Would you support another boards.ie migration to a more functional platform (XenForo)?

cuttingtimber22

can you give me more information on the platform you suggest? When will the migration happen? Who will pay for it?

sam t smith

I fear the site would likely end up less functional than it currently is if the same boards.ie team were to be responsible for the new migration.

EmmetSpiceland

If there’s another migration can there be “dark mode” so we don’t have to listen to angry nerds, continually, whinging about it?

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

How many months in are we now and the site is still trash on desktop and unusable on mobile despite many band aids stuck over it to make it less crap, which is exactly why old boards was put in the bin.

Remember the good old days when your click on a thread, it would load instantly and drop you off where you left off...no scrolling up and down, actually being able to quote people very easily even on mobile...aah memories.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119007077#Comment_119007077

Dark mode? Like this?

CalamariFritti

I think the desktop site is quite alright. I don't think its really worse than the old simply a little different and people just don't like change. People like what they're used to.

Can't speak for the mobile site cos I never use it but I believe its not great.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119007094#Comment_119007094

Could you throw that up in the “Feedback” thread? There’s still a few griping about it over there.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119007088#Comment_119007088

'member when you could search a thread? I 'member.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119007116#Comment_119007116

Pepperidge farm remembers.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119007112#Comment_119007112

I'm fairly sure I have it in there from last May/June but I'll add it over there again.

But in case anyone here wants it? It's a chrome setting. Accessed as follows.

Enter chrome://flags/ on your browser enter dark in the search box and switch auto dark mode to enabled

Dempo1

I never use the desktop site and personally find the mobile site fine apart from the way adverts are positioned, almost feels like click baiting as too easy to click on, this said I understand adverts keep the site going.

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119007104#Comment_119007104

I'm with you. I also think the site is good. I can read a thread and come back when new posts are made and it will automatically go to the last unread post. Quoting a piece of someone post is a bit different than previous but can still be done but not as neat as old boards.ie, Just to point out I am desktop version. Another feature that is missing from previous is deleting a post, but apart from that as I said already I find the new site good.

I agree though Vanilla is no where near as feature rich as Xenforo. For those who don't know any site running that software. Check out https://www.overclock.net/

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

Holy crap, that site is lightning quick to use.

thesandeman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119007141#Comment_119007141

Doesn't work for me. It just makes the top part of the screen dark but not the rest ☹️

ocallagh

This is not a very balanced poll!

I find the current platform reliable, easy to use. It's a simple discussion forum and it works.. another migration would be painful for all concerned I think.

machaseh

Please migrate this forum. The current lay out is a confusing disaster.

Cookie_Monster

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

The new platform is pretty terrible, but nowhere near as terrible as the attitude the staff and owners have had about the move. You need to sort that out first, and good luck doing it.

FobleAsNuck

this is epic 😂

[ x ] people are leaving every day due to stupid decisions and stuborness of the team

riclad

I see no problem with the present design, except there should be a dark mode, I can't see the point of moving to a new platform. I have never been annoyed by ads on boards ie

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119008166#Comment_119008166

And what is that, for those of us who don’t speak nerd?

sydthebeat

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

Lack of visible, quick moderation has killed boards

blackbox

I don't know anything about possible alternatives. In reality I have only got 2 major issues with the last migration:

1. It is very slow for a page to open - I suspect that there must be multiple handshakes going on based on a similar experience with a SAP installation.

2. The search function is terrible.

sergioaguero

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

new site is a pile pf crap in all fairness, cant even view the soccer threads ffs

I understand boards.ie have limited resources, the probability of another migration is low so although it's a pity, I'm accustomed to boards.ie's step backwards in functionality.

Boards was dying before the migration. And the functionality of the present site is fine. Not wonderful, not awful.

Another migration would likely kill the site entirely.

OP.. would have been nice to have a vote option that wasn't so negatively biased.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119008674#Comment_119008674

It’s just a shame that those who want it to die, and are delighting in it, don’t just leave and let the ones who are happy, as can be, with how it is keep enjoying it as best they can.

I understand boards.ie have limited resources, the probability of another migration is low so although it's a pity, I'm accustomed to boards.ie's step backwards in functionality.

