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[Doof]

I hate to even bring this up as I'm sure it will start some sort of religious war or something, but have you guys ever thought of using a different software package for INTERACT?

There's nothing wrong with what's already here, and that's reason enough to leave well enough alone, but I've just been using the phpBB board setup over on the Girder site, and it's really nice. I figured I'd just throw out a link to their site http://www.phpbb.com/ as well as the Girder site http://www.girder.nl/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=2 so you can see it in action.

It allows for profile creation, private messaging, really easy tracking of a user's posts (so if somebody said they asked a question a week ago, you can more easily find it) and customizable themes that (I believe) the user can change to suit their preference as long as the theme has been installed on the server.

[JimH]

Doof,
Aren't you the guy who said "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" yesterday or the day before?

Thanks.  We'll take a look.

Jim

[Doof]

Yeah, that was me. Fickle, aren't I?

But you'll notice that I also said "There's nothing wrong with what's already here, and that's reason enough to leave well enough alone," so I did cover myself a bit.

[KingSparta]

the person who created the quote

Bert Lance - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[peleton]

Have you guys seen Matt's YaBB message board?
(for the Monkey's Audio forum)
It rocks!
It uses YaBB 1 Gold, -and has pretty much all the features you mentioned Doof.

Check it out:
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi

I actually agree with the "If it aint broke don't fix it" sentiments, -but if there is to be a change to the Interact board, then YaBB gets my vote.

[Doof]

peleton> YaBB would work well too. Either one has my vote (or again just staying the way it is).

[Charlemagne 8]

Doof,
"A point in every direction is the same as no point at all" ... The Little Prince

CVIII

[sekim]

I can't believe you posted that. This has to be one of the most understandable boards I've ever seen. Private messaging?? Isn't that what e-mail is for? Customizable themes?? This is going to go over well with everyone who hated skins in the first place. Can't stand them in MJ, why Interact?? The messages have to be read first to be tracked. No offense J River. But I thought it was mentioned that with a busy workload sometimes posts were overlooked.

[Doof]

The themes are there as a user selectable option. If you don't like them, there's nobody forcing you to use them.

Private messaging would be good for times when people want to ask somebody a question but don't want to clutter up Interact with it. Although I personally like the off topic conversations as well. Even if I don't participate in them as much.

Easier searching of posts is good for many different things. It doesn't have to be just a missed complaint or question. I don't know how many times I've searched through the forum for a post I knew was by a certain user but I just can't find it. And yes, I know Interact already has this. I'm just saying that YaBB and phpBB's implementation of it are easier to use in my opinion.

I'm not pushing for change. I was just using phpBB for a while and really appreciated some of the more advanced features that it had. Another nice thing that it can do is make a post stick to the top. So Beta threads could always be the top thread. Or a posting FAQ or something. I just thought it could be helpful. So I posted about it. If Interact stays the same, that's fine with me too.

[Doof]

And another nice thing that phpBB does is that it actually stores your history on the board. So if I log in later, I can easily see what posts have been updated since my last visit. Interact does this too, but it stops showing you that as soon as you post, and it isn't consistent if you change PC's.

[nila]

Just downloaded and installed phpBB and in all fairness: IT's AWESOME.
This interact is nice but that is just: YEEESSSSSSS!
lol.
It really is sweet and I got it set up really fast and easily too.

Just one question: U mentioned that it was possible to keep posts at the top, how do I do that?

[Doof]

Honestly, I don't know. I've just seen it done on Girder's site. I'm pretty sure it's a moderator-only function though.

It's also possible it's a later modification done by Ron over at Girder. I'm not sure. I just saw it in action and thought it was pretty cool.

[Nila]

Yeah,
it's a great BB board.
Cant wait to get it fully operational under my main site.
See what the users think of it.

[Alonso Nefarious]

Other, better BB's exist, it is sure, but would they lead to a better Interact?

Consider for a moment that Interact works very well as a community.  And maybe that is due in part to the way the Interact board works.  In that some of it's limitations may be features.

Maybe we should think about what makes it work before changing it.

As in maybe 'If it ain't broke, then fixing it may break it.' Aka 'I fixed it till it broke.'

I submit that one of the things that make Interact work is that there is only one conversation.  One board, one topic, one moderator.  Multiple topics or private message tools might break up the yeasty nature of Interact and let it become fragmented or cliquish.

Also having to scan through a heap of messages to find the thread that you are intersested in, rather than have the e-mail notification point you right to it, might mean that folks are more tempted to join in other threads, thus broadining the conversation.

On the other hand spell checking is nice.  So would mo'better editing tools.

Just a thought.

[Sentient]

my $.02
Just add the word "to" to the reply button in interact.  "reply this topic" sounds so grade school.
S

[Shotgun2]

Hasn't anybodody ever heard another saying that says that "No growth is Death?" And you must have change to grow.

Ponder it for a while. (Don't believe this has been mentioned previously).

[RhinoBanga]

I would definately vote for a replacement.

It's a pain to have to remember what items were new after doing a post.

Also I like the other features that other BBs have where you can go directly to a new posting within a thread ... saves having to scroll all the time.