Need your input

I’m looking into migrating the message board to a new platform to hopefully iron out some of the issues that we’ve had here (spam bots, etc.).

Was hoping to get some input from you guys about what we should look for…

A few of the candidates are:

Discourse
One of the newer players out there… Discourse is somewhat similar to Vanilla in structure, but is far more dynamic (features: http://www.discourse.org/about/)
Demo: https://meta.discourse.org/
http://community.sitepoint.com/

vBulletin
One of the oldest players around… You’ve probably been on a VB forum at some point or another.

Demo: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum

XenForo
Another more traditional message board system. Seems to have surpassed vB in many respects.

Demo: https://xenforo.com/community/

Just want to get some of your opinions… Forums that you guys like, don’t like. Features that you really want, etc. Thanks!

Sorry, I can’t help. I don’t really know that much about the different providers or formats.
Would suggest, however, that you select something that is compatible with all or most devices.

Of all three, I kinda like the old-school look of Xenforo. In terms of other forums that I frequent, I find the Rivals forums (like Rupp Rafters**) pretty attractive and easy to use/navigate. Just my two cents.

Thanks for all your work running a terrific site.

** Which I read strictly for research purposes.

I liked Discourse the most. Looks the cleanest. I’d rather stick with the current format than switch to Xenforo or vBulletin.

I am not impressed with the current platform. I think you should switch.

I think vbulletin is fine, you don’t need anything great. If you have great posters, the forum will also be great.

  1. IP Board
    http://forums.rotoworld.com

I love IP board. Very, very clean search functions and I especially love the “view my content” option that always you to just see threads you’ve posted in.

  1. Xenforo
    Next best IMO. Haven’t used it as much but is also clean/easy to navigate.

IP Board is also mobile friendly which is big. Actually, xenforo is way better than ip board on my phone. Ip board for some reason doesn’t let select pages on multi page threads so sometimes I have to “next” through 40 pages.

My vote is switched to xenforo.

The above guy is looking for exactly what I am.

I’m not all up on the tech and features of the forums but here are some things I would look for.

  • clean look
  • works on mobile devices (this forum gets me through the workday sometimes)
  • open forums to the last unread post
  • search capabilities
  • no ad pop ups

I am personally leaning a bit toward Discourse. Seems very mobile friendly, etc. More of a ‘mobile first’ than a ‘mobile fix’ design IMO. Thanks for all of the input thus far guys.

Mobile friendliest configuration please. 99% of my time on here is wireless.

Our post counts are going to go poof :frowning:

Should hopefully be able to figure something out… But the system will be a bit different than the current ‘reactions’ thing.

I vote for whatever style is most exciting to recruits. Are any AAU teams sponsored by Discourse?

More seriously, I mostly care about a mobile-friendly new layout as well.

On a separate note, I actually prefer something more akin to the “reaction” system versus a straight upvote/downvote system. A lot of times those systems are used very differently than intended when implemented. Something a little less binary would be a nice touch. Not sure if any of those options even have a system like that to consider.

With Discourse, it is a more simple system with only likes. With the idea being that ‘downvote’ or ‘disagree’ should be a reply… explaining what and why you disagree with.

For what it’s worth, I don’t care at all about the downvote, reaction, etc., stuff at all. to be honest, and to probably out myself as a non-millenial or gen-y-er, I’m not even sure where people see all that stuff. I would like not to be redirected to spam and concur about mobile-friendliness.

Yeah the redirected (and app opening) on my phone is frustrating. Very happy we are going with a switch.

put in constraints to stop all the “I’m the new Girl” type posts.

I think the ads know we’re about to make a change and they’re making a final push to make sure we get their messages… At least that’s what it seems like lately.