NON ad-based forum that can be enhanced if you want to use it...

Posts : 307 Join date : 2013-04-29

So, I've kind of given up on FAF and I want somewhere else to post. I like it here aside from the fact that the forum is ad-based (ABP takes care of that but not on my phone) and the mobile support isn't very useful. Here are things other people are complaining about:

- anyone new can't post external links for a week
- spam bots apparently shitting trojans all over the place
- you can't export data, so the longer you keep this up the more accounts there are and so it will be progressively harder to every change to a better solution in the first place
- you won't be able to add mods or otherwise enhance the forums

Since I'm banned from FAF and that was my outlet to channel my ADD, I threw this up on Amazon Web Services in between tasks here at work:

http://ec2-54-214-95-87.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com/

Obviously the name can be changed to a custom domain name, the look and feel modified, etc. I can't imagine it will cost that much so I don't mind footing the bill for the hosting. It might even stay on free-tier if I still have that (it's a new account but I'm definitely not new to AWS).

I looked on forumotion's docs -- you can't export data because the bastards don't want you to move to a different solution, even though they are completely capable of giving you access to the tool that's usually in the admin panel. There are only 3 pages of users though. It wouldn't be very hard to write a script to import the users, email them with a temporary password and let them change it. Posts/threads would be harder to import but still not impossible.

What do you think? If you guys can use this, then cool. Otherwise I'll just try to come up with a theme and build something and see if it takes.

Posts : 307 Join date : 2013-04-29

Also, as an afterthought... I wonder if there's a way we could get video chat setup if we were to do this. That would be fuckin' sick XD

All I can say is, have fun trying to find an owner who's willing/able to pay to keep the domain open.

Because I'm not. :U

Posts : 307 Join date : 2013-04-29

Lucy wrote:: All I can say is, have fun trying to find an owner who's willing/able to pay to keep the domain open.

Because I'm not. :U

That's like 10 bucks a year.

I already said I would pay for it :p

That's if people here are interested. I'd rather not reinvent the wheel if I don't have to.

If y'all are content I'll just make a "sex, drugs and furries" themed board, instead B)

RickyBobbyMew wrote:: That's like 10 bucks a year.

I already said I would pay for it :p

Yeah, but what happens when you inevitably get sick of the community and no longer feel like paying?

Then our choices are to either find somebody new to foot the bill or lose the forum.

At least here, if I get sick of it, I can just hand it off to somebody else, financial-burden-free.

A former member once tried to do a privately hosted sexual offshoot of this forum, but I haven't got a clue what happened to it. People just stopped going.

It's not up to some member with decent activity to keep a forum up and running. It's the job of the staff. If the staff aren't in control of funds, then who's the real owner of the forum? I imagine whoever's paying for it. Right now, we're comfortable with what we have. We can't just go over to a forum that we're not even paying for and expect to move in.

Not to mention, I couldn't care less about mobile access to the forum. Throw your smart phone right out the window, forums are for computers god flapjacks dammit.

Posts : 307 Join date : 2013-04-29

Lucy wrote:: It's not up to some member with decent activity to keep a forum up and running. It's the job of the staff. If the staff aren't in control of funds, then who's the real owner of the forum? I imagine whoever's paying for it. Right now, we're comfortable with what we have. We can't just go over to a forum that we're not even paying for and expect to move in.

Yeah, it usually comes down to a question of "ownership."

I don't care about ownership.

I just want a decent place to post that's not FAF.

Lucy wrote:: Not to mention, I couldn't care less about mobile access to the forum. Throw your smart phone right out the window, forums are for computers god flapjacks dammit.

It's fine that you don't care, but personally I do =P

More then half the time I post it's from my phone.

Some of us are out and about and not in front of a PC most of the time.

Therein lies the question that Riv brought up. What do all of us do when you decide you're done hanging around? Take donations?

Posts : 307 Join date : 2013-04-29

Lucy wrote:: Therein lies the question that Riv brought up. What do all of us do when you decide you're done hanging around? Take donations?

I doubt that will happen =P

We are not talking about a lot of money. Even if I got bored and stopped posting I'd still cover it.

BUT - just in case, you know you can export all the data with the *standard* install of PHPBB, right? You could re-import the data and host it anywhere... I'm not sure but there's probably a free ad-based hosting service that lets you import the DB.

You've complained forumotion sucks =P

Why not move to a better solution?

RickyBobbyMew wrote:: You've complained forumotion sucks =P

Why not move to a better solution?

The problem is that moving the forum is pointless and counterproductive

While Forumotion may suck in a lot of ways, the fact remains that its free which reduces any need for payment/ownership issues and the site at least functions enough to do the regular forum things like post content and alter profiles. Trying to move the forum would be an overall hassle and some people may not enjoy the new layout that comes with it and theres always that potential to drive some people off because of it. As far as ads are concerned, running AdBlock is a free solution to that instead of paying and relocating the forum.

