(RFD) Amiga.org's future

[buzz]

Drupal would do the job as would some other CMS/portal systems. I would move with the times and go for modern standards compliant xhtml/css.

I'm not sure you "need" to pay for a forum. There are plenty of decent enough free ones. However if you prefer then it is your choice.

I would think the easiest option would be to move to a newer xoops though surely ?

[buzz]

e107 ? well. if xoops is worse than that i can't even imagine.

e107 is probably the worst collection of php code I have ever seen. "shortcode", mixed indentation and styles in files, almost no api documentation, poor attempts at class implementation (it is a real mix of part classes part repeated copy and paste code, for example each php handles outputting the header etc), bad database design (missing indexes, storing usernames and IDs in single field as comma separated data and using FLOOR in sql joins!) aah well i could go on. e107. AVOID.

(drupal is in a completely different league - don't go from initial visual "appearance").

[buzz]

Simply "using a new Xoops" is not possible as newer versions are not Amiga compatible, AND we waited so long to upgrade that no upgrade path still exists from 2.0.7 to the newest version.

I thought you were undecided on whether to make a html3.0 site and that is why you had a poll etc. Note that drupal isn't "amiga compatible" either. Neither is vbulletin. All would need retemplating as would a new xoops.

as for an upgrade path, you are going to need to rejig the data no matter what. You should be able to export/import most stuff easily enough with a bit of scripting.

[buzz]

I have read the whole thread. I was just trying to give some advice/opinions that I thought might help. This is also my field.

If you don't want to upgrade, I would take the route of either hosting and running php4 yourself.

I can't understand why it would be so hard to move. A gigabyte of data is relatively small with today's speeds. What about user mode linux or other virtual server solution? They can work out more cheaply whilst giving you total flexibility/control. I've seen some going from $20 a month ish.

for the importing business, vbulletin will import the forums but probably won't import all the extras. Having said that I am pretty sure the schema for the forums is relatively simple, and I don't think you should lock yourself into a solution based only on that. It would also be possible to upgrade to a new xoops whether or not there is an official upgrade route.

Anyway.. Just my opinion. Seems that every "avenue" is not possible for some reason or another, so I leave it to you to just make a decision. Hope it goes well.

[buzz]

Whoosh. What I think Wayne doesn't need is a tutorial on how to code. Although I'm sure both he and everyone else here appeciate your endless wisdom in these matters! Cheers!

PROBABLY to do the graphics you just need to reprocess
the text by replacing eg : lol : by the appropriate
html pointing to the animation.

Masterful!

[buzz]

@wayne:

At this point you probably no longer want to go with drupal 5.
Right now, for a production site, I would recommend 6.
(I'm also currently developing a site in drupal 6)

In terms of integration if you got the drupal route, you might be better off using the drupal forums, just for the  level of integration you would get. There are tips on migrating stuff from xoops here

http://drupal.org/node/63796

searching around shows scripts other people have made too.

http://drupal.org/search/apachesolr_search/xoops

might be an idea to install a base drupal and test it out. I would also test vbulletin too, and decide which works best for you.

Note that if I was going to integrate vbulletin with drupal I would probably use

http://drupal.org/project/drupalvb

(integrate vbulletin into drupal and not the other way around).

however such single sign in solutions are not as pretty as using the integrated forum, and if you can get your data to drupal, then surely that would be the best option (as you do seem keen to have the flexibility of a cms like drupal)

[buzz]

Like most things with drupal, you have to build things up to how you want (although I do agree the default forums could be rather more impressive out of the box). There is an "advanced forum" module also that has a more familiar feature set out of the box (it uses the core forum and other contrib modules).

anyway, if you don't want that you can use some other forum integration module (there are a fair few available for various forum systems).

[buzz]

Whoosh.. You are a genius. Thanks. Your operating system and compiler is also pretty impressive. I printed out your website (all 50000 lines), but then my dog ate it. Can you provide it in a hardback version?

@someone else about advanced forums:

there is a demo http://socnet.shellmultimedia.com/forum
but im sure it coul dbe made prettier. but I guess it gives an idea of some of the functionality. Cheers

[buzz]

Putting a html4 DOCTYPE in (and displaying a html4 button) doesn't mean your page is valid html4.

w3 check

The various styling attributes are from html3, and are deprecated for html4. Wayne is referring to HTML4+CSS

[buzz]

That forum is a "test" forum to show the module functions.
As the forum is integrated into drupal, there are many ways you could restrict user accounts, such as a variety of captcha modules, as well as filters and so on. It says "nothing" about drupal or the forums ability to manage spammers.

I'm not saying you should use drupal anyway. Just answering questions. I run a few forum/cms/wiki systems, and don't have much in the way of spam problems.

[buzz]

I guess the host decided it didn't want to support php4 anymore. I mean it is of course quite possible to support multiple php versions. php4 offical support is being dropped (or is already), so that might be one reason.

[buzz]

Buy the site? Why does there have to be money involved?

I also think you probably could afford a dedicated machine or at least a virtual machine. I mean you ask visitors (and they contribute) to pay for the hosting anyway, so what is the problem there?

[buzz]

I understand that the domain name holds a value, but if you were tired of the site, you could still hold onto the name/domain, and yet donate the site to a group of people willing to continue running it.

I guess I have a different attitude to these things than you.

I didn't think my question was silly. I myself have put almost 12 years into the exotica site, and I want no financial reward for that, because it was done for the interest and enjoyment of the subject matter (and the enjoyment the visitors get).

Likewise, I question your comments on affordability of a machine where you could continue to run the site as is. You say not changing it would be the best course, but don't seem to be willing to move the hosting. It almost sounds like your are intentionally obstructing yourself!

[buzz]

But if you had your own virtual server/dedicated you would support your own software, so that part isn't relevant. You could run an ancient php4 for ever if you wanted.

Having a good host is great, but I think loyalty only goes so far. I wouldn't let the loyalty make the decision on what route to take when it comes to the site. If you really would prefer not to switch the site software, then don't.

I use dedicated servers. For example for exotica, I run php with fastcgi via NGINX webserver instead of apache+mod_php. Shared hosting is far too restrictive to do this kind of thing.