Hypothetical New Forums

[The Dying Start]

So...how's that spam, eh?

I was talking with Rae, about the possibility of a new forum...but it'd be nice to know what you guyz think.

The main reason for a brand newie is to cut out the spam, and also give Kev and I added functionality as admins given that Woody hasn't the time to keep fixing all the problems.

It looks like the Gyroscope board is going the same way, as they're on vB too, and they also have the same Spam problem.

The most important feedback we need is:

Are you happy to migrate to an all new forum?

If you had to re-sregister, would you?

What features would you like a new forum to have?

If you're a member of another forum or a webmaster, what Forum software do you find really good?

How would you feel about starting entirely from scratch? (not converting current data to the new forum).

I know there are plenty of thoughts on these matters, so don't be shy.

I also know there are unique emotional attachments to this forum after the passing of Jawn, and these are incomparable with things like "the long term benefit of starting from scratch, rather than crippling new software with old data", but decisions need to be made.

All ideas and points of view are welcome. Please get stuck in!

Glennbo McModface

[Sarah]

Well Glennbo McModface,

I think we need a new forum.

I don't mind re-registering and starting from scratch.

I would really like it if there is some way to preserve this forum though. For the Jawness and just as a reference tool - there is sooooo much information in here. I don't know if it can just be, um frozen in time, locked so no spam can get in. Or if that's not possible getting a back up of it. You can tell i have no idea how any of this works! :p

thanks!

[Big J.G]

Are you happy to migrate to an all new forum? Yes

If you had to re-sregister, would you? Yes

What features would you like a new forum to have? The forums features are fine the way it is.

If you're a member of another forum or a webmaster, what Forum software do you find really good? I find Simple Machine Forum (SMF) really good, and it is free so there's another bonus.

How would you feel about starting entirely from scratch? I'd be fine with it.

[Kacky]

Or add some mods from different time zones. ;D

I've noticed that a shitload gets posted when you Aussies are sleeping. Wouldn't you like to wake up to a less-spamish place? Yes, yes you would. *Muwahahaha*

[Adele]

A new forum is a good idea.
I'm not sure what kind of forum the Big Day Out one is but that's pretty good!

[Adele]

Also I think it would be good in the new forum to give us moderators the ability to IP ban.
I don't think anyone who is currently a mod would abuse it.

[Kacky]

www.invisionboard.com I think is the one the BDO has.

[Sarah]

Also I think it would be good in the new forum to give us moderators the ability to IP ban.
I don't think anyone who is currently a mod would abuse it.

I agree - you mods are all a bunch of good eggs!

[Absolution]

Well I don't mind re-registering or whatever for a new forum but its shouldn't be necessary...can't we at lest get Woody to approve other Admins or somehting? And if nothing's resolved then I suppose we could move on.

www.invisionboard.com I think is the one the BDO has.
I'd say invisions a good forum board one to use btw; I'm a mod for a forum using the invision basis and although atm we're getting bots registering, we've got a block on the posting ability..think we still have to update ours again though.
Anyway, I like the specs on Invision better compared to what we have here.

[Caity]

I'd migrate to a new forum, and re-register etc etc.
Invision Boards are good, the Elite Forum is one and it's got lots of cool functions and admin stuff. I'm da boss on dat one yo.
Features that would be fantastic are uploading pictures directly onto the forum rather than through an image hosting server etc?

In terms of starting from scratch, I'm okay with it (as long as we record how many pages The Room got in this one) but as mentioned before, it's the fact we're losing all the Jawn memories ... there are ways to keep it, we've talked about it and maybe we should do it.

My 10c.

[Big J.G]

Invision Power Board was the one this forum was on until it got hacked, then it changed to vBulletin, it is nice, but there are others that I prefer. There are lots of good free ones if you don't want to worry about paying. But if you insist on paying for it then I suggest you use Invision Power. The most popular free one is phpBB, the best free one is either MyBB or Simple Machine Forum.

Come to think of it, there are some boards I would like. I'd love this in the right order.