Honestly, we didnt even want to relocate from our original domain but we were forced out of there because the forum host was garbage and decided to crash all the forums it hosted and reinstate about 10% of them, and the process lost us quite a few members.

Theres really no need to move other than some better forum options, which is hardly a reason to go through the trouble of rebuilding a whole forum and paying to do so

Posts : 307 Join date : 2013-04-29

Kaizy wrote:: The problem is that moving the forum is pointless and counterproductive

Well, no... Better features and functionality isn't pointless.

You answered my question though. This will have to be my own project.

Quote :: While Forumotion may suck in a lot of ways, the fact remains that its free which reduces any need for payment/ownership issues and the site at least functions enough to do the regular forum things like post content and alter profiles. Trying to move the forum would be an overall hassle and some people may not enjoy the new layout that comes with it and theres always that potential to drive some people off because of it. As far as ads are concerned, running AdBlock is a free solution to that instead of paying and relocating the forum.

ABP doesn't work on phones. I had mentioned that already.

I'm generally a minimalist myself, but I think you could add some really cool shit these days. For example, I think it would be neat to have embedded video chat. I'm looking into that.

To be honest, I kind of just want a side project, too.

I like building things :p

RickyBobbyMew wrote:: ABP doesn't work on phones. I had mentioned that already.

I'm generally a minimalist myself, but I think you could add some really cool shit these days. For example, I think it would be neat to have embedded video chat. I'm looking into that.

To be honest, I kind of just want a side project, too.

I like building things :p

As far as mobile usage of the site, youre like the only person I can recall ever saying theyve used this site on a phone, so thats not exactly a wide enough audience to give us grounds on trying to relocate for better mobile functionality

And the problem has never been that we cant add all these interesting flashy things, its about the usage of the forum itself. Just look at how many people come here on average to post and chat. Its a nice amount of people, but we arent a massive forum, were a small group of people. We dont have any need to introduce new random features because chances are theyre going to get like 2 people using them, not including the introduction period where its a new feature that everyone will try for a week before not caring to continue its usage.

For the size of our forum and amount of members we have, we have all the features we need and theres really nothing else that needs to be added, which is again why a forum move would be pointless. "Better features" is subjective because theres really no other features needed that wouldnt just come off as gimmicky. Yeah you could argue the functionality of Forumotion and how its about as interactive as a sack of potatoes, but again, its a free service, so its obviously not going to be perfect or even great, but it at least works for its intended use and doesnt have any severe glaring issues that have broke the forum or made the experience of posting difficult.

So yeah, I dont see a forum move in the future unless Forumotion decides to do what Forumer did and kill all the forums it hosts and not give ours back

I use my phone for this, and it works fine for me.

RickyBobbyMew wrote:: If y'all are content I'll just make a "sex, drugs and furries" themed board, instead B)

I though that was what this forum was about.

the fuck else are we gonna talk about.

I've learned to deal with this forum's flaws. And besides, when you're accessing forums on a Smartphone, it changes the layout to make it more accessible.

That and I just can't be bothered moving forums again.

If the time comes in the future and people are up for it, I'd be happy to move to another domain and pay for it myself. However, we can't just put all our funding on own member and be like "oshitoshit I hope Ricky pays for our shit today"

As an admin team, we need to be in control of that shit, if we're going to be doing it.

why pay for something, when you can get it free.

I don't need amenities for this site.

Posts : 307 Join date : 2013-04-29

Lucy wrote:: If the time comes in the future and people are up for it, I'd be happy to move to another domain and pay for it myself. However, we can't just put all our funding on own member and be like "oshitoshit I hope Ricky pays for our shit today"

As an admin team, we need to be in control of that shit, if we're going to be doing it.

Like I said, I understand. I just wanted to offer.

I'll probably stay here as long as I feel my posting may be significant.

I thought about it and Inkbunny is going open source.

I might as well help with a site that caters to pedophiles ;3

:V

MiloTime wrote:: why pay for something, when you can get it free.

I don't need amenities for this site.

Thats the point I made

Anything youd be paying for is mostly just bonus features that will most likely die off within days

Posts : 307 Join date : 2013-04-29

I bought the domain "babyfursrock.com" Laughing

RickyBobbyMew wrote:: I bought the domain "babyfursrock.com"

Alright guys, pack up

We're off to our new home

Posts : 307 Join date : 2013-04-29

Kaizy wrote:: Alright guys, pack up

We're off to our new home

There's not much there yet; I'm just setting it up.

You're more than welcome to join if you want though ;3

HAAAHAAHAAHAAAA!!!

RickyBobbyMew wrote:: HAAAHAAHAAHAAAA!!!

Listen to that joyous mirthful laughter! You can tell he only has our best interests at heart...