Proboards DB to SMF to Xenforo, or your better idea?

[Birdman66]

Hi folks. I am the proud owner of a forum that was built on Proboards last year, upgraded to their whitelabel Forums.net platform, and this allows me to download what they call a full database download.

I would like to go the Xenforo route. I have found someone who claims to be able to build a converter to convert the PB Database into SMF, and then the plan would be to convert the SMF to Xenforo.

I've never written SQL or built a forum from scratch, and the above scenero scares the heck out of me along with the prospect of my forum being down for a long time and probably losing a bunch of my 2000 members.

Does anyone have any better ideas?

Anyone here think they could build a PB to Xenforo converter?

Why should team Xenforo be extra interested in this? Because I doubt that I am the only one on Proboards wanting to switch to Xenforo .. There are alot of guys like me who can't code but are good at attracting members.

Take my DB, and be the first to build a PB converter? The sales reps in your company could have a pretty good year once word spreads...

 

[Birdman66]

nobody interested? Any advice at least? Do Xenforo team members read this page?

 

[Mike]

I didn't respond earlier because your main question seemed to be asking about someone developing one for you. Official importers are created based on demand and I really can't say we've had much for one from Proboards (especially as you can't export the data from their base setup, last I knew).

Otherwise, the main approach would be importing into a system XF can import from, as you've mentioned with the SMF route. This can work, though it does depend on the quality of both imports (if the first step isn't good, the second step won't be good). Passwords are unlikely to be maintained with a double import as well.

 

[Birdman66]

As stated in m post, I switched to their Forums.net paid option, and after six months they allow us to download a full database of our Forum. I'm past that 6 month point and have access to the database, just have to click a button in my admin panel and it downloads the database. I'd like to be able to skip the SMF route if possible an just use my database to build an Xenforo forum, an then start modding it. Or, pay someone with more skills to do it for me.

Looks like the PB to SMF to Xenforo is the way to go though, huh? An yes, I will lose passwords plus attachments/non hosted photos.

My other question is, is the license fee a one time thing or an annual thing? Annual if I want support, one time if I don't need support?

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Birdman66]

Also, their forums.net is a pretty new program. So, that is why it hasn't been popular. I think that I will be the very first to do this and when word spreads, there will be many more as Forums.net is expensive. Great support though from Proboards staff, but expensive.

 

[Paul B]

My other question is, is the license fee a one time thing or an annual thing? Annual if I want support, one time if I don't need support?

The initial license purchase is a one off payment, which includes 12 months of support and updates.

After the initial 12 months, the license is still valid and you can continue to use the software, but if you wish to download new releases or access ticket support, you would need to purchase a 1 year extension, which is purely optional.

The cost of the extension would depend on whether you have any official add-ons attached to the license.

For the core XenForo software only, it is currently $40.

The details are available here: https://xenforo.com/purchase/xenforo-details

 

[Birdman66]

thanks!

 

[rv65]

I didn't respond earlier because your main question seemed to be asking about someone developing one for you. Official importers are created based on demand and I really can't say we've had much for one from Proboards (especially as you can't export the data from their base setup, last I knew).

Otherwise, the main approach would be importing into a system XF can import from, as you've mentioned with the SMF route. This can work, though it does depend on the quality of both imports (if the first step isn't good, the second step won't be good). Passwords are unlikely to be maintained with a double import as well.

SMF has a Forums.net importer and it too does not support passwords, so that would not be an issue with a double import, as passwords are not imported from the get go. There might have been changes.