| Subject: Forum alternatives... |
Author:
Dena
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Date Posted: 19:29:54 06/15/03 Sun
Like I said before, I put a good chunk of time into finding this particular board, and it suits a lot of the imperatives I had for a JAC board (doesn't generate pop-up ads, very low on graphics for modem users, easy to track threads and who's replied to what, and NOT located on the same server as the JAC website, so that if one goes down, we still have the other to try).
But I also grant the points raised by various people who don't like it (a nuisance to have to retype your name every time, sometimes munches on people's messages, no edit feature once something's been posted, no "view all new" messages option for people who have fast modems).
So here's an attempt at starting another discussion of some alternatives I've found...
Option 1 (better forum, more work required): AnimeLyrics.com's forum.
Option 2 (not as good as AL.com but better than this one in terms of meeting more of people's requests, and less work than the AL forum): Hostboard.
About option 1:
The forum that I like best of any forum I've seen is the AnimeLyrics.com forum.
It's simple, it's amazingly fast, you can view by thread or by topic or you can view all new posts on any topic, the thread handling is great, and there are almost no graphics required but you can post links to graphics if you want.
The downside is that we'd need to find a server to run it on and someone who speaks enough SQL to get it set up. I could run it once it had been set up, but I know I don't understand enough to do the initial configuration... and even if we could put it on the jac.anime.net site, this year there have been several times when this site was available but jac.anime.net wasn't and it was very useful to have this board not on the same server so it was still available for things like announcing the showing schedule.
However, if someone has a reliable server available from anywhere in the country, and knows enough SQL to get it up and running, let's talk about whether folks would like to consider moving the forum this fall after school and JAC are going again (so we can tell folks where to go).
Note: By "reliable server available from anywhere in the country," I mean "something designed to run 24x7 which is NOT a machine set up in someone's dorm or in some lab on campus," because a whole lot of systems are going to be put in the Fully Closed (i.e. you can't serve data to people outside the University firewall) category this fall.
Also, for people who want to suggest the ubiquitous PHPbb forum idea -- don't. ^^;;; I've seen several forums running on that. I hate all but one of them that I've seen. The only one I don't hate does take care of my biggest complaint -- they've turned off the option that lets people imbed huge graphics in "me too" messages -- but we'd still have to find a server and someone who speaks PHP to get it up and running, and it still contains too many redundant graphics for navigation, and it's still not as good as the AL forum at showing what replies respond to what items because it just tags everything on at the bottom.
Option 2 is more like the PHP boards in layout, but it has the considerable advantage of being already out there and run by someone else and already configured: HostBoard.
The upsides are that people can have avatars if they like, but avatars are restricted to a rational size; it's fast enough to use over a modem, though not noticeably faster than this one and visibly slower than the AL.com method; and someone else is in charge of making sure the server is up and running. ^^;;; It also provides edit options, linking options, and imbedding options if people want them.
The downsides are that while you can easily view the entirety of a thread at once, all replies go at the bottom of the list (so things like our fansubs thread would quickly turn profoundly unreadable) and there isn't an option which lets you select "just the new replies in all the threads" like there is in the AL forum. You have to go page by page through every thread to see what's new, and there's no clear identification of what you've read and what you haven't.
But it is out there, already up and configured, not on the same server as jac.anime.net, and provides some features this one doesn't -- so it would probably be a step up from the current system.
On the other hand, if we want to get something like the AL system (so that something like the fansubs thread would continue to be skimmable and navigable ^^;;), then I'd rather hold off with this one until we get a server and a configuration rather than plan to move twice...
...if at all. I think that these boards do provide more of what the *people asking for a new board* have been asking for -- but I don't know how *everyone* here thinks about the utility of moving and the interfaces used by the options I've presented...
So, can folks take a look at the links I've provided and vote on whether they think it's worth a move to something like one or the other of them, or whether they have another alternative entirely? Is it worth the move? Do you like either of those interfaces? Hate them? Don't care either way?
(^^;;; see, I really do take people seriously... it's just that I want to have presentable alternatives in mind. When people talk about dumping this board, I want to have a way to say "where to?" and some options to talk about...! I'm not totally an autocrat... not always... er, anyhow...)
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