Changes to forum... YOUR opinions sought

Discussion about MX5s, Roadsters & Miatas, not directly fitting into one of the categories below. Please keep it on topic.

Moderators: LilRay.Sun, Furai, Growler, zorruno, jif

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zorruno
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Changes to forum... YOUR opinions sought

Post by zorruno » Sun Mar 20, 2016 12:24 pm

Hi All,

just a few thoughts about the forum, and looking for some feedback. I put it here rather than the announcements section, as people may miss it. Note that I'm probably not going to do anything in the next week or so... just looking to see that people think.

The forum has been around for close to 10 years now, and for a few reasons I need to do some work on it.

1. The forum uses PHPBBv2 which works fine but it pretty dated now, and I've put a whole bunch of plugins into it (Small ones, and larger ones such as the garage and classifieds)

2. I've left it on phpbbV2... the main reason is the mail2forum plugin. This is a complex plugin that allows people to receive emails from the forum and if you reply by email, the posts get plugged back in. This was no small feat for the developers and no other forum that I know of has this even today (including phpbbv3) viewtopic.php?t=86

3. The forum is on a colocated server that is costing me lots of money now (they keep increasing my fees) and I need to move it off to reduce stress when the bill comes around every month. I have other places to put it, but transferring as is is a bit of a mission to do so for a number of technical reasons. I've never charged for forum/ad use and even resisted putting banner ads up. it gets 6000+ unique views per month and uses a fair bit of bandwidth.

So, I could move it all across, but I have a few security concerns and there are some existing bugs (plus it isn't really useable with newer versions of php as it is). I'd rather start from something known.

So... I'm thinking I might:

1. Upgrade to phpbbv3. It is prettier, maintained by the developers and I should be able to pull most of the existing content and the users etc across.

2. Maybe rebrand it - I have a couple of ideas. "Mx5forum" is a bit boring and you guys are a bit of a community together, so it would be nice to have a brand and people in the past have suggested a sticker & stuff you can put on your cars etc (someone can help with that if they like) like some of the other NZ car forum communities.

3. Tidyup the layouts a bit and rationalise the forums/topics maybe? Suggestions welcome.

4. I'm still not keen to charge or put ads up, but it may happen sometime. People who know me will know that likelihood is pretty low. Donations to my mortgage are always welcome though (my wife made me say this)

HOWEVER - if I move to phpbbv3, a few things will have to go.

a) Mail2forum will go. I will miss this, but not sure what else to do. You will likely still be able get email for every post, but replying won't do anything. Not really sure how many people actually use this now anyway or even know it is possible - most of you youngies probably just type it into the browser. I can probably plug in tapatalk or other system anyway so you can use a phone app.

b) The Garage... will go. I will also miss it, but there isn't one for V3. I might be able to find something similar, but no promises. I'll give people plenty of time to take any content they want to keep, and will archive it.

Your thoughts.... Go :)
(z)

Angreal
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Post by Angreal » Mon Mar 21, 2016 4:02 pm

I'm keen for the new format. I've never used the email function.

Timmo
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Post by Timmo » Mon Mar 21, 2016 7:41 pm

Yeah the email function seems a bit outdated now so I wouldn't miss it. I think the Garage is a good addition though, it's good to see what people have done and what it cost etc.
Ex: 1991 BRG NA6, 1998 White RS, 1997 Wine Merlot M Edition

JaredH
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Post by JaredH » Mon Mar 21, 2016 9:22 pm

If the garage is on the out, perhaps a section for 'build threads' to keep track of different things people have done.

Stevo
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Post by Stevo » Tue Mar 22, 2016 6:46 am

The email doesn't worry me but its nice to have an occasional look in the garage section
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Junkwhale
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Post by Junkwhale » Tue Mar 22, 2016 6:11 pm

  • While the garage does have some advantages (provides a good overview/summary at a glance) on balance I think build threads actually work better on car forums as they give a sense of progression and include discussion and problem solving (esp. in the local context). Moving to PHPBBv3 and a dedicated build thread section is my vote.
  • I'd rather donate than see ads (which I'd block anyway) if I think the forum is a valuable resource/community. I'd be less adverse to ads that were links to paying sponsors...but we might be a bit limited in NZ in that regard.
  • A rebrand to something catchier than mx5forum is a good idea.
  • I can't comprehend wanting to use the email to post feature.

