VB4, VB5, Or XF?

[Tony]

Guys, I'm out of options. I have spent hundreds of hours looking into what could be messing with this forum and I can't figure it out. It's getting so bad that the revenue, which just barely paid for the server after the upgrade, has been cut by about 60% because of how slow this forum is. To be perfectly blunt about it, if the forum stays like it is now, Rc-Help will be dead in 3 months. That is when we will run out of money.

So with that said, I have 3 options. Two IMO suck, and one we tried, had a lot of complaining, but it worked, it was fast, and revenue actually went UP!

VB4. This is what the forum is on right now. If I could rewind, I would put this forum on a VB4.2.1 and call it done. But that option is not there. We are on VB4.2.2 PL1 and lets face it, the forum is slow as hell, pages refresh when you are making new posts and about 50% of the time, you get a double post. If not more. So what is the good? The forum is here. All of the links work. There is an article section as well as a blog section and there are no broken links.

VB5. We have been testing this and to say it's buggy is an understatement. I'm talking there is no a page on that site that doesn't have a bug. And that was when I had it on 5.1.0. They just came out with a "good" 5.1.1, and now I can't log in, the background is black (I didn't change anything to the theme...) and if you just go to the forum address without putting /index.php after the URL, it will just show a blank page. I have worked on that site just as much as this one, and like this one, it's getting worse.

XF. This is the forum software that we went to a couple weeks ago, and we reverted back. Why did we revert back? It was a combination of a lot of factors. Most notably, members were not happy (only about 2% of members that is), there were some bugs, but most were caused by me like the dark text on a black background. And the reason we came back here and lost a lot of posts was because we had THOUSANDS of broken links. Every link to the article section was broke. Every blog link was broke. Every video link was broke and most importantly, every search engine link was broke. XF uses a completely new way of linking things vs VB.

So there is my dilemma and I'm going to leave it in the hands of the members as to where to go next. Vote in the poll and post up to let us know what you think we should do and why. I'm just out of ideas and have no clue where to go from here. I do know this though, I do NOT want this forum to die. I have new plans in teh works that I have had to put on teh back burner because of these issues. I would like to put them out to the world and help spread the RCH name and get even more members here posting up.

VOTE AND LET US KNOW!!!

 

[murankar]

I voted xf. Let me know what you do so I can convert my build blog into a thread.

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[Tony]

I voted xf. Let me know what you do so I can convert my build blog into a thread.

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If it's voted to go XF, then I will create a URL of old.rc-help.com that everyone can go to. There will not be any posting, but I will allow everyone the ability to access their information so that nothing is lost. If we do this again, it will be final. I think in the end, it will be more work for me, but XF I think is the best option. 4 we can see the issues now. 5 I and anyone else that has went over there can see those issues. XF had NO issues other than lacking on functionality. But everything was fast. And who knows, they may have a new version out very soon with what we want. Just have to wait and find out.

But don't worry, everyone will still have access to their information. I will make sure of that.

 

[Tony]

Wow, only two people have voted? Come on everyone, what forum do you want to see. How about some visual testing.

VB4, you are on this version right now.

VB5, http://new.forum.rc-help.com/index.php Go on over and test it out. Just remember, when you click on that forum logo, or the site logo, you will have to put /index.php at the end of the url for it to work. Otherwise, it's just going to give you a white page. Not sure why...

XF, http://xfrchelp.com Go on over and test it out.

Maybe if you can open up 3 windows and test them side by side it will help make life a little easier.

 

[cml001]

Hi Tony.. I really liked the XF, it was fast and functional. Now as you said there would be a lot of work and that pretty much all falls on you. Correct me if I'm wrong and help me understand.. On XF new post and links work just fine.. Links from the old/current version will not work... If this is correct, then all admin videos.. RCH videos and such.. Correct those and then leave it to the individual members to repost theirs. It is what it is... Keep RCH alive and she'll thrive... Can't go thru life unskaved... Take the punch in gut, keep the face pretty and roll out the XF!

- - - Updated - - -

Is the XF link functioning? Can I start using it?

 

[Tony]

You are correct, any link that goes to the article section, any link in the search engines and any link that is associated with a video will be broke. There will be no article section, there will be no blog section, just a forum. And yes, it will all fall on me to get everything done. I just sent out an email to all of the members, hoping it sent them all...

 

[Tony]

Is the XF link functioning? Can I start using it?

Yes, both of the forum links that you see up there go to a functional forum. Just log in and post away.

 

[Derek]

The xf seemed to work well for me.

 

[Slobberdog]

Xf was my fave while we was on it, clean fast and easy on the eyes, especially the default white background you had in the test forum before we cut over,

 

[Tony]

The xf seemed to work well for me.

Thanks Derek.

Xf was my fave while we was on it, clean fast and easy on the eyes, especially the default white background you had in the test forum before we cut over,

It was definitely fast, that's for sure. And changing the theme is a bit easier as well. The default is pretty simple and I can always just create a new default theme for those that want white.

One thing to remember though is that there is no multi-quote like I have done here. You have to quote one, copy, quote another, copy and so on. A bit of a pain.

Keep the votes rolling in guys and gals. I want to hear opinions from everyone.

 

[Derek]

I did vote for the xf but I like how this forum is setup, too. I'm simply torn between the two.

 

[Tony]

You and I both...

 

[danhampson]

I voted xf. It was fast clean and easy to use. And hopefully in the future the articles and blogs can be integrated.
People don't like change but it is something we have to embrace, if we didn't embrace change then we would still be chasing animals with flint axes and not flying/driving/helming RC.

 

[Tony]

A member asked me to reverse his vote from VB5 to XF as I have done. So far, everyone is voting for XF.

What are the reasons for everyone not votive VB4 or VB5? I would like to hear opinions.

 

[murankar]

It just seemed nicer. Looked clean and easy to navigate. I think the speed of xf got people liking it.

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[pvolcko]

XF

1) Personally I barely ever looked at blogs or articles. If there was a link to them in the forum I'd click over, but it was never on my check list when I loaded up the page. I use the forum and that's about it.

2) While old links will be broken, new ones will populate into the search engines in time. People with links in their own content elsewhere on the net will have to update to new thread/post links if they wish.

3) Video and images being broken was a pain. I actually had started to convert my build and flight video threads over to the new embed tags when you reverted. It seems there should be a way to make a script that traverses the database and converts these things automatically either during or after the import to XF. I'm kind of surprised they didn't include it as part of the import process.

4) If it was making more revenue, even with all the broken links, imagine what it will do once it is cleaned up! Seriously, is this even a real question? Forum dead in 3 months on version 4. Unknown time waiting for bug fixes on version 5. XF works and your site income was up. Do it.

5) As mentioned above, while waiting for XF to integrate blogs/articles just have people move their old entries into threads. Make a subforum for them so they are organized and hopefully will facilitate easy transfer into any new blog/article system.

 

[Tony]

Nicely put Paul, thanks for that.

 

[Barge]

My reason for voting for XF was one of the reasons Paul stated and that was generating income for the site. Ultimately it seems to me that both the VB bucket of bolts would force the closure of this forum over time, and I believe Tony that over time you will sort this XF program out. I truly don't believe that we have any other option to run with, and if it's going to generate a better cash flow then that eliminates a major problem for you so you can focus on the task at hand and build the forum to where you believe it should be.

Go for it.

 

[cml001]

I can't believe members are not voting... 13.. That's it?

 

[murankar]

Out of 3500 members. I would go and make the switch. We all can help with the links in our own posts.

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