admin cp

[Jo.]

we're currently trying to find an alternative software for our large vb forum and we're down to 2 choices - xenForo and IPB. We are kind of on a time limit because our licence for vb runs out in a month and we will not be upgrading to vb4 - it's a mess and we don't trust vb anymore and need to move. We're having a lot of forum problems and are at the point where we really have no choice but to move at some point over the next couple of months. I don't know if xenForo will be ready in time but I really do like what I've seen so far.

Anyway, on to my question...

One of the really important things in our decision concerns the admin cp - its ease of use and useful features. Would it be possible to get an overview of the admin cp - how it works, what's available, some screenshots or a video? It would be really helpful to us!

Thanks!

 

[Elizabeth]

Hi Susannah! Welcome to XenForo.

Would you be able to explain, in a bit more detail, what your forum needs are, with respect to the above statement?

I'm not sure she can without divulging too much. 

 

[Mikey]

we use a lot of private forums that are given to members on request and after meeting various criteria, but it has been problematic in vb - we've ended up having to set up different usergroups for each private forum and then adding them as secondary usergroups to user accounts. It's important for the type of forum we have where privacy and security is an important issue - it's a forum for survivors of abuse.

There's no need to do that

Just while you stay on vB, here's an easier way to determine who sees what forums. It's a per-user thing, so it should be exactly what you need;

So if Susannah, for example, needs to see "Susannahs Secret Place" and no-one else, then thats how you'd do it. If, at a later date, you wanted to allow Bob, eg, to see that same forum, that's how you'd do it.

In the general forum permissions manager, you'd make it so that every group is set to ALL-NO (I think anyway, been a while since I touched on this bit), and that way only that member can see their forum.

 

[Peggy]

Yep I understand that, Liz. But she made a statement

active survivors of abuse on our forum dont lose their support - or the stability and security of their forum

and I'm just curious as to what kind of security she's talking about.

 

[Mikey]

Yep I understand that. But she made a statement

and I'm just curious as to what kind of security she's talking about.

A forum can offer support, security for those people, if they want to talk about something for example, and get support and feel secure while posting there.

 

[Peggy]

Yep I know now what she's needing. I had this when I had my aspergers and adhd forum, and also for my designs site.

 

[Susannah]

Hi Susannah! Welcome to XenForo.

Would you be able to explain, in a bit more detail, what your forum needs are, with respect to the above statement?

Hi! Nice to meet you. And sure. Apologies in advance for the rambling ... I'm good at that lol!

We have a pretty complicated forum right now, I have to say. We're a support forum for survivors of abuse (www.christiansurvivors.com/forums) who've somehow managed to stick around for over 10 years lol. We have, for our type of forum (survivor forums on the whole tend to be fairly small) a fairly large membership logging on daily, though it does vary from month to month, and we have a big load of posts because we keep pretty much everything - and to make things more complex, we cater to survivors of a lot of different types of abuses, which is also relatively unusual. Because of the different needs of these groups of members, we've over the years opened an awful lot of private forums which cater to specific needs - access to these forums is only given when members meet specific criteria. Vb's access masks caused us quite a lot of problems, because they seemed to have holes in them - resulting at first in members getting access to forums they shouldnt have, where there is really private and delicate things talked about... so we ended up with this complicated set of member groups which gave individual private forum access, in addition to the access masks - which is basically a nightmare, lol. So one of our priorities now is really to simplify that process if we possibly can. For our members to only have appropriate access, but without all the hassles admin side.

It's in our private forums where members talk in more detail about their abuse experiences, and the affect it now has on their lives ... so of course, they need to be sure that wherever we move, their information will be kept safe and private to only the people our staff team choose to give access to. They also need to know that there won't be any significant downtimes if at all possible, because the majority of them rely on our forum for daily support in dealing with the issues and hurts their abuse has caused them ... and many of them do panic when the forum goes down for any reason. (one of the reasons we want out of vb!! we've had ridiculous amounts of downtime over the last year!!) Honestly, I would have left vb a year ago, but because it will be a big change to move anywhere, it was put off. Change is pretty scary for survivors, especially when it affects their support, so we have to tread carefully.

