Perhaps it is best that we describe why we switched to SMF and some of the features that SMF brings to the plate.
In November of 2005 the host at the time decided that YaBB was using to much resources and disabled it. In addition, we disabled other scripts that were server load intensive. When Mike was given the option of changing forums (he particularly looked SMF) he decided that he would much rather switch servers than switch to another forum.
Fast Forward to around now. I am sure many of you have noticed that certain things have been mysteriously disappearing or are being corrupted on the site. We were advised by our webhost that the best thing we could do to keep things from disappearing would be to switch to a database system, ie) mySQL. Eddie and I both thought that perhaps that would be the best route to take, as we surely do not enjoy seeing data disappear randomly. The first step in doing the transition to mySQL was to change the forums to the ones you see now. YaBB was very server intensive, as all messages were stored on the server and the chat was also on the server. Now, the posts are stored on a mySQL server and our chat is now IRC based. These two changes take a large load of the server (opening thread files is really processor intensive). In addition, many pains we taken to make this forum look as similar to the old ones as possible. Luckily for me, SMF evolved from YaBBse, and this gray theme you see on the site was heavily adapted from the YabbGrey theme I was able to find. I took a lot of time to make this look the way it looks, and it could have looked very different
See this forum for an example of the SMF default theme. Personally, I am very pleased with the way it turned out, but that may be because I was responsible for the forum changes. I should also mention that over the course of the summer the rest of the site will begin making a transition to mySQL. This change will not be able to be noticed by the general public, but when complete hopefully the console lists will no longer magically screw up. It will also allow us to focus on new projects (PAL changes, hardware, and most owned lists).
Some of you have been mentioning how different the forums are, so I will comment on new features and the lot:
- Custom Titles: If you have more than 600 posts you can add a custom title. Find this under profile, and then forum profile information.
- Buddy Lists: You can add people to your forum buddy list. If they are online it will be noted in the who's online list by putting their name in bold and saying there is X buddies online. You can add buddies under profle-> add buddies.
- Who's online today list: Now you know if that person has been online and has just been igoring you.
- Notification of when you get a personal message: It should notify you by default.
- Awards: Admins can give you awards now.
Things that should be so:
- The last post in a thread should be last, the newest personal message should be first, and the newest thread should be first (behind stickies, of course)
- When people spam, they really will be banned.
If you think the forum is giving you issues please let me know, and I can try to make it better for you. These changes are for the best, and hopefully in time you all will see the fruits of the change.
Author
