New forum software

[Cold_illusion]

Might aswell throw it out there.
May I request a change to the phpbb forum software?
It has a lot more features, and is a lot easier to use than vbulletin. And on top of that, is free.
A main problem I have with vbulletin forums, is that if I load the forum, then step away for 15 minutes, then come back, and refresh the page, all the unread posts will become read. Not only that, but if I decide to come to the forum, read a few topics, then leave, leaving some unread, they will be switched to read when I return. This doesn't happen on any phpbb forum I visit.
Another real nifty feature of phpbb too, is that when you look at an unread thread, all the posts you HAVEN'T read, will show up with a little orange post icon, while the read ones will have a blue one, so it's easier to go through and cut to the chase, without having to read old posts to find where you left off.
Not only that, but because it's free, and open source, I'm sure you can also find a whole bunch of mods to make the site that much cooler, and add a lot more functionality too.
I must say, I'm a mod on another medium-sized forum that uses phpbb, and it is much easier to use then this. :-/

Here's their little comparison chart thingy:
http://www.phpbb.com/about/features/compare.php

[Brian01]

well I think we pay each month for protection mainly. To keep it from being hacked and things like that. With a free server, I dont know if you would get that kind of protection. But then again, I really dont know anything about that stuff. So I may be completely wrong. :P

[Cold_illusion]

well I think we pay each month for protection mainly. To keep it from being hacked and things like that. With a free server, I dont know if you would get that kind of protection. But then again, I really dont know anything about that stuff. So I may be completely wrong. :P

It's not a free SERVER, but free software. And you gotta figure, the more an open source thing gets hacked into, the more it gets reported and fixed. If I remember correctly, they have a real easy and nifty update button in the admin CP, you click it and it downloads and installs the latest version.

[Emmerdale001]

The forum was phpbb in the past.

It was replaced because of too many problems. True, it can have more features, but the board crashed multiple times, and a system error caused it to begin erasing a whole load of threads. I think that's why they switched over to vBulletin. There have been no major problems since then.

[Moco]

Well before we started using vBulletin, we used phpBB. And even though it's not free, in my opinion vB is far superior and has many more features than phpBB.

As for read and unread posts, I clearly remember this as a problem with phpBB as well. But there are some options in vB telling the forum how to handle read/unread posts. I could switch it to a "Database" style of thread marking that's more accurate in marking read threads, but the help file says it could be processor intensive, so I will have to run it by Ricc and the other admins to see if it will have any effects on the forum or server's overall performance.

Another real nifty feature of phpbb too, is that when you look at an unread thread, all the posts you HAVEN'T read, will show up with a little orange post icon, while the read ones will have a blue one, so it's easier to go through and cut to the chase, without having to read old posts to find where you left off.
We have this too. Unread posts have a dark blue square at the top left and read posts have a light blue square. The colors are just due to the theme the forum's using, so we could make those boxes any color if we wanted. Also, when you're looking at a thread list, you'll see a little blue box to the left of thread titles which have new posts (they've got bold text). Just click that box instead of the thread title and it'll take you straight to the new, unread posts. Alternatively, you can also click "View First Unread" at the top of any thread with new posts.

[Cold_illusion]

Well before we started using vBulletin, we used phpBB. And even though it's not free, in my opinion vB is far superior and has many more features than phpBB.

As for read and unread posts, I clearly remember this as a problem with phpBB as well. But there are some options in vB telling the forum how to handle read/unread posts. I could switch it to a "Database" style of thread marking that's more accurate in marking read threads, but the help file says it could be processor intensive, so I will have to run it by Ricc and the other admins to see if it will have any effects on the forum or server's overall performance.
I don't have any issues like this in the phpbb forum I visit. Maybe they have some sort of mod to fix the issue, if it does exist. But if you could arrange that, it would be awesome, because then I wouldn't have to "set-aside" time to read the forum completely, I could just show up, read what I can, and leave.

We have this too. Unread posts have a dark blue square at the top left and read posts have a light blue square. The colors are just due to the theme the forum's using, so we could make those boxes any color if we wanted. Also, when you're looking at a thread list, you'll see a little blue box to the left of thread titles which have new posts (they've got bold text). Just click that box instead of the thread title and it'll take you straight to the new, unread posts. Alternatively, you can also click "View First Unread" at the top of any thread with new posts.
Aha! I see it! It's such a subtle change in color you'd never notice! Maybe change the unread color to orange or something? ;P

[Riccardo]

We actually could change the unread color, that would be a good Idea.

About the thing Moco mentions
I could switch it to a "Database" style of thread marking that's more accurate in marking read threads, but the help file says it could be processor intensive, so I will have to run it by Ricc and the other admins to see if it will have any effects on the forum or server's overall performance.

I will check on that for sure and get back to you guys.

Secondly that comparison chart is the old 3.6.8 version of vBulletin...We are running 3.7 Gold edition with a lot more features....

Also, I personally like vB a lot better. I think you could compare phpBB with vB the same way u could compare Windows and Linux/Mac. (Regardless the Open Source fact which is the opposite)

But everyone who has windows has more problems than anyone using Mac or Linux... There are more stable and not prone to have so many hack attempts...