Site feedback
 

1. PHP dropped support for 5.3.x in August of 2014 and the entire 5.x line at the end of last year.
2. The latest version of vBulletin is 5.5.1, while you appear to be running 3.8.0.

Please stop using outdated software. I realize the forum upgrade will be difficult because of the custom theme and other customizations, but there's no reason to continue running software that's been out of date for 4+ years.

Re: Site feedback
 

:laugh:


(I'm half considering getting Palpatine out of his cage but I figured it more fun to leave this thread up for a while)

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Yeah way too much fun to be had here. Won't be any report clicking from me yet.

:rolleyes:You sound like the guy from Microsoft who tells everyone they have to upgrade to Windows 10 or else cyber-armageddon will commence.

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No reason to fix something that isn't broken.
Also it's pretty crappy to join the forum just to bitch about the software. Don't like it? Leave.

Hi there. I assume you're the person who emailed me anonymously the other day? I replied, but I also assume the address was a throwaway, which is why you've registered to say it again.

Re: PHP. Yep, I'm aware. But I'm not sure there's a terribly compelling reason to upgrade. It's stable, it works, and the last server I use that upgraded PHP (without informing me) broke a bunch of stuff. I've yet to come across a technical issue that has required a newer version of PHP to solve.

Re: vBulletin. I'm not sure how familiar you are with this software, but it became a completely different piece of software shortly after the version I'm running. The entire architecture (and entire development ethos) changed there, largely because the product was purchased by a larger company and most of the core software team left. It is, in my opinion, a wildly inferior product now. In fact, I found out years ago, after I'd come to this conclusion on my own, that a handful of other vBulletin owners had made the exact same decision (stopping the upgrades at almost the exact same version I had) for the exact same reasons, and were banding together to support it as best they could. If I were to upgrade, I'd switch to XenForo, which is the piece of software run by (largely) the same people that left vBulletin.

I should also note that the "customizations" you refer to are substantial. I realize there are a lot of lazy (and non-technical) forum owners who put off upgrades simply because they don't want to re-apply style changes to new templates, or something like that, but that's not the case here. I've written scads of custom scripts that interact with the system.

I don't know if you have some connection to me or this site, or what. If you're just a developer who dislikes lazy forum owners, fair enough, but if that's the case, please rest easy knowing that a lot of thought was put into all of this, and it isn't just the result of technical inertia.

MoFo IMO is the best looking and best functioning site that I've visited. I'm not just saying that to be supportive, I really hate a lot of the way modern web sites look. MoFo does what it needs to do perfectly and any changes that have been made since I've been here have made it even better. I would dread a drastic overhaul, Ebay does that all the time and it's not always for the better as Ebay becomes less intuitive with each site redesign.

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It's possible he's only mentioning it for security reasons, specifically because, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of forum owners just can't be bothered to do basic maintenance stuff.

I have some nuanced feelings about what's actually more secure in a purely pragmatic sense, though, which I'd be happy to elaborate on if the OP is genuinely concerned or open-minded on the topic. I don't really know anything about them, though, so I won't assume either way.

Re: Site feedback
 

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Appreciate everyone having my back, but it's possible this is all very well-meaning. It's not necessarily a critique of the site or a suggestion that it should feel/be like other forums. Might just be strictly security-related advice, albeit a little curt in the way it was expressed.

Usually safe to assume anyone on the Internet is kinda being a jerk until proven otherwise, but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt in case it's all in good faith.

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OP’s second post/thread is gonna tell us how to avoid climate change. :)

That's cool of you, see that's why you're a good administrator. We all wanted to tar and feather the OP:eek: But yeah you might be right.

Can I ask some site software security type questions? or should I PM them?

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Sure, feel free. Probably better to PM rather than draw attention publicly. Which is something I guess I'd say to the OP, too, which they sorta did by emailing me but didn't allow for the possibility of a response or any back-and-forth.

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I just don't get the "please stop using outdated software" bit. This is the first post this person has made, just comes off as soooooo weird.

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Yeah, I dunno. It's possible this is a pet peeve of theirs and they notice this with lots of forums, and have to say it to a lot of forum owners.

They also just might be a lurker. Or a member who doesn't want to suffer the pushback that we've seen already but still wants to say it.

It's all Greek to me. All I can say is I like the forum as it is. I respect you for taking the high road.

Re: Site feedback
 

Not understanding the incredibly rude criticism - aside from the fabbapsnrootytootybooty site (which I admittedly have vip access to thus receiving a much enhanced experience and therefore probbly not fair to compare) this is easily my favouritestmost site on the whole of the interweb thingy :shrug: