Stephen
02-28-1999, 04:07 PM
I noticed in another thread www.aota.net/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000178.html (http://www.aota.net/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000178.html) that Terra was thinking about switching to another forum system. Phorum. I'm new here and I don't pretend to know what's going on with all aspects of FutureQuest (I haven't even set up my email account yet!) but I do know about the pros and cons of writing forum boards.
Here's why I don't think Terra should get mixed up in rewriting Phorum: He'll spend far too much time doing it when he could be doing far more useful things for FQ members. I agree that Ted's UBB is not the best written code out there. In fact the freeware version I initially downloaded was so buggy that I decided I would rewrite the whole thing and reintroduce almost all of the features that the licensed version has (I regarded the project as a learn-some-perl/cgi experience).
Well that took me a couple of months. Terra is without doubt a programmer orders of magnitude better than I and would not take as long. But my point is that the job would never be finished. Just look at the UBB official site (ScriptKeeper.com) to see how many people like to hack their boards. If Terra offers an FQ-unique Phorum board he'll end up catering to dozens, if not eventually hundreds, of hackers with questions on the customization of their boards.
I think by sticking with the UBB and NOT getting into the business of writing forum boards we'll all be better off in the long run. Let Ted handle that business while we get on with using the UBB as a useful adjunct to whatever business we may be running. In short, if it's not broke don't fix it. Having an SQL database (as with Phorum) might be nice, but unless you have thousands of users on your board there's no real advantage to it that I can see. If it's that necessary, why not simply work on an SQL database interface to the UBB? That at least would limit FQ's involvement with board writing.
All this is just my opinion of course. If there are others who think Phorum is a great idea, I wouldn't mind hearing some convincing arguments as to why FQ should go the Phorum way. It could just be that I'm missing something important here. However, as I understand it, the most cogent argument against the UBB is that it's a processor hog. But won't Phorum be the same when it's written to be as capable as the UBB?
Here's why I don't think Terra should get mixed up in rewriting Phorum: He'll spend far too much time doing it when he could be doing far more useful things for FQ members. I agree that Ted's UBB is not the best written code out there. In fact the freeware version I initially downloaded was so buggy that I decided I would rewrite the whole thing and reintroduce almost all of the features that the licensed version has (I regarded the project as a learn-some-perl/cgi experience).
Well that took me a couple of months. Terra is without doubt a programmer orders of magnitude better than I and would not take as long. But my point is that the job would never be finished. Just look at the UBB official site (ScriptKeeper.com) to see how many people like to hack their boards. If Terra offers an FQ-unique Phorum board he'll end up catering to dozens, if not eventually hundreds, of hackers with questions on the customization of their boards.
I think by sticking with the UBB and NOT getting into the business of writing forum boards we'll all be better off in the long run. Let Ted handle that business while we get on with using the UBB as a useful adjunct to whatever business we may be running. In short, if it's not broke don't fix it. Having an SQL database (as with Phorum) might be nice, but unless you have thousands of users on your board there's no real advantage to it that I can see. If it's that necessary, why not simply work on an SQL database interface to the UBB? That at least would limit FQ's involvement with board writing.
All this is just my opinion of course. If there are others who think Phorum is a great idea, I wouldn't mind hearing some convincing arguments as to why FQ should go the Phorum way. It could just be that I'm missing something important here. However, as I understand it, the most cogent argument against the UBB is that it's a processor hog. But won't Phorum be the same when it's written to be as capable as the UBB?