Forum changes coming Topic is solved

Post by **matthew1** » 17 Aug 2020, 16:07

I apologize in advance. Let me start there.

Overview

I'm going to update the forum software to the latest version. While phpBB isn't a big hacker target, it is a target, like anything on the Internet. It's a good practice to keep it up to date. The last core update I performed was 2 years ago.

Specifics

Because I'm updating the core software, extensions that aren't keeping up -- haven't been updated -- may break. One I've found that's not playing nice* with the new software is Thanks for Posts. That's preliminary, that finding. I don't know for sure yet. If a hard test backs this up, I'll try to fix it. Worse case is it'll disappear from MVS Forums.

National Flags is also exhibiting this troubling behavior.

My plan is to update the core forum software, then bring up the extensions one-by-one. Any that don't work will be disabled and backburnered until everything is stable. Then I'll work on those that cause errors.

MVS Forums uses 14 extensions. I don't want to name them in case someone reads this and tries applying a known hacking vulnerability with one.

Design Changes

I'm changing the design to more closely resemble the stock theme Prosilver. The current theme is one I took and changed wholesale. By doing this I made it non-updatable. What I want to do is pull back from such big changes and keep things more stock to provide better page loading times, reduce bloat, and increase ease of updating when a new theme version comes out.

When?

Roughly one week.

IMHO

Why is this stuff breaking and difficult to implement? Because forums have been dying for roughly a decade. Because of the fall in forum users we have a fall in forum software popularity, and thus forum development has suffered. phpBB is still undergoing active development, but the pace is slow and (very) conservative. Many extensions like the ones mentioned above have been abandoned and not adopted by other developers.

So who deserves the blame for the death of forums and forum software? You don't have to look far. Facebook. Reddit. Youtube. When those got popular people began using them rather than "mom and pop" forums, and here we are.

The Future

If phpBB continues its lackluster trajectory, I'm going to look seriously at porting us over to Vanilla forum software. The look/design/features will be very different, but more robust, and with a brighter future.

* total meltdown on all forum pages, blank white screens... "White screen of death"

Post by **volvolugnut** » 17 Aug 2020, 17:48

Thanks for keeping MVS working. You have great community here that I am proud to associate with.
volvolugnut

Post by **Sveedy** » 18 Aug 2020, 13:23

+1 ^ You guys are my social media.

Post by **800artfreed** » 22 Aug 2020, 08:59

What can I do to help? I wouldn't even own a Volvo (3 of them) if it wasn't for this site. Please let me know if you need tech, money, or support.
Thanks for everything it takes to run the forum!

Post by **matthew1** » 22 Aug 2020, 09:35

800, owning Volvos because of MVS is high praise!

You can help by posting to the bug report thread I’ll post when I roll out the changes. Thanks in advance to you and others.

Post by **alschnertz** » 22 Aug 2020, 12:14

Thanks for all you do Matt. It can't be easy.

Would this explain why the home page is different than it was a few months ago?

Post by **matthew1** » 22 Aug 2020, 12:54

Yep, on July 1 I scrapped the old custom design and subbed in an off the shelf theme, with a few minor customizations.

Post by **matthew1** » 26 Aug 2020, 15:05

I'm about finished with the forum redesign. So far, it's very promising. My tests indicate page load speeds are twice as fast, but there are other variables at play that are affecting this, so take it with a grain of salt.

I'm going to roll it out tomorrow. I'll post a pagetop alert ten minutes prior so you don't get caught unaware. The upgrade should take an hour.

If you're reading this, please know when the server comes back up, things may look jumbled. That's normal.

If this is the case, you'll need to do a hard refresh.

Windows/Linux:

Hold the Ctrl key and press the F5 key.
Or, hold down Ctrl and ⇧ Shift and then press R.

Mac:

Hold down the ⇧ Shift and click the Reload button.
Or, hold down ⌘ Cmd and ⇧ Shift and then press R.

Post by **matthew1** » 27 Aug 2020, 21:00

Changes made but I haven't brought the extensions back yet. I'll do that either tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for your patience.

You can comment on the changes and requests you may have in this topic.

Post by **June** » 27 Aug 2020, 23:34

Please move the three line icon over. They are too close to the rolled edge on the smartphone screen making it hard to use. Just a smidge would be fine on both sides. June