The Drunken Lizard Pub

Just a note that sometime in the next few months we're going to move these forums over to a new software package. Part of the craziness going on here recently (such as destroying the database and taking a full day to restore them) is because we are shifting things around on the back side and it occasionally causes unexpected glitches.

Anyways, these forums are currently running on a software package called phpBB2, and while it is easy-to-use and stable, phpBB2 just doesn't have some of the advanced features that most modern forums packages have. It is several years old and it's limitations are becoming apparent.

Our number one goal is to make this transition effortless on your part, meaning all your posts and user information will be converted. You won't even have to change your bookmarks/favorite links. You'll just stop by The Pub one day and discover it has changed.

The obvious choice right now is to migrate to phpBB3, but I want to investigate more options before we go with that. If anyone has any suggestions for other forum packages (i.e., do you frequently visit another forum that you feel has good functionality and aesthetics?) let me know.

I may, from time to time, post links to temporary forums so that you can test it and give some feedback. For example, I am currently setting up phpBB3 to test the conversion process and I will post a link here at some point if any of you would like to give your feedback.

I will make daily backups of this forum so that if I destroy the database again, we'll be able to restore things quickly. During this testing/conversion/migration period you may get an occasional error message saying the forums are down or there has been a SQL error, but just check back again after 20 minutes and we should have everything restored.

Thanks!

vBulletin is very powerful software (Paradox Interactive (HoI, EU...) uses it, for example - link).

I also like SMF, which is free and a decent solution, but clearly less professional than vBulletin.

vBulletin does look nice. I was looking at it a few months ago. I'll give it a test and see how well it converts the phpBB2 database.

I just tried a SMF install. I like many features about it, but I cannot get it to convert our forums over.

Please test this out:

> ZAP! < Link removed.

It's the newest version of this forum software, already converted with the most current database. See if your login name/password works and leave a quick message. Play with some of the new features, tell me what you like and don't like.

If you have any suggestions for the new forums, please post them here, not there.

NOTE!! The link above is not going to be the official new forums. Use THESE forums here for all your normal posting. The link to the test forums above will eventually be destroyed after extensive testing.

I just popped over and what little I did seemed to work. Left a message, Previewed it, posted and then tried edit. All worked. Decending/ascending worked too. Looks good, though I'll have to change the background colors. White and blue are a bit much for me.

Yeah, we'll have our own theme at some point over there. The bright blue/white is just the default scheme.

BasiliskWrangler wrote:I just tried a SMF install. I like many features about it, but I cannot get it to convert our forums over.

Aye, I've asked a few people about this - apparently, those convertors haven't been updated for a while (but then again, phpbb2 is hardly new technology). Still, a friend of mine converted a forum just like this one a couple of years ago, without a single hitch. <shrug>

Yeah, I ran into problems converting from a separate database. Our host has some limitations on how "deep" I can go on the server, and the SMF converter assumes that you are running the boards on a server you have full control over. It's really silly because if they just had a converter that allowed me to put the full DNS path to both databases, it would work fine.

On that note, I like SMF features better than phpBB3. I would rather go with that package if only the converter were easier to work with.

vbulletin is really awesome, but it is a commercial product ($160). While that isn't really too expensive, it's difficult to justify the cost when there are free packages available that do 97% of what it does.

I'm not yet "sold" on phpBB3. I'm going to keep looking at themes and mods, and see if I can get it more functional.

Works on an iMac 10.4.11 and a Mac Book Pro 10.5.2.

The test forum login doesn't seem to allow user names with spaces in them (like mine).

I'll look into it...

Kreador Freeaxe wrote:The test forum login doesn't seem to allow user names with spaces in them (like mine).

I just registered your username (with the space) just fine. Not sure what the problem would be on your end.

The problem would probably be that I didn't realize I had to reregister for that board, and made the assumption it was the space that was a problem (as most user names don't appear to have one). Safari autofilled the User Name and Password from this board, and I was shocked when it wouldn't let me in.

Not to worry. It's now Monday and I've had coffee.

Kreador Freeaxe wrote:The problem would probably be that I didn't realize I had to reregister for that board,

Yes, the test forum is just a "snapshot" of these forums from about 2 weeks ago, before you had registered here. That's why you were not recognized there.

When I do the switch over to the new forums, everyone who is registered here will get moved over automatically.