A few questions before I commit to purchase

[Fluff E Bunny]

Hi there, first some background on our board. We originally were on vBulletin 3, then moved to IPBoard. We had over 1 million posts at that point, then lost our database (long story). We moved to new hosting an decided to go with MyBB, and that's where we are currently, with over a quarter million posts in a year.

My concern with MyBB is the general slowness of updates (you get what you pay for), and the lack of decent mobile support...no responsive UI, and Tapatalk is...not great. So I am considering a move to another platform, and am open to paid software.

So, here are my questions:

• I noticed there is a MyBB importer, but I see that it is listed as 'in beta' in the help doc. I also see that you are getting close to releasing a v1.3. Is there a time-frame for the current imported to be 'released', and will there be a built-in MyBB importer for v1.3?
• For banned users, is it possible to allow them to log in, but be restricted to specific forum(s)? It appears XF uses a similar all-or-nothing ban system, like IPB. We hated that system with a passion. Instead, we like having the ability to allow banned users to discuss their ban with the mod staff. (We also let paid subscribers read the banned user forum for entertainment). With MyBB, this is easy, since banning is simply governed by group membership, rather than flag.
• For reported posts system, is it possible to allow quoting of comments on reports in other report comments (ie, just treat it the same way as a thread, with the full post editor available)? I assume it could be done with template changes (how we did it for IPB), but would like confirmation. Our moderation staff discuss every report, and the conversations can get involved. It is easier to deal with with post quoting.

For MyBB, we currently use a plugin to create a post in a special restricted forum that we can then discuss the reported content in. As mentioned, MyBB banning is done via group restriction, not flag, so we can easily restrict banned users to just one forum where they can talk about their ban (with their posts requiring approval even there). The biggest thing is not losing our backlog of posts again, so we need rock solid importation.

Thanks!

 

[Fluff E Bunny]

Is there by any chance a multi-quote feature like in MyBB? I would have preferred to respond to the above posts with just one post.

Not yet.

However, just click on Reply for each post and the content will be added to the editor.

I see. Not quite what I am after, but may work.

 

[TPerry]

Only works on the same page. The work-around (haven't used it) from what I understand is to save a draft before you go to the next page. Clumsy as all get-out and one of the few weak points IMHO of xenForo.

 

[Fluff E Bunny]

Only works on the same page. The work-around (haven't used it) from what I understand is to save a draft before you go to the next page. Clumsy as all get-out and one of the few weak points IMHO of xenForo.

Honestly, if there is an add-in that handles it well, I'd be OK with that (depending on price). I think we had to use an add-in for either vBul or IPB...I can't remember which.

 

[x4rl]

Merge feature should work the same no matter if it is a one off created by yourself. The upgrade that I performed prompted me to perform merges in both all the styles necessary that I had installed (even the custom one I am working on - which is not a child of any other style).

Go try Eriks Felix skin and tell me the Merge feature works

 

[Paul B]

Do you mean Flexile?

That style is out of date and has no bearing on the template merge function.

 

[TPerry]

Go try Eriks Felix skin and tell me the Merge feature works

Yeah, if you mean Flexile it is NOT a 1.2 compatible style... and has TONS of problems since it does unsupported stuff. I was working with an individual on it and finally just said no more. It wasn't worth trying to make it 1.2 compatible (and responsive) as there are many more better styles out there that are 1.2 compatible (or can be with a few tweaks). What we are specifically referring to are 1.2 styles.
That's like saying a 60's VW Beetle engine should work just fine in a 2013 Ford F-250 diesel truck.

 

[x4rl]

Do you mean Flexile?

That style is out of date and has no bearing on the template merge function.

Yeah, if you mean Flexile it is NOT a 1.2 compatible style... and has TONS of problems since it does unsupported stuff. I was working with an individual on it and finally just said no more. It wasn't worth trying to make it 1.2 compatible (and responsive) as there are many more better styles out there that are 1.2 compatible (or can be with a few tweaks). What we are specifically referring to are 1.2 styles.
That's like saying a 60's VW Beetle engine should work just fine in a 2013 Ford F-250 diesel truck.

Well that's my point over time you have to update the skin/templates.
Edit = that so from 1.2 skins are easy to update?

 

[Fluff E Bunny]

OK, you guys piqued my curiosity. XF will do a merge on themes on upgrade? Is it an automatic merge, or does it require manual edits or assisted manual edits? I definitely had to deal with figure-it-out-yourself edits with a recent MyBB update. A few of the plugins I have made template changes and I had to recover them after the update to return them to functionality. Happens every time I update MyBB. Add that to the list of reasons I'd like to switch.

Thanks again for everyone's responses.

 

[Paul B]

Template merging is explained here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/template-merging-and-history.48846/

 

[x4rl]

OK, you guys piqued my curiosity. XF will do a merge on themes on upgrade? Is it an automatic merge, or does it require manual edits or assisted manual edits? I definitely had to deal with figure-it-out-yourself edits with a recent MyBB update. A few of the plugins I have made template changes and I had to recover them after the update to return them to functionality. Happens every time I update MyBB. Add that to the list of reasons I'd like to switch.

Thanks again for everyone's responses.

It will be better and easier than any other forum software. Xenforo is the best out there you will not be unhappy with it. I was just pointing to the fact there will still be templates to update with upgrades etc.... Believe me you will love it

 

[Fluff E Bunny]

Thanks, gents. I'm looking at probably late January for a rollout. May be late February (we're heavily focused on college football, so I have to deal with Bowls and recruiting periods and don't want too much down time). I'll probably purchase in early January (unless the weather sucks and I can't do what I planned for Xmas vacation) and set up a pilot installation to do a comprehensive evaluation and test all of the features our users expect. I'll probably have to write another plugin for the google drive integration, but that's not a huge deal, assuming XF allows custom BBCode php.

From the answers you guys have given, it looks like XF covers the vast majority of things we need, so hopefully I won't run into a huge gotcha after I purchase and set up the pilot. I also assume it isn't a huge deal to 'blow away' the pilot install's db and essentially start fresh before I do the import from MyBB?

 

[Paul B]

This thread should help with regards to doing test imports: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/importing-guidelines.25325/

 

[Fluff E Bunny]

This thread should help with regards to doing test imports: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/importing-guidelines.25325/

Thanks! Just read the template merge stuff you posted, looks perfect. Very similar to the code merge tools I use for my day job. I'll read the import stuff next!

 

[Fluff E Bunny]

Import looks straight forward, thanks!