New forum software for OVF

[robf]

Hello,

 

I've been doing some initial investigations into a replacement for our VBulletin forum.

 

VBulletin is very old now and pretty much defunct. It's difficult to maintain and has little support.

 

The one I am looking at will allow me to migrate all your account details across so rest assured - your username/password, PMs, posts, post counts etc will all carry across.

 

The cost of going to the new forum is substantial so I am currently speaking to their support before I commit to anything.

 

Depending on their answers, I will provide further updates but hopefully I would get any new system up and running before the new season.

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

[Jacko51]

How much are we talking, Rob and can we make a contribution?

[robf]

Thanks for the question Jean.

 

I'll be as clear as possible...

 

I'm looking at Invision as it looks to be streets ahead of VBulletin.

 

Invision will allow me to migrate all content (username, password, posts, PMs etc etc) across but the options are to do it myself or to pay them to do it for me.

 

So...

 

 

OPTION ONE - ROB DIY - £315

 

The pricing is here - https://invisioncommunity.com/buy/self-hosted/

 

I would need the Forum, Pages and Commerce apps plus the core s/w - which is $400 / £315

 

But that would rely on me doing a manual migration. It's a big job as OVF has 5,300 members and over 800,000 posts.

 

It may mean some late nights and as I'm not an expert in Invision potentially some mistakes.

 

I wouldn't want to do something which would mean losing content, especially as OVF's forum has been going so long which is why I would prefer the second option if it wasn't so expensive.

 

 

OPTION TWO - PAID MIGRATION - £1695

 

So the other option is here - https://invisioncommunity.com/services/migrate/

 

This is for one of their staff to migrate it across for me.

 

The cost is $1750 (£1380) for the migration plus I would still need the £315 for the software so a total of £1695.

 

(at this point and with these costs you may now realise why OVF has quite a few adverts!)

 

That would not give me the headache of doing it myself but is clearly a hefty sum.

 

So, let me throw it back to you folks...

 

This is a really nice interface and a significant improvement.

 

Based on an average of £20, 85 donations would fund the professional option and 20 donations would fund the cheaper option.

 

I'm not going to force anyone down any path, I appreciate everyone has their own financial obligations, but the donation page is here -

 

https://www.onevalefan.co.uk/make-a-donation-to-ovf/

 

I guess the reaction / number of donations will give me the answer as to whether I can get a full, professional migration, a cheaper DIY migration or not bother with an admittedly expensive change.

 

I have to get my hosting service to make some changes before I can even install the Invision software so there's a few weeks before I start so I'll leave this and see who wants to donate what towards it...

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

[mr.hobblesworth]

One forum I go on has a membership scheme. You can either pay £2, £4 or £6 (or nothing) a month, via paypal, and you get a little coloured bar next to your name signifying what amount you pay. It doesn't affect what you can do or see on the site but that option is available if the owner wants it apparently. Dunno if that would be of use to you?

[robf]

One forum I go on has a membership scheme. You can either pay £2, £4 or £6 (or nothing) a month, via paypal, and you get a little coloured bar next to your name signifying what amount you pay. It doesn't affect what you can do or see on the site but that option is available if the owner wants it apparently. Dunno if that would be of use to you?

 

 

I did have a similarish thing for people who paid to have the adverts removed (not quite the same as you mention) but like many things VBulletin the plugin got outdated and unsupported.

 

I believe Invision will give more options so I could have a special badge for sponsors.

[robf]

Wow! It's just hours after I posted this update and I've already had two kind donations totalling £70. All of this will be put towards the purchase of the new software.

 

Thank you to those who donated.

 

In light of the post from Mr Hobblesworth above I will save all donators details and contact you when the new site is live to see if you want to have a "2019 site sponsor" badge next to your username.

[robf]

Latest rolling total has now gone about £100.

 

I am really thankful to those of you who have donated to something you clearly enjoy to use and visit (but while I'm touched by the donations so far, I understand not everyone has the finances to donate and that is understood).

[robf]

Over £200 now - thanks so much for all your support, it is much appreciated!

 

To donate - https://www.onevalefan.co.uk/make-a-donation-to-ovf/

[robf]

Thanks very much to everyone - some really generous donations. The running total is now £330.

 

I'm now going to make the total required as £400.

 

Having been told that I do the migration myself fairly easily I am not going to go for the professional migration as it is a lot of money.

 

£400 would mean your donations will have kindly paid for £315 for the software plus a further $100 (£85) for them to install it.

 

Having them install it is really helpful as a) it saves me time b) they will give me a live forum plus a test one which the admin team and I can use to familiarize ourselves with the moderation tools.

 

So once I (hopefully) get another £85 I will be able to install the software and then following some testing / tweaking etc I should be able to set a date to switch from this software to the new one...

[robf]

Thanks everyone, last night we hit the exact figure and I now have exactly £400 in donations. I will now go ahead and order the software.

 

Look out for more announcements on when we will switch over. I suspect that OVF's forum will have to be closed for a few hours to do so but otherwise disruption to yourselves should be minimal.

[efsb]

I'm getting this error on all the IOS apps.(Tapatalk and OVF app)

[NEV]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]431[/ATTACH]I'm getting this error on all the IOS apps.(Tapatalk and OVF app)

i have the same error on my iphone and ipad tried to down load the app but it can not find it ?

[robf]

i have the same error on my iphone and ipad tried to down load the app but it can not find it ?

 

Almost certainly due to me upgrading the current software. I will look into it - in the meantime the site remains accessible through your browser.

[NEV]

ok thanks

[efsb]

Thanks Rob.