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Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 3:33 am
by Wingo
Yes, I know I'm likely to be shot down for this, and that it's probably been posted a bazillion times before.

Is it possible to convert to a newer version of YaBB, or even convert another forum altogether, such as phpBB. I am assuming your server supports PHP :P. The benefits of phpBB are it is one of the most stable boards at a high work load, I know of one that can handle millions of users, up to 20,000 on at one time with hundreds of millions of post.

I have heard things such as there are too many posts/members to convert, the forums are to large and other such things from various people but was hoping for confirmation and a full explanation if any of these are true from Pete.

If it does help, I have been doing my homework into these ideas:

Converting to YaBB 2 -> http://www.yabbsupport.com/Upgrading_from_YaBB_1.x

Converting from YaBB to phpBB -> http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph ... bb&start=0

Script to convert -> http://www.pocketmatrix.com/chris/YaBB2 ... v1.2.1.zip

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:08 am
by Theis
Have been tried before, even with the help of the creators of YaBB, and even they failed to succed..

Lets face it, it's "Mission Impossible!"

Cheers Theis

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:19 am
by Wingo
When there is a will, there's a way!! I'm quite sure there would be a way to convert this mess of a forum into something a lot more stream-lined, even if it is fully converted by hand....

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:23 am
by Theis
Now what is exactly wrong with this forum?

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:37 am
by Wingo
Main problem, the damn profiles page!! I hate waiting for that crap to load, 3 hours later and it's still loading. Also when a few people start to get on the script starts to slow down. CGI scripts can't keep up with too many people on at once. There'll be performance improvements across the entire forum. YaBB leaves a lot to be desired. I work with phpBB and it leaves YaBB for dead.

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:07 am
by ozzy72
Patience is a virtue and I don't see the problem. Only this morning I changed 6 profiles for having linked or over-sized avatars! You just need to do this when there aren't excessive numbers of people logged-in and not every five minutes. Why do you think my pics only change about every couple of years?

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 12:32 pm
by pete
It will be done. The Yabb guys couldn't do it though so maybe a PHP conversion would be something to look at.

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:32 am
by Wingo
Sweet. PHP, I think, is the way to go. It is cleaner, smoother, faster and can handle huge loads. The only problem that I can think of is the upload script. Is it part of YaBB, or seperate?

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 3:01 am
by pete
The image upload script is separate & shouldn't be a problem with a new forum.

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 6:16 am
by Wingo
Sweet ;D

Is there any timeline in place yet, or still looking into things?

Hope you have a great break and return refreshed!

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:42 pm
by Felix/FFDS
Sweet ;D

Is there any timeline in place yet, or still looking into things?

Hope you have a great break and return refreshed!


Still looking - We need to do another site first, and then we;ll look at Simviation.

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:59 pm
by Wingo
http://www.phpbb.com/downloads.php here there is a YaBB to phpBB converter under the "Forum Converter" section. I hope this can help

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 6:33 am
by Felix/FFDS
http://www.phpbb.com/downloads.php here there is a YaBB to phpBB converter under the "Forum Converter" section. I hope this can help



 Thanks!

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:10 am
by partyboy911
If not that I would like to see IPB (Invision Power Boards). But that cost's $$.

Definantly better than the...this looks like Pro Board software?

I always liked the option of searching all threads by users in IPB.

Re: Converting to a new forum system

PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:16 am
by Wingo
This current system is YaBB, a CGI-based system and, in my opinion, a very slow and wasteful one. I'm suggesting phpBB which is the most popular free PHP system. It has the search option you have specified as well as search by user and string. Many sites that charge for services use phpBB because it's free, extremely flexible, open source and very reliable. I'm a member of a free site with over 1 million users, 100 million posts and over 100 forums that uses this phpBB, which goes to prove its worth.