(Suggestion) Okay.... pls don't kill me for this...

[lyfesaver]

Can we upgrade to vBulletin v4.x?

While i am used to XenForo and we use vBulletin here, I would like the ability to to use some of the more modern features found in forums today.

The ability to tag other members in a comment/post. Something like in a reply about someones question on drive ratio's one could say "While I am not sure, I would think (yadda yadda yadda) but make sure you read @Fabroman's post about drive ratios [HERE]. Or maybe he will know what you need." And now Fabroman has a little red notification in his top bar that points out that someone dropped his name.

The ability to say more thank "Thanks". A full system would allow someone to thank, agree, like, dislike, find funny, etc...

A better private message system that allows for more fluid conversations style.

And I cant say this enough: Responsive Design!!!!!

There are many more reasons for an upgrade/change, these are just a few off my head.

I know this cost money, but I am willing to pay for it.

Thoughts? Ideas? Death threats? Let me know!!!

 

[lyfesaver]

I know we are go kart guys and we like things simple and clean (well clean as in easy... we should all love the dirt and grease, lol) but it does not mean we cant have a little more fun with this very awesome tool..... Internet Forums!!!

 

[lyfesaver]

Oh and for those who are saying "How do we know that this guy knows what he talking about?" I am CTO/STA of a biometric software company in Dallas and team member, PR leader, administrator and a moderator of the forums over at http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/

 

[machinist@large]

If you want to make suggestions, you need to talk to Robert. This is his baby, and I'm just extremely glad he let's me count it as a second home....

As for myself, probably 90℅ of what you would love to have/see added to the forum is total Greek to me. Haven't needed it, probably will never miss it. It all comes down to the basic question of "Why reinvent the wheel????".

Here's an open ended question for you..

If your attention span is that short that you demand all that" Whatever " why do you feel that the rest of us have to/need to update/conform to your desired standard, when the current one work's, and most first time visitors seem to get along perfectly fine????

Just an honest question......

 

[lyfesaver]

Well I dont think any honest question starts off with insulting my attention span. You wanted to get a cheap dig in, and you got it. I did not deserve that. Hope you enjoyed it. That is all I have to say to you, sir.

 

[itsid]

I beg to differe..

I worked on vBulletin since 2.1 and the "big step" when it was sold and announced that vb 4.0 suite..

BIG PITA!

It's forumsoft, and not facepalm, twatter or mysauce..
not instagrimm, not snotchat.. just a forum;
i.e. TALK not just click a button!

I agree, that some new features are indeed nice, the suite comes with a built in blog for example, many vBhacks have been included that are indeed useful at least for some.
but really... it's not nearly half as nice and stable as 3.8 is (and personally 3.6.8 is my favourite version yet )

Well, as Pat said already.. Robert is the one who's in charge of which version he runs
(keep in mind that he has to actually BUY and pay for the vB4!)
Personally.. I don't like the idea, but that again has nothing to say...
I don't get a vote.

But I surely hope Robert likes the 4.0 idea as much as I do

But.. if you have a CERTAIN feature in mind, just show us,
I'm sure it was available as a hack before 4.0!
and can be added to this forumsoft with just a few clicks.

'sid

 

[lyfesaver]

Right on, Sid. Valid points all.

And yes, I know v4 costs money, this is why I said I was willing to pay for it, which I am no longer willing to do. About 50 minutes after I posted this, I lost alllllllllll enthusiasm to try and do something nice. That's what I was trying to do. Something nice. Thought people might like a more interactive experience, not to get people to "conform".

A moderator can remove this whole thread and I wont get sore, as I no longer want to help or think this is a good idea anymore.

 

[Axx3d]

Wow.. 2 hrs from "lets do it" to "no sign me out"..

Im always game for the advancement of a society I belong in..

But in the famous words of all of our folx "If it ain't broke don't f@ck with it".