Basically, we would have to have the second forum set up and running, and everything transferred across there, have the staff comfortable in using it, and it all running stably, before we actually shut down the original forum and move the members across. They need to know that their old posts won't be lost, as many use them in therapy, or just like to keep a record of their 'progress' etc, and that everything will be fairly smooth running once we've moved. (Hence why some of our staff are concerned about going with a brand new software - there's more unknowns)

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure that that totally answered your question ... but it's a start! Feel free to ask more q's if I rambled off on the wrong track!

 

[Susannah]

Yep I know now what she's needing. I had this when I had my aspergers and adhd forum, and also for my designs site.

Yep I would imagine the issues for those kinds of forums would be very similar to a survivors forum.

 

[Susannah]

There's no need to do that

Just while you stay on vB, here's an easier way to determine who sees what forums. It's a per-user thing, so it should be exactly what you need;

So if Susannah, for example, needs to see "Susannahs Secret Place" and no-one else, then thats how you'd do it. If, at a later date, you wanted to allow Bob, eg, to see that same forum, that's how you'd do it.

In the general forum permissions manager, you'd make it so that every group is set to ALL-NO (I think anyway, been a while since I touched on this bit), and that way only that member can see their forum.

Thanks for that Mikey! That is how we originally set up our forum, but inexplicably, there seemed to be holes in the system, giving people access to forums just because they had access to the category it was placed in. Vb couldnt explain it at the time, (and it's so long ago, like 8 years or something, that I can't remember the specific problems) so we devised a system that went around access masks. It is possible that those issues have subsequently been sorted out by vb, but by then it was too little too late, lol, because we had it all working a different way. I would certainly love to be able to do everything specifically by access masks when we move though, it would be by far simpler!!

 

[Peggy]

Ahh ok now I understand completely. I am a survivor of spousal abuse so I do understand the need for privacy there.

I stand by what Mike and Kier have said earlier. I'm sure that in 3 months time, XF should be able to meet your needs. Yes it is a brand new software, but developement has gone rather quickly, and once released for use, upgrades will be coming rapidly, in order to get it "up to speed" with our competitors.

I wouldn't be too concerned about it being such a new software, either. Kier and Mike are the former developers for vBulletin in its pre-vB4 days. They know what they're doing, and they're excellent at it.

 

[Jo.]

I'm really sorry to hear you've been through abuse too Peggy.

It helps to know that you are fairly confident that XF should be able to meet our needs fairly soon. I think that you guys are doing really well here and I'm impressed by what I've seen so far... and also by the way you interact with people. To me that goes a really long way!

 

[Jo.]

oh and thanks for that Mikey - Susannah pretty much replied for me haha so I don't really have anything more to add... but I appreciate your help!

 

[Susannah]

Ahh ok now I understand completely. I am a survivor of spousal abuse so I do understand the need for privacy there.

I stand by what Mike and Kier have said earlier. I'm sure that in 3 months time, XF should be able to meet your needs. Yes it is a brand new software, but developement has gone rather quickly, and once released for use, upgrades will be coming rapidly, in order to get it "up to speed" with our competitors.

I wouldn't be too concerned about it being such a new software, either. Kier and Mike are the former developers for vBulletin in its pre-vB4 days. They know what they're doing, and they're excellent at it.

I'm a survivor of spousal abuse too... it's why the forum was set up in the first place, really. 10 years ago there was very little positive support for survivors online, so me and a friend set about starting something without all the dramatics and flaming that seemed to follow the majority of places at the time. I'm sorry you've been there too with the abuse. I think so many people really don't realise what a life-changing experience something like that is!

