vbulletin upgrade?
 

I just noticed that the forum software is waaaaaaaay behind on version, the current version is 5.5.3 and VB is on 3.8.4.

Any plans to upgrade? If so i'm volunteering to help if need be.

This werks, why upgrade?? and too boot gotta know they/whoever want money for the privilage......and watt it bring to the table??

:confused5::dance:

I've occasionally pondered migrating to a different platform, but if I did, it definitely wouldn't be VBulletin, as it's been a shit product ever since the IB buyout when the guys that originally developed VBulletin quit (and went on to create the XenForo forum platform) . The VBulletin 5 series is pure garbage, no way in hell would I ever consider paying to downgrade to it. (Heck I wouldn't downgrade to it if they paid me)

The 4.0 series was out when GB started this site 10 years ago, but at that time it was riddled with bugs and generally frustrated forum admins. It didn't become usable until about 4.2 (3 years later). This is why he opted for 3.8...It was a proven rock-solid platform, and even today the "pre-IB" 3.8 series is still widely regarded the best forum package ever created, and it certainly has the largest "aftermarket" support and available modifications. Simply put, it works, it works well, there's not much (if anything at all) to be gained by updating, but a lot of features to lose.

If I had to switch to anything else, XenForo would likely be my choice. Possibly phpBB. I have looked at what's out there for forum software, those two are the only ones I felt worthy of consideration. But again, the question is what's to be gained?


And I think I posted this before, but why doesn't IB update their forums to their own product? Corvetteforum is on 3.7.x...Older than what we have. :yesnod:


:cert:

because there are features in the newer versions that people might enjoy using.

do you have the same car that you drove when you were 17? no, you've upgraded, why?

:waiting::waiting:

re: the ib comment - i don't see that cf is on 3.7.x, and while the ui might be, they have definitely incorporated features from the newer version into the site, either by script, html, etc etc


I wasn't trying to start a kerfuffle, i thought it was just a nice thing to offer help if you wanted to do an upgrade.

I actually do :D and I'll be downgrading back to it one day when it's complete. No computer, no sensors. Easy peasy.

Well, I wooden go THAT far back, but my first car was a '60 vette, auto, p/windows, 283......in '66 I wuz age 22 and had the .mil and screwal outta the way and on my first factual/actual full time job, loving watt I was doing...fixing TV sets.....my '72 is not all THAT far removed from it, as it was mainly all OEM from the factory, but an old show car, and being an old ET, I got it all upgraded in the last 24 years.....all loaded with electronics from FI on down the list....but no stereo.....oh well.....:shots:

Such as?

I more/less asked that in my previous post...What is gained by changing to another platform? If there are legit features found in newer forum packages that can't be implemented on this one, I'm genuinely interested to hear what they are. :bigears:

I'd have replied sooner, but had to do a brake job on config.php and replace the water pump on init.php. :lol:
Not really a good comparison...Cars and all mechanical devices wear and break down over time, php/css/html files do not. They work 100% the same today as they did in 2009. And short of a conflict with server services (ie; a newer php package gets installed), that will never change.

That's probably the #1 reason sites do update to newer forum versions, they're often forced into it by an updated OS and/or it's services, namely php compatibility.
In our case, we got lucky that CentOS 7 still installs (old) php 5.4 from the base repo. 3.8.4 supposedly isn't even compatible with 5.4, and that was one of my concerns during the transition last year. Yet here we are and I can say the combo works just fine. There are later versions in the 3.8 series, each one rewritten to accommodate a specific php version. Fortunately, we didn't end up needing to re-license and update to one of them. And php 7.1 is the end of the line for both VB3 and VB4 series. Someone on shared hosting that gets updated to php7.2 or later will have no choice but to go with VB5 or another forum package.

With our VPS, I at least have full control over the OS and its services. CentOS 7 doesn't EoL until 2024. So a decision to update forum software isn't a dire or immediate concern. It's something to consider, sure, but no absolute need to take action for quite a while.

Oh yeah, they've definitely modified their forum (is any of it for the better?), so have I here over the years.
I'm not sure which of those modifications you believe comes on VB 5, however. Or for that matter, which ones can't be applied to 3.8. :island14:

There's no kerfuffle...You asked, I answered. I also noted that I have explored and have given thought about moving to another platform, and why VB 5 specifically is not a consideration.

I'll reiterate what I said in my first reply about a migration...Yes, some features could be gained (what are they?), and some custom features in use here will likely be lost. Choosing a forum platform is very much a compromise, and before diving in on such a project, I first need to compare those pros/cons. Show me an example of something better, and I will definitely give it a look and consider it. I'm just extremely skeptical you can link me to a VB 5 site you deem better.


:cert:

NO clue as to the lingo of computers, but I get the jest of watt you saying,....LOTs of complaints on resurrecting very old threads over 'there' and guys not aware of it......I spend more time responding than composing new threads, so not an issue for ME.....

Most (if not all) of CF's latest upgrades revolve around the implementation of the infinite scroll mod.

The lazy (if at all) image loading is annoying but necessary for obvious reasons, imagine opening a 2000+ reply thread and having every single image within it download immediately. Not a good idea at all.

The disappearing/reappearing menu bar, same reason. Scrolling back to the top after 20 mins of browsing a super-long thread would be tedious. Yeah, right click and select "back" for those new to the PC....There's also more elegant ways to facilitate that function on the page than how they decided to do it.

The related threads shit serves no valid function whatsoever. They claim the whole idea is viewer retention and for people to "not hit a dead end". I've said it before and will say it again....It is one of the dumbest ****ing things I've seen on any website ever. The idea might not be that bad...The execution is beyond horrible.


:cert:

the resurrecting of new threads is user error, not vbulletin sw error, that's easily disabled.

That "feature" should not have been turned on by default. Most people don't know how to turn it off.

ok, great, it has nothing to do with my offering to help upgrade the site if help was/is wanted/needed. My offer had nothing to do with CF or whatever version they're on, nor whatever features CF has or doesn't have. Many forums use VB outside of CF.

At this point, what i thought would be a generous offer to help out with the site has turned into a ridiculous conversation.

Let's file this under "never mind".