Forums

[Chell]

The forum on my site is slightly broken at the moment. I could get DH to try to fix it but I don't actually like the forum. :hysterica

COmpared to other forums Simple Machines doesn't seem to attract much spam.

I'd like something free or cheap to run and free of adverts. I'd like to be able to add banners to the site too.

Can you recommend a forum?

:thank_you:

[Tanya]

the only free one that I know about is hostedboard.com (like Anne had)

[Chell]

I don't want it hosted, it would be on my site.

[Ravenfire]

http://www.mybboard.net/

Thats a good one and easy to use.

[Chell]

Have you used that one Toni?

[Ravenfire]

Yes I originally used it on DWD and I also installed it for someone else. It's very easy to install and use and offers some modifications and templates as well.

[Ravenfire]

Another forum is phpBB but personally I would steer clear as that type from what I have seen, whilst having a lot of extras, seems to get hacked more than most others and you need to constantly keep up with the updates to make sure it's secure. It's also harder to make modifications on.

[Chell]

DH installed phpBB but then I read bad reports about it on UKB so he took it off and we went with SMF.


Why did you take the one above off of DWD? Were there problems?

I've posted this on UKB too but what are the benefits of paying for vBulletin?

[Ravenfire]

No problems I just changed DWD to vBulletin.

Out of all the forums I have used I prefer vBulletin (and I have tried a lot of them over the years including phpBB, Simpleboards, MyBB, IPB etc.) and it also tends to be one of the most secure as well as offering a lot of different features as standard. The techy people are very good if you have problems with it you can't solve, and it offers some good free modifications, such as itrader, arcade etc as well as add on paid ones.

[Chell]

Do you know if any of the forums are better in terms of SEO? I have no stats on my forum so I have no idea if it is viewed or not. I see guests but they could be spiders for all I know.

[Ravenfire]

I'm not sure but I know the posts on Mumszone do get picked up quickly and easily and again there are modifications that help with this if you want to use them (although I don't have those installed on Mumszone) and also loads of posts offering ways to improve.

On vBulletin it actually shows you if it is spiders or guests on your online list.

[Chell]

I'm in the vBulletin demo, the cpanel allows you to edit the meta tags/descriptions or whatever they are called. This isn't in the cpanel of SMF.

[Ravenfire]

It does that so that every page has those at the top

[Chell]

I am tempted but I am not supposed to be spending money!

[Chell]

When you changed DWD from SMF to vBulletin did everyone have to re-register and the forum start from fresh or is there a way to merge them?

[Ravenfire]

You can move them all across:-

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=251681&highlight=simple+machines

[Ravenfire]

Basically once you buy a license you get access to a download section and if you are unsure where to find anything there is a support ticket section for members and they can point you in the right direction.

[Chell]

Excellent, thanks for all your help. I had visions of having to copy some posts over to add content.

[Ravenfire]

No it's pretty easy, the only issue I did have with passwords but all I did to combat that when I moved DWD was to send a bulk email to all members asking them to set a new one. The actual moving it across was very simple particularly when it's not a large forum, like DWD.

[Chell]

Toni, I think I may have boobed. vBulletin is installed but I used the domain as the url for the forum. Should I have done this as say /forum as the CMS thingy will be the home page and not the forum. :unsure:

DH says he can amend it for me if necessary but I wasn't sure if installing the vadvanced thing would give me the option. I bet this makes no sense. :cheesy: :unsure:

[Ravenfire]

How did you want it set up. Do you mean that you wanted it to say the site name forum?

[Chell]

I was going to use that other thing you suggested for the homepage so I presume I sould have setbthe forum as www.........co.uk/forum rather than the way I have. Sorry, I don't want to post a full link as this is in the open forum.

[Ravenfire]

Yes just create the file folder and move all those in there.

[Chell]

DH is trying to convert from SMF to VB.

$impexconfig['target']['databasetype'] = 'mysql';
$impexconfig['target']['server'] = 'localhost';
$impexconfig['target']['user'] = 'username';
$impexconfig['target']['password'] = 'password';
$impexconfig['target']['database'] = 'vbulletin_forum';
$impexconfig['target']['tableprefix'] = '';


# If the system that is being imported from uses a database,
# enter the details for it here and set 'sourceexists' to TRUE.
# If the source data is NOT stored in a database, set 'sourceexists' to FALSE

$impexconfig['sourceexists'] = false;

# mysql / mssql
$impexconfig['source']['databasetype'] = 'mysql';
$impexconfig['source']['server'] = 'localhost';
$impexconfig['source']['user'] = 'username';
$impexconfig['source']['password'] = 'password';
$impexconfig['source']['database'] = 'source';
$impexconfig['source']['tableprefix'] = '';

He isn't sure what to fill in for the source, especially what goes in the local host. He said something about local host should be ok to stay at it is for target but not source. *whoosh* Right over my head! Have you any idea what is on about?

:kisshands:

[Ravenfire]

$impexconfig['source']['databasetype'] = 'mysql';
$impexconfig['source']['server'] = 'localhost';

Try leaving those two as they are and just fill in the rest with your details.

So the target would be the database that you are creating your vbulletin in, so set the vbulletin up first. Then the source would be your SMF details.

[Ravenfire]

Are you using the same service provider that you used when you had your SMF forum?

[Chell]

No.

[Ravenfire]

Did you move your SMF forum over to this new host first or have you just installed your vbulletin forum there?

[Chell]

SMF is on the old one as it is part of www.chelltune.co.uk (http://www.chelltune.co.uk) vBulletin is on the new one.

ImpEx is uploading now. If it goes wrong its not too much of a problem. I'm not bothered if the old forum breaks and the new one can easy be uninstalled/installed.

[Ravenfire]

I've sent you a PM. TBH I have only ever done it when the forum software for both were on the same server. If what you are doing now doesnt work try what I suggested in my PM.

[Chell]

Thanks, I think we will give up for now, it is too late now.

'Connection to source server failed. Check username and password. - this is what is says when we log in to impEx with the customer number. The passwords are right AFAIK.

[Ravenfire]

I would put both databases on the same server tbh, its your easiest option and because your forum isn't large it should be pretty quick to do. The longest bit will be backing up the forum files (what do you use, do you connect using an FTP Program)? At least then you have a backup of both the database and the forum on your desktop should anything go wrong.

[Chell]

Thanks, DH has given in for now. He uses Filezilla.

Thanks for all your help. There isn't much on the old forum but it would be nice to keep what is there and the members as I ran comps and things to get them there in the first place. I deleted loads of irrelevant/naff posts the other day to make there less so move.

[Ravenfire]

I wouldn't worry about deleting anything. I have always found the easiest way is to use an FTP program. The database itself will be very small at the moment and should literally only take a matter of 10 mins or less to backup onto your desktop. Do you have phpmyadmin as thats the easiest way to back up the database itself.