• Hi All

    Please note that at the Chandoo.org Forums there is Zero Tolerance to Spam

    Post Spam and you Will Be Deleted as a User

    Hui...

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A new forum....?

K

keymaster

New Member
Hi all,


As you may know, our forum has been under intense spam attack for last several months. This has not only slowed things on our site, but took considerable energy of our lovable ninjas and site admins. The problem for this spam attack is with us.


We have been using a old, no_more_developed software to run this forum. Although we can hire someone and modify the php, it would be like erecting cardboard picket fence against the machine gun attack by spammers. So after much thought and exploration, I have decided to migrate this forum to another software.


What this means to you


Nothing. Except, once we migrate you will get an email with your new password. All your posts, topics and questions will be preserved. Even more, you may get better features (like chat box, improved security, ability to personal message members, may be even upload files etc.).


It also means, our forums' simple navigation will become a little more clumsy and hectic. But I will try to keep the forum theme similar to what we have now or close enough.


How much time it takes?


I have no idea. I am still evaluating 2 potential softwares for the forum upgrade - phpBB and vBulletin. My mind tells me to go with vBulletin (as this has been recommended by several people, it is a commercial software, well maintained and access to developers who know how to use it)


Once I decide which one to go for, I will purchase a license, create forums in a different place (may be on my computer or some alternative site) and then fine tune it. After that I will have to migrate the forum. This could take anywhere from 3 days to 15 days.


At the time of migration


We will be locking down the forums. I am hoping the actual migration would be quick. May be done in 1 day or less. So we will just freeze the forum, move it to new software, test and re-open.


What you can do:


I want some help from you.


1. Tell us how you feel about forum migration.

2. Tell us which aspects of a forum that are important for you. Choose any 3 among (navigation, simplicity, speed, search relevance, file uploads, security or other).

3. Tell me one thing that I should avoid doing in the new forum.


Thank you...
 
Sounds Great Chandoo.


Will you have a facility to mark a question with Solved / also being able to edit titles to be more informal about the topic.


Also to move any programs marked as solved to the vault


Finally a Vault Start pack for VBA beginners (Various subjects)


This is by far the best excel web site for learning and also asking questions. I would recommend this web site to any person wanting to be involved in Excel andor VBA.


It is the Excel Ninja's that have made it this way..... Many Thanks to all involved in teaching me.


Kind Regards,
 
1. I'm okay with migration. I know we've struggled with several issues, looking forward to new options.


2. Current setup is VERY fast on searching. Navigation between threads could be better (sort by date/response count/etc). File uploads would be nice. Private messaging would be very nice; I see a big benefit for the Excel Ninjas.


3. Avoid clutter/gimmicks that slow things down. An example of this is the old Microsoft forums. We used to be able to access all threads quickly through Outlook feeder. Then they "upgraded it", and you had to access via a web browser and it got much slower.
 
Hi Purna ,


My opinion is that we can have many more admins / mods , with the power to delete spam posts / topics or mark them as spam ; I suggest the names of those who are already quite active on this forum : Jeffrey Weir , Sajan Thomas , Shrivallabha , and of late , Sam Mathai Chacko , Marcus ( Smallman ) ; the requirement of a 1000 posts can be put aside.


I know that migration can bring about other benefits , but if you feel that cost is a consideration , we can continue with the current platform for a little longer. This will give you more time to evaluate your options in detail , so that the process when you do decide to migrate will be painless.


Narayan
 
Sir if I could suggest, could you please provide "File Uploading" feature.


Thanks a lot for the upcomign changes to the forum.
 
Hi Chandoo,


That sounds like good news - Awesome Website - Awesome Forum.


Can members have the option to turn of margin adverts?
 
I am for new forums.


1. User friendly or typical GUI[lot of forums look and function similar as they use same technology] which users are well acquainted.


2. Searchability [something we should encourage people to do before starting new thread]


3. Email notification for new reply in "subscribed threads".


From what I have seen, vBulletin is definitely more popular. I don't know how different it is from admin perspective.
 
