Forum Software [Split from IC Site]

[Aloys]

As an end user PhpBB works well for the most part. And if it works I don't see a need to fix it.

Since no one commented on the domain, I'll assume we're going with guildofwriters.info for now for the IC site

I'm not much into .info domains; for some reason I find they are often associated with spam/warez/squatting and other lowly net activities (guess all the .com are already taken). But I haven't came up with a better domain name idea either, so that one will work for me.

That said, the (extra) features in IPB would allow us to do some fancy stuff like blogs and a gallery, as well as easier user permissions. I'm not entirely convinced that it's worth the time, effort, and money to switch though.

I look at it the other way : what do we need? If we want to hosts blogs and have a nice gallery then it might be worth looking into it. If not, then eventhough we may have the money there's no point in getting it.

[diafero]

I, too, really like phpBB (version 3, of course). They have some black magic in there, like this update mechanism. And I also very much like how permissions can be set, how you can preview a user's permissions, how you can make it show you the effective permissions for a user/group including an explanation where they come from. Actually, I can't imagine how IPB would do that better, but one never stops learning . I hope they have a built-in manager for MODs at some point, then it'd be perfect.
The only commercial board I ever saw the admin area of was a woltlab burning board, and while it was quite powerful, phpBB is certainly leaps ahead by now. And from a user's experience, I have yet to meet something working better than phpBB. In case I used a non-phpBB board, it worked so similar that I didn't notice - except for whatever UruObsession uses, and that forum never worked really well for me. Even the most basic things, like highlighting unread posts/forums, are broken *sigh*

[Tweek]

As an end user PhpBB works well for the most part. And if it works I don't see a need to fix it.

Since no one commented on the domain, I'll assume we're going with guildofwriters.info for now for the IC site

I'm not much into .info domains; for some reason I find they are often associated with spam/warez/squatting and other lowly net activities (guess all the .com are already taken). But I haven't came up with a better domain name idea either, so that one will work for me.

Ditto.

That said, the (extra) features in IPB would allow us to do some fancy stuff like blogs and a gallery, as well as easier user permissions. I'm not entirely convinced that it's worth the time, effort, and money to switch though.

I look at it the other way : what do we need? If we want to hosts blogs and have a nice gallery then it might be worth looking into it. If not, then eventhough we may have the money there's no point in getting it.

Well there is always WordPress MU

[Aloys]

I have yet to meet something working better than phpBB. In case I used a non-phpBB board, it worked so similar that I didn't notice - except for whatever UruObsession uses, and that forum never worked really well for me. Even the most basic things, like highlighting unread posts/forums, are broken *sigh*

UO's forum was replaced last october after a nice server crash, but it hasn't been updated much beyond the basic functionnalities because the staff (me included) is a bit behind, and the forum is more or less autonomous at this point.

[diafero]

The issues I am having with UruObsession were already present before the crash, and were not fixed by the recent upgrade.

[Aloys]

<off-topic>

The issues I am having with UruObsession were already present before the crash, and were not fixed by the recent upgrade.

"oops".
</off-topic>

<on-topic>
It's a detail at this point, but one thing that I think should be kept (if possible) is a consistent navigation between the rest of the site and the forum.. I always find it annoying how some forums are totally separated from the rest of their site, while you often need to navigate between the forum and the site.. (wiki, ages list) etc)