves paying others for the privilege though, . Plus you kinda need to spit it out to avoid ruining your flavor.

I did hear the top taster for e.g. Famous Grouse has their nose insured for millions.


Anyway re: VB 5, I too am not in favor of it, given our previous experiences; it was shot down very fast at the time. That was years ago too, and AFAIK there hasn't been any major developments in vB since then - other than the developers bolting a CMS and shit on top of it.

Also @ Ergo what makes you think we don't really bring in revenue? We make some money off of ads and the youtube videos, and I'm still thinking of starting up a Patreon - monthly small donations are vastly superior to both ad revenue (also given Youtube's penchant of demonitizing lately) and one-time donations. Besides that, I've actually got a decently paying job now, . Anyway, hosting is errr.... several times the cost of what Xf would cost a year, and Xf's licensing is a lot more reasonable than vB's are.

Also TIL Xf is actually pretty popular; guess I'm living in a bit of a hipster / software developer bubble wrt Discourse.

[Obsidian Fire]

X-SOLDIER wrote:

I think that the biggest difference is that Discourse feels like a long-form chat room, and Xenforo feels like a categorized forum.

This is the feeling I get from Discourse. It feels like something that works well with short posts, not the novel-length posts we produce at times.

I'm thinking of not just the long quote-within-quote posts we get, but also posts like the Community Playthoughs and other things of that nature. They're almost like mini-articles in and of themselves and have text formatting to match. It feels like it would be hard to get Discourse to have that level of functionality and that functionality is used almost everywhere for various things.

[Ergo]

Cthulhu wrote:

Ergo wrote:

Cthulhu wrote:

Can't make money off of alcoholism though.

Could become a whisky taster?
Or a wine taster?
Beer taster....cider taster....vodka taster........

God I need a drink

Tasting usually involves paying others for the privilege though, . Plus you kinda need to spit it out to avoid ruining your flavor.

I did hear the top taster for e.g. Famous Grouse has their nose insured for millions.


Anyway re: VB 5, I too am not in favor of it, given our previous experiences; it was shot down very fast at the time. That was years ago too, and AFAIK there hasn't been any major developments in vB since then - other than the developers bolting a CMS and shit on top of it.

Also @ Ergo what makes you think we don't really bring in revenue? We make some money off of ads and the youtube videos, and I'm still thinking of starting up a Patreon - monthly small donations are vastly superior to both ad revenue (also given Youtube's penchant of demonitizing lately) and one-time donations. Besides that, I've actually got a decently paying job now, . Anyway, hosting is errr.... several times the cost of what Xf would cost a year, and Xf's licensing is a lot more reasonable than vB's are.

Also TIL Xf is actually pretty popular; guess I'm living in a bit of a hipster / software developer bubble wrt Discourse.

I looked for somewhere to donate on the site a few weeks back but couldn't find anything so I just assumed you did this all out of your own pockets XD

EDIT: Is the quote button broken lol?

[X-SOLDIER]

So, let's all get aboard the XF train and make it happen then? What're the next actions what we need to make to do the thing?

EDIT: I fixxxed the quote issue on both your poasts. Yops was missing the [QUOTE=Cthulhu;786158] to thread it properly.




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