Forum software

 

I think one of the problems with forum software is that it's very personal, we all have things we like and things we don't, as a result nothing would be perfect for everybody.

The major learing point for most people on this forum is that "active topics" button above, it is great to just see threads that have been used in your absence, and its also very handy to be able to change the time/date on it too, means you can easily find a thread even if it's not been posted on since your last visit but remember it from earlier.

The other point is turning off those email alerts, BlackBerry can get very full when you dont!!

 

Cost is an issue.

 

I'd always suggest vB as it's the best by a long way; but it costs more....

 

We use vB for the F16 forum; simply because I use ot for other forums I manage and it's very easy to use; very simple to sert up; the upgrade path is simple and it does all the things we want.

 

 

Edited by Scooby_simon

I'd say be a bit careful, changing, they changed the Boards Forum and it
hasn't gone down at all well.

Most folk are not that quick to pick up how to do stuff, and other than the
glitch that never got fixed on this forum when line breaking links &
images fail, this is still one of the more easy to use forums around.

Particularly given the technical skills of some of the age group it's aimed
at.

I notice they've just changed SA, which to me immediately looked knaff.

I agree there's a lot wrong with this, but there's also a lot right with it and
right now, in this climate, I wouldn't change it..

Just need a few more of the many out there just itching to post, to go
ahead and bite the bullet, it doesn't hurt even when they hate you..

I don't have a problem with the forum functionality, just the lack of interesting content.
I've never used a "go to first unread post" button in my life. I actually didn't know there was such a thing until just now, so I suspect like someone said above, it's quite personal how you use a forum.

Hi all

I should explain how I inadvertently locked us into an old (2004) version of the forum software...

In around 2005, when I was adding some features to the site, I customised the forum code a bit, which now has quite an effect on different areas of the site. If I'd thought cleverly about it then, I'd have made sure that the forum software was left alone and I'd made all my customisations distinct, but a combination of time constrants and lack of forethought by me meant that didn't happen...

We are now going to install a test version of the latest forum software so that we can integrate our customisations in a better way - this should mean we can continue to upgrade the software for it in the future!

Please bear with us while we do this. Our biggest constraining factor is time - we're a very small team (me and Mags) running what has become a very big site! I've set Mags on the case for this task... getting him to sort out a problem I created!

Cheers, Mark