Lemma Soft Forums

I've done a test migration of our forum to the new phpBB3 software. phpBB3 adds many new features, so I'd like to get us over there as soon as possible, now that the software seems stable enough to use.

You can view the test forum at:

http://lemmasoft.renai.us/phpBB3/index.php

Please try it out, and post here if you experience any problems.

There is one known issue, so far. The number of users on the new forum is less than the old one. This is because the new software only counts users that have validated themselves (via the email sent when you register), while the current forum counts all users that have registered.

Also, search will be down until I build the index, late tonight.

Again, please let me know what you think. If people like the new forum, we'll be switching over in the not-too-distant future.

Tried it out, no problems here!

so all threads will be deleted? Or will users be deleted?

Basically, the test forum will be going away in a couple of days.

The idea for the migration is this:

- I will decomission and delete the test forum.
- I will create the new forum.
- I will lock this forum, so noone can post new content while the migration is ongoing.
- I will migrate the content of this forum to the new forum.
- I will move this forum out of the way, and move the new forum into its place.
- I will build the search index, and do whatever else needs to be done to commission the new forum.

So we can expect an hour or two of downtime in the next couple of days, as I do these things.

eeeek, a change! Well, if it's absolutely necessary, alright.

Some suggestions:
- more subtle coloring of admins
- the online/offline status is quite in-your-face, I'd actually disable it.
- currently, there are no images in signatures... this is soothing to the eye ^_^, but I'm afraid it will go away. Well, you can't have it all... (EDIT: actually, there are pictures, I've just seen one now)
- also... Sparky McTest?

Oh, and let me just say that if there's going to be a new version, I'm happy it's this simple system - I'm really seriously annoyed by feature-overkill forums like *cough*vBull*cough*, this is very simple, elegant, structured and yet it doesn't feel like a nerdy place. It's the basic functionality of a forum and that's all that is needed, IMO.

In addition to that, while we're at it, shouldn't we rearrange the sections a bit? I mean I'm fine with the current situation, because I've gotten used to it, but of course there is always a way to improve the struture.

I am administrator of phpbb3 on my forum (http://forum.yugioh.sk ) and I must say that is is perfect choice (mostly because of very quality adm. and mod. panel... and you can even post flash into signatures or posts.

Mikey wrote:- the online/offline status is quite in-your-face, I'd actually disable it.

Why?

admins, online/offline : just like mikey, I find these to be too visible .

As for rearranging stuff, there's the fact we have "finished ren'ai projects" but it's expanded into other types than ren'ai... that's it

EDIT :

and you can even post flash into signatures or posts.

I don't see that as a good thing >.>;...

Eh?
Look here http://forum.yugioh.sk/viewtopic.php?p=6512#p6512
See,what nice sig I have XD

Enerccio wrote:

Mikey wrote:- the online/offline status is quite in-your-face, I'd actually disable it.

Why?

Well, you can see who is online or offline in the main page, just like now.

And I don't think it adds any value, not on these forums, to have the online status indicated in every post.

Yes, you can probably think of some reasons why an online/offline status is a good idea to include - but I'm sure there are also reasons why a Skype/ICQ etc status is good, or indications about activity, last login, and all sorts of things.

But I like to think that people here appreciate simplicity - after all this is as PyTom pointed out in the signature thread, in its essence a technical/creative forum - so it's the content that matters - the style should help to make the relevant information accessible. Not really more.

If you look at for instance manga.sk, that forum is very general, so cool features are fine, and large signatures can make sense, since people want to talk, but also present themselves as individuals (sigs and avatars are important, defining what you stand for etc...). But I don't think this is the right place for this - here you probably go for different reasons - get help, share some thoughts and give advice.

Plus, after a while people will know what you stand for, because your posts are actually being read. Respect earned, instead of attention created.

Hm... I think I can address most of these concerns, and removing the online/offline information from viewtopic pages actually improves performance a bit, so it's done.

I'm much more interested in people testing out the functionality of the forum, things like posting, not being able to see the secret "Lemma's Project HQ" forum, and the like.

Reorganizing the forum is a task for a later date. Fairly quickly, we want to add the "Let's Hentai Hentai" forum, for discussion of hentai game development. At some point, we'll probably look into reorganizing the existing forums, but I don't want to change too many things at once.

At some point, I'd be interested in offering similar hidden forums to established game-makers that ask for them. (We'd have to define "established", though, just because I don't want to clutter the board with one forum per thread in the WiP forum.)

Unless someone reports a showstopper bug, I'll switch us over in the next couple of days.

A minor minor detail, but I noticed it immediately since I use it all the time. With the new forums, I can't get Firefox to change the text size to something smaller than the default (which looks kinda ugly on my computer) without doing a bunch of other stuff that only makes the page look worse... I can make it bigger, but that's not exactly helping in this case...

It's... tolerable as it is now, but I'd really appreciate it if something could be done about it.

I don't know how to fix the font size issue. All the font sizes seem to be relative, at least from what I can see... I'm not sure why there's a minimum size you can't shrink past.

"View new posts" doesn't display anything but the main page shows threads have new posts (orange icons) ô_o...

EDIT : and attached images are not resized for preview ?

Hm... it may not work with migrated posts, especially since they weren't added to the search index. It seems to be working with new new posts. At least, when I post, it shows up on the new posts search.

Make sure the games links from RenPy_Games still point to the correct threads... wouldn't the thread numbers be reshuffled?