Ransom
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Post by Ransom » Sun Mar 27, 2016 5:24 pm

have you looked at proboards or v-bulletin?
some forums are terrible to use esp with tapatalk
this one is ok just has a 90s feel

jif
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Changes to forum... YOUR opinions sought

Post by jif » Mon Mar 28, 2016 5:49 pm

Phpbbv3 sounds OK. Getting new posts by email is the main thing that I'd be keen to keep. On 20 Mar 2016 12:24, "zorruno" <mx5talk@mx5forum.co.nz (mx5talk@mx5forum.co.nz)> wrote:
Hi All,

just a few thoughts about the forum, and looking for some feedback.  I put it here rather than the announcements section, as people may miss it. Note that I'm probably not going to do anything in the next week or so... just looking to see that people think.

The forum has been around for close to 10 years now, and for a few reasons I need to do some work on it.

1. The forum uses PHPBBv2 which works fine but it pretty dated now, and I've put a whole bunch of plugins into it (Small ones, and larger ones such as the garage and classifieds)

2. I've left it on phpbbV2... the main reason is the mail2forum plugin.  This is a complex plugin that allows people to receive emails from the forum and if you reply by email, the posts get plugged back in.  This was no small feat for the developers and no other forum that I know of has this even today (including phpbbv3) viewtopic.php?t=86

3. The forum is on a colocated server that is costing me lots of money now (they keep increasing my fees) and I need to move it off to reduce stress when the bill comes around every month.  I have other places to put it, but transferring as is is a bit of a mission to do so for a number of technical reasons.  I've never charged for forum/ad use and even resisted putting banner ads up. it gets 6000+ unique views per month and uses a fair bit of bandwidth.

So, I could move it all across, but I have a few security concerns and there are some existing bugs (plus it isn't really useable with newer versions of php as it is).  I'd rather start from something known.

So... I'm thinking I might:

1. Upgrade to phpbbv3.  It is prettier, maintained by the developers and I should be able to pull most of the existing content and the users etc across.

2. Maybe rebrand it - I have a couple of ideas.  "Mx5forum" is a bit boring and you guys are a bit of a community together, so it would be nice to have a brand and people in the past have suggested a sticker & stuff you can put on your cars etc (someone can help with that if they like) like some of the other NZ car forum communities.

3. Tidyup the layouts a bit and rationalise the forums/topics maybe?  Suggestions welcome.

4. I'm still not keen to charge or put ads up, but it may happen sometime. People who know me will know that likelihood is pretty low. Donations to my mortgage are always welcome though (my wife made me say this)

HOWEVER - if I move to phpbbv3, a few things will have to go.

a) Mail2forum will go.  I will miss this, but not sure what else to do.   You will likely still be able get email for every post, but replying won't do anything.  Not really sure how many people actually use this now anyway or even know it is possible - most of you youngies probably just type it into the browser.  I can probably plug in tapatalk or other system anyway so you can use a phone app.

b) The Garage... will go.  I will also miss it, but there isn't one for V3.  I might be able to find something similar, but no promises.  I'll give people plenty of time to take any content they want to keep, and will archive it.

Your thoughts.... Go :)

------------------------
(z)





[Posted via external email]

marcellarius
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Post by marcellarius » Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:21 am

What about something modern like Discourse? It has good support for touch screen devices, much nicer media embedding, and tools for converting from phpBB?

biff
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Changes to forum... YOUR opinions sought

Post by biff » Tue Mar 29, 2016 10:59 am

Looks nice and has touch screen support, like the look of it.
Its Java but is that still an issue?
Biff



-----Original Message-----
From: marcellarius
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 9:21 AM
To: mx5talk@mx5forum.co.nz
Subject: [MX5] Re: Changes to forum... YOUR opinions sought

What about something modern like Discourse (http://www.discourse.org/)? It
has good support for touch screen devices, much nicer media embedding, and
tools for converting from phpBB?






---
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[Posted via external email]
Red MX NA
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marcellarius
I count 5-s in my sleep
I count 5-s in my sleep
Posts: 367
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Location: Hamiltron

Post by marcellarius » Tue Mar 29, 2016 12:37 pm

JavaScript, not Java [they are unrelated].

Discourse uses JavaScript for the UI, and Ruby and PostgreSQL running on a Linux server.

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