10,000+ members PhpBB3.0.12 to SMF?

[styzer]

Hi, new here, hope I can find that SMF will play nice with a decade old PhpBB2 forum still booming.

We've successfully upgrade from PhpBB2x to PhpBB3.0.12. In fact we have two instances of the upgrade, the other one is to PhpBB3.1.3PL. I'm trying to see if it would serve my client better to convert to SMF actually. There's a ton of content, including attachments, images, audio files, MIDI files, etc.

I have been reading a few stories of conversion, and despite amazing support here, it doesn't seem to be as straight-forward and painless as people hope.

My questions:

1- Which version of the PhpBB upgrade should we use to convert?

2- Are there experts here who do this kind of installation/conversion for a fee?

3- Will the conversion delete the PhpBB install or will it install SMF in another folder?

4- Have people found the transition to SMF created a big learning curve for the board managers? If so, how did they address that?

5- Is it possible to have a "portal" page with SMF, if so, any time-tested ones you would suggest?

6- Is Simple Machines allowing for mobile/responsive? I did a search on the forum and could not find one (1) result for the word "responsive." Why?

That's it for now!

Regards,

Styzer

[margarett]

Hi.

Sorry, I missed this... Let me try to answer your questions

it doesn't seem to be as straight-forward and painless as people hope.

True. As much as we'd like to be able to say otherwise, the fact is that most conversions are all but straightforward In the end, with some good will, things come to a good end

1- Which version of the PhpBB upgrade should we use to convert?

Not really relevant, I think. The most recent converter is for versions 3.0-something and it isn't expected to have database changes in "sub-versions". Anyway, cutting-egde versions are more prone to problems...

2- Are there experts here who do this kind of installation/conversion for a fee?

As an official SMF service, no. We have no paid services whatsoever. You can find someone to help you in Help Request board

3- Will the conversion delete the PhpBB install or will it install SMF in another folder?

Another folder. Your original phpBB setup is untouched

4- Have people found the transition to SMF created a big learning curve for the board managers? If so, how did they address that?

I came from phpBB 8 years ago. I don't know phpBB these days but, at that time, it was easy to get along. Do note, you don't need (and you shouldn't!) to convert definitely and at once. You should perform a test conversion, then keep phpBB running normally while you and some selected members test SMF. If you like it, then you can consider the definitive conversion

5- Is it possible to have a "portal" page with SMF, if so, any time-tested ones you would suggest?

There are some portals, yes. SimplePortal is probably the most popular one

6- Is Simple Machines allowing for mobile/responsive? I did a search on the forum and could not find one (1) result for the word "responsive." Why?

In the current stable version, not on default. In the current development version (2.1) the default theme is already responsive. For 2.0 there are some (not that many, but some) responsive themes. A search for "responsive" brings me 25 pages of 20 results

That's it for now!

Keep them coming