General Endness
Headlines
Gig
Muso
Help & Announcements
Entertainment (BRING IT BACK Pl0x!)
Off Topic

:)

[The Dying Start]

I would really like it if there is some way to preserve this forum though. For the Jawness and just as a reference tool - there is sooooo much information in here. I don't know if it can just be, um frozen in time, locked so no spam can get in. Or if that's not possible getting a back up of it. You can tell i have no idea how any of this works! :p
Potentially we could leave this one as it is, and just lock it down so no one can post. That's assuming the powers that be agree, and there is enough space on The Living End webserver to house what is essentially just a giant time capsule.

Or add some mods from different time zones. ;D

I've noticed that a shitload gets posted when you Aussies are sleeping. Wouldn't you like to wake up to a less-spamish place? Yes, yes you would. *Muwahahaha*
There's always potential to add a few new mods or swap a few out if there are some who feel they're not up to it any more. (But we only pick nice people, not nasty Canadians.)

Well I don't mind re-registering or whatever for a new forum but its shouldn't be necessary...can't we at lest get Woody to approve other Admins or somehting? And if nothing's resolved then I suppose we could move on.
More admins won't solve the problem, it just means there are more people to remedy the problem as it occurs. What we're really looking for is a solution that would see us relatively spam free.

Features that would be fantastic are uploading pictures directly onto the forum rather than through an image hosting server etc?
This has been raised in the past and ends up being an unbelievable resource hog on the server, takes up way too much space, and increases the size of the database tenfold over the current system of linked images. So essentially uploaded attachments = slower forum + smaller lifespan.

In terms of starting from scratch, I'm okay with it (as long as we record how many pages The Room got in this one) but as mentioned before, it's the fact we're losing all the Jawn memories ... there are ways to keep it, we've talked about it and maybe we should do it.
Sarah's idea of keeping this forum might go some way to easing this problem. I also have another idea which i'll mention in the next quoted reply.

The most popular free one is phpBB, the best free one is either MyBB or Simple Machine Forum.

Come to think of it, there are some boards I would like. I'd love this in the right order.

General Endness
Headlines
Gig
Muso
Help & Announcements
Entertainment (BRING IT BACK Pl0x!)
Off Topic

:)
We've been looking at PHPBB and SMF to see what we can get out of those.

As for extra forums, i would personally like to go back to a similar design to a few boards past, although my proposal would be something like:

The Living End
- General Endness
- Headlines
- Multimedia (Photos, Video, Audio, Art)

Off Topic
- Off Topic
- Muso's Corner
- Entertainment (?)

The John Wiggs Community Forum
- Upcoming Gigs
- Meet-ups
- Gig Reviews

[Big J.G]

The Living End
- General Endness
- Headlines
- Multimedia (Photos, Video, Audio, Art)

Off Topic
- Off Topic
- Muso's Corner
- Entertainment (?)

The John Wiggs Community Forum
- Upcoming Gigs
- Meet-ups
- Gig Reviews

If you put Off Topic at the bottom that would be a better picture :).


And is there a possibility for a Download Mod? Obviously uploading it here would be hard, but they can simply link the download when they post it. Legal downloads of course, that needs to be modded.

[Kev]

www.invisionboard.com I think is the one the BDO has.



Nah it uses some dodgy software. Can't remember what it is. But it does crash more than anything when it gets overloaded with people

[Caity]

I vote we bring back the Media & Entertainment section - TV shows and games and the like.
If only because I was a mod for that then it got canned when we swapped over to this one.

[Fritz]

Happy to do whatever all you folk are happy to go along with.

Must say, not having to delete stuff multiple times a day out of my muso's forum would be a nice change :)

[Caity]

Sarah's idea of keeping this forum might go some way to easing this problem. I also have another idea which i'll mention in the next quoted reply.



I've recently become acquainted with the awesome tool that is PDF converting of Word docs etc etc.
I think someone suggested this previously, but we could do that ... PDF all the pages etc?

[Big J.G]

You can download the database for this forum and upload it to the new forum and that will keep all the posts and members.

