Fix the forum software

[elf]

Please Scot. Pretty please.

Every day either I have to log out and back in, or I get the site plan displayed and have to click on Forum and then on my chosen area, or I get a blank screen when I post to a thread and have to go back and choose Go Advanced.

Please update the forum software.

Please.

And it's not even secure. No https

[Garret]

Why does this site need HTTPS? No credit card info or the like.

I agree 1,000% on updating the software.

[cstevens]

I'm fairly certain that the issues mentioned are not problems with the forum software. The "site plan" is actually the basic HTML view without the CSS (style sheet), which will happen if the style sheet is not retrieved by the browser for some reason. I get that sometimes if I have a poor internet connection. You shouldn't have to log out and log back in, just refresh the page or click the main Forum link to go to the landing page.

[Garret]

I'm fairly certain that the issues mentioned are not problems with the forum software. The "site plan" is actually the basic HTML view without the CSS (style sheet), which will happen if the style sheet is not retrieved by the browser for some reason. I get that sometimes if I have a poor internet connection. You shouldn't have to log out and log back in, just refresh the page or click the main Forum link to go to the landing page.

I get what you're saying Chris & I know you do have a clue. However, there are lots of issues being had by many people. Upgrading to 1GB is not an option for most folks (I know it wasn't you who said that fixed things for them). I have a 60MB connection & spend time on another VBulletin forum that simply works. This one often won't let me go to the first new post (but open thread & go to first new there works?), the quick reply rarely works (get done typing a post like this one & have it go poof when you hit Post), the basic uploader working sometimes but not others, and finally - I use Settings to display my subscribed threads (way faster to see what's been updated) & sometimes it takes 4 or 5 tries to get it to load - after over a minute sometimes.

This is old software & a beta version to boot. I also suspect a fairly old server.

ETA: I've learned to copy what I've typed before clicking Post. Good thing I did, as when I did, I got "Message too short" & all I'd typed was gone.

[cstevens]

I get what you're saying Chris & I know you do have a clue. However, there are lots of issues being had by many people. Upgrading to 1GB is not an option for most folks (I know it wasn't you who said that fixed things for them). I have a 60MB connection & spend time on another VBulletin forum that simply works. This one often won't let me go to the first new post (but open thread & go to first new there works?), the quick reply rarely works (get done typing a post like this one & have it go poof when you hit Post), the basic uploader working sometimes but not others, and finally - I use Settings to display my subscribed threads (way faster to see what's been updated) & sometimes it takes 4 or 5 tries to get it to load - after over a minute sometimes.

This is old software & a beta version to boot. I also suspect a fairly old server.

ETA: I've learned to copy what I've typed before clicking Post. Good thing I did, as when I did, I got "Message too short" & all I'd typed was gone.

Oh - there is no doubt that the site is buggy. Lots of little quirks that we all work around (yeah - definitely write posts in another app and paste them in or risk losing it!). I was just trying to provide some context and a little help with the specific issues noted in the OP. But I'm very much in the "you get what you pay for" camp. It's free and it's supported by one guy who has other jobs to do as well. So I'm happy to work around a few minor issues with it. Although I do sometimes worry that it's all running on some old 80486 box sitting under Scot's desk and that someday an inadvertant coffee spill will bring the whole works down, never to be recovered. (No offense meant Scot! Just an IT joke... I think.)

[Peerie Maa]

I'm fairly certain that the issues mentioned are not problems with the forum software. The "site plan" is actually the basic HTML view without the CSS (style sheet), which will happen if the style sheet is not retrieved by the browser for some reason. I get that sometimes if I have a poor internet connection. You shouldn't have to log out and log back in, just refresh the page or click the main Forum link to go to the landing page.

The evidence suggests that it is something to do with the firewall software that gets overloaded at peak times,
WBF Firewall.jpgDenied.jpgTimed out.jpg

[Hugh MacD]

I always log out (of everything) when I'm done just by habit. Never had any problems with the site.

[sp_clark]

Odd....

I have had no issues - zero - since re-establishing my user ID a few years ago.

I'd let the original lapse when I moved to a new service provider, thus losing the e-mail address I'd used to sign up over a decade ago.

I haven't noticed anything weird either using my laptop's browser or my smartphone's since I re-upped.

Another forum I used to frequent more than this'n just did an upgrade after several years. That forum's independent of any parent organization, partly funded by memberships, the rest by advertising, so I guess their budget is bigger than what WB can put to this use.

Adage being "you get what you pay for" probably applies here as with much else... save maybe politics.

No issues posing images, no issues posting replies to comments on threads, no issues originating a thread.

I'm a Mac guy, using a 7 year old laptop but with the latest Apple OS.

iPhone's a 12Pro I've had for about two weeks. Sold the previous X after three years.

Stuff like what'd being described is often attributable to corrupted browser cookies, not often bandwidth-related as long as you're using a fairly recent OS and browser version.

