Any thoughts about upgrading this forum?

[drlucas]

As an aside, but relevant - how does this forum get funded? Somebody has to pay for the website hosting and domain name, maybe some maintenance as well.

Yes, somebody does of course.
https://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php
Relevance?

[mikeflan]

Forums such as Prestashop, GreenSock, ThaiVisa and many well known ones are using IPB for example

Please supply a link to an example upgraded forum. I could not find one at Prestashop.

[drlucas]

Did you google "prestashop forum''?
Anyway, I think it's easy to find many great BB examples. Here is one: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/119213 ... -in-power/

[Lucap]

I don't know how any project uses reddit for support that layout is messy.

[cliffcoggin]

I guess none of you are clicking "like" or upvote posts anywhere, do you?

I never have, and I never will. Such nonsense is for children, presidents, and the feeble-minded.

[Dark Owl]

I really love Mint and this forum. The members and managers/admins are quite helpful and friendly and I truly appreciate all the help and good will.
I was wondering why this forum looks so unattractive (IMHO) and old, no offence. Especially compared with such a polished and well made product.
Even the lack of likes/karma/rating/thanks-meter alone, features that motivate quality and helpful answers, is a good enough reason to consider upgrading. I believe that a better forum will attract a lot more users and Mint adpoters as well as a lot more activity of exisiting users.
Have you considered upgrading it to a more modern, user-friendly and attractive BB? (such as vBulletin or my personal favorite Invision)?

Don't fix what ain't broke. "Pretty" is irrelevant, "functional" is what matters, and it is absolutely vital the existing database is preserved and accessible. IMO if people are put off because of they think the forum looks dated, they are shallow and guilty of judging a book by its cover.

I do agree post reactions (likes etc) would be useful, because it would save additional thread clutter just posing "thanks" or whatever.

FWIW my favourite forum platform is Xenforo.

[Moem]

I do agree post reactions (likes etc) would be useful, because it would save additional thread clutter just posing "thanks" or whatever.

I find 'verbal likes' (such as "Thank you") more meaningful than a clicked thumbs up button. It just feels more 'real', maybe because there's more effort involved.

[drlucas]

It's not just likes. There are many missing features on phpBB. Multi-quotes and many other useful functional features, plugins, etc available on other boards out of the box and simply not available here and those that do, are just not as polished or maintained as the ones on other systems.
Yes, verbal likes got more efforts involved but add a lot of unnecessary clutter. That's why places such as stackoverflow discourage them and have proper "upvote" and reputation system.
Yeah, Xenforo is nice, the front-end has a very similar feel to Invision.
There is a good comparsion/review of them (by Davyc):
https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/to ... stralians/

And many more opinions here:
https://www.theadminzone.com/threads/wh ... ps.152571/

[Moem]

Multi-quotes and many other useful functional features, plugins, etc available on other boards out of the box and simply not available here

Multi-quotes are available here. Just not as easily done as they could be.

Yes, verbal likes got more efforts involved but add a lot of unnecessary clutter.

I do not see it like you do. What you see as unnecessary clutter, I see as social interaction that greases the wheels.

[Hoser Rob]

Wikipedia is an online encyclopdia, not a forum where people interact. It's also a monopoly at present and doesn't seem like anybody is interested in competing with it. ....

It's also probably the most successful truly open source project ever, and calling it a monopoly is just foolish.

[scjet45]

personally I think it's fine the way it is.
...and anything is better than "discourse" -a big scrolling pain in the butt.

[drlucas]

Multi-quotes and many other useful functional features, plugins, etc available on other boards out of the box and simply not available here

Multi-quotes are available here. Just not as easily done as they could be.

Yes, verbal likes got more efforts involved but add a lot of unnecessary clutter.

I do not see it like you do. What you see as unnecessary clutter, I see as social interaction that greases the wheels.

Multi quotes feature are not available here. It's not a feature if you have to do that manually or want to quote multiple people in a single post.
If you go to a long thread with a post that follows 12 thanks posts after it - me and I believe the vast manjority see it as unnecessary clutter when they are seeking information.

[drlucas]

Wikipedia is an online encyclopdia, not a forum where people interact. It's also a monopoly at present and doesn't seem like anybody is interested in competing with it. ....

It's also probably the most successful truly open source project ever, and calling it a monopoly is just foolish.

Any comparison of wikipedia to a forum, especially a forum dedictaed to a single linux distro is foolish.

[Moem]

Multi quotes feature are not available here. It's not a feature if you have to do that manually or want to quote multiple people in a single post.

It depends on how you define 'manually'. If I want to quote multiple posts in one single reply, I scroll down to the overview of the thread (below the reply entry box), select what I want to quote, and click the 'quote' button next to that post. I repeat this for all posts that I want to quote from. It's an underdocumented feature, but it's easy enough once you know.
Could it be easier? Probably!
Is it available? I'd say yes.

[drlucas]

I guess none of you are clicking "like" or upvote posts anywhere, do you?

I never have, and I never will. Such nonsense is for children, presidents, and the feeble-minded.

Congratulations for being able to insult the vast majoriy of the netizens in just a few words.

[drlucas]

Multi quotes feature are not available here. It's not a feature if you have to do that manually or want to quote multiple people in a single post.

It depends on how you define 'manually'. If I want to quote multiple posts in one single reply, I scroll down to the overview of the thread (below the reply entry box), select what I want to quote, and click the 'quote' button next to that post. I repeat this for all posts that I want to quote from. It's an underdocumented feature, but it's easy enough once you know.
Could it be easier? Probably!
Is it available? I'd say yes.

Can't find that overview. Is that moderators-only feature?

[Moem]

I don't think so. Have you scrolled down after starting your reply?

[drlucas]

Oh, ok, now I see it. Didn't realize gotta start the reply first.

[Moem]

Well, there is no reply entry box before you do that, so logically nothing to see below the reply entry box... because there isn't one.

[Dark Owl]

If I want to quote multiple posts in one single reply, I scroll down to the overview of the thread (below the reply entry box), select what I want to quote, and click the 'quote' button next to that post. I repeat this for all posts that I want to quote from. It's an underdocumented feature, but it's easy enough once you know.

...but with a limited scope how far it goes back in the thread. Quoting from further back (or other threads) requires creativity (but is by no means impossible, especially by having multiple browser tabs open).