This is just a discussion only. I'm not going to make any changes without agreement.
The software for this board is quite old and its not really supported any more. I can keep it running as I have access to all the source code to make updates (I just had to make a change for a security vulnerability) so its not an issue, but maybe its time to leave the 1990's behind and move to something a little more contemporary, like Discourse.
If you can use this board you can use Discourse, but it has a much nicer UI, an app for your phone and much more functional in terms of search and notifications. You can access it from any device and its bespoke tailored for the User Agent so it will always look its best. It also has real-time chat, document storage, etc.
It will also better support newer browsers and if you do a browser update and wipe your security settings you won't have to tweak those settings in your browser, that's all handled automatically.
The software is opensource so we can host it in AWS, or we can get a hosted instance, either way the software and data are automatically backed up.
I guess the first question I would have is will we lose all the old threads and information. No, I'll just move them to the new system. This is what I would pull over....
Users
- Avatars
- Anonymous users (either as user “system” or as suspended users)
- Password hashes so your password remains the same
- User profile data (birth date, website, location, custom fields, etc.)
Groups
Categories and Forums
Topics and Posts including
- Polls and votes
- Smilies
- BBCodes
- Internal links to topics and posts
Sticky topics and announcements
Private Messages
Attachments
Bookmarks
Permalinks for imported categories, topics and posts.
It can be as open as you want. anything from a private, invite-only space to a full on brand marketing site.
Anyway, throwing this out there. I think if you are trying to attract younger people to the club this would help. No one under 50 really uses these kinds of boards or Facebook any more.
