Updates on planned software change.....

[Ian_W]

Hi all,

 

If you have been following us on Twitter you will be aware that I am trying to set up a test site, with live data. I took a copy of the database this afternoon.

 

We currently use ubb.threads, which whilst it is a great product, it just does not have the add-ons and developer groups that other software has.

 

Vbulletin is used by thousands of sites, and as a result has the developer network behind it to release plenty of add-ons.

 

As far as I can tell there are just two features that we would lose - PM's in their current format (i.e. in a conversation thread) and display names. Although there is a big upgrade in the works, which will be released hopefully next month, so it is possible that this might change. PM's of course would be present, just presented in a different format.

 

On the otherside of the coin we would be able to add many new features to the forums, including the ability to log in using faacebook, gmail and other logins that you might already have. Ability to link to social networking. Blogs for those who want them, and many others....

 

At the moment the test import has not gone as well as expected - so the developers of VB are looking into a few of the issues for me. Once we have these ironed out, I can open the test site up for people to have a play with.

 

We will be using your display names here, which will become both your login and also the name by which you are known on the forums - so not a massive change.

 

So if your login is currently smith and your display name is fred, you would login with fred and your usual password.

 

I realise this change has been talked about for a while, but running a live test will put us about a week or so away from a switch - subject to it going smoothly.

 

Hopefully I will have more information in the next day or so.

[blackballed]

Fingers crossed and good luck.............

[Ian_W]

Okay - looks like I have another contender for the software - so am busy coding up a test site, which I will then open for people to try out.

 

This will allow PM's to be in topic format, and also allow display names.

 

More in a couple of days.....