- Joined
- Dec 16, 2011
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- United Kingdom of Ambrose
- Website
- wweforums.net
TLDR: CHANGING SOFTWARE, SIGN UP TO TEST SITE TO GET USED TO IT (fu for not reading my massive thread).
For a while now I have been wanting to add multiple features to WWE Forums that just haven't been possible, unless we invested a significant amount of money, time, and effort. However, there is alternative forum software named Xenforo that provides all the features I want and more. I will list the features later in this announcement.
The reason this is "very important news" is because switching forum software is quite a big thing; almost everything changes in some way, whether it is minimal or massive. The point of this announcement is to tell you what we are doing, and to show you what it will look like. We will also provide you a link to a test forum with Xenforo installed so you can get used to it, before we move next Saturday.
What we are exactly doing is moving from MyBB - which has served us well - to much better premium software named Xenforo. If you're wondering "why change it now?", then the answer is simple. As a webmaster I constantly try to progress this forum and doing this is the next step for progression. I'm not satisfied until things are perfect, and that has suited me well so far. Plus, all of you will love it, I guarantee. The features, the feel, and more, has been proven to boost forum activity with Xenforo because it's a fun to post again.
Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. Here is a simple list of positives and negatives regarding the move.
Negatives:
- No more reputation. I don't see this as a negative because reputation to me has always been a popularity contest, and not an accurate source to what your "reputation" actually is. Luckily, we have post likes to determine that, which actually rewards good posts. My reputation page is an example of why I am not a fan of the system, but I would understand that some of the users here will miss it.
- Downtime. When we do the merge, expect a few hours or so down time.
- POTENTIALLY having likes reset. I think that likes will be imported as well so they are not lost, but there is a chance they do get lost. I made a thread ages ago asking if people lost their likes would they be annoyed or something, and the majority said no, but I am assuming some will still be pretty annoyed.
- Status system. It's no where near as good as our current status plugin, but we will be paying someone asap to develop one similar to our current one. So the negative is you'll have to wait a few weeks or something to have the beast status system back. There is still a status system, but yeah, it's not as good.
Positives:
- A much better like system. You will be able to see who liked your post like so:
and
The system is much more reliable than the current custom system we are on. You can also automatically receive trophies and other stuff by reaching a particular like count.
- Following. This feature is great. It allows you to follow any member of the forum, and lets you see their activity (what they have liked, posted, betted on, and more) in your news feed. More information in this thread.
- Automatic betting, integrated with the site currency. This is the feature I am most excited about, as it gives users a chance to bet on anything automatically without posting and negotiating. You can bet however much money you want on certain outcomes (which have odds), and then you automatically win/lose your money after the event has closed.
- A much improved alert system (notifications). You will get alerted when:
- someone likes your post
- quotes your post
- replies to a watched thread
- posts on your profile
- comments on your status
- when someone replies to a comment you left on someone else's profile
- someone comments on a profile post that you have replied to
- likes your profile post
- when someone follows you
- when you receive a trophie
- when someone donates money to you
- when someone settles an event you have bet on (wagered on)
- likes your comment that you posted on a sportsbook event
And more when we install some more features. It's a fantastic alert system.
- A much nicer profile system:
A profile system that lets you leave comments, view their recent activity (what they have recently liked, posted, betted on etc).
- A MUCH better PM'ing system (it's called conversations on Xenforo). Conversations are threaded, so there is no need to have to click "reply", wait for the page to load, type your reply, and press send, because the conversations are just like threads. Here is an example:
Screenshot of me hovering over "inbox": http://i.imgur.com/hw9PHYO.png
Screenshot of seabs and I in a conversation: http://i.imgur.com/xkjKOdh.png
There are much more positives to Xenforo, but I would be here all day typing about them all individually, which is why I have set up the test forum. The test forum is simply a fresh install of Xenforo, so you can sign up and post around to get the feel of it and test things. Please note, when we actually migrate to Xenforo, all your posts, threads, and more will remain. It won't be empty like the test site is.
Also, please note, the header image is just a quick one made by Xanth. We are having a new one professionally designed which will hopefully be here for Saturday.
