State of the Forums

Topic: State of the Forums (Read 811 times) previous topic - next topic

State of the Forums

December 28, 2023, 07:51:51 AM

Some of you may have noticed some problems with the website and forums yesterday; I tried to get things working in the forums using an https protocol and it first killed the forums then caused additional problems where the website itself became unworkable. Basically the website starting redirecting in on itself and became completely unusable. Took me 6-7 hours just to get things back to where they are now.

Based on that experience, I do not think that there is a solution that will (i) bring the forums current AND (ii) preserve the existing structure, threads, members, etc... As I view it, we have a couple of options:

We can also remain on this forum and deal with whatever issues creep up. Personally this doesn't bother me at all; I never have issues on Firefox because it doesn't force https on its users like Chrome and sometimes Edge do. If we do this, my suggestion to others is that if you experience a problem, check your URL bar to make sure you haven't been forced into https. If you have, just switch back to http.
I can create a new forum. I've tested that and everything seems to work totally fine on the https protocol. I cannot bring our history over to the new forum though; I've tried processing an import, but it fails; the only import software made by ElkArte works when you are moving to/from ElkArte but not moving to and from ElkArte. That said, we could retain the forum for posterity and just include a link to it on the new forums.
We move over to a discord server. There are obviously apps for everyone's phone that will allow more flexibility and access in terms of what what we can do. Matt and I played around with this last night and seems pretty cool. From a workload perspective, this would be best for me as I don't have to manage or maintain forum infrastructure that occasionally breaks. Downside is that this doesn't maintain us in the same forum and everyone would have to learn something new (albeit a fairly simple app).

I would appreciate everyone’s thoughts.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #1 – December 28, 2023, 11:17:02 AM

Whatever is best for you, David. I am astounded at the complexity of this spreadsheet and forum.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #2 – December 28, 2023, 01:14:27 PM

I concur with Butch. Whatever is best for you, David. And if I can help in anyway, I’m happy to. Especially if you put me to work between now and January 7. I start school back up on the eighth so timing will be less flexible.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #3 – December 28, 2023, 02:30:45 PM

I'm leaning towards Discord. I hadn't used my account until yesterday and found it pretty straightforward.

Pluses and minuses I observed. Once you have the app on your phone, it's great to receive notifications and it made communicating with David super easy. We used text, but I believe you have use it for audio/video as well if you so choose. The ease in checking in and communicating through my phone sold it on it's own.

However, I've read that there are apps and bots you can add to aid the function of your site. I'm intrigued by what might be out there to help us run things such as free agency and the draft. I did read they have some auction apps which I think would be interesting to test out.

On the minus, beyond having to learn a new site (again, I found it pretty easy), the main issue I see is losing the historical communication and data. However, David keeps up our spreadsheet and it sounds as if we can keep this site for reference.

FYI, I believe I found a solution to the http issues with chrome. I sent an email to all with screenshots. Hope that makes it easy to apply the work around.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #4 – December 28, 2023, 02:54:47 PM

I heard of Discord but I don't know what it is. How do most folks get to this web page I wonder ? Thru a desktop computer, a laptop or the smart phone

I use desktop computers at work and a cheap laptop at home both with Firefox as the browser. I am NOT a tech person at all and this web page has worked for me flawlessly for me from both computers. I'll agree with whatever the commissioners have to do but please don't limit access only thru a smart phone. My eyes are bad and looking at those small screens I can't see crap.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #5 – December 28, 2023, 02:58:19 PM

1. Whatever is easiest for you.
2. I've heard of discord but have not used it, but I'm willing to learn it.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #6 – December 28, 2023, 03:49:54 PM

To clarify, accessing through the phone is a feature, but you can access it through the web as well if you prefer. You can also install the app on a tablet if you use those. You have lots of options.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #7 – December 28, 2023, 04:10:41 PM

Matt, your pic tutorial worked!

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #8 – December 30, 2023, 06:24:21 AM

I would stick with option 1.

However, Discord is great and I use it a lot for other groups that started there. For groups that start on a forum It has been hard to move people over despite its simplicity (change is scary for the elders). I think starting an optional discord channel to see how much it increases communication is a good idea. You can slowly add functionality as people use it.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #9 – December 30, 2023, 07:32:15 AM

I would opt for whatever is easiest for David as long as I can access the site with my PC. I'm not a Smartphone kinda guy.

On another front, have we been updating each year to the DMB encyclopaedia app?

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #10 – December 30, 2023, 12:48:53 PM

I'm good with whatever is easiest, although getting to keep the historical data and information would be a bonus to staying.

I have used Discord for a local Pokemon Go group, and I don't recall seeing all of the functionality we have here. I like having the folders for signings, promotions, trades, etc., and I don't know if Discord would allow for individual postings like we have. You can make the posting, but they just blend together. However, that experience might be because it is Pokemon Go with a bunch of college students, who are just organizing raids and things like that. Again though, I have not heavily used Discord in a while, so that could have also changed.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #11 – December 30, 2023, 12:50:14 PM

Also, I will say that I have noticed on the forums here, it can be very laggy, so I don't know if Discord would be better for speed.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #12 – December 30, 2023, 06:24:30 PM

Quote from: profjason – on December 30, 2023, 12:48:53 PM

I'm good with whatever is easiest, although getting to keep the historical data and information would be a bonus to staying.

I have used Discord for a local Pokemon Go group, and I don't recall seeing all of the functionality we have here. I like having the folders for signings, promotions, trades, etc., and I don't know if Discord would allow for individual postings like we have. You can make the posting, but they just blend together. However, that experience might be because it is Pokemon Go with a bunch of college students, who are just organizing raids and things like that. Again though, I have not heavily used Discord in a while, so that could have also changed.

Send me your username and I will add you to the discord channel and you can see the framework that Matt and I worked on. Whether it will be as usable after we add hundreds of posts is another story, but it is possible to set it up in a forum-based structure.

If we moved to a new forum structure with a prominent link to the 2023 and earlier threads, I believe that would speed up the forums significantly and bring it current with https and everything else That said, I would hate to do that then realize after a year we are having the same issues. I agree though that we absolutely need to retain the history. We've lost a lot of past years and it's just unfortunate.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #13 – December 31, 2023, 07:44:31 AM

I am down with whatever is easiest.

Re: State of the Forums

Reply #14 – January 08, 2024, 06:20:13 PM

Just an update on my end for the state of the forum. I use Safari now, and have been for a couple weeks exclusively. However, it is taking more than a minute to load pages for me. With Free Agent Auctions coming up, what's the possibility we might have another solution? It's a first-world problem, I know. Just communicating what I'm experiencing.