Continue the legacy...

[Sylver Cheetah 53]

Let's say what reason do we have for remaining on phpBB2.
Me first, me first!

-phpBB3 is far to hard to use. It is hard for me using it, even for users. Some of them get confused in phpBB2, some do not know how to put an avatar or answer a pm, but in phpBB3 there are a lot of tabs
-many of the MODs in phpBB3 are useless and can not be takin' out. In phpBB2 I put only what MODs I like
-phpBB3 is still in development, so a lot of MODs are not available for phpBB3 yet, or do not work from a version to another, because they still make changes to the codes. phpBB2 is as we know it like since 2.0.13 or even 2.0.17, so I think it is too early thinking of phpBB3
-phpBB3 are all the same. If you look at phpBB boards, the majorioty use proSilver or subSilver and look the same. Or are just some colors changed. I didn't see some big big changes between templates, I think you can not personalize too much a phpBB3 board. All look the same to me, no personality
-I can not use HTML. How come no HTML, but flash? You can not use flash because even if I create an interesting animation in flash, there's no where to put it. There is nothing like Tinypic.com for flash stuff. Also, flash can not be saved on your computer and also is not loading untill you put some activeX. I want HTML, I do not want flash.
-the majority of MODs included in phpBB3 are for admins, not for users. I think for users is just quick reply, the rest is agains the users. Like not too many quotes, or no visible member list, or no search for guest... Or banning by moderators. And in my experience on forums, I noticed that phpBB3 did only bad stuff for me, as a user. Maybe for admins is usefull, but for members certenly is not. And I have to think of my users, not to me, because I am just one.

... to be continued

[Jim_UK]

Of course with the passage of time there will be more and more styles available for phpBB3 as will there be more mods.
I do not like the complexity of the Admin side of phpBB3 (guess you can not easily teach an old dog new tricks) but the main reason that I shall stay probably indefinitely with phpBB2 is that it delivers just what I and my users want and I have put in countless (probably many 100's of ) hours into adding to the basic board those extras that make my board a success.
I would sooner spend the time I have building on what I have than starting afresh. Like Sylver Cheetah 53 my users sometimes find even the simplest of tasks hard to do without causing them more problems having to learn something new.
Most are as old or even older than I am. Their interest is not in BB's but in model aircraft.
If I was starting afresh now that would be another thing entirely but as I do not need to then I shall just hang out with you guys here.

Jim

[Sylver Cheetah 53]

And anothe thing, Jim. Some people are saying that phpBB3 uses less resurces. Let me point that this is not true! The more codes and more scripts, means more resurces. So it uses more. But that is not the issue. Also when you put MODs, uses more resurces. But it is one thing to put MODs that you need, and it's another thing to have many files with lot of codes for stuff not just that you don't need, but also make your life a living hell.
So I will say it again for people who do not know it: phpBB3 uses more resurces then phpBB2.

Also Jim, I have installed a forum for a friend a few months ago. Well, I put still phpBB2 because he doesn't know much, and it would have been very hard for him managing a phpBB3. Also, I don't think he needs the stuff in phpBB3, he only wants a place for the fans to talk about their favorite football team.
If I would start over again, right now, I would still put phpBB2 and then the MODs I like.

[Jim_UK]

I take it that as you installed the phpBB2.0.23 for your friend that he could not do that himself. It is unlikely then that he will be able to maintain that board if and when there are any security issues.
It would have been far better for him starting from scratch to have had phpBB3 and made use of the updater package built into it.
Are you going to maintain his board indefinitely?

Jim

[Sylver Cheetah 53]

No, because he has been rude to me...

[drathbun]

There are two ways to look at this, from the front side and from the back. I did a very thorough analysis (feature by feature comparison) between phpBB3 and what we're running for this site (a MODded phpBB2) over several weeks and posted the results in my blog. The net result was that from a feature comparison, phpbb2 (this version) was perfect for my needs. And of course it was, as I added what I wanted and took out what I didn't want. Everything was done with a purpose.

However, parts of phpBB2 are written in a very inefficient fashion. The template engine is one such area; it's terrible. The phpBB3 template engine is light-years ahead. And that's just one specific area; there are plenty of other places where the code for phpBB3 is more efficient or even just has a better design for MODding.

The thing is... a board is a user experience, not a coder experience. It's the features and the interface that the user sees and interacts with that makes their experience on the board. phpBB3 does offer more features at the expense of more complexity. I think Highway of Life touched on this during the podcast... if a phpbb2 interface could be dropped on top of the phpbb3 core it would be perfect.

[~Cowboy~]

I was with you all the way to the word "perfect"

I think BBCode ads to the reply page is the only really good feature I might use.. and I can mod that into phpbb anyway. add a youtube BBCode button ect..

The rest to me is just frustrating.. Phpbb3 just seams to trash the user friendly reputation that phpbb2 has.

I have seen people with phpbb2 getting over 100 posts a day convert to phpbb3 and the forum literally died on the spot. With no way to convert back to phpbb2 she just let the board die and eventually there was a maintenance page posted.

I really believe that phpbb3 the way it sits will be slow death for phpbb.

[drathbun]

For an existing board there is clearly some "upgrade shock" as people see the new features, not to mention the new layout. However as more people discover phpBB they'll most likely be installing phpBB3, not 2, and their new communities will grow up with that as their expected interface. Over time I believe the balance will shift from 2 to 3. The code behind the interface for phpBB3 is much more modern and extendable.

Ultimately it's about choice, right? I believe people should be able to choose to continue to use phpBB2 if they want to, and that was the main goal for this board.

[~Cowboy~]

I believe that if phpbb3 is the only thing available, they will try to use it give up and leave.

In fact they are already doing just that.

[Jim_UK]

The versatility of the permissions section is it's undoing. It is just far too complicated for the average user.

Jim

[Sylver Cheetah 53]

I think phpBB3 it appears to be not phpBB anymore... Or at least, not what you know phpBB to be. It is much too similar to IPB or SMF. I hated IPB, vBulletin and SMF all these years, and loved phpBB because is so user friendly, and now... I see good old phpBB transformed to IPB.

[iWisdom]

[Sylver Cheetah 53]

Are you sure?

[iWisdom]

[Ptirhiik]

Not so positive: it hardly depends the page, the way the auths are set, the size of the posts, the version of mySQL & php you have, the extensions installed on your php, the speed of your servers (ftp & db), etc.. On a generic case, yes it is better, in some case, largely worst.