Yep, I know of Kier and Mike from when we first started using vb, and I was around on the forum there some - and have always been really impressed with their work ethic! (Don't be embarrased guys, ha!) Haven't really been on the vb forum in years now though - I am chronically ill and bedbound, so I'm not able to be online too much - actually my amazing staff team run the forum now, with my imput running only to behind the scenes stuff, the majority of the time. But I certainly would be happy to go with a forum they've developed... in fact, if it wasn't for the fact that it's not just me involved in outcome of whatever decision our staff team makes, and that vb might throw us out in the cold soon, I'd just wait around for xf to come out and go with that. Ah, if only the world were so uncomplicated, heh. From reading around here, it certainly looks likely that it will be out within our time frame, though, now that we have 3 extra months to add to our timeline.

I also respect Mike and Kier for getting out from vb when the company starting making such terrible customer service decisions! And like Jo, I love how your staff are so quick at replying here on the forum - says a lot!

 

[Grover]

I also respect Mike and Kier for getting out from vb when the company starting making such terrible customer service decisions!

Amen to that.

 

[Peggy]

Thank you Susannah. We are survivors girlfriend!

You and Jo keep checking in here and getting to know everyone. As soon as the software is released, and the upgrades start rolling out, I'm sure it'll take no time for the guys to code in that level of security that you need. They're very good at listening to their customers and providing what they need/want.

I'm a survivor of spousal abuse too... it's why the forum was set up in the first place, really. 10 years ago there was very little positive support for survivors online, so me and a friend set about starting something without all the dramatics and flaming that seemed to follow the majority of places at the time. I'm sorry you've been there too with the abuse. I think so many people really don't realise what a life-changing experience something like that is!

Yep, I know of Kier and Mike from when we first started using vb, and I was around on the forum there some - and have always been really impressed with their work ethic! (Don't be embarrased guys, ha!) Haven't really been on the vb forum in years now though - I am chronically ill and bedbound, so I'm not able to be online too much - actually my amazing staff team run the forum now, with my imput running only to behind the scenes stuff, the majority of the time. But I certainly would be happy to go with a forum they've developed... in fact, if it wasn't for the fact that it's not just me involved in outcome of whatever decision our staff team makes, and that vb might throw us out in the cold soon, I'd just wait around for xf to come out and go with that. Ah, if only the world were so uncomplicated, heh. From reading around here, it certainly looks likely that it will be out within our time frame, though, now that we have 3 extra months to add to our timeline.

I also respect Mike and Kier for getting out from vb when the company starting making such terrible customer service decisions! And like Jo, I love how your staff are so quick at replying here on the forum - says a lot!

 

[Ruven]

The permissions system is very extensive, if perhaps a little complex at times. It's currently undergoing some changes to allow it to be more intuitive. We will post a HYS thread about it when possible.

However, I would say that I'm not sure if XenForo is going to be a good fit for you at this time. You have a relatively short time frame, with rather specific requirements because of your subject matter. XF is still in its early days and is just beginning to grow, so it will need some time to mature. I'm not trying to direct you away from us; I just don't want you to be holding out for a final release only to discover that it doesn't do what you need.

It sounds like you'd need an admin demo to see whether it fits your needs fully and I do imagine that would be something we'd provide after the final release is available.

Refreshing as hell.
So refreshing actually that midway through it i started to say to myself "ok Mike, thats enough....what are you TRYING to lose a customer?" lol

 

[Ruven]

I think that three month extension would be just what is required in this instance.

*looks at his tea leaves* ... so by this i will assume that XF will be running on my server in no more than 3 months time.

 

[Susannah]

Thank you Susannah. We are survivors girlfriend!

We so are, hon!!!

You and Jo keep checking in here and getting to know everyone. As soon as the software is released, and the upgrades start rolling out, I'm sure it'll take no time for the guys to code in that level of security that you need. They're very good at listening to their customers and providing what they need/want.

Will definitely do that! (well, as much as i can to my ability anyway ... I'm bedbound with illness, grr, and that makes it a struggle for me to be online - but I'll sure be doing my best to keep up with things here - even if it's only just reading around as I've been doing till now!)

It's certainly good to hear you say that about security. And I've noticed myself that the things future customers have been asking for here have been listened to and taken into account ... it's one of the things that has made me interested in moving to xf!

