8052.com has been using this same forum software for over 5 years. It was originally a free, open-source package that generally fit the needs of 8052.com. Over the years, I have made a large number of changes to it such that the current appearance and functionality has little similarity to the original package.

The advantage of the current forum is that, having written most of it, I am very familiar with it and can pretty much make it do whatever I want. The disadvantage is that while I can make it do anything I want, I seldom have time to.

As a result, I've been considering switching to a popular forum software called phpBB. An example of this forum software can be found here. It is widely used on many forums so has the advantage that many people have probably used it before and are familiar with it.

As with everything in life, moving to phpBB would have advantages and disadvantages.

ADVANTAGES:

1. PhpBB is an active open-source package. Even if I don't have time to modify it myself, the package will probably continue improving and I'll need do little more than install the latest version when it becomes available.

2. Since it is a popular software package, many people are probably familiar with it. There is obviously benefit in having a consistent user interface that everyone knows how to use.

3. The package has some features that our current forum does not. Many are administrative, but there are some neat things that can be done with phpBB.

DISADVANTAGES:

1. Our current forum already works. One could argue "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

2. We are already familiar with the current forum. Changing to phpBB would require a little bit of adjustment initially.

3. The current 8052.com system is user-centric while phpBB is message-centric. What this means is that at 8052.com everything revolves around the user account (mailing list, message board, user home pages). With phpBB, it is message-centric. In fact, all it offers is the message board. So I'd have to do some work in order to implement the nightly mailing list as well as to connect the user home pages to the phpBB system.

4. In changing forum software, one thing I'd like to see (and which isn't offered by phpBB) is a message moderation feature like at Slashdot. Members may vote the value of each individual message (quality post, useless post, flame, etc.) and users receive a "karma" score based on that. Under such a system the "star ranking system" currently at 8052.com would, instead, be based on the points earned (or lost) from other users rating your messages. Hopefully this would encourage quality posts and responses.

In reality, only disadvantage #1 and disadvanage #2 would affect the users. The rest would just be a little work on my part.

So the question is... What do you all think of the idea of switching the forum over to the phpBB system? Would it be a good idea? A bad idea? A neutral idea? A waste of time?

Feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Craig Steiner
8052.com Webmaster