| General > General Technical Chat |
| IMPORTANT: SMF Forum software is all but abandoned? |
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| Ysjoelfir:
Despite the fact that the linked post is 10 years old: I personally don't like SMF and never did like it, even when it was "new". I have managed many forums back in the days using Woltlab Burning Board 2/3 or vBulletin Board and always liked it way more, SMF felt to me like.... I don't realy know how to describe it, it felt... clunky and "cheap", like a cheap toy instead of a real tool. But keep in mind that this is just a personal oppinion. Also: Sure, you can argue, like Siwastaja did, that Software doesn't age if it just works. But keep in mind that there is more to something than a "well, it still works". Besides the obvious safety related things - software bugs can be found even years after the development of something ceased and was thought as "perfect" or "done" - there is also the factor of useability and outward appearance, ease of administration, availability of addons, patches and updates and more I'm sure I forgot. From those the outward appearance of SMF is one thing I personally don't like. It just looks cheap. Problems while installing or managing addons seemed to have also happened in the past AFAIK? I think I also read that there are some strange code workarounds you implemented which makes the management/administration a bit harder than it would need to be. In my oppinion it would be a good thing to change, but in a sensible way: Build a new software up, build import scripts and thoroughly check those, and let that run in the background for people to (explicitly and only) play with. When it works flawless set the old one to read only, import the data to the new software again and add a splash screen that tells the user about the change in software - that he can now only write in the new forums, which can be found *link*, and the old one, found *link*, is set to read only. Then, after some time, remove that splash and redirect users directly to the new forums. That should make up for a nice and easy transition in my experience. But please, don't get one of those horrific softwares that don't have any visual structure anymore. |
| Brumby:
--- Quote from: Siwastaja on July 03, 2020, 06:57:42 am ---Despite common misbelief, software does not automatically go "stale" with age. If it works and does the job, it doesn't matter if it's 1000 years old, or not maintained at all. Now if it's lacking some new feature or a support to a new interface you need, and you can't have that due to lack of maintenance, then it's indeed going stale. But do note that being maintained isn't a silver bullet here; even many well-maintained software fail to provide what the users actually need. Note that premature "updating" only wastes resources. Prepare by looking at the alternatives, so that you know the playing field, but do the decision Just-In-Time. This way, you have an idea what might be stable and reliable alternatives. You'll notice it when you have to replace it. Then you don't have to ask, you just know it. --- End quote --- I have to agree here. The concept of "Seemed like a good idea at the time" is not the best way for an optimal outcome. Why go through all the trauma now to move to a platform that may be good now, only to discover an ideal candidate turns up some time before SMF would have become untenable. To move to this other candidate would then involve double handling ... not to mention a doubling of the potential compromise on data going through two conversion processes. |
| Ranayna:
So, i voted that you should consider it. A change like that should not be done at a moments notice. No matter what you change it to, the look and feel will change, and we all know that we don't really like change here :D I second the opinion, that whatever you change the forum software to, it *needs* to stay a forum. I think doing a switch to something that works completely different would, first, make it difficult, if not impossible, to migrate all data, and second, would alienate a lot of your userbase. The biggest hurdle, and likely one of the deciding factors for which software to use, will be the migration of the data. Please don't even think about switching software without migrating, there is just too much valuable information in the forum. I admit that i have not much experience with modern forum software. The days when i set up my own phpBB and the likes are long gone :phew: Some time ago, i joined a (German) forum that runs on Xenforo. And to be honest, i came to like that system a lot. While it follows a somewhat more modern, flat look, it still feels very much like a forum software. I especially like mobile view, which is essentially the same site, since Xenforo is following responsive design, adjusting on the fly to your display. I do not know what other current alternatives are out there. Would you consider providing a list of the ones that you have in mind, Dave? |
| EEVblog:
--- Quote from: Whales on July 03, 2020, 06:07:20 am ---Dave: the thread you link is 10 years old. --- End quote --- Oops :-[ |
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