[Xae]

Changing the appearance is not a problem. I don't know if having multiple themes is a thing on NodeBB, though.

[Aptorian]

I feel like there very little momentum in this discussion.

A lot of forum members seem happy that things stay the same, with no need for upgrades. So I'm assuming we're not going to rebuild the whole site.

But there's also a question of security and stability. Is there any chatter among the Admin and mods in the Secret Arctic Moderator Shadow Base about whether something is going to be put into work? If so, is there a time table?

[Silencer]

Aptorian, on 22 June 2021 - 10:37 AM, said:

I feel like there very little momentum in this discussion.

A lot of forum members seem happy that things stay the same, with no need for upgrades. So I'm assuming we're not going to rebuild the whole site.

But there's also a question of security and stability. Is there any chatter among the Admin and mods in the Secret Arctic Moderator Shadow Base about whether something is going to be put into work? If so, is there a time table?

Not really, no. Xae and I occasionally touch base on the question of security and sustainability for the site as it stands - admittedly it's been a while since we last had that discussion - but, obviously, nothing has come up that would lead to change.

There have essentially been no stability issues for quite some time, with Xae having last taken some steps to help with that in like 2018, I think? The most recent downtime was user error, and issues caused by people with access to back-end stuff doing the wrong thing are completely unavoidable no matter what platform we use.

Security-wise...please don't use your bank password or email password or computer password as your forum password? And daily backups largely render concerns about wholesale losing content the way we did when we last got fucked over somewhat moot. I'm happy enough to take steps as necessary to keep us from being severely breached, but it has not yet been an urgent impetus for change.

It's good to see that participants in this thread are happy to lose some of the harder-to-replace features, which means that if we do choose to change software we are potentially less limited than we used to be (there was a time when Rep was non-negotiable for y'all) - but I have almost zero interest in losing historical content to move to another forum software unless necessary.
(For those who don't know, we did once lose a significant chunk of forum history between an issue over site ownership and moving from phpBB (the old blue forum) to the current software. That is also an indication of why phpBB might look a bit outdated, we migrated *off* it more than a decade ago, and it hasn't hugely changed since.)


I guess from my perspective - this is a little bit of "why fix what ain't broke?" (and yes, I appreciate IPB3 isn't exactly 'not broken', but it's perfectly functional for our current use - some small issues upthread notwithstanding that we can certainly look into), coupled with just not hearing a compelling argument to move software. phpBB and NodeBB and IPB4 are hardly going to change anyone's day-to-day experience of the forum. There are some things in there that may make QoL better, but some that may make it worse. They're more like a coat of fresh paint than anything else, and we can always do a new forum skin if that's all we're getting out of the move.
Other than, as I think you put it somewhere up there Apt, a "midlife forum crisis", I haven't seen anything that makes me say "Yup, that's better/necessary. Let's move to that!".


I miss the old days when the forum was abuzz with people and discussion, but I also like that we have this core now who are literally just here to hang out. I can be away for a month or more, and it still feels like coming back to a nice warm house exactly how I left it when I get back on (side note, enough of you have my contact details that I even when I don't check in for a bit, I do get almost instant notification if something has gone wrong, lol) - it used to still be welcoming, but it also felt like you'd missed a LOT if you were away for a while. For me, changing the forum software is basically spinning our tires - it's not going to make the forum feel brand-new again, maybe just a bit different, and it's not going to bring us buckets of new and eager members, so I really don't see the point. If it was the difference between the forum staying alive and going away, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I really don't think the forum software is an issue there.

As I think I said in the last one of these threads - this isn't a "no, and that's final". We can afford to pay for a software license, build or buy a forum skin, etc, etc. We can put in the effort (thanks Xae! ) to migrate the content. But people need to really, really want it for it to be something we seriously entertain - or there needs to be a pressing concern otherwise, and there isn't particularly at the moment.


Edit: Oh, and to address the finance/will to keep the afloat thing in the OP - yeah, the forum ain't going anywhere while I'm around. Someone with a grand vision of a resurgent Malazan Empire is welcome to knock me off my 'throne', but this place is important to me and I have zero issues keeping it going. With the small exception of things that require someone to sit on themselves (server, domain) the admin team is pretty well placed to handle day-to-day stuff. I'm pretty well placed to meet any outlays myself, assuming we end up in dire straits and the various donations over the years were completely used up, and if all that fails, yeah, we'll pass around a hat or something. Long live the Empire!

[Aptorian]

This was the update I wanted to hear from Silencer, with some deeper thoughts behind current affairs. If it's not getting more broken, then I'm fine not fixing things - I was just hoping there was some cool TikTok widget we could install for the lulz.

I've been using the same forum password for the last 15 years so I guess I should go change my bank information ...

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 22 June 2021 - 12:19 PM

[champ]

My only real concern was around the security on the website and if it was old/easily hacked but with the responses that's cool.


No point causing you guys problems trying to get a new set-up going if this is easily maintained for now.


If any move is lined up for the future the last thing we would want to lose is the content, I think most of the other info like users/groups etc can be worked around.

[Abyss]

The floggings will continue until morale improves.