I don't get the hate TBH. Can I post to a thread? Yup. Can I quote passages? Yup. Can I thank a post or ignore a poster? Yup. The rest is just wrapping. The site itself is relatively stable, and has improved a lot (recently) in terms of speed, refreshing or slowdowns.

Honestly, I never used most of the functionality of the old site, except for once in a blue moon. An easier way to multi-quote would be nice, but.. not a big thing.

fryup

no i'm used to the new format now, still a bit glitchy....but much better than at the start of the transition, leave it be i say

Earthhorse

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119008742#Comment_119008742

Two big things I miss:

1) Being able to view my subscribed threads. There are notifications instead, which are very noisy. I used to enjoy posting in a few threads and keeping track of my interactions that way. Now it's not so smooth.

2) Being able to see users posts. A fun way to discover threads I might be interested in was to click on profiles of users I liked to see what they were posting. It brought me to discussions I wouldn't have discovered otherwise. Miss that.

the_pen_turner

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

personnaly i would support it but im not sure if it would work.

there are bigger issues like people not posting or creating new threads etc that need solving first.

vanilla is ok , but its far from perfect. if its this or no boards then i would choose this.

FobleAsNuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119008525#Comment_119008525

Right click => View Page Source

This is what is being loaded each time a page is refreshed.

Whatever backend Boards is using, is built against best practices in building websites. But there's more :) Moneysavingexperts forums is also built on top of the same engine (Vanilla) and guess what? It doesn't need so much crap loaded in the background.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119010083#Comment_119010083

What’s that got to do with people leaving the site and the stubbornness of the owners though?

Is that easily fixed?

The search is pretty good if you know how to use it. Though it was working better a few weeks ago. Now some posts are missing.

I'm of the opinion that it should be moved with proper testing. Xenforo is so good, users would just be immediately happy. Even if they moved to the free version of Vanilla and hosted it themselves, it would be better. At least they could change the code.

Boards.ie acts like the nervous system for Ireland. Steps should be put in place to ensure transition to the optimal community platform so continuity and a strong user base is assured..... less discuss potential funding options!

Also impossible to know how busy each sub is as there's no longer notification of how many users (members/guests) are viewing.

Ubbquittious

Who is XenForo? I'm indifferent, the old platform wasn't great, but neither is this one

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119010083#Comment_119010083

Historically every time modems got faster (for example the jump from 28.8kbps to 33) web developers eagerly added some bloat to their sites to keep loading times the same or slightly slower. Now that everyone is on multi-gigabit fibre-to-the-anus they just add in a couple 100 randomly generated JavaShit files

Jim_Hodge

Got used to the new format fairly quickly. Fine for me on desktop. It does what I need, so no desire to change it.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119010826#Comment_119010826

Same here, Jim. Just a shame there’s no option for that in the poll.

vegandinner

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119008166#Comment_119008166

That’s a crime.

Tom Mann Centuria

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

Does Xenforo have :pac: ? Should have asked before I voted.

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119010748#Comment_119010748

It's all well and good for you guys on gigabit. I'm still rocking 2Mb DSL. I do not find this website to be slow as I find it the same as all the other sites I frequent and it must be due to my slow internet connection.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119010842#Comment_119010842

I didn't vote for that reason. It has no option to say you're satisfied as is.

Xander10

Well use to it now. Seems lazy for people to be moaning about the change still.

PS would have voted for the above if an option on poll.

AckwelFoley

I really genuinely don't care. Site works fine for me, so this falls very much into the list of "meah"

Glaceon

I wouldn't object to a XenForo migration - https://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/ is an example of one. But some other sites such as Digital Spy (https://forums.digitalspy.com) managed to successfully migrate to Vanilla so I don't think Vanilla itself is the problem. It appears to be the way Boards have configured it. I fear the damage is done in any case.

jammiedodgers

Yes, Vanilla has drained the soul out of boards.ie

I like the optimism that they could perform another migration. They still haven't managed to get the time right on posts since the clock change over a month ago 😂

fryup

like the way you get a instant notification when someone quotes one of your messages 😐️ kinda cool