Forum Upgrade

[Chillers]

So i've been looking at the possibility of upgrading the forum. We are currently about 3 versions out of date. I was reluctant to upgrade before due to it conflicting with our forum plugins.

There is now no more new plugins for the version we use. Whilst this forum has been very reliable there are some attractive additional extras on the newer versions which would be great to have on the forum.

The downside is...

Things will break.
Plugins may be lost if they are still outdated.
The forum skin may have to be changed. Although from what i read it is available for later versions (but it may be worth a change anyway).
Data in articles may be lost. (This appears to be an outdated plugin but may still work on later versions) We can always copy the data for using on a separate plugin.
This will involve forum downtime especially if problems occur.

I need to go through the list of plugins and see if there is an available upgrade for each as we run about 15 in total

This forum is your's as much as mine so i'll leave the decision in the capable hands of the community. If the community is happy to proceed with the upgrade i'll start looking into it more seriously and as soon as i have some decent time available i'll make the upgrade.

If the proposed upgrade goes smoothly we can look at the forum being back online within an hour or two.

Just keep in mind that of course a backup will be taken should major problems occur. I'm hoping that the transition should go smooth with no loss to comments, threads,posts, signatures, PM's and the main forum features. As for additional plugins that is where our problem lies.

 

[MeisterXehanort]

What exactly are the new features of the newer xenforo version? Like is there a list?

 

[Chillers]

What exactly are the new features of the newer xenforo version? Like is there a list?

1.3

The new features in XenForo 1.3 include:

• Smiley categories and other smiley enhancements
• Custom BB codes
• A built in spoiler BB code
• Google+/Twitter registration
• Image and link proxying
• User change logging
• Multi-quote
• Various moderation improvements

...and more.

1.4

The new features in XenForo 1.4 include:

• Selective quoting
• Automated bounce email handling
• Sitemap XML generation
• Inline moderation in search results
• Author alerts for moderator actions
• Thread reply bans
• Custom help pages
• Online status indicator in messages
• Polling improvements

...and more.

1.5

The new features in XenForo 1.5 include:

• Thread tagging
• Responsive admin control panel
• Two-step verification
• Floating notices
• Profile post comment improvements, including soft deletion and liking
• Admin sent alerts and conversations
• Welcome messages
• Automatic link title conversion
• Newest posts in the sidebar
• Independent language selection in the admin control panel

...and more.

Not to mention up to date plugins

 

[rickyboy320]

Spoilers? Yes please

 

[Zatharel]

New features are things we could use, especially the spoilers.

As long as we have a backup in case anything goes wrong, updating would be pretty cool.

 

[Srentiln]

I'm for it, never know how helpful the new features will be until we get used to them.

 

[Chillers]

Need more opinions on this so if you read this thread please state your opinion.

As for the upgrade itself i may pay a little extra for an xenforo employee to do the upgrade for us to ensure a smoother transition. Providing C_dric is happy for me to give them access.

 

[blie4]

I say try it out, if things are too broken to deal with, we can always restore to a backup.

If, however, we won't be able to restore it to a backup, I don't think we should try the upgrade.

 

[Srentiln]

Restoring to a backup shouldn't be an issue if it comes to it. The main issue with restoring is the time it takes since you would need to delete everything before uploading the backup to prevent potential problems.

 

[Chillers]

The backup itself is only half a gig compressed so it's not actually as bad as I thought it would be. I'm semi glad many of you don't use the attachments system too much

A fresh backup has been taken today. Well overdue.

 

[Chillers]

Some more good news, the articles plugin works with 1.5 supposedly although it is now unsupported.

 

[MeisterXehanort]

I say do the upgrade then.

 

[halex44]

Thread reply bans sound fun

 

[skyerzz]

It gives so many new usefull things to play with, I'd say we risk the occasional crashes

 

[creeperTNTman198]

I vote for an upgrade, its been about a year on this forum with almost no changes

 

[coolgolfer]

I agree, the new features look really cool and if there is a backup, then there is no reason to be worried

 

[Chillers]

It gives so many new usefull things to play with, I'd say we risk the occasional crashes

There shouldnt be any crashes so to speak its just the compatability of the plugins with the lateat update. Most appear to be compatible. I have time tonight im just attempting to do the changes on a test server on my local machine if all goes well I may attempt the update tonight.

 

[nahfackler]

I agree with everything said above, good luck with the change