Ok, so I've heard that devnetwork.net might be switching over to MyBB (or at least, it's being considered), and I was just wondering what people's opinions are.
The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
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The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
Ok, I don't normally post polls or whatever...but since I've had a bit of encouragement from the mods, why not 
Ok, so I've heard that devnetwork.net might be switching over to MyBB (or at least, it's being considered), and I was just wondering what people's opinions are.

Ok, so I've heard that devnetwork.net might be switching over to MyBB (or at least, it's being considered), and I was just wondering what people's opinions are.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
I voted for building one from scratch. All the current offerings are pretty much a mess and I think this forum has all the necessary skills to pull it off.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
Yeah, me too.
I wouldn't call them a mess....but I do think we could make a better one
Plus, it'd be fun. As long as we can be decisive...and don't argue too much.
I wouldn't call them a mess....but I do think we could make a better one
Plus, it'd be fun. As long as we can be decisive...and don't argue too much.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
I must have missed something, why are our mighty leaders considering switching to something else? 
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
it's a continuation of this discussion - viewtopic.php?f=7&t=103242
- jayshields
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Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
More hassle/effort than it's worth. Stay with the same setup. It would take years to build a better forum than one such as phpBB.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
are you serious? have you looked over the code for phpBB?It would take years to build a better forum than one such as phpBB.
- jayshields
- DevNet Resident
- Posts: 1912
- Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:11 pm
- Location: Leeds/Manchester, England
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
No, I haven't. It doesn't matter if the code looks like a pile of dog food though. There are so many features and it's pretty robust. It wouldn't surprise me if there was over 30k lines of code in there.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
Well it does matter if we're speaking of quality. And there are plenty of downtimes, bot-attacks and other miscellaneous problems that are patched over temporarily since extending phpBB is such a hassle.It doesn't matter if the code looks like a pile of dog food though.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
Any custom build we did would have to cope with the problems that phpBB copes with, even if phpBB doesn't do a particularly great job. It'd be very complicated. That's no reason not to try of course, but I think it's premature to suggest switching to a custom developed forum until we actually have the beginnings of one in place to switch to.pytrin wrote:And there are plenty of downtimes, bot-attacks and other miscellaneous problems...
I did actually suggest (in the mod folder) a set of new awards for next year's PHPDN Awards to reward things like "Best PHPDN Community Project", "Best Project Leader", "Best Project Developer", and so on. The thought process behind such awards was that there have been quite a few PHPDN projects talked about, like the PHPDN Store, the image search engine, etc, that haven't ever gone much farther than the discussion stage. Something to encourage them to get to the coding stage would be good.
Perhaps you should get something started on this forum idea ... you might win!
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
Yeah, of course. Such a project would have to be mature enough to replace phpBB for devnet. I think though that with the knowledge and skill we have on the boards on development, security, performance and so forth it is very much achievable. In fact, many of us have side-projects that could integrate nicely with this effort (for example, Vlad's permission system and arborint's skeleton framework).That's no reason not to try of course, but I think it's premature to suggest switching to a custom developed forum until we actually have the beginnings of one in place to switch to.
nice motivationPerhaps you should get something started on this forum idea ... you might win!
This thread is a start. If enough people get on-board, we could move forward. I don't mind being the catalyst for discussion, and of course pitching in on development.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
Yeah...
I have actually had a go at starting it off. Just like...planning stuff out. Thinking about it, I agree onion2k's point...it will be monstrous!! phpBB has so many configuration options...moderation/admin tools etc...
I've been working on my own forum for ages - I guess I never realised I wrote so much code for it. If this ever were to get off the ground, it would need a fair few of us working on it...
Still, it'd be fun to try. And yeah, as pytrin says...we've probably got a fair bit of it coded already due to our own side projects and stuff.

I have actually had a go at starting it off. Just like...planning stuff out. Thinking about it, I agree onion2k's point...it will be monstrous!! phpBB has so many configuration options...moderation/admin tools etc...
I've been working on my own forum for ages - I guess I never realised I wrote so much code for it. If this ever were to get off the ground, it would need a fair few of us working on it...
Still, it'd be fun to try. And yeah, as pytrin says...we've probably got a fair bit of it coded already due to our own side projects and stuff.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
I actually wrote a couple of forum systems before. Nothing as extensive as phpBB, for sure, but the basics were there. It's really not that much work, and you don't really need the entire set of features phpBB offers - as long it can be easily modified / extended. phpBB has a lot of little used features.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
I don't doubt there's enough skill here to build a forum. But the challenge is you need a couple of people motivated and disciplined enough to keep it up. I've seen a couple of projects started now, and the enthusiasm is large at the beginning, but at some point a project needs a few people who lead, who manage everything, set deadlines and milestones, etc and who keep it up to actually do the hard work
Maybe a problem with a pure community project is that if a lot of people are involved but nobody "owns" the project, that there's also nobody who feels like it's "his" project, who feels responsible to do something every week. You can just come and go. One month you start on a small part of code for the project, next month you're overwhelmed with work and forget about it. From what I see around, almost any successful open source project does have one person who leads everything. And then once (and as long as) the project runs, it gets attractive for others to be involved.
Maybe a problem with a pure community project is that if a lot of people are involved but nobody "owns" the project, that there's also nobody who feels like it's "his" project, who feels responsible to do something every week. You can just come and go. One month you start on a small part of code for the project, next month you're overwhelmed with work and forget about it. From what I see around, almost any successful open source project does have one person who leads everything. And then once (and as long as) the project runs, it gets attractive for others to be involved.
Re: The Forum!!! (for want of a better subject...)
matthijs has hit the nail on the head. I've also noticed that community projects spend so much time debating how things should be done, that nothing ever gets done. I'm considering launching this project, but I want to verify that I have enough time to do it. I'm in the process of wrapping up a project I've been working on and will get back with everyone shortly.