Move back to ProBoards

  • I already plan to re pick up the work to get rid of flarum but frankly proboards is too restrictive and at this point we would have to start on a new proboards forum anyway because the old one really doesn't work as it should from an admin perspective.

    I'll also point out a lot of the things on the thread you linked will be added to here in the new year as per the previously approved suggestions.

    We would have already got rid of flarum but had to can the work due to lack of support for the direction of the server previously.

    I'll let this play out but I am struggling to see any compelling reason that doesn't shoot us in the head long term.

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK

  • Object, You only want to switch because of nostalgia. I get it, you want to relive the old days and change sucks.

    Additionaly, ProBoards has these anti-features, which makes it intolerable to me:

    • Forced advertisements
    • Forced "shop" feature (bloatware, additionally it makes our community less child-friendly, kids will start accidently buying virtual items on the forum with real-life money as they don't know the concept of money)
    • Increased unappealable bans, as we will have to start enforcing ProBoards TOS (violaing the TOS of any platform is a Catagory 0 ban)
  • I object. I have only ever known a TF which uses Flarum however I noticed it has switched forums numerous times.

    I assume Seth must have had reasons to leave ProBoards (more than once?) in favor of MyBB. I'd like to know if those reasons are still valid. I'd prefer either Flarum with a little more love given to the configuration, or to give WoltLab a try. I objected because I agree with the reasons given by Folfy and characterslimits, and I think they're more compelling even if Seth's reasons are no longer valid.

  •   Telesphoreo yes, essentially is boiled down to wanting to move to something that (at the time) "looked better" and wasn't "as restrictive" as proboards, but that was about it.

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      characterslimits You only want to switch because of nostalgia. I get it, you want to relive the old days and change sucks.

    The desire to change isn't driven primarily on nostalgia. @"videogamesm12"#4 wrote a highly detailed explanation on why proboards is more desirable than the current setup on flarum which from what I can observe, the major consensus here is that it is absolute garbage. As @"Telesphoreo"#36 also said, despite the community having severe objections to moving to a different platform, the reason was “whether you like it or not it’s happening” and a cryptic announcement of the fact was made by the previous owner, Seth. This announcement would result in the eventual adoption of flarum following Seth's departure.

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      characterslimits Forced advertisements

    It's a free service so they have to get revenue through something to keep it free. If you don't like the ads, I highly suggest using an adblocker.

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      characterslimits Forced “shop” feature (bloatware, additionally it makes our community less child-friendly, kids will start accidently buying virtual items on the forum with real-life money as they don’t know the concept of money)

    Tell that to every server that has an in-game shop where kids could 'accidentally' buy virtual items and make it very easy to purchase said items. The items are not mandatory and to my knowledge, most OPs didn't buy them anyways. Also, the location where you can purchase the items is a separate tab on your profile, and you have to click a button to go to the actual page to buy said items.

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      characterslimits Increased unappealable bans, as we will have to start enforcing ProBoards TOS (violaing the TOS of any platform is a Catagory 0 ban)

    The discord already has a ToS and there's been like one documented case of someone being ToS banned that I personally know of, so it isn't like regular indefinite bans which are handed out due to players crashing/attempting to crash the server on a weekly basis. Truly unappealable bans are generally issued for severe rule violations, such as breaking actual law. Also, if someone was determined enough, they can easily just lie (Not endorsing this) about their age. This isn't the TSA where you have to show ID every time you log into the forums so it would be very hard to prove someone's age unless they were being honest or make it very obvious they are underage through their behaviour.

    I am going to assume you clearly have never used proboards to the fullest extent to understand why people like it so much - it is reliable, easy to use, and actually has features you'd expect from a forums software suite that does not require a metric ton of 3rd-party plugins to obtain said functionality.

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  • Object. ProBoards's TOS makes us lose control over the most important platform of the community.

    It took more than a year to partly reopen the old forum because it's not designed to preserve history.

    If any of us try to save and archive the ProBoards forum they'll likely ban us.

    TotalFreedom's Executive Community & Marketing Manager

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      Alco_Rs11 This announcement would result in the eventual adoption of flarum following Seth’s departure.

    Afaik Seth was forced to adopt Flarum when people didn't like the mybb one and Telesphoreo created a shadow flarum forum to Boycott it. But we have been using flarum since Seth ran the server, and when he deleted things my view was that things should be re setup to match how he had everything before he rage quit.

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK

  • Quote

    @'Ryan' Afaik Seth was forced to adopt Flarum when people didn’t like the mybb one and Telesphoreo created a shadow flarum forum to Boycott it.

    What really happened was, people wanted a forum that looked identical to proboards. However, mybb didn’t support that and it caused an outrage. Flarum made it look more similar and people accepted it.

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      characterslimits Object, You only want to switch because of nostalgia. I get it, you want to relive the old days and change sucks.

    "You only want to switch because of nostalgia", is an incredibly vast assumption to make. That may well be one of the reasons, since this server has been running for quite a long time.

    But other reasons I prefer to switch:
    -Private messaging
    -Much better moderation tools
    -Categories are laid out a lot better, and simple to navigate between
    -Search function which basic and advanced search
    -A support forum which can be used when there is bugs/issues

    The only reason we are actually here is because seth went against the vast majority of voters to get his way. The only reason we are still on Flarum is because Ryan wanted it to remain from where we left off. The other reason we are still here is because proboards is monumentally broken, when the proboards staff restored us, everything is corrupted/unuseable.

    There wasn't anything wrong with proboards, I never felt like there was a feature missing. It had everything we ever needed, especially from a moderation point of view.

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      characterslimits Forced advertisements

    Eh, adblock, but even if I didn't use that, a small banner ad between the banner and the top category really didn't bug me.

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      characterslimits Forced “shop” feature (bloatware, additionally it makes our community less child-friendly, kids will start accidently buying virtual items on the forum with real-life money as they don’t know the concept of money)

    That is the stupidest comparison I have ever heard lol. That's like, every game ever nowadays with DLC or cosmetic features.

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      characterslimits Increased unappealable bans, as we will have to start enforcing ProBoards TOS (violaing the TOS of any platform is a Catagory 0 ban)

    and? Did we ever experience problems like that in the 8 or so years we ran the forum?

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