Hi All ,


A lot of comments and information here :


https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/vbulletin-vs-phpbb.14058/


http://bryanhadaway.com/vbulletin-vs-phpbb-vs-bbpress-vs-vanilla/


http://www.dnforum.com/f123/vbulletin-vs-phpbb-thread-471744.html


http://wphacks.com/phpbb-vs-vbulletin-which-do-you-prefer/


Narayan
 
Good day oldchippy


Unless you sign for Excel related training ALL ON THE SITE is FREE.For which the cost is amongst the lowest out there.


Chandoo and his business and those employed by Chandoo rely on advertisement generated income, as small as it is, to help pay for the site and its associated costs, sites do not get much monies per click.


You have been a member for some time now and have helped many, all without payment other than the occasional thank you, this site is free to all and the wealth of knowledge that is stored on the servers, that have to be paid for, is there FREE OF CHARGE.


The site has overheads, unseen by nearly all users,what Chandoo is about to undertake has a cost, costs in buying the license’s, costs in the people who have to make it all happen. These cost have to be generated by whatever means are available and applicable to the site, otherwise the free part may disappear. And I am sure forum members would not want that.
 
Hi All


I wrote to Chandoo yesterday about this very topic. I like that it has since been thrown open to all in the forum to comment on : ) Maybe it was just a coincidence?


Here goes.... Firstly I really like this site and the learning environment Chandoo has set up!! Simply Gold! You all should be congratulated on your contribution. Additionally the challenge set up you currently have is unique. Mr Excel started something like this years back but it did not last and challenges were sporadic. I earnestly hope this continues.


I think by web traffic the 'Big 3' XL forums (Ozgrid, Mr Excel and theExcelForum) all use VBulletin. In my opinion the experience on these forums is a little more user friendly than I have found at Chandoo. I mean no disrespect by this comment. Granted this is my first week on the website but I have found the following frustrating;


The inability to load a file to show your workings is a big one for mine. We are often dealing with people who are not proficient XL users, so being able to upload a file is fantastic - seeing is believing for most people. It is almost mandatory when I post on another forum that I put a file with the post, particularly when dealing in VB. I like to show how in a perfect test environment that the procedure runs truly. You can ask members to post a sample of their workbook which makes understanding a lot better.


Code tags, I realise I am a bit slow on the uptake but I can not work them out (despite the best efforts of SirJB7 - thanks again) and there must be a lot of people in my boat not being able to dial up some sort of indent function. With VBulletin the # symbol is all you need to click on and code indents seamlessly. Even a fool like myself can nut that one out : )


Being able to alert administrators/Moderators when there is a spam post is a nice feature of VBulletin. I have often been frustrated this week seeing people have posted spam and I wanted to tell someone but there was no feature to help me out.


Another nice feature is the ability to share comments member to member (PM). I have set up coffee meetings in Brisbane with fellow members and all because of the private message feature of VBulletin. This feature is great for Moderators of this site as you will be able to interact within the forum. You get a better understanding of your colleagues and you tend to build a strong team environment.


I not sure if Chandoo has it but there is a Moderator forum which goes with VBulletin and lots of friendly banter happens in this part of forum. Being Australian I like that a lot as it just goes with the territory down under.


The speed between uploading a post, I notice no difference between Chandoo and VBulletin sites so I don't think you will lose much there. The simple look and feel can be maintained. Your new website could look almost identical, you can make it as complex or simple as you want.


I moderate one of the above mentioned forums and I have quite a bit of time on forums like this. I find the overall ability to clean up posts, communicate with members and kick dodgy spammers out of the forum is seamless with the use of VBulletin.


I did notice a comment about advertising. I will break this down with statistics, about 1% of the people visiting our forum (the one I moderate) were members so (members do not see Advertising) something to consider I think. This results in a cleaner look and feel on the actual forum for members. Anyone else dialling in and who was not a member gets the adds. You are rewarding your members in a way.


I can't speak of VBulletin highly enough (no I don't have any affiliation with the product : ) These are my thoughts and I am happy to discuss them with anyone.


Take care all


Smallman
 
Hi !


A so obvious point is the readability …

But not so obvious 'cause one of my favorite forum just have migrated (not to vBulletin), very unreadable for the code lines.

So many people quit this forum …


Normally vBulletin has all the necessary.

