upgrading forum system

[jbourke]

I would like to solicit opinions from the users of this forum.

I need to decide about the future of this discussion system. I can either upgrade to the newest version of Ultimate Bulletin Board, or I can switch to another program.

There are some really nice things about UBB, which we have been using for about 3 years now I think. But there are some other systems that may be more advanced now.

The choice to me is between VBulletin and UBB. They both seem to support the essential features and they both seem to be very well-respected. The reason I'm thinking of moving is that VBulletin is slightly cheaper and yet it supports a few more features that I would like to have, such as user polls.

If we go with VBulletin, I'm told that the move is pretty easy. VBulletin can apparently import all the messages and users from UBB.

You can look at www.vbulletin.com (http://www.vbulletin.com) and www.infopop.com (http://www.infopop.com) to see the two boards and read about their features. Let me know what you think. I'm hoping that there might be some people out there with experience with these programs on other sites.

Jim

[tim hooper]

Jim,

I thought that you'd have been swamped with very technical responses by now. Not so it seems. http://www.ezonemag.com/disc/frown.gif

You're probably aware that my grasp of software peculiarities is minimal at best, but can I just ask that whatever choice you make, you factor in reliability as the main desired attribute.

While the E Zone is my favourite site anywhere, I'm sorry to say it's also the most capricious in it's availability; will it, won't it - you know what I mean! http://www.ezonemag.com/disc/wink.gif

tim

[Andy W]

I think the reliability problems have been from the provider, not from the software..
..a

[Arizona Chuck]

Jim, I have to second Jim. All the extra little things means nothing if you can't get on. Actually, the only time I have a problem is at peak hours. Sometimes it get so slow I just give up, then I loose my new posting flags.
It has to be a nightmare keeping a site like Ezone running, my hat is off to you. The public is a spoiled bunch, we think everything should be perfect all the time, and we'll decide what is perfect.
Have you ever noticed, the person standing at the bottom of the stepladder has the most to say about the job??
..AZ Chuck

[AZenigma]

Have you ever considered a free linux GNU type licen. Bulletin Board system? I did a quick search at www.freshmeat.net (http://www.freshmeat.net) and found a large number of free systems? I know that you loose the customer service you get with a "Pay-for-product" but there is still a lot of support in the linux community.

I did a little research and these too look realy good:
http://www.zorum.com/ --I really liked the looks of this one.
http://phorum.org --This seems to be one of the largest.

Duane Stites

[This message has been edited by AZenigma (edited 05-23-2001).]

[Andy W]

I took a look at some of the BB sites that you can get to from the links @ vbulletin.com, and to be honest, from a user perspective, I see no advantage to either. Really, you need to have the feedback from existing BB managers, and that may require individually emailing the admins of the respective sites.
..a

[dave_lilley]

I like VBulletin and Infopop's OpenTopic because both have done exactly what I had started working on, but have not had time to finish, polling that checks who has voted.

In addition, both are faster and have many upgrade features over the venerable old UBB.

[jbourke]

Originally posted by Andy W:
I think the reliability problems have been from the provider, not from the software..
..a

Correct, and we are moving providers.

Jim

[leccyflyer]

Jim

I'm probably the worst one to ask (having run a 386 for about 7 years we'd all still be using DOS 5.0 if it were up to me http://www.ezonemag.com/disc/wink.gif) but having looked at the two options I can't see anything substantial to choose between them. Thought I occasionally experience some difficulty in getting on the ezone these occur infrequently enough to make it worthy of a comment.

In upgrading there is a risk that something that was working can be turned into something that isn't- witness what has happened to RCO. They were working okay, then they upgraded and the system is virtually unusable. They are now talking about purging their archives and have already had to remove the search option in the software. I'm sure that you chaps will handle it better, but to my mind the archive and search functions are vital and most other functions should be considered subsidiary to those.

My question is - if something goes wrong in the upgrade do either of these systems give you the option of back-tracking and reverting to what was working okay before? If one does offer this and one doesn't I know which one I would choose.

cheers

Brian

[Andy W]

I don't know this software, but I can say from experience "usually not". Once you've converted your data to a "new format", the only way to back up is to restore from a backup. That, however, would mean losing all posts since the upgrade. So it's a difficult situation. The upgrade is needed, however, whether it be with UBB or another product.
..a

[Cash Traylor]

I don't personally care which system we go to. However I would like it to have a system to track who has the highest number of posts as a user!

GOOD GRIEF ANDY!!! 8,513!!!!! (anyone know of someone with more?)

I think that wins a toaster oven or something! I am impressed!

-Cash

P.S. It was 8500, but I hit refresh, and in a matter of 3 minutes, it had jumped to 8512! He's a machine... an intelligent machine, but still... ok, someone take the whip away from whoever is standing behine Andy and his poor keyboard! http://www.ezonemag.com/disc/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Cash Traylor (edited 05-24-2001).]

[Steve Wrona]

[X] VBulletin

[ ] UBB

My vote.

Steve

PS - I dig the feature of being able to see who is active on the BB. What about an "instant message" feature?
-s-

[This message has been edited by Steve_Wrona (edited 05-24-2001).]

[DaJudge]

Since I very rarely have problems getting into the forums, I'd have to vote for no change or the upgrade of the current software.

PLEASE don't do what RCO has done. I can't even connect to their "new" forums to even read other peoples' posts. I've given up on them completely.

Just so you know, I really appreciate you Jim, Andy and David plus every one else who makes the effort to keep up these forums.

[procrastination inc]

I spend a LOT of time on this forum http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/k2/stn/

I particularly like the left hand window that allows you to follow threads by order, or posts by order.

The whole lay out seems to promote a more "forum" like environment, less like a bulleitn board. It's more personal IMHO

Check it out, the site it self is also very interesting

[dave_lilley]

Jim,

As you know, I have not had time to complete my half finished work on the voting system for UBB. Since both the of the new BB systems that you have put forward have built in voting functions and my day job customer's "wish list" no longer includes a voting system for UBB, I doubt it will ever get completed.

Any idea when you may upgrade?

Dave

[Moogee]

Hi Jim,

I've just installed the Snitz forum on a server. It's basically a carbon copy of the UBB but completely free, and uses ASP/SQL.
http://forum.snitz.com

More config options than you can shake a stick at.

Morgan

[dave_lilley]

Jim,

I just upgraded three UBB forums at work from 5.47 to 6.02. The UBB 6 is a marked improvement over UBB 5. It is faster, easier to admin and moderate, and it has a ton of new features that are very cool. The only short coming is still the lack of voting software. http://www.ezonemag.com/disc/frown.gif

[t-turley]

Jim,

I'd vote for an upgrade to the current software, too. I'm also a member of a couple of IT certification BBs, and one of them upgraded to what <u>appears</u> to be VB about 6 months ago. They had major problems converting over to the new system, and eventually had to dump their database and start over.

Tony Turley

[Ben74]

i like the current system, but the one major feature it's missing is the ability to track threads. it would be nice if each user had his/her own discussions "homepage" where they had a list of threads they were tracking. deja news used to have a similar feature. if i'm interested in a thread, i have to go digging through the board to find it every time i want to revisit it. i supposed i could do a search for it too, but that's still hardly a convenient solution.

if the next upgrade to UBB includes this feature, i'd say go for it. an upgrade would probably be less unsettling than a switch for your more novice web users.

[VWtechie]

My vote's for vBulletin. It was recently adopted by www.hardforum.com (http://www.hardforum.com) and has been working very well. It is a very high traffic board and has been stable so far. It also seems to load much faster than other boards but that is probably because of their server. I really like being able to see who is currently using the board and instant message them directly.

Brad
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