Improving MSB

[Arkandel]

Hello folks,

This is not an official post since I'm not an official admin! But since we've been debating technical changes to MSB I wanted to get your opinion about what a 'reboot' could look like.

If you don't already know, MSB currently runs nodeBB; that's the software that you're looking at right now serving this thread to your web browser. However it's not the only one; there are several other (free, as in beer) forum platforms offering a range of features.

Here is a list: https://itsfoss.com/open-source-forum-software/

If you have a few minutes to check that out, or if you've had positive experiences with other forums you'd like to recommend - basically if you have constructive thoughts to offer in regards to relaunching MSB using something other than nodeBB, will you please consider doing so?

Thanks in advance!

[faraday]

I think nodeBB is fine if there's some way to just fix the install. It's simple, it's intuitive, it has everything you need to have the opt-in forum groups (like politics, hog pit, etc.).

I personally like Discourse, but the differences are mostly style and preference. I really can't think of any compelling reason to recommend it over nodeBB, except maybe the ease of upgrades. The achievement system is kinda fun I guess.

I have used phpBB and SimpleMachines in the past and found them both lacking compared to either nodeBB/Discourse, FWIW. Haven't used any of the other forums on that list, or even heard of them.

[Roz]

I am still very much on the side of wanting to keep the history of the board active as part of the board if it all possible, and would make regular contributions in order to make that happen if it required additional hosting space of power and hiring someone to manage any migration.

[MisterBoring]

The only message board system I've actually managed in the past was Vanilla Forums. It's nice, but I discovered pretty quickly it's geared more towards corporate support forums rather than anything that might be useful to MSB.