I like numbered code lines, easy to point a line like "check your line #23 which has a typo" …


On another favorite forum using vBulletin, we have more and more subjects with a load file without any problem explanation,

just "I have a problem, see my joined file" !

'cause many people at office can't load a file for obvious security reason,

this kind of subjects rests alone but take more & more disk space on server …


On another one, the choice was taken to delete this kind of subjects without notice

'cause the forum's rules are clear and easy to read …


So Chandoo forum migration will benefit no matter how long it will take.

And maybe some desperate Excel users will take the habit to use their brain during this time, reading the Excel's integrated help …
 
@Smallman

Have a read of: http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/11/04/fancy-posts-using-html-display-codes/
 
Hi,

What I wan most in the forume is the option to subscribe in a post like this I will receive an email about suggested solution and I will filter the best one (later when I face a similar problem I can just check my mail clien (thunderbird) for that solution).
 
Hi,


I think chandoo should retain the uniqueness of the layout it has, the white background of this helps alot white typing and simpleness has great appeal to users. The added features like chat or uploading file or pasting excel sheets are always desirable but not at the cost of traditional chandoo.org/forums page.


I request that it should not be made similar to other excel pages (with blue or green backround..and so similar layouts) while using this new software, chandoo should retains its identity and uniqueness.


Thanks,

Faseeh
 
I vote with Faseeh on this, add the desires such as being able to upload excel files, email notification for post answers, the ability for OPs to mark there post as SOLVED, restrict tagging to stop spam tags, allow members to click spam button to highlight post containing spam so that the admins can deal with it quickly. ect, ect but keep Chandoos uniqueness.
 
@Faseeh


Yes I agree with the like button, I think this could lead to ninjas looking at marked posts and if they are happy with the results redirect it to the "Popular and Useful Forum Posts" and build a base of correctly answered questions and answers which posters could be directed to.


As time has gone on if you look at the way questions and answers are dealt with this forum is becoming more of a members club than just like so many of the other standard forums that are out there, I hope it can stay and grow like that
 
Thanks for excellent discussion and ideas folks.


Here is how I am thinking about forum upgrade.


1. We desperately need it.

2. I do not want to go for a forum that has more fancy look. I like simple stuff and hence used bbpress in first place. Ideally, any new forum software we use will continue similar look and feel as this one.

3. We do not want any extra spam in new forum. In fact, we would love it if the spam and abuse went down with new software.

4. I have decided to drop phpBB from consideration set. I am adding xenforo. In fact, I am leaning towards it after reading up more about vBulletin.

5. I may be able to hire someone to clean up old threads and code so that it would look alright when ported to new forum.

6. I am happy to remove or reduce ads to forum members. As it stands, we have a maximum of 2 ads on any forum page.


What next?


Most likely, I will purchase a xenforo license this week and set up a temporary forum somewhere. Then I will ask some of our regular members and ninjas to check it and suggest UI improvements and features. Once we have it all set, then I will freeze forum and import data.


Any other thoughts?
 
Hi Bob ,


It is good that there is camaraderie amongst forum members ; I'm all for it.


However , if I look at it from a user's point of view , any user , whether a beginner or an expert , approaches a forum for answers to troubling questions ; I would like Chandoo's to become the top-most goto site for Excel related queries , failing which I would like that those who approach this forum for answers are not disappointed.


If you see , even a site like MrExcel has a lot of questions which are never answered ; there may be several reasons for this , but I would expect that given the large number of experts who are a part of the MrExcel forum , very few questions would have remained unanswered.


Let us all work together to ensure that the percentage of unanswered questions is the lowest at Chandoo's.


Narayan
 
Good day Narayan


I agree with you about unanswered questions I think it does put people off forums, but I think it is a very rare occurrence for a question to go unanswered on Chandoo.


And the answer to that is the wide range of expertise that the forum members have from CF, Formulas, Functions and the black art of VBA.


I think the main reason that help is offered to so many is the nature of the forum and its foremost quality.......Its Members
 
Just thought, it would be nice as well as having the members join date and number of posts, can you add the version of Excel under their avatar
 
Chandoo, just curious as to what tilted the scale towards xenforo. I was just looking at their demo site. Without passing any comments on what I saw, I just wanted to know why vB came behind?
 
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