[The Dying Start]

If you put Off Topic at the bottom that would be a better picture :).
Done

Nah it uses some dodgy software. Can't remember what it is. But it does crash more than anything when it gets overloaded with people
That's right...Invision was the one that both got Hacked and then died of bloating from data.

I vote we bring back the Media & Entertainment section - TV shows and games and the like.
If only because I was a mod for that then it got canned when we swapped over to this one.
That was in my proposal.

Must say, not having to delete stuff multiple times a day out of my muso's forum would be a nice change :)
Amen Fritzmo

I've recently become acquainted with the awesome tool that is PDF converting of Word docs etc etc.
I think someone suggested this previously, but we could do that ... PDF all the pages etc?
Okay...that can be your job!


THIS IS HOW PHPBB LOOKS. PLEASE DON'T USE IT! IT'S ONLY FOR REFERENCE AT THIS STAGE!

http://23rdprecinct.net/phpbb/index.php

[Absolution]

More admins won't solve the problem, it just means there are more people to remedy the problem as it occurs. What we're really looking for is a solution that would see us relatively spam free.

You know I meant Admin-Admin, not Mod-Admin...
As in, so, say your good self has greater control over the forum settings; thus allowing YOU or others to adjust board updates; filters; even the actual board setup and all.
Because that's the problem we're having here, right? Woody's the only one (and Rae?) that have full control over the board settings and maintenance; so if someone else, a regular forumer at that, could be instated to full ADMIN we could try a few things to solve the current influx...rather than the MODs having to delete everything.

Well that's my presumption on things anyway.

[The Dying Start]

Ahh, I understand you now.

I think the kind of power that you're talking about would come with the new forum. The whole idea of new forum software was to enable greater control...vB control panel is useless and lacking in the required features...whether you're admin or not. (Because Kev and I are admins in a permissions sense, we just don't have access to ftp into the actual server or anything)

[Absolution]

Ahh, I understand you now.

I think the kind of power that you're talking about would come with the new forum. The whole idea of new forum software was to enable greater control...vB control panel is useless and lacking in the required features...whether you're admin or not. (Because Kev and I are admins in a permissions sense, we just don't have access to ftp into the actual server or anything)

Ooohhh, righto...I see the dilemma...but is there leverage for you to be promoted higher still?
It'd be a shame to have to start from square 1...

...Hey, maybe someone can run up onto stage during one of TLE's acceptance speeches at the ARIA's with a sign or something; "WOODY- FIX THE FORUM!" lol, just a suggestion. :D

[The Dying Start]

Ooohhh, righto...I see the dilemma...but is there leverage for you to be promoted higher still?

I wish! I don't think they can afford me though :p

[Absolution]

You just reek of modesty you know that? :p

[The Dying Start]

Yeah. That's my cologne. "Modesty". A nice smooth musk with a gentle oaky undertone.

[Absolution]

Oooh, sensual! :D


...yeh, I'm going to leave now...

[Big J.G]

That version of phpBB looks nice.

Warning: If a topic in a phpBB forum exeeds about 500 pages then it tends to crash alot. Thats what happened with ScoreHero.

[mattheal]

as only being a small time member of this forum compared to others, i'm not too stressed about the forums being restarted and having to do all the registering again,

On the phpBB topic my friends and i have had a forum using this running for nearly 5 years, and we have had little to no major dramas, the usage was no where the amount that this forum gets, but i think overall there arent any major problems with it,

and to JG, we have had threads run up to and exceeding 500 pages without any problems that i know of.

thats my 2c

[E.B.]

If a new forum gets rid of the spam then I'm happy to re-register and what-not
it would be good if it's similar to this one in terms of layout and such as this one is easy to navigate, is user friendly and has a good colour scheme which makes posts easy to read.

The PHPBB forum looks alright, but this one is alot more professional looking which I like
Also if looking for a new forum why not something like http://talkbass.com theres is set up pretty good

[Caity]

The phpbb one looks cool, but again I guess it's dependent on how buggy it is.

