Classical Theism, Philosophy, and Religion Forum / Should we update to new forum software?

**Posted by John West** 9/28/2018 1:23 am

I thought I should pass the question through a popular vote before going ahead. (We've been thinking of it for a while now.) Since boardhost doesn't let us see who votes what and this makes it quite easy to stuff the ballot box, I ask that if you vote you post.

**Posted by Calhoun** 9/28/2018 4:18 am

Where will be find the new link?

**Posted by John West** 9/28/2018 6:36 am

We'll announce it here and the link on Ed's blog will be updated. (Probably not right away, in the latter case.)

**Posted by Johannes** 9/28/2018 3:06 pm

I find current software fine for the purpose of this forum, but if the Administrator finds the allure of upgrading irresistible, let him go for it!

**Posted by John West** 9/28/2018 7:36 pm

You make me (and Jeremy and Dan) sound like the Terminator with the capital A like that.
Boardhost has removed a lot of really helpful moderator features in the last year. It would be nice to get some of those back. It would also be nice to be able to split threads.

I also think it would just look nicer. (I know. I know: "It's a forum. Not the Louvre. Get over yourself, John." But I try to think like someone coming to the forum for the very first time and deciding whether to sign up, and seeing our rather late '90s-looking layout.) The dictum that “if it works, it's enough” has led to too many cities being paved with those ghastly cement blocks people now call buildings.

**Posted by Calhoun** 9/29/2018 4:03 pm

Yes, all this looks very basic, would really like better looks. What about all the data here, will we be able to access it?

**Posted by John West** 9/29/2018 8:47 pm

We'll be keeping this forum alive (but inactive) so that we have a fallback point if something happens to the new one. I would like to copy all the old threads over to the new forum, but I don't think boardhost will let me.

**Posted by John West** 9/30/2018 7:31 pm

Alright. Well, the change won't be for a month or two, but unless there is suddenly a dramatic shift in the votes, we'll go ahead.

**Posted by seigneur** 10/05/2018 3:59 am

The current software is good enough for me. I have more of a quibble with the structure of the subforums. I think it's too overdifferentiated. Having just three subforums would be enough:

- On-topic (labelled the same as the title, which is in itself a narrow enough topic with a narrow gang of participants so that art, philosophy, literature, history, practices etc. can all be safely included without differentiation; if you want to have an orchestrated group reading/discussion it can be a pinned thread)
- Off-topic, including pinned Greetings and Welcomes
- Test/Admin (perhaps hidden from unregistered public)

From past experience I'd say Simple Machines and ElkArte are good softwares and WordPress is bad. But hey, whatever works for you admins...

Last edited by seigneur (10/05/2018 4:04 am)

**Posted by John West** 10/05/2018 4:06 am

Thanks for the suggestions. We're planning (with the earlier mentioned caveats) to use vBulletin software. It's pricey, but we think worth it. (We're open to something else, though, if anyone knows of anything superior to vBulletin.)