Forum Announcement

Jakubk

MSE_Tine wrote: »

Hi everyone!

I've tried to answer what looks like the most asked questions you've posted - hopefully this should help clear up some of the things that you're all wondering! :beer:

• “The Forum doesn’t seem broken to me, why change?”
o The truth is that the Forum is broken, even if much of it is on the back end out of sight. Some things are visible to everyone like search being less than efficient, the day light savings controls, the recent site crashes and so on. The code that runs things isn’t out of the box: it’s been added to by a lot of developers over time to get all the unique things we have which on other platforms are now “standard”. This includes our Comping tick and a lot of things that made us unique when we implemented them. As time has passed browsers and server technology have changed and more and more custom “hacks” have broken. We’re at a point where we simply cannot fix any problems.

• “Can we keep the green version/layout?”
o Unfortunately we’re turning off vBulletin when we move over, but we’re working incredibly hard on taking the best bits with us from both versions into the new Forum. The look and the design of the forum will definitely be influenced by our Fab Forumite Feature Testing Group.

• “If you’re not keeping the Green/Blue looks what ARE you doing?”
o As far as possible we’re trying to do a “lift and shift” of the functionality we currently have and making it look as similar as we reasonably can. There will be some changes, but we are hoping you will agree those turn out to be improvements.

• “Are you going to make the new Forum all about mobile?”
o We’ve heard the rumours and can confirm they’re NOT true! Our clever design folks are working on the desktop design first and foremost, but yes the new Forum will be mobile friendly. That’s because tech has moved on and most are now created so they work on both and it won’t be to the detriment of the Desktop experience.

• “What Forum are you moving to? Can it cope with us?”
o We are moving to a platform called Vanilla. After a lot of technical meetings, long nights with our product team looking at all the options this was the best software to meet our needs. We had very strong criteria of security, stability, support availability, uptime, functionality, design flexibility and being very blunt cost is also a consideration. This was certainly not the cheap option, but it was the best across most of our requirements and it was not a choice made in a rush, far from it we promise!
And yes, they can cope with our volumes and back catalogue of posts We won’t be the largest Forum hosted by them, although I have a feeling we are heading for “biggest challenge” title quite quickly!

• “Stop allowing AE’s!”
o All this new technology should make things easier for the Forum Team and includes new tools to allow us to address AE’s and rule breaking. Much of what is new will be behind the scenes to help us look after the Forums. We’re trying to keep the front end as similar as we can.

• “Please can we have/can you change/improve this:”
o From day 1, when we go live, we are aiming for things to look as like for like as we can. There WILL be some changes to functionality, but we are trying to keep them to a minimum on the front end that you guys see. The Fab Forumite Feature Testing Group will be key over the next few months to this. When we go live we will continue to take feedback from the community and we will be able to make tweaks thanks to the new technology.

• “This is just to help you monetize the Forum isn’t it?”
o Just to be clear – no.
The Forums have always been provided free to our users with no advertising. Whilst we do use skimlinks they in no way come close to covering even a fraction of the cost of running or hosting the Forums (like not even SLIGHTLY ).
MSE operates under a VERY strict Editorial Code set out by Martin many years ago and we are very clear about how we are financed. It's all here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/moneysavingexpert-finance/
We are investing a really significant amount of money in future proofing the Forum for you. We’re doing that because we passionately believe the forum and the community lies at the core of MSE.



Hope this helps! Have a great Weekend!

MSE Tine

No disrespect but I do not see a valid reason to change plaform

So you have some bolt on code, who doesn't it is how things are done

You would be better off documenting and rewriting the code if it is no longer compatible with new version of Vbulletin.

It really seems that this is NOT user led and you are NOT listening to the concerns raised.

Installing a new version of Vbulletin pointing to the latest version or a clone version of the database with transaction logs updating at intervals, would give you the naked forum based on out of the box vBulletin.

It would be easy to migrate the existing skins and offer a new one if people want it.

Then for the code you use this time to take each code modification, determine if you still need it and if so document it fully, then migrate it to the new vBulletin.

