Conversion Announcement and Timeline

Discussion in 'Admin Talk News' started by AWS, Jul 27, 2013.

  1. AWS

    AWS Administrator

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    I have made the decision to convert this community to xenforo. I will be doing prep work to get ready for the conversion during the next week and should have the conversion done by the end of next weekend.

    I have made this decision for a number of reason. The main one being is this site needs to be upgraded. I have kept up with all the patches to the version we are running here, but, haven't upgraded the core to 3.4 yet. The main reason I haven't done this is because it is a time consuming process. On each upgrade I have to edit just many of the templates to add the customization I do to the base skin. This takes too much time. There is a template merge feature, but, it just doesn't work as I feel it should. Every time I used it I had to revert the changes and just edit each template by hand.

    By comparison I have was able to upgrade one of my sites that run xenforo and upgrading the skin was a breeze. It actually merges the template changes and if it can't the interface to do it manually is much easier to work with than the IPB implementation. This alone cuts down the amount of time it takes to upgrade a heavily modified skin.

    I will try to duplicate the skin we have here. I will try to get it as close as possible so the change isn't a huge shock to everyone.

    After the conversion is done I have a few databases for sites I closed or acquired and didn't use that I will be giving away. These are not huge sites and some of them are old. Some are IPB and some are vbulletin. These will be good for someone that wants to add instant content to a new forum.

    Watch this thread for the progress of the conversion.
     
  2. GTB

    GTB Regular Member

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    Well I think it's the right thing to do, personally I'd have done it well before now with Admin Addict. I don't know what it is about IPB, but most people you and I know posting on other admin niche forums, they tend not to like using IPB powered sites. So could never understand why you seemed so insistent on stopping using IPB for so long.

    Each to their own, maybe you like it? But do think this site would fair better running XenForo to get things picking up, and that's what matters really. Just don't see that ever happening while still running IPB. I did read your post on Admin Extra about you maybe selling this site on if things don't pick up soon, so you've nothing to lose now switching over to XenForo and see how things go?
     
  3. BullsNet

    BullsNet Regular Member

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    Ah this does disappoint me a bit because this actually is the only admin site that i believe IS running ipb and it certainly has a more unique towards it(most admin forums powered by XF tend to have a distinct look to them). But I am sure you know what is best and hopefully this change will bring in some new activity for adminaddict :D

    I have to wonder does forum software REALLY matter as much though that it may be the reason activity is lacking?
     
  4. AWS

    AWS Administrator

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    I wouldn't think forum software matters, but, for some reason since I converted to IPB from vbulletin activity has steadily decreased. I like IPB and I also like posting on IPB powered forums. It seems many people don't.

    The reason I am switching is because it will make it much easier to upgrade the software. It really is a nightmare upgrading IPB. On each upgrade I have to install the base style that I purchased for the site and then do all my customization to it. This is time consuming. With the new template modification system in xenforo my time will next to nothing to add my extra stuff.
     
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  5. BullsNet

    BullsNet Regular Member

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    Well I look forward to seeing AA on Xenforo :)
     

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