 

[itsid]

I don't get it..

you don't like this forumsoft and want to buy robert a new license...
and because TWO "who gives a flying shirt about them"-users (orange...v-neck) do not like the idea,
you want to quit??

interactive experience.... *sigh* well...
log in with facebooth isn't interaction.. that's datamining!
(different topic.. let's not scratch it )

you lost enthusiasm because of two negative replies...
well then it wasn't exactly enthusiasm at all, was it
(there's one other option I can think of and that could be mistaken as an insult... so I leave it)

Anyways, within a decade of running forums myself and was in firm contact with other forum admins, I found that 99% of people who make "kind offers" like yours, will someday return and ask for something in return.

"Make me Mod, I paid for xyz.. and want to be moderator" or
"I hate that guy.. ban him.. I paid for your xyz"
or even something lousy as
"I want to have a specific username color or style no one else has"

So yeah well... personally I never accepted any offer, not to cover a server fee, not a license update, no nothing because of those stories I heard; no matter how good.

Again, that doesn't mean Robert wont, it's just my 2 cts...

'sid

 

[lyfesaver]

You are correct Axx3d, It was a quick turn around. I like to do things I think would be nice, so I extend ideas that are in my wheelhouse, as i cant offer everyone coupons for free Dairy Queen or something, aut it's how I react when I am needlessly insulted for sport.

I have moved on though. Looking forward to seeing what Gran_Pann can do with my kart he picked up today. I posted a couple weeks back about some serious issues I had with the steering on my Murry Kilowatt and now he and I are looking at ways to rebuild the front end to handle more aggressive rides. I will start a new thread for that though once we decide how we are going to work it out.
(See how I am trying to change the subject *wink* fruitlessly of course, lol)

 

[lyfesaver]

Sid, your initial reply was not negative at all, bro. You had valid points. Yours was the type of discussion I was hoping for. And as for negative feedback, I am not new to forums, I expect negativity... even trolls. All this I can handle with a smile on my face =)

And I, in no way, want the account linked with Facebook. When I suggested that people can "like" a comment I did not mean a Facebook like.

Nor do I want to be mod. Or to ban anyone. I ask nothing of nobody, and to assume I would...

 

[lyfesaver]

http://i.imgur.com/INzsL6y.png
Something close to this. A user can click any of the icons on the bottom right.
They are in order: Thank you, Like, Agree, Dislike, Great Idea, Funny, Informative, Creative, Add to Wiki, Outdated Info, Off topic, Missing logs and system specs, and Missing steps to reproduce.

Thats all.. they are all self configured so these are the ones used on this forum as it is used mostly for support and development of software. But you can see what I was suggesting.

 

[lyfesaver]

Let's see how this thread has gone so far:

I made a suggestion, Machinist insulted me, Axx3d thanked him for doing so, and Sid assumed I have some hidden agenda.... a power trip of sorts.

Gee... i wonder why I retracted my offer.

I am done with this thread. Reply to it as you wish, I will not be.

 

[Axx3d]

You thanked me for me "for doing so"..

Relax man..

Rome wasn't built in a day..

On a side note my pandoara was destroyed in a day..Pandora can be tainted by the prettiest of folk.. My GF just went to bed and my PD is playing katy perry..perrie..pereeeee.... fack me..

And honestly.. I dont matter.. im just some guy.. fack.. im so close to the CA border i may as well say eh.. or heh.. or.. shipping sux.. or something... im way up north..

 

[itsid]

Sid, your initial reply was not negative at all, bro. You had valid points. Yours was the type of discussion I was hoping for. And as for negative feedback, I am not new to forums, I expect negativity... even trolls. All this I can handle with a smile on my face =)

And I, in no way, want the account linked with Facebook. When I suggested that people can "like" a comment I did not mean a Facebook like.

I can't recall all the features of vb4 from ontop of my head, but I'm pretty sure I know what you were talking about (it's basically the improved star system we have for decades )
the facebook connect was just one of the many BAD examples of features that I do remember

Nevermind,
my second post was just cutting the same groove as Axx3d
question..
"How the heck can the previous two posts change your enthusiasm?!?!"

Oh and allow me to slip offtopic:
mediaportal?? we might have met already
I quit when vmr7 (was it 8?) wasn't supported anymore (since my tiny boards cannot cope with vmr9 and dvd playback was just unacceptable although vlc was still offering nice framerates)
a shame... nice piece of soft.. but I wanted my htpc supporting the tiniest boards available back then (epia M and V series) that's 6-7years ago by now I guess...

