Suggestion Ip Board Forum Software

[Matt]

I'm currently testing the water with this one.

Basically, the forum software we migrated to in March, Xenforo, is in a legal battle with vBulletin, and being sued both here in the UK, and the US. The development has stopped while this is ongoing, and the software is lacking in quite a few nice features which others are providing.

I've been looking at alternative software we could migrate to, and the only one which really stands out to me personally is IP Board. It's pretty similar to the look and feel of Xenforo, and does have a lot more back end features which would give the end users a better overall experience than what Xenforo currently has.

A quick screen shot from the demo I've been playing about with.



Now, as it stands, Xenforo is stable, and I've got it working nicely for us here, but if the loose the court case, we'll be left in limbo with no further work being done, so would be forced to move. The trial date is set for January 2013, which is why I've made a start looking for alternatives. However, if they win, they should be releasing the latest version which was being developed before the court case really took hold.

I'd love to stay with Xenforo, because it's very quick, stable, and we've already paid the licence, so switching would mean further costs for a new licence for the next software.

So, I'm just after your input and thoughts really, so I've created a poll, and would appreciate any feedback you've got regarding the current site, and if anyone had experience as a member of a forum currently running IP Board, and how you find it as an end user.

Cheers, Matt

 

[astra22bertoneauto]

IMO I would stick it out till after the court case as we all know that they can last years sometimes. However in the meantime have a backup solution IF they lose so you can switch with a moments notice, but try and use software you can either get hold of on a trial basis and/or a freebie. This way it wont eat your budget up with license fees and there might be something better next year to consider.

 

[Matt]

There will be no issue with the actual software going offline here, I own the files as I paid for the licence, and it's on our server. The problem would be no further support or development, and having a stagnant solution.

Best case, they win, and they continue with development and support, and everyones a winner, as Xenforo has massive potential (which is mainly why VB is going after them. It's written by the two former lead developers of VB who left back in 2009). Worse case, they loose, we still have the licence for Xenforo, but will get no further updates

 

[PowR Remap]

Personally, stick with what we have.

The trial is Jan 2013, even then that could take ages, worst case is we have a forum using software which wouldn't be developed any more. Then think about moving to another after the trial, if needed.

 

[Ian T]

I've been through a number of forum software offerings. I started out administrating Astra-mk2.com when that developed into a club - they run vBulletin and for me that set the standard, although we all know vBulletin is not quite as shiny as it once was. I set up some blank servers with some of the free offerings to see how they compared - mostly not very well.

The best (about a year ago) of the free ones was MyBB, which for all intents and purposes could have been vBulletin3 in some ways, but with a much better thought out admin control panel. I set up a copy of MyBB for an 'old car' club I'm a member of - the members are generally in their 60s-80s and so the forum is something of a chocolate fireguard to most and sadly hasn't been embraced. That club is very protective of its members too, so the 'free' areas are very limited. www.voc1903-57.co.uk

I've never admin'd Xenforo, but if it is anything like as nice as it is to use, I'd wait out and see what happens. When people leave companies and work elsewhere, nobody can expect them to leave their brains behind. The products they were developing for vBulletin are products at least partly of their imagination - someone else would have done it a different way. The lead developers would, when they left, have taken their brains, attitudes, dispositions, visions and suchlike along with them. No need to copy anything.

If you feel forced to change, the biggest risk is the loss of data in the database migration - even things like passwords getting lost can have a negative effect on retaining users, prototyping a new board on a MOWES stick or a Linux server distro every now and then is a healthy thing to do.

It'll be an interesting case.

Ian.

 

[Matt]

Thanks for the reply Ian.

Xenforo is actually very nice to administer. Upto moving to this, I'd only had experience with phpBB from version 2 onwards. In making the switch, I've also done a lot more work server side, as Xenforo makes better use of caching, via apc and memcached.

There are also some MASSIVE sites using it, such as IGN which has almost 87 million posts! So it must be doing something right.

It does seem that people like the current look and feel of Xenforo, and I would prefer to stay with it. The case has actually been running for 2 years so far, and it's only just getting the actual dates sorted.

If you are interested in taking a look at the back end of Xenforo, I've got a development version running where I can give you access to take a look around if you want?