The Great Dissensus Migration

[vershy versh]

Since nobody else is making it, here's the "official" thread.

well my dudes i was considering how we could escape from this software, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VBulletin which has lots of limitations and is not really supported anymore - the top contender these days would be (Free Open Source) Discourse, or maybe (Proprietary, same devs who originally created this) Zenforo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_(software)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XenForo
My thoughts are about whether to just set up one of them, then ask everyone to start chatting over there instead, or whether to copy all the archives too....
We might need a dissensus summit to work it out, and a bunch of $$$ would be handy too
community migration time

Not really. But we do need to move to a different host soon as the forum database will soon be too big to keep on the cheap hosting deal i have now,
that's not that huge a deal though inshallah - i already got started on that mission actually, but if anyone knows good cheap hosts, tell me

it's not great to stick with obsolete software, for all its dubious charm, it might get hacked or start malfunctioning, better to avoid that rather than have to deal with it

but glad to hear you like it as it is

 

[mvuent]

the current layout, archaic as it is, is already too polished for my liking. i want to the site to look like this.

 

[vershy versh]

the current layout, archaic as it is, is already too polished for my liking. i want to the site to look like this.

 

[yyaldrin]

i would prefer it nothing changes

 

[woops]

dissensus default template did look different for the first few years didn't it? a bit greyer and starker. i seem to remember dealing with the transition at the time

 

[droid]

Xenforo migration seems possible at least.

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/migrating-a-large-vbulletin-forum-to-xenforo.113183/

 

[Corpsey]

Happy to donate if its deemed necessary.

It would be a tragedy if the history of the forum got deleted wouldn't it? I might have to archive Craner's 100 ASAP.

 

[catalog]

We should get everything onto paper as soon as possible and ask the british library to look after it.

 

[Woebot]

well my dudes i was considering how we could escape from this software, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VBulletin which has lots of limitations and is not really supported anymore - the top contender these days would be (Free Open Source) Discourse, or maybe (Proprietary, same devs who originally created this) Zenforo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_(software)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XenForo
My thoughts are about whether to just set up one of them, then ask everyone to start chatting over there instead, or whether to copy all the archives too....
We might need a dissensus summit to work it out, and a bunch of $$$ would be handy too
community migration time

i had no idea it was no longer being developed. such great software.

Not really. But we do need to move to a different host soon as the forum database will soon be too big to keep on the cheap hosting deal i have now,
that's not that huge a deal though inshallah - i already got started on that mission actually, but if anyone knows good cheap hosts, tell me

it's not great to stick with obsolete software, for all its dubious charm, it might get hacked or start malfunctioning, better to avoid that rather than have to deal with it

but glad to hear you like it as it is

yes, probably correct to deal with it.

my 5 cents:

1) without the archives it's not dissensus
2) i'd be more than happy to contribute to the cost of dataspace (and on an ongoing basis too)
3) (but i'd definitely look at deleting all locally hosted image files - offering that is waaay generous)
4) i guess for continuity's sakes the software should be the one which offers the most seamlessly equivalent switch. what do other ex-vBulletin boards run on?

what does droid think - he's a professional?

 

[droid]

Sufi's right, the longer we go on vbulletin the more likely we'll be hacked or suffer some unfixable problem.

The ideal scenario is full migration with all posts, users and the least loss of any extraneous data.

Finding a system that's lightweight, open source (with no monthly costs) and offers the easiest migration path should take priority over fancy features.

 

[droid]

Some options:

https://www.forummatrix.org/

https://imtips.co/vbulletin-alternatives.html

I think we should avoid PHPBB

 

[catalog]

is that cos php versions go out of date quick? its what i'm struggling with a little in real job. news system built on old version of php, no longer support, gonnahave to can it to move to new server

 

[droid]

How about vanilla? https://vanillaforums.com/en/software/ it has a porting add on. https://open.vanillaforums.com/addon/porter-core

 

[droid]

As paid options go, xenforo seems like it may be the cheapest and best option for vbulletin migration. https://xenforo.com/

 

[Leo]

this discussion goes right over my head, so I'll trust your collective judgment to do what's needed and best. glad to kick in some $$, don't think we (or I, anyway) need fancy features.

 

[droid]

is that cos php versions go out of date quick? its what i'm struggling with a little in real job. news system built on old version of php, no longer support, gonnahave to can it to move to new server

Nah, phpBB is just horrible.

 

[catalog]

Wtf happened!

 

[droid]

Sufi will explain after he's finished saving the world.

 

[catalog]

I cannot thank you by the button. Thank you. And obviously thanks to sufi

 

[sufi]

we jinxed the forum with this thread