Now back to topic.

I added some bad experience with "kind offers" I heard about from serious sources, just to have you prepared if Robert says "thank you, but NO thank you"
It's still just the internet and faith is limited...

I know those buttons
And as I said, IIRC that was a Hack initially made for a windows forum back in the days,
I would need to do some research since I never had it installed.
And furthermore,
keep in mind this is a MECHANICAL inclined forum,
nearly no info will ever be outdated, since a drill will be a drill in 20 years, and a '99 gx200 will be a '99 gx200
So the individual options will need to be altered (again IIRC that's a simple admin setting though)

Things like that can easily be added, tested, and if unnecessary removed again.
you cannot with vb4. you can disable the feature, but once activated the database will grow and clog disabled again the db is still there and loaded..
a updated database cannot be converted back to vb3.8 again (well not without HUGE efforts)

And that's exactly why I personally always prefered the older versions, test a module/hack/feature and remove it if pointless.
no harm done.
everything that's embedded already cannot be removed, and thus will clutter up the core.
larger core means longer loading times, more traffic etc.

And since 99% of the good hacks for vb3.8 are free anyways, you don't even have to spend any money on it.

It's a decision to make, for Robert to make

Personally.. if there's a feature that's needed in here I do agree on testing it -I have a few exceptions to that rule from my own experience, but that doesn't belong here-
since that can be reverted with a click of a button in ACP..
A versionupgrade is undoable most of the times and you're stuck.
(like trying to revert your old iPhone 3GS back to 5.0 once you tried to run ios7.2 and hate it)

'sid

 

[Axx3d]

It all breaks down to 1 thing.. "Comfortability" it really isn't a word.. but feelings always win..

All drop it n let Boss run it..

 

[lyfesaver]

Okay, first off. I am eating crow as I said I would not reply and here I am doing it =) Taking foot out of mouth and putting my own words in.

That being said, to Axx3d and Sid... I may have over reacted.

As for off topic stuff, ya it has come a long way!!! You should give it a shot again What are you running on it now? I currently have 16TB saved movies/shows. I am a media hoarder =) lol

And I did the same thing for MP. Few weeks after I fell in love with the project I dedicated some of what I could to them. I (with their permission) paid for a 6 foot banner, bought some extra TVs paid for a booths at trade shows and fairs and dedicated months of my time. All because I enjoyed the HTPC hobby. I enjoy karting and while I will never DIY one from scratch admire to no end those that can and do.

 

[RobertD]

We will never upgrade on vbulletin. 4 & 5, are total crap. The software we are running is the peak of forum software for the time, but, agreed, it's not responsive, phone friendly, etc. It hasn't been a super-pain for the members yet, but I recognize that it's on the horizon.

We probably will move to xenforo at some point within the new year.

 

[2SlickNick]

IMHO I think we as members get more from writing things in our own words, rather than click a button/icon to decrease the confusion of what we want to say.

I like how someone interprets ( e.g.) " Dude, you are bad ". We sometimes can't sense tone nor sarcasm on a written forum and that adds to the drama.

I watched us tease people and then become friends after the confusion was cleared ( i.e.) Birdfanatic.

I think the simple "thank you" icon and emoticons are enough. Again just my $0.02.

Also I like the silent treatment threat " I am done with this thread. Reply to it as you wish, I will not be. " I do that to my wife all the time Lol. and.... always cave as you did.

Anyways Can't wait to see the Kilowatt thread.


Edit: I have a patch on my motorcycle vest that says " If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand" I interpret that as I am nuts and no one understands me because I must speak in code.....LMAO maybe that is why my wife tells me "less is more".

 

[landuse]

Personally, I have no problem with the forum as it is at the moment. It is simple, easily navigatable (is that a word?) and doesn't visually bombard you with a lot of "stuff". I dislike some forums that just havetoo much happening on the page, and you cannot actually tell what is post and what is...."stuff".

I haven't used the updated Vbulliton software, so maybe I am missing something....but I don't know I am missing it, so its cool....

EDIT: Lyfesaver...I thank you for the offer of the help, monetory and or otherwise. It is not everyone who would give of their resources to people and causes that they do not personally know.