Any change of replacing XMB with phpBB2 ?

[(SH)Saeed]

I've talked to one of the developers of XMB about the many bugs in XMB and he said that the origial developers left and gave the project to these guys. A lot of clients complain about not being able to edit their posts, this and that. Is there any chance XMB can be replaced with phpBB2 which is much better when it comes to features, updates, bugfixes, support, etc?

[Djelibeybi]

Yeah, but the Admin CP of phpBB2 isn't that great. I think this is one of those features that spawns &Board X is so much better than Board Y& arguments.

My preference is for Invision Board (also written in PHP), but others may disagree.

[(SH)Saeed]

Actually, I'm not looking to start arguments or anything like that. I simply think it's time XMB got replaced by a better board that has better support and more frequent update releases. It doesn't matter if it's phpBB2, Invision Board or another board as long as the important requirements are met. The reason I suggested phpBB2 is as I mentioned above, the support is great, lots of modules, frequent updates and it has almost all features you could want in a message board script. However, if you provide a link to Invision Board I would be glad to take a look at it and consider it as well.

[zex]

I also think that is the time to change xmb...
I hade alot's of troubles while moving users and their forums from one server to another just becouse of newer version of php..

It was so terible that i decide to replace xmb with phpBB
BTW phpBB have converter for all popular forums like xmb, vbulletin, etc..

[(SH)Saeed]

Some of our users installed XMB since it's in the control panel and then we have tons of support requests because this and that didn't work. Finally found a XMB2phpBB converter and now it's so quiet that I get bored, LOL.

[Djelibeybi]

http://www.invisionboard.com

Written in PHP by the original Ikonboard author (Matt Mecham). Requires mySQL though (as does phpBB2), so on accounts that don't have mySQL access, this could be a problem.

I'm not going to recommend Ikonboard because its Perl based and while it does support DBM_File, busy Perl forums can really bring down a shared host (right Shaun?).

[AlaskanWolf]

theres been many tickets from our customers that their board &got hacked& now im not sure if they were running 1.5 or 1.6

XMB does need to be altered with another board, more secure etc..

[Curious Too]

[quote:e017a05136][i:e017a05136]Originally posted by AlaskanWolf[/i:e017a05136]

theres been many tickets from our customers that their board &got hacked& now im not sure if they were running 1.5 or 1.6

XMB does need to be altered with another board, more secure etc..[/quote:e017a05136]

Did they remove their install file? If they don't remove it someone can come along and re-install their board, deleting all of their registered users and posts.

[PunK999]

I vote for Invisionboard.

[JustinK]

[quote:45311ac1c8][i:45311ac1c8]Originally posted by Djelibeybi[/i:45311ac1c8]
Requires mySQL though (as does phpBB2), so on accounts that don't have mySQL access, this could be a problem.
[/quote:45311ac1c8]

XMB Requires a database as well.

I think before picking anything we should do some full on testing of each board so we don't run into something that looks neat but kills the server.

[edit]
In addition, I think if/before anymore scripts are added we need the option to turn the feature off. I don't like having new scripts that I suddenly get to do support for pop up left and right.

[(SH)Saeed]

The reason I think phpBB2 is the best choice is because it has existed for some time now and it seems like a frequently updated board which I believe is VERY important. I haven't tried Invisionboard that much yet but I hear the developer used to work on another board before.

[Holbrookau]

I vote to replace XMB - too flakey and is not supported at all now (hence all the support requests).
If it is not replaced then perhaps it should be removed from the default skin altogether.

I far as I can see, it comes down these php/MySQL based boards:
phpBB (formally phpBB2), InvisionBoard, or YaBBSE.
phpBB is nice if not a little involved. There is something about the way it is marketed that I dont like, but thats just me!
IB has some excellent features (including options to reduce server load & data use) but is even more involved, which is great for some of us that like to play, but not so for others starting out.
YaBBSE has an easy to use interface - ideal for new users to setup and use. It doesn't get as much publicity as the others but I like it.

They all run at about the same speed but this really depends on what features are turned on.
All have community/support forums where like minded poeple hang out discussing problems or coming up with &hacks& to improve the product. The great thing about the community forums is that everyone is basically a beta tester - security and critical fixes are implemented very quickly and anything else is discussed openly.

This is not meant spark debate as to which is better or faster or whatever, I'm just telling it the way I see it. I have tried out virtually every free board available (including the perl based ones) both on local and live servers and these 3 stand out for features, speed, stability and support.
My guess is if the installer is written correctly and all required modules are present on the server you shouldn't need to provide much in the way of support - thats what the community forums can do for you.

What do I use?.. vBulletin

[Holbrookau]

I see a couple of extra files in the latest default skin - looks like it has been (or will be) done.

[mccmikey]

I vote for YaBB

http://www.yabb.info

Sample running on cpanel at http://www.auzzie.net/yabbse/index.php?board=2

Can run as CGI or php. PHP faster. Easy setup. Good support.

I tried XMB but didn't like the colours and couldn't figure how to change them.

Cheers, Mike.

[(SH)Saeed]

Definitely not YaBB. I vote for either phpBB2 or InvisionBoard. We currently offer free installation of phpBB2 to our users and none of them have ever complained, infact they are so happy that sometimes they email us back after a couple of weeks and tell us how much their users love the new board.

Just my $0.02...