IMPORTANT! Board Future - DISCUSS HERE

Topic: IMPORTANT! Board Future - DISCUSS HERE (Read 1395 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: IMPORTANT! Board Future - DISCUSS HERE

Reply #15 – February 24, 2026, 10:47:38 AM

Thanks everyone, appreciate the support and double thanks to the contributions already received.

So the cost is...not cheap. Not sure what to do. It's gonna be a pain for the developer and I'm sure that's fully considered in the quote. But still...yeesh.

Xenforo was going to be the preferred board software. The cost for that alone, with the good add-ons, is a one-time fee of ~$400 US. If we want to get nice looking themes, those are ~$100 each. That would pretty much get us into super modern territory and would set us up nicely for future upgrades. But that is on top of development fees.

Or we could go with the free board software, either MyBB or phpBB. Not sure how robust the themes are for that, or if there are costs involved, but I'm sure they wouldn't be too expensive and I could likely cover whatever those would be.

To get our board moved over to any of those, we're looking at about a grand. We have about 2/3 of that covered right now. I'm throwing in $400 US but that is all I can contribute. This is the first tax refund in decades that I can use for myself and not bills for a change, and I have plans for it...no regerts. But at the very minimum we are $400 short.

The developer has suggested MyBB and that might be because he's familiar with it. I'm okay with that. It also keeps the costs down compared to Xenforo. In the future, if we wanted to move to Xenforo, that should be a relatively easy move. Until then we'd have a little more control of the board with regards to updates and security.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Re: IMPORTANT! Board Future - DISCUSS HERE

Reply #16 – February 24, 2026, 02:48:44 PM

Personally, I don't need fancy and just want stable.

I however have my own hosting for images, etc. so I don't need forum resources to host attachments.

My thoughts would be for the cheaper option for now and get the site moved and stable.

Another forum I'm on has a monthly contribution subscription. No really "benefits" other than identifying you as a supporter/contributor. It's like $5/month.
Now that site sees a lot more traffic than here, but even a few supporters could help and start to build funds for any future needs. I'd for sure opt in if that was a option here.

Re: IMPORTANT! Board Future - DISCUSS HERE

Reply #17 – February 24, 2026, 11:07:09 PM

I’m good for a couple hundred so just let me know. For me the first priority is stability and agree that if we can move to another platform late and not loose anymore data that sounds like a win.

Re: IMPORTANT! Board Future - DISCUSS HERE

Reply #18 – February 25, 2026, 09:38:34 AM

Like what has already been said, I am just looking for a stable forum and not lose data/information.

Re: IMPORTANT! Board Future - DISCUSS HERE

Reply #19 – February 25, 2026, 09:03:02 PM

I’m fine with whatever the decision is. I will say if we are close to getting what you need money wise to do what you really want, now would be the time.