Xenforo: New Forum Software and Huge Change

[The Helper]

Xenforo

We tend not to change much at TheHelper.net. If you read the Looks of the Site through the years thread you will see we have had pretty much the same design and forums for most of the sites real active history.

We made a major change to that recently. We used to use VBulletin and that software was revolutionary when it came out. When we switched to Vbulletin in 2004 I was all into it. Not into the server stuff but the VBulletin forum customization stuff. I customized the crap out that forum

We recently made the switch to a new forum software called Xenforo. It is from the same people who developed VBulletin but split off and started there own company. VBulletin was bought out by douche bags and after a bunch douchy lawsuits Xenforo was born.

We made the switch because some of the Admins were really into Xenforo. So we switched. But in the time between switch the Admins left to another site and we had a site split. So now we are sitting here with Xenforo and nobody who knows anything about it.

That is about to change. I am going to get us the latest Xenforo stuff and I am on a Crash Xenforo Course. I should have done this in the beginning when I knew we were switching but Procrastination has always been my worst enemy.

Currently there are a bunch of bugs with site. The News Portal is down and many of the sidebar links are broken. We are going to fix all that but it might take a month. I have to dive into the Xenforo forums to ask a bunch of questions and I understand they are pretty cool. We are licensed so there should not be a problem....

Anybody out there want to help?

To be continued....

 

[The Helper]

Update on this - it looks like sometime in earlier October we should have most everything fixed. Crossing Fingers. Until then we are going to limp along like this. I should be able to at least get the broken links on the sidebar fixed before then. I will probably redo the sidebar a bit when that happens. We have already made sidebar changes nobody mentioned noticing when we deleted the MVP Projects section

 

[tom_mai78101]

Update on this - it looks like sometime in earlier October we should have most everything fixed. Crossing Fingers. Until then we are going to limp along like this. I should be able to at least get the broken links on the sidebar fixed before then. I will probably redo the sidebar a bit when that happens. We have already made sidebar changes nobody mentioned noticing when we deleted the MVP Projects section

Speaking of Xenforos crash course, have you ever decided on writing up a tutorial/guide series to go along with your Xenforos study, so that other TH members may benefit/contribute to your Xenforos maintenances?

 

[The Helper]

When it gets to the point I think I have something to contribute yes.

 

[PurgeandFire]

When I first heard about the switch, I thought it was a bold change. I still consider it a bold change. But I was kind of surprised how well I adapted to it (pleasantly surprised). Good luck on figuring out Xenforo, I'm sure it has a lot of features just waiting to be unleashed. Hopefully the home page will be back soon.

Out of curiosity, did you guys know when you made the switch that rep would be replaced with likes? How did you react? I personally always liked those green bars (after all, I think I was voted biggest rep addict a few years back). But I know that in general, a lot of users (not TH users) oppose the facebook-esque 'like' system. Not that I don't like the system, it is good IMO (especially for lurking, so you can upvote a post without posting). I'm just curious as to what the admins thought of it.

 

[tom_mai78101]

Out of curiosity, did you guys know when you made the switch that rep would be replaced with likes? How did you react? I personally always liked those green bars (after all, I think I was voted biggest rep addict a few years back). But I know that in general, a lot of users (not TH users) oppose the facebook-esque 'like' system. Not that I don't like the system, it is good IMO (especially for lurking, so you can upvote a post without posting). I'm just curious as to what the admins thought of it.

After the switch, when I realized there's no way we're going to see another of those green and red bars anymore, I was equally happy and sad. Happy that the reputation system (something I held a grudge and honor from it, due to my past) is gone, and sad that I'm going to miss out on reputation messages, like "Hey! I got 10 points!"

I am one of those people who opposes the like system, but after getting used to it, I started to notice a trend. People started to "like" a post only when they see the post has potential, has depth, has a funny moment, or when they see what others like about the post. I think that's a good system, and probably taught me how Facebook's "like" is all about.

This is coming from a minor staff member, so I'm also curious as to what admins think about this.

 

[The Helper]

I miss rep too. Likes with comments would do the exactly the same thing though minus the rep bar, which can be make a return .... I imagine it would not be hard for a Xenforo add-in to mimic the rep bar.

 

[tom_mai78101]

Can we get vBulletin tutorials in the meantime (if you have the free time)?

 

[Monovertex]

If you still need help, I could lend a hand in my spare time. I have web development experience and I could help customizing both front-end and back-end, if needed.

 

[Accname]

The rep bar was pretty awesome. In the WEHZ it separated the man from the boys. Or rather, the guys which were less likely to ever get a girlfriend from the guys who were unlikely to ever get a girlfriend.
Was a pretty nice feeling to show up there with a big green bar under your name. I dont remember anymore how much I had but I know I had a lot of rep and I got it in the form of +1, +2 or +5 reps from minor members, not huge +50, +100 or +250 packs from events.

 

[The Helper]

Rep got converted to Likes when we switched. However many rep points you had are Likes now.

I agree about the Rep bar too. I really liked that about VBulletin and miss it.

 

[Accname]

It wasnt converted 1 to 1.
You got 1 like for each time somebody gave you rep. But sometimes people gave you 2, 3, 4 or 5 rep, or in the case of admins and contests even 25, 50 or 100.

 

[The Helper]

Critical change point for the site. Might even have served as the death knell for a different site.....

 

[tom_mai78101]

Critical change point for the site. Might even have served as the death knell for a different site.....

Post 3-years followup. What do you plan about the Xenforo now?

 

[The Helper]

I am keeping Xenforo The huge loss from the Xenforo upgrade from VBulletin was losing the reputation system and the comments. The comments were not public but your comments were your history and when that got wiped it cut alot of the regulars off. The reputation comments in VBulletin were like another Messaging system sometimes used like a chat.

 

[The Helper]

When we switched to Xenforo we lost all the reputation comments which was a huge archive of private member information that was not public. It was a huge loss. It was a good move by the Xenforo guys to leave that stuff behind though, as it would have been too much vbulletin. Xenforo is a serious contender in the forum software arena and in the long run this was a good idea as they are so close to the Vbulletin guys and a lawsuit away from losing it all. They are doing it right.

The VBulletin Reputation system is still the best, imho.

 

[tom_mai78101]

When we switched to Xenforo we lost all the reputation comments which was a huge archive of private member information that was not public. It was a huge loss. It was a good move by the Xenforo guys to leave that stuff behind though, as it would have been too much vbulletin. Xenforo is a serious contender in the forum software arena and in the long run this was a good idea as they are so close to the Vbulletin guys and a lawsuit away from losing it all. They are doing it right.

The VBulletin Reputation system is still the best, imho.

So, if you want reputation, how about considering a different approach. In game design, we were told players need rewards and achievements to keep them engaged in gameplay. The same can be said for this forum, by having a different type of reward system (reputation is one of many) we can use. And if given the opportunity to implement a new reward system, will it work?

 

[The Helper]

I think the Achievements in Xenforo were supposed to replicate that. At this point though, we would have to get more active members before we could test what would be good for that. The profile post stuff is good I have been trying to promote that but still I totally do not agree with the reputation system is on the outs thing - that was and imho would still be the BOMB!

 

[The Helper]

The forum format like we are using is just not holding up the times. I am old school and love the forum format but it does not look like that it is the future

 

[tom_mai78101]

The forum format like we are using is just not holding up the times. I am old school and love the forum format but it does not look like that it is the future

Eh, it still has its uses. Xenforo is better to hold dedicated topics. Discus is suitable for short, trivial topic discussions. Discord is for real-time IRC discussions for the general public.