And Glenn (can't be bothered quoting) I know that was in your proposal, I was agreeing with you haha!

[The Dying Start]

If a new forum gets rid of the spam then I'm happy to re-register and what-not
it would be good if it's similar to this one in terms of layout and such as this one is easy to navigate, is user friendly and has a good colour scheme which makes posts easy to read.

The PHPBB forum looks alright, but this one is alot more professional looking which I like
Also if looking for a new forum why not something like http://talkbass.com theres is set up pretty good

All forums we're looking at will be linear like this one is (Not threaded)

In what way is this more professional looking than PHPBB? They're essentially the same in design. It's just this has a TLE theme on it. That will obviously be applied to any new forum software!

Talk bass uses vBulletin, which is what we're currently using!!!

[E.B.]

In what way is this more professional looking than PHPBB? They're essentially the same in design. It's just this has a TLE theme on it. That will obviously be applied to any new forum software!

TBH I'm not sure haha, but its probably a mix of the colour scheme and the rounded corners on that board that make it look less professional IMO but it seems decent, its easy to read and navigate. My complaint was just based on looks alone

[Caity]

I reckon the rounded corners etc look kinda prettier :p

[The Dying Start]

E.B. likes his women with chiseled jaws and broad square shoulders!

[E.B.]

ha ha mister smart-arse, my taste in message boards does not translate to my taste in women

[The Dying Start]

Thank goodness, heaven forbid you were going after some bird with a flat chest who is full of crap and accomodates thousands of random strangers.

[Chovies]

ill probably go over to the other forum but not post, if i haven't made friends yet i ain't gonna;)

[The Dying Start]

But I love you Anne!

[Caity]

*snigger*

10 characters

[Neo]

I have seen that a lot of people prefer SMF over phpBB, So I think I'd like to try that one instead :p


but... I think I am going to spoil the party by having a different opinion than everyone else :o

Aside from spam, I really don't see a problem here. With software there are always going to be upgrades needed from time, and we are on vB at the moment which is probably the most favourable forum software around so with that said surely there is at least one upgrade or mod that can be installed, or a particular feature to be switched on that will give you back control over the place.

I really don't believe that there is nothing that can be done on here, I just think the forum isn't being managed the right way, especially since the gyro forum is the same, while there are a heck load of vBulletins out there that aren't run down by spam problems because they are being managed well and are under full control.

All it should take is for one person who is actually around here often and pretty tech savvy, ie. Glenn, to be given FULL control of the admin stuff, because you say the control panel is useless and lacking in the required features - just install the features... they have to be out there somewhere. apparently vB is right up the top in terms of features compared to other boards.

[Big J.G]

Neo, we aren't disagreeing with you, we just don't care if the forum gets moved or not. I've got a way the spam can be settled once and for all, but I don't know if it works with vB. It worked with IPB.

[lozzamouldy]

happy to move
happy to re- register

anything to ditch the spam

though better smiley faces mabe...

[mel_bound]

I miss the old forums and their layout, but I think they're the ones with lots of security problems or something
I dunno
but I've changed 3 times now, another one won't faze me :p

and +1 to better smilies. Bring back http://forums.useice.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif

[Deadcat Kaye]

I'm happy to change forums, but I don't want to lose everything on this forum...
Someone else said something about this but there is too much info and other stuff to just throw away!

If it was a decision between
Changing to a new forums, means no spam but we lose everything form this forum
OR
No new forum, stick with this one only everything is kept.

I'ld stick with this one.

[Aaron]

The internet remembers all, pretty much. Shouldn't be too hard to find info from this one even if it goes offline. In any case, it could probably be archived in a reasonably efficient state somehow.

But having changed computers a few times recently, I'm a bit more easygoing about starting anew. Besides, a lot of what this forum is used for is just chat, which doesn't really need to be kept for its huge intrinsic value. The nuggets of band-related gold will invariably be reorganised in any transition, and will probably be more useful as a result.

So, thumbs up to change from me.