[Smilemon]

I think it's pretty stable for what its worth. I have a 1gb connection but an older model macbook from early 2015. The vBulletin forum software version 4 is no longer in development, but capped out at version 4.2.4 and the beta version is a final stability update. The new version of vBulletin is probably faster and more reliable, but it also looks to highly use artificial intelligence, which would open up the forum to data-mining and advertising to a whole new level.

I think it's probably worth checking your own system to make sure your internet browser and password manager are updated and all the settings are correct.

To the WB mods:

It would be great to have dedicated photo hosting for archival purposes.

[gypsie]

I have very good internet and get problems all the time.
losing posts, or the whole thing shuts down if I try to attach a picture.

[Arlc]

I think the forum is well worth what you pay for it. Stop bitching and whining! Or....... offer your expertise, time and $$ to fix your perceived problem. Or..... build a better mouse trap yourself.

[Garret]

I think the forum is well worth what you pay for it. Stop bitching and whining! Or....... offer your expertise, time and $$ to fix your perceived problem. Or..... build a better mouse trap yourself.

People have offered time & money. Thing is, it has to be done onsite @ Wooden Boat.

[Arlc]

So..........Garret, what’s stopping you? You want them to pay your airfare and hotel bill too?

[Garret]

So..........Garret, what’s stopping you? You want them to pay your airfare and hotel bill too?

Since I really don't care for your attitude, this will be my only reply to you.

While it's not my main area of expertise, I could do it - though others could do it faster & probably better. No - I wouldn't ask for money or hotel & I could drive (if it weren't for having to quarantine 14 days at both ends) or sail if it were next summer - but there's a minor detail of being asked. I haven't.

[AJZimm]

Never experienced any of the issues mentioned above by anybody. Seems unlikely to be the site, in that case.

[Canoeyawl]

It works just fine for me, and all I ever use anymore is an ipad, which was problematic until I learned how!

[guillemot]

I have the problem where my browser doesn't load the style sheet maybe one time in 500. I've never had text disappear when I click the button to post it. For the most part it works well. I agree that a photo-hosting would be a really nice feature for archival purposes. I wish the site scaled properly for smartphone use. Generally, it works well.

Scratch that. I just had my first posting failure while posting the above text. Fortunately, I copied the text before hitting send (which I never do!).

[elf]

I experienced both those problems this morning.

I experienced the latter problem three times yesterday.

Perhaps you people who don't frequent the Bilge aren't fully experiencing the daily failures of the software to operate correctly.

[guillemot]

Perhaps you people who don't frequent the Bilge aren't fully experiencing the daily failures of the software to operate correctly.

Yeah, not a bilge dweller. Perhaps the problems are bubbling up from there?

[Arlc]

Maybe you whiners haven’t noticed that the forum runs on shareware (free) software. Do one you bitchers want to pony up for a commercial software product license that will perform better and include a technical support Dept to solve your individual problems?

[cstevens]

Maybe you whiners haven’t noticed that the forum runs on shareware (free) software. Do one you bitchers want to pony up for a commercial software product license that will perform better and include a technical support Dept to solve your individual problems?

Arlc, I don't know if you have any real experience in IT or tech support, but I've spent most of my life doing that job in various forms and I can assure you that anyone on my team who dismissed a user-submitted bug report as "whining" would be invited to update their resume. User feedback in any form is generally the only way that a small IT team can know that something isn't working so we value it even if we don't always love having to solve the problem. Reading through this thread I see a mountain of useful detail from people who are very informed about the software. Scot may not have the resources or time to fix all the issues with the forum and that's ok. As you and others have pointed out, it's free and you get what you pay for. But he certainly can't fix it if we don't let him know that there is a problem.

[Garret]

Maybe you whiners haven’t noticed that the forum runs on shareware (free) software. Do one you bitchers want to pony up for a commercial software product license that will perform better and include a technical support Dept to solve your individual problems?

If you google "vbulletin price" - this comes up:

vBulletin pricing starts at $14.99 per month. They do not have a free version.

[Arlc]

What do I know. I’ve just been in the hardware/software business for ~25 years. Bitch at vbulletin then not Scott. He seems to be smart enough not mess around with somebody else’s software thereby forking and cutting himself off from all future updates from vbulletin.

[Arlc]

Garret, cstevens, you piqued my interest.
vbulletin is built with php and MySQL. I don’t know if the forums are threaded separately, but if you look at the volume in the bilge, it is many times that of the other forums. If you know something about php and MySQL that explains the problems described in this thread. Locking, memory space, buffers and lions and tigers and bears oh my!!

[Garret]

I participate in another vBulletin forum that easily matches the volume here. Seldom see a problem there - but it's a geek forum & therefore maintained by geeks. It's about 5 revs newer too. The version here is 8-10 years old.

[Arlc]

Winner winner chicken dinner!!!

[gypsie]

Just keep this thread bumped up till someone sees it

[Arlc]

if the version is that old then it is probably the freeware version with rev’s of MySQL, php and hardware to match. It must have been well written...... it still runs!!!!

[Alan H]

I was unable to log on all weekend.