Forum software change - yay or nay? (1 Viewer)

Should we switch to Xenforo 2.1 forum software?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 64.3%
  • No

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Unsure - too risky/losing the Thanks/like this software/other

    Votes: 3 21.4%

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .

Micron

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I think both the Thanks & rep points are useful features - not just to give the recipient a feeling of being valued .... but also as a trust indicator to newer members when faced with significantly conflicting advice
That's a good point, especially from the perspective of the OP with the problem. Or so it seems logical that it would be.
 

Jon

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Colin, thanks for your feedback. I have updated the poll to reflect your intent.

I think for sure, Xenforo would be more secure and in the future too. This version of vBulletin is considered end of life. Regarding security, I had the shock of my life earlier today. I got my host to install a great new program called ImunifyAV, which scans all your sites hosted on the server for malware. Spread across my sites, it found 35 infections. :(

I think some of these were from a long time ago, but who knows who is using what. The problem is, you have hacker communities all over the world trying to exploit websites 24/7. To be honest, I was unaware such malware detection software was available for linux servers, but that is one of the benefits of moving away from my awful previous host to a new one with superb service.

I will be working to eliminate these malware infections very shortly. It will involve removing the file. Hopefully, it is not a file that holds any functionality on this forum. In future, I am pleased that I have this new software, since I can regularly scan and keep us all safe.

My understanding is that the rep points get transferred across on a forum migration. The Thanks are slightly less clear if they can be transferable, although they might be!

I'm kinda enjoying working on the forum again. I've spent 12 hours a day on it everyday (including weekends) since middle of last week, with forum posts all over the internet to get advice, PM's, you name it, I'm on it! I'm trying to make smart decisions on where we go from here. It is not easy, because I can't be an expert in everything. For example, I am still getting thousands of vbulletin error messages in my inbox, and I believe there is still an issue with email. But I am aware of these issues.
 

Gasman

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You can change mine from Unsure to Yes Jon, now we have spoken more about it, if it makes any difference?
 

Jon

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@Gasman, done as requested. May I ask what made you change your mind?

This forum had 10 exploits. But most were duplicates so it was really 3. I have now removed them. They were from 9 years ago, according to the file date.

Some were redirects, so someone goes to a page and gets redirected to a porn site or something. The other looked like a password grabber, possibly.

An vBulletin forum that I paused, but using a newer version, has 24 exploits. Gotta work on that now! It doesn't matter so much there because it is really archived.
 

Jon

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I forgot to add, the attacks seem to have gone up massively recently, or at least I think they have. But I cannot pinpoint if it was before or after migration of hosts.
 

The_Doc_Man

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I was unaware such malware detection software was available for linux servers

Though there is significant lag time, the fact that a server can be attacked means that one of the security companies will see a market for protection software.

Here is an armchair prediction for you: All those Apple products that claim to not need security will be breached and there will be an Apple-based security package. The reason: The aggressive marketing of Apple products will attract hackers looking for less protected phones. A few major hacks will come out and suddenly there will be a bigger market for protection software in that arena. And the good news is that despite the machines sometimes being different, and despite the O/S being different, there are enough conceptual similarities of function that the other O/S A/V packages can be translated to the new environment with a relatively small level of effort.
 

Jon

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Doc, I have a theory: everything eventually reaches an equilibrium. Get a lot of push one direction, it will trend to an equal and opposite force in the other direction. Or in your example, little protection on Apple computers leads to more attempts at hacking, until that equilibrium is reached.
 

isladogs

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Newton's third law of motion.
For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.
 

Jon

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Just filtered my email by the database errors. Over 9000 errors in the last week, due to the sql injection attacks. Essentially, each error is one attempt at a hack.
 

Minty

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Minty, are you saying that you can just copy and paste an image with Xenforo?
Sorry, very late with my reply but been awol (absent with out laptop?;) ) for nearly 24 hours.

Yes! That's my impression from MrExcel's blog/articles.

I actually joined as I've been creating some complex spreadsheet reports direct from Access, so I was brushing up on my Excel skills (which are definitely average!)
 

Jon

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Hey MickJav, I lived in Broadstairs for a short while, real close to you. Lots of parrots there, which is unusual for England!
 

Dreamweaver

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Hey MickJav, I lived in Broadstairs for a short while, real close to you. Lots of parrots there, which is unusual for England!

Thats broadstairs for you full of old people who can't stop talking, it attracts the parrots lol

I feel for you Jon I remember what A Headache it was when I was running my site back in the early 2000's, Hope you get it al sorted soon.

I'm not sure how to vote as been out of the game for a long time I think I'll stick with my free forum lol
 

Jon

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Thanks MickJav. You don't have to vote at all.
 

Micron

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Here's a question for you Jon. If you convert and something goes south, can you not revert?
 

Jon

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I have considered that. I do not know what the impact would be, but it is possible. Google are a law unto themselves. For example, what happens if everything is fine for a month and then traffic goes south. Was it the forum change? Something else? Difficult questions with no clear answers.
 

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