And even though they use a proprietry system that probably isn't available for copying, I like Whirlpool (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au)'s forums.

Wacky features like the update this board got recently aren't hugely necessary... but
*decent emoticons would be nice
*easy multi-quoting like we have at the moment is nice
*statistics are cool
*'new posts' filter is handy
*a lack of a visible user ID# is polite (maybe remove user titles too?)
*removing the 10 character minimum and capslock filters (misused anyway)
*date of first post in a thread is sometimes helpful
*less cluttered interface, maybe more focus on fashionable dark colours (around the edges)
*limit on signature height in pixels

[Big J.G]

Remove User Titles and make them Custom, that would be great.

[Aaron]

Been there, done that, on older incarnations. I don't really see any purpose for them than to get on others' nerves. Oh, now I get why you're keen on it. :rolleyes:

[Big J.G]

why? I only want to change the song title.

The only thing you can change in your profile header is your location, which I changed to Perthbound.

[mel_bound]

Wacky features like the update this board got recently aren't hugely necessary... but

I'd like to add:
10 picture limit (or more, sans emoticons?), rather than the abysmal 4.
Standard post per page 20 (though I've customised mine to 20 and it's no big deal)

Also, when viewing the subforums, when there's a thread with more than 3 pages, you can't see how many pages there are until you're in the thread
http://i37.tinypic.com/14xjm68.gif
it'd be nice if you could see that.

Suggestions, so very small and insignificant, but suggestions nonetheless. I assume this stuff can't really be edited anyway, it just comes with the different types of forums.

[Big J.G]

It can be edited. It is going to take some serious decryption.

[strahanie]

Im a little worried that we might lose some some older boarders who only drop in from time to time that might not bother to re-register, might be a non concern tho

[mel_bound]

If we're talking quite-oldy oldies (not in age necessarily, but years on the forum :p), then we've had 3 forum changes in the past 2/3 years, so perhaps if they signed to this one, then they would for the next one?

[strahanie]

You're prob right, hence "non concern" (hopefully)

But i really am over the spam, its good that it at least sounds like something will be done soonish

[Neo]

I miss the old forums and their layout, but I think they're the ones with lots of security problems or something
I dunno
but I've changed 3 times now, another one won't faze me :p

and +1 to better smilies. Bring back http://forums.useice.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif
I remember that guy from the ikonboard! that was my favourite board.

and if we are talking security problems, another thing with phpBB is that I've read that admin is vulnerable to hacking on some of the versions. hrmmm

[Ben reed]

new forum would be fine but we should archive this one and stop registration, but for reference
we need more smilies
the thing i dont understand is that the foo fighters forum is vB and theres no spam coz they have precautions like "type the name of the foo fighters latest album" and stuff
and u cant make links in your posts untill you have more than a certain amount of posts

[Neo]

the thing i dont understand is that the foo fighters forum is vB and theres no spam coz they have precautions like "type the name of the foo fighters latest album" and stuff
and u cant make links in your posts untill you have more than a certain amount of posts

that's exactly what I was saying. there are things that can be done about it, its just up to someone to get around to doing it eg. setting up a feature such as an anti-spammer test question.

[Kacky]

There's always potential to add a few new mods or swap a few out if there are some who feel they're not up to it any more. (But we only pick nice people, not nasty Canadians.)

Hey, I'm good with my Moderateur jobs. :cool:

Also, I'm noticing that there's another upgrade this forum needs. A few ones I know of have version 3.7.3 instead of 3.7.2, which is the one this one is currently using.

As for the bots and spam: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=135094&highlight=isbot

It prevented 40+ bots from registering on a forum in one day.

There's this one too: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=131852

[Boom King]

As an advocate of a new forum for ages, I say YES.

Just make sure it has protection against spam for the love of jebus.

[The Dying Start]

Thanks Chelsea, I'll look into it.

[The Dying Start]

Just make sure it has protection against spam for the love of jebus.

Wear a spamdom!

[Kacky]

You're welcome, Glennbo.

