Board Upgrade and Maintanence

I say join them.
Honestly I could care less what it looks like visually, as long as the content and functionality is there.

 

I agree, don't much care for the layout of the stangnet site. The Orangepower setup seems a bit more familiar to v8 as far as layout goes. But then I use Tapatalk 90% of the time so as long as it jives with that I'm good.

Still, I prefer the orangepower site construction IMO.

Either way, thanks Jim and Mike for dealing with all this crap just so we can have our fun.

 

I agree with this quote also.

Tony

 

Hmm, I certainly share your opinion of the current state of vBulletin. I watched it essentially destroy the participation of one of my more favorite boards. They are on vB version 5.1.4 and just in the last two weeks FINALLY gotten the board actually functioning to what I would call perfectly normal in looks and function and the original upgrade to 5.x.x was some time last summer (though now just in the last two weeks the search feature has started to actually work fantastically compared to the last two or three years). They have utilized a dedicated vBulletin guy to take suggestions from the users and implement them. Basically any hang up the user has he corrects it. The glaring exception has been getting the little icon indicating what threads you have previously posted in to work. He says it was not a serviceable function in vB 5, but the "5.1.6" update (a few months away) should have it working again.

Now that the vB guy smoothed out the bugs I consider the board good to go, but it has been a painful several months getting to this point from first "upgrading" to vB 5.x.x. The Garages got broken in the upgrade, and that is currently what the board operators are currently working on in the background to get them functioning again.

Here is a link to the board's troubleshooting thread. VBSupport Mark is pretty cool, this thread is the third or fourth round with the BS group, and some of them (including me at times) can be fairly short tempered in their posts when the board isn't functioning properly, and he politely answers questions (even if its the same question 20 times) as well as is fairly quick to implement changes to correct user issues. Also seems pretty aware of when to ask the board owners if the change should be implemented versus a demand of the users. Not sure what his support costs, but he was a breath of fresh air for us frustrated users, and with the last upgrade in December he seems to have nailed down the usability and visuals of the forum.
http://www.bangshift.com/forum/foru...he-forums-start-poking-around-read-this-first
(I looked to see what Yellow Bullet is running on, it appears vB 3.8.x, I imagine that'll be a blink'in nightmare upgrade when they have to. It'll be interesting to see if they stick with vB)


I'm going to go out on a limb and say, rather upgrading to vB 5 or to one of the other's, it is likely to have a steep learning curve with a challenging implementation from the users point of having to learn the new intricacies. Now that I've seen that vB 5 can actually function normally, I can throw my vote in that direction simply because without signing up to the other board types, I cannot thoroughly test how I do or don't like them. The "looks" on any of them in general can be adjusted to look familiar.

That's my 2 cents. :beer

I'm planning on throwing in an annual contribution before month's end. Was going to do it this week, but an SRE oil pan was unexpectedly completed this week. Priorities :laugh:

 

I run a small boating forum with a few hundred members. Its relatively pain free; maybe just an alternative??? I think its like $7.00/year. Zero pop ups too. Any chance you can fix the "switch editor" mode.. I always forget to click on that and my posts look like garbled jargon...Like this:

smtims it works but suall its a mss


Bill in TR

www.flybridge.proboards.com

 

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Definitely not the stangnet style. Orangepower and jetcareer are both appealing. Would like orangepower if you could go full screen without the big, border. But that or jetcareer styles were similar to this.

 

I.havent checked out the 3 paid software you linked Jim... but
why not look at a free opensource forum software thats been out forever..
PhpBB
https://www.phpbb.com
edit
Just quickly looking? Out of the 3 i like the orange power

 

Here's a few forums Im on

Explorer Forum is nice
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/

Ford Trucks has a nice layout
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/index.php

MIG forum Im not really fond of, hate it actually
http://forums.delphiforums.com/mig/messages/?start=Start+Reading+>>

Whats http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/index.php run on?
A lot of users on there.

 

Jim,
From the list you provided orangepower would be my choice if that is what is available. Have you asked the guys at Team Chevelle who they use? I also like 3rdGen.org. But, you do have popups.
http://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tbi/82722-3rdgen-org.html

 

Curtis that Yellowbullet forum is real nice. Simple. The Explorer forum makes me hyper for some reason. LOL The Ford-Trucks forum looks great till the righthand margin caves in with advertisements. I like static appearing pages if possible. Too much bouncy stuff makes me nuts.

Nice sites though.

 

So "V8Buick" would no longer be "V8Buick"? Oh, the horror!!!!!! (Or is that just for testing?)
I like the Jet Careers look just fine, or the Orange Power, if, as noted elsewhere, it filled the screen. Don't like the layout on the Mustang site. Search function looks good.

 

What are the Pontiac guys using over there on Performance Years? Looks same as here roughly. Are they also running into issues?

http://forums.performanceyears.com/forums/

 

Scroll to the bottom of the forum's main pages to see what software the forums are running on. Many of those linked are running older versions of vBulletin (why they are so good!), which it sounds like many server hosts are having fits with the "security" of the forum software and requiring upgrades.

 

Orange power site is taking a more contemporary approach to layout (CCS style, responsive, minimalist). I like it of the three.

I agree VB has gone downhill a lot over the years. I mod another forum also using VB.

There are plenty of alternatives.

Jim, the selection process won't be easy. Visual / user interface is critical. if people hate it they won't use it. But also transition is critical, it's no small task transitioning the Db as i am sure you are fully aware. Then you have ongoing setup / maintenance to consider as well.

I like your idea of using a new site then kill the old, you can even repoint to old domain name at the new.

I'm not sure I can add any value but happy to help where I can.

 

I like yellowbullet
Change the yellow stripes to Stratomist Blue.

 

I've been on stang.net over the years it's OK, the search function works pretty good. The other two web sites have a better look, IMO, so I'd go with whichever one you think is best, from a base user, I wouldn't complain about any of the three.

 

Good question, it had not occured to me to go backward.. generally because in the software world, older sites start to look clunky and dated pretty quickly. Then again, I want the site to look very similar to how it looks now.. just want it to work. I recall that the "style" and options were much improved when we first went to vb4... also, when we were on vb3, nearly everyone was looking at this on a desktop..now a significant portion of you are on a mobile device..

Those of you who view on a mobile device.. how is yellowbullet?

They run VB3.8.6

JW

 

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