 

[Ruven]

Thanks Crazyfruitbat

I've had a look at the videos, but what we really need to see is stuff like... setting up forum permissions and access masks - doing that in vb is a bit of headache... we use a lot of private forums that are given to members on request and after meeting various criteria, but it has been problematic in vb - we've ended up having to set up different usergroups for each private forum and then adding them as secondary usergroups to user accounts. It's important for the type of forum we have where privacy and security is an important issue - it's a forum for survivors of abuse. We'ved had to set up a load of extra usergroups just because people were getting access in areas they shouldn’t just because they were set to have access to a category of forums...

Anyway, that's important to us and so we would really like to be able to see more details of the admin cp and how it works, particularly in terms of using and setting up private forum access and that kind of stuff.

The other thing is, will it be possible to turn off features like the social networking stuff if we want to? Because again, due to the nature of our forums, that kind of thing isn't something we want because it could compromise members feelings of safety and security.

Thanks again for your help!

My 2 cents...

Do you absolutely need to renew your license in any way in order to continue running vB, in other words are you a leased license? (although i think they dont do that anymore, right?)
Is your site one that has been previously exploited, or do you know of attacks to exploit your site?
Sure, you want to be protected from exploits by having the latest patch... but are you really putting yourself at huge risk by not having access to security patches for the next 3 months, specially being that vB is pretty relatively secure already?

I would maybe wait it out, and then if there is a new security patch that looks important you could always just start your 3 month plan right then and there, getting the most bang for your buck. You may luck out and XF is released before any substantial security patch is even needed... saving yourself some dough.

On another subject... do you have access to the vBulletin community groups feature?
If so, that might go a long way towards easing your privacy issues.
Each group has its own little mini forum inside of it.
You can let users create their own private groups, or you create them and then assign a group "owner" to that specific group.
The group owner can then choose who they will allow into their private group.
And this group level permission is much easier to control, and it supersedes the forum permission system so mods/supermods cant view the contents of a private group.
You dont have to create any new usergroups or a myriad of private forums.
And it works in much the same way.
You can then if you wish create a "Private Groups" section, close it off to new posts... and then in the area where you put the section description you can create a bunch of links to all of your private forums. Maybe the names of the owners of the forum with a direct link to the particular forum. Like so....
Private Forums: Kathy|Mike|Mabel|Tony|Sally|Lisa|Kenny|Maria|Amber|Axl|Roxy|Boxxy
Etc...

 

[Jo.]

You and Jo keep checking in here and getting to know everyone. As soon as the software is released, and the upgrades start rolling out, I'm sure it'll take no time for the guys to code in that level of security that you need. They're very good at listening to their customers and providing what they need/want.

I'll definitely keep checking in. I already feel at home here - very strange lol! Thanks for making us feel welcome!

My 2 cents...

Do you absolutely need to renew your license in any way in order to continue running vB, in other words are you a leased license? (although i think they dont do that anymore, right?)
Is your site one that has been previously exploited, or do you know of attacks to exploit your site?

Well I guess technically we could run it without renewing our license but I think for peace of mind we will buy the maintenance for our current version, to tide us over until we can move. We have been hacked in the past and lost a lot of data and it caused a heap of problems. We don't really want to risk that happening again.

On another subject... do you have access to the vBulletin community groups feature?
If so, that might go a long way towards easing your privacy issues.

yeah we do, but to be honest, we really don't want to be staying with vb anymore anyway - they've completely lost our confidence, so spending the huge amount of time researching/learning how else to do the private forums etc. and then implementing it, doesn't seem worth it. And that's without considering all the other problems we've been having...

 

[Ruven]

yeah we do, but to be honest, we really don't want to be staying with vb anymore anyway - they've completely lost our confidence, so spending the huge amount of time researching/learning how else to do the private forums etc. and then implementing it, doesn't seem worth it. And that's without considering all the other problems we've been having...

Hmmm, i wonder how versatile the Pages system will turn out to be.
Would be cool if you could create a Page, call it Ruvens Page, have that page be private only to me and whomever i tell the staff to give access to, and then create a little blog/mini forum within that Page for people in my little group to use.