Here is the test link: http://wweforums.net/testxen/index.php
Signing up is easy and activation isn't required. Please sign up and play around before judging the software here. Feel free to ask any questions here, but I have posted information about the move both here and here.
For a while now I have been wanting to add multiple features to WWE Forums that just haven't been possible, unless we invested a significant amount of money, time, and effort. However, there is alternative forum software named Xenforo that provides all the features I want and more. I will list the features later in this announcement.
The reason this is "very important news" is because switching forum software is quite a big thing; almost everything changes in some way, whether it is minimal or massive. The point of this announcement is to tell you what we are doing, and to show you what it will look like. We will also provide you a link to a test forum with Xenforo installed so you can get used to it, before we move next Saturday.
What we are exactly doing is moving from MyBB - which has served us well - to much better premium software named Xenforo. If you're wondering "why change it now?", then the answer is simple. As a webmaster I constantly try to progress this forum and doing this is the next step for progression. I'm not satisfied until things are perfect, and that has suited me well so far. Plus, all of you will love it, I guarantee. The features, the feel, and more, has been proven to boost forum activity with Xenforo because it's a fun to post again.
Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. Here is a simple list of positives and negatives regarding the move.
Negatives:
- No more reputation. I don't see this as a negative because reputation to me has always been a popularity contest, and not an accurate source to what your "reputation" actually is. Luckily, we have post likes to determine that, which actually rewards good posts. My reputation page is an example of why I am not a fan of the system, but I would understand that some of the users here will miss it.
- Downtime. When we do the merge, expect a few hours or so down time.
- POTENTIALLY having likes reset. I think that likes will be imported as well so they are not lost, but there is a chance they do get lost. I made a thread ages ago asking if people lost their likes would they be annoyed or something, and the majority said no, but I am assuming some will still be pretty annoyed.
- Status system. It's no where near as good as our current status plugin, but we will be paying someone asap to develop one similar to our current one. So the negative is you'll have to wait a few weeks or something to have the beast status system back. There is still a status system, but yeah, it's not as good.
Positives:
- A much better like system. You will be able to see who liked your post like so:
and
The system is much more reliable than the current custom system we are on. You can also automatically receive trophies and other stuff by reaching a particular like count.
- Following. This feature is great. It allows you to follow any member of the forum, and lets you see their activity (what they have liked, posted, betted on, and more) in your news feed. More information in this thread.
- Automatic betting, integrated with the site currency. This is the feature I am most excited about, as it gives users a chance to bet on anything automatically without posting and negotiating. You can bet however much money you want on certain outcomes (which have odds), and then you automatically win/lose your money after the event has closed.
- A much improved alert system (notifications). You will get alerted when:
- someone likes your post
- quotes your post
- replies to a watched thread
- posts on your profile
- comments on your status
- when someone replies to a comment you left on someone else's profile
- someone comments on a profile post that you have replied to
- likes your profile post
- when someone follows you
- when you receive a trophie
- when someone donates money to you
- when someone settles an event you have bet on (wagered on)
- likes your comment that you posted on a sportsbook event
And more when we install some more features. It's a fantastic alert system.
- A much nicer profile system:
A profile system that lets you leave comments, view their recent activity (what they have recently liked, posted, betted on etc).
- A MUCH better PM'ing system (it's called conversations on Xenforo). Conversations are threaded, so there is no need to have to click "reply", wait for the page to load, type your reply, and press send, because the conversations are just like threads. Here is an example:
Screenshot of me hovering over "inbox": http://i.imgur.com/hw9PHYO.png
Screenshot of seabs and I in a conversation: http://i.imgur.com/xkjKOdh.png
There are much more positives to Xenforo, but I would be here all day typing about them all individually, which is why I have set up the test forum. The test forum is simply a fresh install of Xenforo, so you can sign up and post around to get the feel of it and test things. Please note, when we actually migrate to Xenforo, all your posts, threads, and more will remain. It won't be empty like the test site is.
Also, please note, the header image is just a quick one made by Xanth. We are having a new one professionally designed which will hopefully be here for Saturday.
Here is the test link: http://wweforums.net/testxen/index.php
Signing up is easy and activation isn't required. Please sign up and play around before judging the software here. Feel free to ask any questions here, but I have posted information about the move both here and here.
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