Page 1 of 3

Resolving forum issues

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 1:33 pm
by crank
It's no secret that there are MANY issues with the current set of forums. They've lasted us a good year and a half, but they're starting to develop significant issues that severely cripple your ability to use the forums the way that they were intended. I've had to touch up the code several times in order to resolve some issues, but I can't seem to fix all of it.

One possible solution--and the one that looks the most appealing--is to install a different set of forums that are more reliable. Posts, accounts, and other settings SHOULD remain intact; however, there is a chance that they will not be.

If we go ahead with this, we will probably try out another forum system--I've seen many who use InvisionBoard without suffering from the issues that we are, and I'll learn all I can about the forums before attempting to switch over--while leaving the current phpBB system intact, and, if the other forum is more suitable, then we'll go ahead with those. We'll probably ask for volunteers to help test the new forums before they are publicly released.

The main site is closely integrated with the phpBB forums. We will try our best to maintain compatibility, but please understand if some scripts have issues at first. All of these issues SHOULD be fixable.

Now, how does that sound?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 2:02 pm
by 68
Well, from my month or so away from the forums, I have learned that I don't need them to stay alive. Therefor, I don't really care.

I think you for fixing my account, however.

ok

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 7:05 pm
by 167
Well my personal opinion would be to change the forum but keep the style. I kind of like it. I've had about 35 different problems since April the 14th but that's alright 'cause i only use the forum when i'm at school.
I'm only one guy but I say change it. *_*

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 7:20 pm
by crank
Oh, you're using it from school? That can cause complications no matter how perfect the forum system is. Still, others (including me, from time to time) have problems even with unrestricted internet access, so the question still stands.

As a side note, other forum systems allow for a whole lot more customization. I'm thinking about just duplicating the styles from the main site for use in the forums, and having the forum style switch according to the user's main style.

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 8:43 pm
by Dr. Dos
:hmmmm:

"Go for it. Sounds like fun"

:ravebaron:

"BUT NOT MORE FUN THAN ME!"

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 10:00 pm
by 97
Heh... forum problems? I haven't had any :)

So I voted for keeping these ones... Maybe the problem is something with the peoples connections, that the forum system doesn't influence?

:hmmmm:

Posted: Tue May 13, 2003 11:08 pm
by 156
I haven't experienced any problems, but for the sake of those who are, we should change the fora.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 6:30 am
by 73
There haven't really been very many important posts made (there have been one or two) that are really worth saving, but the accounts would be a bitch again if we had to re-signup, so if you can, then of course, do it.

So yeah, new forum is good.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 12:53 pm
by 50
Let's all chant!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
New Forums!
Enough chanting! New forums sound good.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 1:17 pm
by 53
I think we should take a risk and get new ones, but please reupload the chronicles theme if you do.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 3:35 pm
by crank
A new forum system means that we would switch to something like YaBB or InvisionBoard (probably the latter). phpBB styles probably won't work under the new system, and we'd probably replace them with z2 style equivalents instead.

re

Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 3:46 pm
by angelic
craNKGod wrote:A new forum system means that we would switch to something like YaBB or InvisionBoard (probably the latter). phpBB styles probably won't work under the new system, and we'd probably replace them with z2 style equivalents instead.
InvisionBoard is an excellent board system IMO. It’s not quite as good as IkonBoard, as it’s written in PHP not Perl, but we won’t go in to that. One thing: As I recall, installing and setting up InvisionBoard can be a tiresome process, but the results are well worth it.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 5:21 pm
by 66
I do experience problems with the forums - but I think I also found the cause - since I always visit z2 via 'topic reply notification' mails - which contain since recently a bad URL

probably (in the admin settings) somebody put as domain http://zzt.the-underdogs instead of just zzt.org (because of two times http) and in the forum directory there's also another slash which doesn't belong there. Result http://http://zzt.org/fora//viewforum.php.
:XD:
Also reading the error messages when it tries to redirect: error: http - can't connect to server (translation but still)

Oh, and I voted 'keep it'. no surprise.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 7:42 pm
by 104
The quality of topics has dropped ever since the purge. So I am not concerned whether or not the topics can be recovered.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2003 11:04 pm
by crank
(Com)Buster wrote:probably (in the admin settings) somebody put as domain http://zzt.the-underdogs instead of just zzt.org
This was a good hypothesis, but the URL in our settings reads just zzt.org. I still can't figure this one out..