What we lost in the migration
Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:05 pm
As we discussed in the original TAT, moving to a new forum would mean that we would lose some functions and features of the previous location.
To begin with, the previous forum was build on vBulletin, a premier forum software. This one is built on phpBB, an open source, free software that, although functional, does not have all the luxury features provided by vBulletin. Think about it a little bit like Mozilla; being open source, some upgrades have glitches. However, as a Mozilla user, those usually get corrected quickly. I hope phpBB works the same way.
Therefore, we lost the following:
1. No convenient SIDE RIBBON with the recent threads clearly visible. phpBB provides an extension (installed already) that show the most recent topics being discussed, but limited to 5 such threads (it can be expanded). The software also shows NEW TOPICS highlighted under their respective forum. Some getting used to will be needed.
2. We lost LIKES and AGREES. The feature is not easily supported by phpBB.
3. We lost BLOGS. However, a forum for those will be opened, which should make little difference from the past presentation.
4. We lost our medals. Perhaps we can get that feature back in the future so, hopefully, we will regain that count. No longer true. We got the capability back. Please see explanation below.
5. We lost our wonderful Grand Slam themes; phpBB provides for a few ones but they are not, of course, related to the big 4 tournaments.
6. I do not know if we will be able to transfer the Suicide Pool parser, as I do not own it. As of this writing, I think we will have to go back to manual counting. But that is TBD.
7. The collection of smilies is considerably smaller (we will not get the ZODIAC AX MURDERER icon )
8. We lose superior reliability. The previous forum was mounted on a premium service; this one is mounted in a shared server, located somewhere behind a marijuana plantation in a third world location (Florida. Really). So we cannot expect that TAT2.0 will be online 24/7/365. Expect some downtime every once in a while.
Because we also have a smaller, shared server, we will need to prune old topics and extremely large discussions. However, this will not be critical. It will be discussed in the WHAT WE GET thread.
I hope this new site enjoys your approval, and in order to make it more familiar, we can improve it in time. Read the WHAT WE GET thread for some ideas.
Thanks
To begin with, the previous forum was build on vBulletin, a premier forum software. This one is built on phpBB, an open source, free software that, although functional, does not have all the luxury features provided by vBulletin. Think about it a little bit like Mozilla; being open source, some upgrades have glitches. However, as a Mozilla user, those usually get corrected quickly. I hope phpBB works the same way.
Therefore, we lost the following:
1. No convenient SIDE RIBBON with the recent threads clearly visible. phpBB provides an extension (installed already) that show the most recent topics being discussed, but limited to 5 such threads (it can be expanded). The software also shows NEW TOPICS highlighted under their respective forum. Some getting used to will be needed.
2. We lost LIKES and AGREES. The feature is not easily supported by phpBB.
3. We lost BLOGS. However, a forum for those will be opened, which should make little difference from the past presentation.
4. We lost our medals. Perhaps we can get that feature back in the future so, hopefully, we will regain that count. No longer true. We got the capability back. Please see explanation below.
5. We lost our wonderful Grand Slam themes; phpBB provides for a few ones but they are not, of course, related to the big 4 tournaments.
6. I do not know if we will be able to transfer the Suicide Pool parser, as I do not own it. As of this writing, I think we will have to go back to manual counting. But that is TBD.
7. The collection of smilies is considerably smaller (we will not get the ZODIAC AX MURDERER icon )
8. We lose superior reliability. The previous forum was mounted on a premium service; this one is mounted in a shared server, located somewhere behind a marijuana plantation in a third world location (Florida. Really). So we cannot expect that TAT2.0 will be online 24/7/365. Expect some downtime every once in a while.
Because we also have a smaller, shared server, we will need to prune old topics and extremely large discussions. However, this will not be critical. It will be discussed in the WHAT WE GET thread.
I hope this new site enjoys your approval, and in order to make it more familiar, we can improve it in time. Read the WHAT WE GET thread for some ideas.
Thanks