NEW Viperpits Forum site in the near future

[Kukki]

Hello VP members/Gents.

I sure hope our VP forum is working again now after the last host upgrade and the forum upgrades, but it have not been without problems.

Our forum is so old that it cant keep up with security and mobile features anymore, and there for we will start plan on a new system that we can migrate to without we loose anything.

Its super good that @Red Dog and others dit a big overhaul for not so long time ago, it makes it way more easy to migrate.

But it might cost some Euros to migrate to a new system, and there for we will setup a donate link so you VP members can chip in, and we can get a super good forum there is upto date again.

Mike Ka-bar have handled the site from the beginning, and I will coordinate all with him and the other admins/moderators.

I will look into this in the next 3-6 month, but only if the forum work good now, then we are in no rush, but if we keep getting problems then we will have to fix this ASAP (after all its our second home  )

Kukki

[Peten]

That's are good news. Thanks Kukki and all you guys 

 as for the donation link, let us know when it's ready 

Asi

[Red Dog]

related question, back in time there was an option to export a WIP topic to a PDF or something else
Is that an option we lost at some point, I can't seem to find it back

Thanks

[Kukki]

related question, back in time there was an option to export a WIP topic to a PDF or something else
Is that an option we lost at some point, I can't seem to find it back

Thanks

Got your PM RD, and thanks.

Dont know if that an option, I have no clue here, but we will work it out so VP will be a great place to hang out with a lot of new features, when we get there.

Kukki

[MaVoy]

But it might cost some Euros to migrate to a new system, and there for we will setup a donate link so you VP members can chip in, and we can get a super good forum there is upto date again.

Just let us know where and how to send it. 

[Flyingdragon]

Good news for all of us, keep us updated about donations

[Marvin]

Here is a thought..  Do we need to continue with forums?  It is kind of out dated and when you look at the activity on here it is very very limited.   

What about discord channels?   It can be used on your phone and computer.  We use them in virtual squadrons and as well as for the BMS dev group and it is great for sharing photos, videos, and has communication chat groups for live discussions and meets and lots of other tidbits like screen sharing for briefings etc etc.

I just don't see much point for forums anymore as they seem to be limited compared to something like Discord.

[tiger-31]

Well, there are some people, (like me  ) who do not follow all these new trends, I have no facebook, no whatsap, and whatever. So for that kind of people  a forum is still useful. Plus there is a treasure throve of information in here...

[henkie]

I "hate" my mobile phone. Maybe a little exaggerated, but it comes close 
I certainly do not participate in the "social media" stuff on my mobile phone, and do not follow links to them on the internet. I stay (far) away from them, even if that means that I am missing good info.
I do have Discord (3 groups) for my old computer collection and the Motorola M68010 processor.
Finding something here on VP is hard, but finding something on Discord is even harder (could be just me).
I am on a few fora, but I actually like this forum 

[Kukki]

Here is a thought..  Do we need to continue with forums?  It is kind of out dated and when you look at the activity on here it is very very limited.   

What about discord channels?   It can be used on your phone and computer.  We use them in virtual squadrons and as well as for the BMS dev group and it is great for sharing photos, videos, and has communication chat groups for live discussions and meets and lots of other tidbits like screen sharing for briefings etc etc.

I just don't see much point for forums anymore as they seem to be limited compared to something like Discord.

Good suggestion, but I dont think that is going to happen.  We can set a discord site up also, but dont think it will be used a lot (only my guess).

A forum if in my opinion best, its act a a big database of rescourses, and a nice quiet place to be.
For this purpose I done likke FB, Discord or other systems. We have had them for so long and there purpose is not what we use here.

But again a discord channal for chit chat, screen sharring, flying/berifing etc. it will be fine.

Just mu 2 cents here.

[Red Dog]

I agree that Discord is not self sufficient
What will happens is that the old head will explain dozen times the same things every time a new guys pops up in Discord.

Discord is nice to have on top of a forum, but IMHO should not be the sole resource

opening a Discord server's is child play

[Kukki]

I agree that Discord is not self sufficient
What will happens is that the old head will explain dozen times the same things every time a new guys pops up in Discord.

Discord is nice to have on top of a forum, but IMHO should not be the sole resource

opening a Discord server's is child play

Yep, agree and yes it take a few minutes to open a Discord.   Let see how things goes.

Our Forum is a nice place (when it works)     but for sure we need to look for more upto  date Forum system.

[Seeky]

Fully agree with what's been discussed.
IMHO Discord has done a lot in the last few years to damage the "openness" of multiple internet communities. What used to be fully available (maybe only requiring a registration) on the internet is now pretty difficult to access, unlike forums which can be used a "databases" just as this one is.
On the other hand, Discord content is, for all intents and purposes, dark web.

It's still a great tool for squads to get in touch and plan things, but both forums and Discord channels can coexist

[MaVoy]

I believe we could use both: a good chat (discord) and a good forum (as a database).

It would be great if we have had a forum-alike database. So many people have so many amazing projects here. It was a huge inspiration for me (and I believe others).
It would be great if admins could do one aggregated topic with links on this new forum, leading to the best projects, like:

- Kukki's/Pegasus full metal jacket/cockpit;
- someone else's amazing metal ACES II;
- someone else's best way to do panels/gauges;
- someone else's topic about the best way to deal with connecting cables...
- and so on...

Something that would inspire any newbies and help quickly those, who are in the middle of the journey.

The biggest treasure on this forum is the knowledge, photos, videos about how to... Can discord give the same? I don't know, maybe.

Discord for quick communication is great, for playing MP together.

We can have both I believe, but if I had to pick one, would be forum - it has a bigger value as a database and inspiration for others.

[Sandman]

I love having the traditional Viperpits Forum for posting and for our interactions!

As Kukki mentioned, the ADMINS have been trying to hold everything together by patching the original software WITHOUT losing valuable older posts. I agree that the time has come for a major upgrade- but we must do it carefully to avoid loss of our original data.

Many of you will recall the problems we had with hackers getting into the old site. To ensure better security, we had to put some procedures in place (such as having ROMANSKI vet all new members) prior to giving new members full access to the site. While this has worked, it is very time consuming for him to keep up with new approvals and delays new members acceptance.

Also, during one of our older database backups, all photos were lost due to JPEG files being converted into ASCII rather than kept as binary files. Hundred of posts with great photos (including my original build thread) were lost at that time. Efforts to resurrect those lost files were futile.

Some of you veterans will recall the old COPPERMINE albums. These were photos that members could uploaded to the forum rather than being hosted on 3rd party sites like Photobucket. We all know the problems caused when Photobucket (and others) required payments for others to download images. So many "broken links" and "photo not available" errors!

Years ago, Flareless had started to cross-reference our pit builders according to what they have built, or are planning on using. The idea was to group our members into various interest groups for sharing ideas and insights specific to their pits. He also had created links to various topics within forum build threads, so you could easy find the best posts on the subject. Great idea, but didn't get updated as the forum grew.


Enough said- I completely agree that we need to work on getting this forum more stable and easier to use. Especially easier to search and find information that is buried somewhere on the forum. Viperpits has always been FREE, and has always been dependent on our members to freely share what they know and have learned. We rarely ask for money donations, but this may be one time when we will ask to offset the costs of the next improvement... stay tuned


Personal note: I will be retiring from my "real life" job in a few months, and plan to have much more time to assist with this project in the near future. My appreciation to all the current and past ADMINS who have worked so hard to keep us going!