I’d like to start a few off season discussions about the future of the board.

[IGGLEPHANS]

I think we are all in agreement that it is a great community.

But I think there are things that need to be addressed in order to continue to be a great community.

The event that made me want to start this discussion was that today the board went down due to an server upgrade made by our hosting company.

That upgrade broke our software. We fixed it but we can’t keep going down this road forever if only for concern of the computer security of people who use the board. This is similar to when Microsoft dropped support for Windows XP.

In order to avoid tl;dr… I will break out the various subjects for discussion into separate topics:

My bottom line is the off season is the time to discuss this stuff because the off season is when is when we have less traffic and have the less committed Igglephans less involved in the discussion.

[BirdBrawn]

Fair enough

What are the options?

[IGGLEPHANS]

What are the options?

We definitely need to upgrade the software.

It may mean that some people lose things they like about the current s/w but it could also mean we could bring new features in.

Raptor has indicated an interest in contributing new artwork.

I'm also interested in talking about things like how to pay for covering upgrade and maintenance costs while keeping the board non commercial and advertisement free. I'm thinking one of the crowdfunding sites could be a fairly transparent way to do so.

Finally I want to make sure there is a way to keep things going in case anything happens to anyone of us. I guess that train crash last week brought that to mind. I've ridden on that route many hundreds of times to a thousand times in my life.

[Ground_Meat]

Gofundme ?

[Raptor]

That offer stands...

We definitely need to upgrade the software.

It may mean that some people lose things they like about the current s/w but it could also mean we could bring new features in.

Raptor has indicated an interest in contributing new artwork.

I'm also interested in talking about things like how to pay for covering upgrade and maintenance costs while keeping the board non commercial and advertisement free. I'm thinking one of the crowdfunding sites could be a fairly transparent way to do so.

Finally I want to make sure there is a way to keep things going in case anything happens to anyone of us. I guess that train crash last week brought that to mind. I've ridden on that route many hundreds of times to a thousand times in my life.

Always willing to depict fellow board members in compromising situations


I will be acquiring a computer very soon...my goal was to have things in place for the start of week 1


Count me in for anything.

[Diggle]

I have $100 toward whatever needs to be done

[IGGLEPHANS]

Always willing to depict fellow board members in compromising situations


I will be acquiring a computer very soon...my goal was to have things in place for the start of week 1


Count me in for anything.

My gut feeling is that we should upgrade to the vBulletin 5.0 s/w.

I think the biggest problem with that is that people who like the fully expanded threaded view will lose it.

But that is a late 1990s kind of thing so I don't think it is that major a loss.

That will cost $209 or $359 if we want to include extra for mobile.

But we would have new features like blogs so for example people like IG could write about his experiences on his book tour.

Hosting costs are minimal with our traffic... less than $50 a month.

But of course new features could bring new traffic so that figure could vary. For example, we have blown up the board before with stuff like Reid (FF) drafts Kevin Kolb.

Moving forward I would really like to stay with the stock software to avoid security problems that could be created by customization

[TerpEagle]

Can't we just start a subreddit?

Something like:

www.reddit.com/r/igglephansgonewild

I don't mind contributing in whatever way is easiest for you. I think you've had us support via paypal before but a crowdfunding site sounds like a legit idea.

[Sect 236]

Whatever route is decided upon for funding, count me in.

[dmg489]

whatever you need just say how much and where to send it

[EagleFanInMD]

Zubaz is good for whatever you need, just say the word.

[Dim Bulb]

I'm in

My gut feeling is that we should upgrade to the vBulletin 5.0 s/w.

I think the biggest problem with that is that people who like the fully expanded threaded view will lose it.

But that is a late 1990s kind of thing so I don't think it is that major a loss.

That will cost $209 or $359 if we want to include extra for mobile.

But we would have new features like blogs so for example people like IG could write about his experiences on his book tour.

Hosting costs are minimal with our traffic... less than $50 a month.

But of course new features could bring new traffic so that figure could vary. For example, we have blown up the board before with stuff like Reid (FF) drafts Kevin Kolb.

Moving forward I would really like to stay with the stock software to avoid security problems that could be created by customization

Say the word and the checks in the mail.

[Bradford]

I have been here since 2000 under various ridiculous handles. It is still a site I am on multiple times a day and I don't want to live in a world where it doesn't exist. I will def throw in some cash.

[slag]

I'll let Dr. Douchebag hit my car and contribute whatever I recover for faux whiplash.

[IGGLEPHANS]

I have been here since 2000 under various ridiculous handles. It is still a site I am on multiple times a day and I don't want to live in a world where it doesn't exist. I will def throw in some cash.

Cash is not the problem so much as people getting upset if the format changes.