Up for consideration: Upgrading to phpbb 3

[LordPsycho]

Alright, I've let these bugs linger too long. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to fix them.

One solution that will fix 95% of them on the spot is to upgrade the forums to a phpbb 3 clean slate. But this solution isn't perfect..

Moving up to phpbb3 will entail getting rid of the vast majority of the custom mods that make Blackstar unique. There is no cash mod for it yet, so anything that is based on the cash mod (and if a few cases anything that is based on anything that is based on the cash mod) will also go away. For those keeping track: there goes the bank, stock exchange, stores, items, usable items, auctions, lottery, bookmakers. I have done no research on the medal mod, but chances are that has yet to be remade for phpbb3, so that will also more than likely go away.

So - the question becomes, Is it worth it to lose all that? That, my friends, is not a question that I can answer myself, so I turn it to you. Yes it is your chance to determine the future of Blackstar? Do we upgrade to phpbb3, or just bite the bullet and fix all the bugs my mistakes have (re)created?

14 day poll.

[Coolpikaaa]

Oh dear....

The end of the current Blackstar.

It all comes down to one question I guess, do we want a broken system or none at all?

Is there any incentive to this upgrade?

-coolpikaaa

[Shaon]

A clean slate is always good.

I'm sure there are better mods out there.

[Cirrial]

Medals underway. Hooray!

[KC11]

What the heck? No way. I don't notice any bugs that actually affect my experience at Blackstar. I believe that having a broken system is better than having none at all.

Of course, I'm just one person. So, who knows? Some else is probably seeing a buggy forum, while I see differently. Eh. >_>

[rosebarks]

Be done by hand, if you need to take the time but I don't think that the bank, medals, stores, etc. should go away, I personally think that it makes Blackstar what it is. Not just another forum but a unique forum that is cool and exciting! ^_^ . Blackstar just isn't Blackstar without it's whacky yet cool mods on here....Especially the stock market, I can't think of a Blackstar with no stock market bar scrolling over it and the only bug I seem to be able to find would be the JR chat bug....Other than that Blackstar seems to be perfectly normal.......

[Shaon]

Incentive: I did my research and found that not only is the Cash Mod scheduled to be released for phpbb3 at the end of June, but there is a beta version of the Medal Mod out as well.

Indeed, it is a system, and it is less broken.

And there are many bugs in this forum, especially centering around that item mod you love so much, as evidenced from my brief takeover of a thread in order to test items. If you notice, no items have apostrophes (My Pirelli's Tophat had to have its name changed in order for it to work) and png files no longer work for the images, though in both cases they used to.

As well, I'd like to point out that all of you people seem to value the mods over the community. For this, I feel personally ashamed to be a part of a forum that values addons over friends. Blackstar will never be the same as any other forum. Blackstar has a very tight-knit community and an established mythology, neither of which will change at all if some clutter is gone. I am sure many users indeed do not use many of the features that would be cleaned away, if even temporarily, and that prospective members have been driven away by the mess at the top of every page.

I personally believe that a clean slate would be far better than a buggy system, even if other members would rather drive their peers and administrators insane than lose addons that amount to nothing. I have the backing of your own item and medal admin, Cirrial, on this topic, and I have seen him suffer over issues that would be obliterated by this change.

In conclusion, change the captcha and I will be happy. Seriously, it's hard to make new accounts with that thing.

[3kul]

For now, I say leave the forums as they are. There's no reason why we can't switch to the new forum once it's got some of the same mods that we currently enjoy, so what's the rush?

So I guess this makes my vote 'no' - I'd still like to see Blackstar upgrade, but only at a time when it doesn't mean getting rid a heap of the custom mods that we enjoy.

[Swix]

Hmmm, let's see, starting with a clean slate does seem tempting, even if we do lose a bunch of stuff on here. I barely use them myself, and I think the synth shops might be broken as well. I can buy and sell stuff, but I cannot synth anything.

On the other hand, losing the cash mods does seem a shame. I quite like the incentive it gives for people to post good quality posts rather than keep making small, spammy posts in order to get rewarded with the that comes with them.

As does having the medal mods, it encourages people to post in and keep going in RPs, or in some cases join later which in itself keeps the RP storyline going. This isn't a bad thing, in fact this is the only place I've seen with so many long and rewarding stories within it... Even more than XU, but they always post in cliques... yeah, don't get me started on that place.

And I have to admit Shaon does have a point, if we value the system over the people who are here and whom we enjoy coming here because of... It's a crying shame, really. And besides, what's the point of having all this stuff if there's no-one else around who will talk to you? Or who will roleplay with you? Don't forget we don't need item mods in order to have a great RP!

Hmm... You know what, I think I'm going to vote 'yes'. I for one will only be missing two things, and from what DP said above it would sort out a lot of problems too.

EDIT: After posting this I got the error about 'message die' being called multiple times and it not being supposed to happen, just to add to the argument.

[Kazumaru]

I voted yes because anything we lose in the upgrade will likely be replaced fairly swiftly, and I'd rather the forum be less broken than play the stock markets.

To put it simply: It's the rider (community) not the ride (board.)

[Intyalle]

I think we should wait. Surely we can sit on a somewhat broken system for a little longer if it means being able to put all mods in place when we change (or at least, most)?

Also, I agree with KC that what few (or many, I wouldn't know) bugs they are rarely even crop up for me. Changing would affect my experience here far more than the bugs do.

[Somefreakoverthere]

I don't particully care about no money mods, or such other things.

Fix the system before it breaks even more, I say.

[Zerrer]

I agree with SFOT. The new system would be a lot better. Yes, we would lose the mods, but if one waits long enough, then the mods will be back (Maybe even better).

[Danikat]

I voted no but to be more specific I think we should wait and do it later.

As annoying as they are none of the bugs make Blackstar unuseable and frankly I think the medal and cash mods (and the whole item system that would go with it) is too much to loose for the change to be worth it. Esspecially the medals which I know at least some people have worked hard for and value as a sign that they're actually a good RP'er.

I don't quite understand how 'living with a few bugs' suddenly changed into 'losing the community to keep the items' and I really cannot understand how that could be the case. I seriously doubt anyone is going to suddenly stop posting here just becuase we didn't update to a new form of PHP as soon as it became avaliable (unless they do it as some sort of protest).

And the alternative is that we can in fact have both. Wait a little while, until the money and medal mods have been upgraded to PHP3 and then upgrade the forum and we can have the best of both worlds with nothing lost in the transition.

[3kul]