[All_torn_down16]

If there's no way possible to stop the influx of spam on here then I'd be happy to go on a new forum and re-register. But in that case we must have this forum archived and locked somehow! The forum has so much information that should never be lost in my opinion.

Also if there was a new board I'm not fussed with the setup being like this one. I've gotten used to the functions on this forum and so it would be easy to transfer.

And thanks to Glenn for initiating this discussion :)

[Big J.G]

I think that you should use the old url: http://www.thelivingend.com.au/forums

if you click that you will still see woody's post that the forums have gotten hacked and stuff.

[Matt]

I really don't think that an entirely new forum is needed.

There's waaay too much info in the muso section alone to get rid of this one.

I'm a member of heaps of different vbforums and some of them get spammed sometimes but I know for sure that with proper management you can stop it.

[The Dying Start]

Muso's is for wankerz!

[Ben reed]

Muso's is for wankerz!

you're a wanka!

[Craigels]

I'm fine with all those sugestions. I'm not fussed if we get a new bord or stick with this one.

[Shadow]

If our options are staying and putting up with the spam or going to a new board spam-free and starting all over, I'm quite happy to start all over.

I'd feel sorry for those with the high post counts though... this isn't the first time they've lost their stats :p - not that it's a way of judging people, based on quantity of post, but still. Maybe that's why I don't post so often :p.

How many boards have we been through now, if we make the change?

[Neo]

If our options are staying and putting up with the spam or going to a new board spam-free and starting all over, I'm quite happy to start all over.
the option isn't staying and putting up with spam. It's staying and managing the place better to eliminate the spam


How many boards have we been through now, if we make the change?
too many!

[Fritz]

Muso's is for wankerz!

I've been moderating muso's corner ever since it got created back in 2000. Go figure!

[Boom King]

I think you'll find that forum wasn't added until late 2002 or early 03 and moderators for forums were added after that. In 2000 the forum looked like this (http://web.archive.org/web/20001019080525/www.thelivingend.com.au/wwwboard/wwwboard.html) terrible mess.

[Kacky]

Messy indeed.

[worry_rock]

I think you'll find that forum wasn't added until late 2002 or early 03 and moderators for forums were added after that. In 2000 the forum looked like this (http://web.archive.org/web/20001019080525/www.thelivingend.com.au/wwwboard/wwwboard.html) terrible mess.

"Please try and keep the topic around the band." - LOL.

[May]

Maybe someone can wayback this place, but I'm okay with a new forum.

As for the question about the older oldies, they tend to email or msn some folks to figure out where the latest board is if they feel inclined to drop by but are having trouble finding it, so as long as some of us head over to a new board, the others would get there too.

[The Dying Start]

I'm investigating all avenues to keeping this particular forum alive before moving on to a whole new one.

Should this one get cleaned up, there may be potential to upgrade to some of the suggestions people have mentioned in this thread...but that's getting a bit ahead of things!

[Colezy]

Are you happy to migrate to an all new forum? Yes

If you had to re-sregister, would you? Yes. I've done it enough times to not care now! :p

What features would you like a new forum to have? I liked the old smileys and stuff better, but it wouldn't bother me if they were the same as these ones.

How would you feel about starting entirely from scratch? (not converting current data to the new forum). Most of the old stuff ends up on each new forum anyway, so I doubt that would matter :)



THIS IS HOW PHPBB LOOKS. PLEASE DON'T USE IT! IT'S ONLY FOR REFERENCE AT THIS STAGE!

http://23rdprecinct.net/phpbb/index.php
I like it :)

And even though they use a proprietry system that probably isn't available for copying, I like Whirlpool (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au)'s forums.
I like that one too! I've only been a member there for a few months or so, but it seems ok!



I plan on going back through the whole forum and saving a heap of shit that I haven't already saved. Was going to do it even before all of this was brought up. So if anyone wants anything, I'll probably have it saved :)

[Boom King]

nicole are you posting from home or are you still having problems?

[Colezy]

From home! It's still a little sluggish though. And the main site also works now too..not that I go there that often.