Then once complete you could bring people over in batches and iron out any issues, then migrate more and rinse n repeat.

I can tell you it is going to be far easier on users and will save you investing in a platform that really is much the same as the current version of Vbulletin.

I do not expect you to listen to me because you seem to have decided to ignore your users. yet they are your asset, not your forum.

fifeken

Jakubk wrote: »

I do not expect you to listen to me because you seem to have decided to ignore your users. yet they are your asset, not your forum.

I mentioned previously the time to consult users was before any decision was made on a new platform, not after. It appears the cart was put before the horse.

J_B

Jakubk wrote: »

It really seems that this is NOT user led and you are NOT listening to the concerns raised.




I do not expect you to listen to me because you seem to have decided to ignore your users. yet they are your asset, not your forum.

Come on ... it's a "upgrade" ... you know they are always better! :rotfl:

redux

I just looked at a vBulletin forum which has 2.5 times as many posts as here.

DigForVictory

What a lot of work you have already done - for which, thank you. Please pick as many testers as you can & listen to them (us?) to get the very best overall end result.

There will always be a bit of tweaking which can’t quite be justified but an awful lot of us love the green and our desktops, so please try & meet us?

I am pleased to think you’ll have better tools against spam, and in our volunteer mods you have heroic folk, so please equip them to make our forums the usually hassle free place I think of as my digital home?

Please also keep the brews & biccies flowing to all involved in the process - tech migration with this number of anxious eyeballs will be challenging. Very best of luck!

quoia

robatwork wrote: »

Will you be publishing who is in the FFTG, Tine?

MSE_Tine wrote: »

We have no plans of doing so although those who wish will get a badge to add to their collections - but it’s entirely their choice if they want to have it 😊

Whilst you might not be naming the FFFTG ...

.. can you ...

Tell us how many applied to join the group?
Tell us how many you have accepted, or are going to, would like to?
When will those who have applied know they have either been accepted or rejected?

And WHY ...:D

.... can't I post the word BANANA after a DOUBLE QUOTE ?:rotfl:


BANANA banana (on its own is OK)
'BANANA 'banana (after ' single quote/apostrophe ALSO OK)
!!!!!!! !!!!!!! (immediately after " without a space and it don't work - CENSORED!)

Thanks
Q

worried_jim

flashg67 wrote: »

Or as I'm sure our IT department's mantra goes - 'if it ain't broke, fix it until it is'

Glad it's not just mine! I dread every update as they are a backwards time consuming exercise. Just leave stuff alone.

Tigsteroonie

quoia wrote: »

And WHY ...:D

.... can't I post the word BANANA after a DOUBLE QUOTE ?:rotfl:


BANANA banana (on its own is OK)
'BANANA 'banana (after ' single quote/apostrophe ALSO OK)
!!!!!!! !!!!!!! (immediately after " without a space and it don't work - CENSORED!)

Really? Banana 'Banana !!!!!!!
Wow, it's not just you!

ChrisK....._3

Can we also take this opportunity to avoid OVER CATEGORISING. just because a person wants to know how much it would cost for a new, wooden, blue, door, doesn't mean they need their own category, becausecategorising automatically excludes people the otherwise might be interested in the topic, which could appeal to people that also are looking for a green door, or people that are looking for a UPVC door, or people that are just interested in DIY, by all means include filters for people that want them, but don't exclude people by virtue of making them look at 8 different forums when they only want to look at 1. DIY forum

StumpyPumpy

quoia wrote: »

And WHY ...:D
.... can't I post the word BANANA after a DOUBLE QUOTE ?:rotfl:
BANANA banana (on its own is OK)
'BANANA 'banana (after ' single quote/apostrophe ALSO OK)
!!!!!!! !!!!!!! (immediately after " without a space and it don't work - CENSORED!)

Let's get this straight, you are saying that the profanity filter allows the word Banana in a message unless you prefix a double quote?

I guess it must know when people write the word "Banana with salacious intent and when they are pure of heart and only thinking of the herbaceous fruit.

:rotfl:

SP