Has a forum change ever been considered?

I was wondering if admins have ever considered getting a new type of message boards, like, say.... a vBB or phpBB?

 

Yes, they went from UBB to here.

 

PhpBB has never really been used on sites this size. The average phpbb has +/- 10,000 posts. The larger ones go for around +/- 250,000. This board gets 250,000 a month. If we turned to it, we might do well. Or it could blow up in our faces. And we?d lose several million posts either way.

Take a look at PhpBB?s site, the thread on the Largest phpbb boards. Look at the size of our board. Laugh at them.

 

Unfortunately, there's a lot of problems --

Unless we nailed out some form of a deal with IGN, we'd lose all registered members, posts, etc (as Gandy said). And then, people would re-register and then there would be an issue of people taking other's usernames here and so forth. Plus, the entire issue of losing years worth of topics.

Secondly, converting an entire forum (of this size) to another forum would take quite some time. Especially because it'd have to be done manually; since IGNboards' code isn't public, only they could code a converter. And I doubt that if we were leaving, they'd be nice enough to do that.

And then of course, there's the issue of finding a forum that could handle the size of this place with all of the features and ease that the JC has.

Plus, the re-learnings of technical issues, having to recode a lot of features (putting a different "layout" per "forum" in phhBB would be a complete pain in the arse, considering how the system on phpBB is set up).

Too many issues.
Unless something sweet could and would come along, I doubt it'll ever happen.

 

"Yes, they went from UBB to here."

Yes, that was like three years ago. Forums drastically change over that time. It's like PC technology.

"PhpBB has never really been used on sites this size."

True, but that means it wouldn't function?

RidingMyCaroselOnYou, you're right about the user database. That would be impossible; I never thought of that. I severely doubt a database from this board could be converted to another forum type.

By the way, wasen't this type of board called a "SnowBoard"? Since when did IGN "buy-out" those people? Or was it always from IGN and they just changed the name?

 

"PhpBB has never really been used on sites this size."

True, but that means it wouldn't function?

Not exactly, but phpBB was never designed for a board this size. In fact, pretty much every message board that is of a similar or greater (and quite a few with a little less) traffic than we get are all custom made due to the issues that are faced by such heavy traffic.


As to the switch from SnowBoards to IGNBoards, it happened mid last year. SnowBoards was always a subsidury of IGN, but business decisions meant that they consolidated it all into IGN.

 

I think a lot of us would think of a board change would be a step down.

 

I like this board fine. More than any of the others I've seen so far. So yes, I would view it as a step down.

Besides, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. From what I understand, the change from UBB to this was problematic enough.

 

This is the best message board layout I've ever seen. I would hate to change to something like them little UBB ones.

And are you some kind of advertiser for UBB?

 

I wasn't around when the UBB type board was around, but I am a registered member for another UBB board, and I have to say, this form is much better. UBB, or at least at the one I'm registered at, is hard to read and is always attacked by the evil pop-ups.

James (RMCOY) also gave a very detailed description of what would happen if a board change was to take place again. Who really wants to lose all their posts? Not me!

 

Why bother switching? What's wrong with this set-up?

 

For as glitchy as this place is, its still probably the best set-up and lay out for a board as big as we are. UBB was good, but it couldn't handle the size we were at 3 years ago. It crashed on a regular basis, at least once a day. Yes, the board is probably better now, but I would think we're at least twice the size we were back then.

 

This is the best message board layout I've ever seen. I would hate to change to something like them little UBB ones.

Yeah, and not to mention the difficulty all the people with blocks on their computers will have.

 

One question: Why?

 

Because some people instinctively see change as a good thing.

 

Instead of losing hours of sleep trying to convert to another forum, spend those hours badgering IGN/zerosleep to enable more features here.

 

"but phpBB was never designed for a board this size"

Okay. I didn't know that. I'm actually not that familiar with phpBB since it's rather new compared to the likes of vBB.

"I think a lot of us would think of a board change would be a step down."

You think this board-type puts a board-type like this to shame? I'm sorry, but to me that's like perfering a TNT2 to a GeForce4 Ti4600 (an upgrade I've made myself ), if you know what I mean

"And are you some kind of advertiser for UBB?"

Heh. I wasen't suggesting a UBB. UBB is practically dead (the only UBB boards I see are the really old ones that people never bothered upgrading). UBB's clones have become much better/more popular than UBB/Infopop itself

"Why bother switching? What's wrong with this set-up?"

Sorry but I rather like the huge array of features that a board like a vBB has. But I know now why that it is out of the question

"spend those hours badgering IGN/zerosleep to enable more features here"

That doesn't sound like a bad idea

 

"spend those hours badgering IGN/zerosleep to enable more features here"
-- I've personally spoken to zerosleep about him adding features. Sorry to say, but he can't add things here. I'm sure there are things he'd like to add to the forums, but he doesn't have access. IGN owns it all now; whatever they see fit to happen to the forums will happen. Since he doesn't work for IGN save on a consulting basis, no luck. For more about new board features, read this thread.

As for it being impossible to change?
No. Converters could always be created. Now, it would take a long time compared to other forums to convert due to the size of this place. It'd be possible, but seeing how IGN is, unless TFN staff had/has a deal worked out with IGN for when the forums can't handle this place anymore... Well, let's not even look into that.

Also; here's something to think about: On TheForce.Net's main pages, there are ads from IGN. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the only way we'd change forums is if any sort of deals going on with IGN to help cover the costs for TFN (or, perhaps TFN is making money of advertising for IGN; whichever, I don't know. Perhaps Joshua Griffin or Philip Wise could answer those questions) vanishes or becomes outdated. At that point, if it were to ever come, I'm sure something would/could be arranged.

Finally;
As for the look of this place: The look can be changed. The style sheets and HTML are very flexible. If you've seen IGNboards, you can see the difference between them and us. Also, for another comparison, check out Gameshark's message forums.

 

Snowboards are the best boards around. PHPBB is good for a small communisty, not a HUGE forum like this.

 

Snowboards are good for what they were designed to do.

Unfortunately, as forums grow, so do wants, needs and desires.

 

You think this board-type puts a board-type like this to shame? I'm sorry, but to me that's like perfering a TNT2 to a GeForce4 Ti4600 (an upgrade I've made myself ), if you know what I mean

No offense intended, but that board type looks pretty standard. This one I think looks a lot sleeker (not quite the word I?m looking for, but it?ll do), and has far fewer do-dads sitting around without compromising on the functions. It?s more like preferring the visual design of Windows XP (us) to that of Windows 95 (them). Same basic look, but one looks a lot more refined.

 

I think these boards are perfectly fit for the JC.

 

"but that board type looks pretty standard. This one I think looks a lot sleeker."

Of course it looks standard, because it is the standard look for a vBB. Are you telling me the look of a vBB can't be changed? Please tell I misunderstood. I was not referring to the look at all. I was referring to the actual functionality. In that purpose I'd say vBB very much outdoes IGNBoards.

Speaking of looks, one great think about vBB is that it can have multiple skins instead of having just the default. Each user can choose which skin they think looks the best and always view the board in that skin

 

Regarding skins, if I was ever to have the time and energy, I could do that for these boards as well. It's not really all that hard in theory.


What features do they have that we don?t have that you want?

 

Could you specify what features you think that vBB has that we absolutely need? And by that, I mean features that justify going through all that hassle changing boards and risk losing our posts.

Also ... some boards have their own custom colors/banner. The multiple skins thing would defeat the purpose of customizing them. Besides, I'd rather have this board look (which I like, by the way) than changing to vBB which has a layout that I'm not fond of just so I can pic the colors.