First off, so that's there's no misunderstanding, I am not saying that SMF is not legit.
I am in full support of free software. I use Linux and Wordpress and I also use SMF for my forum.
What irks me is that I have met a number of people who literally look down their noses when I say that I use SMF. They make me feel that I am a cheapskate because I don't seem to be able to afford a paid forum software.What I always tell them is that paying more money only makes them have less money and doesn't get them anything more.
Strangely, I don't see anyone doing the same to Linux or Wordpress although those two great products are also free.
So, the question is, what can we do to help SMF joins the ranks of 'legit' software like Linux and Wordpress?
Over to you.
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 22, 2011, 08:01:46 PM
Strangely, I don't see anyone doing the same to Linux or Wordpress although those two great products are also free.
They may not anymore, but that's because both have reached widespread usage and have proven themselves (well, mostly. WP may be popular but is a steaming pile...). A few years ago, you'd have likely gotten the same reaction.
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 22, 2011, 08:01:46 PM
So, the question is, what can we do to help SMF joins the ranks of 'legit' software like Linux and Wordpress?
Time and userbase growth. You could always mention how the German Parliament uses SMF and how several security-related products use SMF for their user forums. Being able to provide some good examples of solid usage always help the naysayers. Having some impressive examples of use is how the legitimizing process begins.
That said, there will always be people who will look down their nose at "low cost" and "free" solutions. They happen in every segment (cars, sporting goods, clothes, etc.). You won't be able to convince these people, so don't waste the effort.
Everyone has their opinions and your experiences as you describe them are very subjective. What objectively would make anything legit? Usage maybe? Seriously, who are the number of people looking down your nose? The data points you are offering are not well defined. I'm not saying your suggestions are poor, I think SMF would just need a better definition of the goals SMF would have to meet in order to be "legit". Without that, I think we'd be chasing windmills.
Quote from: 青山 素子 on November 22, 2011, 09:19:31 PM
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 22, 2011, 08:01:46 PM
Strangely, I don't see anyone doing the same to Linux or Wordpress although those two great products are also free.
They may not anymore, but that's because both have reached widespread usage and have proven themselves (well, mostly. WP may be popular but is a steaming pile...). A few years ago, you'd have likely gotten the same reaction.
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 22, 2011, 08:01:46 PM
So, the question is, what can we do to help SMF joins the ranks of 'legit' software like Linux and Wordpress?
Time and userbase growth. You could always mention how the German Parliament uses SMF and how several security-related products use SMF for their user forums. Being able to provide some good examples of solid usage always help the naysayers. Having some impressive examples of use is how the legitimizing process begins.
That said, there will always be people who will look down their nose at "low cost" and "free" solutions. They happen in every segment (cars, sporting goods, clothes, etc.). You won't be able to convince these people, so don't waste the effort.
So the German Parliament uses SMF? I am glad to hear that even though it's the first time I have heard of it. Would you happen to have a link to that?
Is there somewhere I can look for the forum software used in some of the largest forums? That would be handy when faced with sceptical people.
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 22, 2011, 10:04:35 PM
So the German Parliament uses SMF? I am glad to hear that even though it's the first time I have heard of it. Would you happen to have a link to that?
https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 22, 2011, 10:04:35 PM
Is there somewhere I can look for the forum software used in some of the largest forums? That would be handy when faced with sceptical people.
http://www.big-boards.com/ is probably the best place, but it's really backlogged and doesn't update much. Some of the very large SMF boards still aren't on it (For example, it shows Red and White KOP with just over 5 million posts when it currently has almost 9 million). One of the largest SMF boards, for example, is Burek (http://forum.burek.com/) with over 10 million posts.
I posted a list of some of the more interesting forums using SMF a while back, over here (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=450974.msg3150587#msg3150587).
Thank you for the links. One interesting thing, though. The German Parliament is using SMF 1.1.11. Does that mean SMF 1.1.11 has some advantages over SMF 2.0?
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 23, 2011, 12:36:22 AM
Thank you for the links. One interesting thing, though. The German Parliament is using SMF 1.1.11. Does that mean SMF 1.1.11 has some advantages over SMF 2.0?
Knowing how slow governments work, I am not surprised they are still behind the times. ;D
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 23, 2011, 12:36:22 AM
Thank you for the links. One interesting thing, though. The German Parliament is using SMF 1.1.11. Does that mean SMF 1.1.11 has some advantages over SMF 2.0?
They made some customizations for the submission of petitions, so they probably don't want to update the code to run in 2.0. IT's not like 1.1 has been abandoned, it's just in extended maintenance (security fixes only).
Quote from: 青山 素子 on November 23, 2011, 01:21:38 AM
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 23, 2011, 12:36:22 AM
Thank you for the links. One interesting thing, though. The German Parliament is using SMF 1.1.11. Does that mean SMF 1.1.11 has some advantages over SMF 2.0?
They made some customizations for the submission of petitions, so they probably don't want to update the code to run in 2.0. IT's not like 1.1 has been abandoned, it's just in extended maintenance (security fixes only).
Does this mean that using 1.1 is just as good as using 2.0?
i would not say it is just as good as 2.0, as 2.0 as more features built in then 1.1.1* will ever have.
Quote from: Illori on November 23, 2011, 05:50:25 AM
i would not say it is just as good as 2.0, as 2.0 as more features built in then 1.1.1* will ever have.
I see, In that case, the best thing for a new forum would be to use 2.0. Right? How about using those free SMF hosting services. Is that a good thing to do?
most of those restrict what you can do, so i would never recommend you use them.
Quote from: Illori on November 23, 2011, 07:50:29 AM
most of those restrict what you can do, so i would never recommend you use them.
That's what I found out. Only one seems to be a bit more un-restricted and that's SMFNew. btw is there something like a network of SMF forums? I mean something where all SMF forums can work together to promote each other's forums?
smfnew is also restrictive as to what you can do, best i can suggest is if you want to start a forum buy hosting and go from there.
Quote from: ThisOldMan on November 22, 2011, 08:01:46 PM
What irks me is that I have met a number of people who literally look down their noses when I say that I use SMF. They make me feel that I am a cheapskate because I don't seem to be able to afford a paid forum software.What I always tell them is that paying more money only makes them have less money and doesn't get them anything more.
Legit? Thats your problem not theirs if they make you feel cheap and like you're not legit. That's how kids work anyway, their measuring stick is price not quality and function.
Maybe they're a fool for using VB or IP. I go to IP(1 forum) & VB(2) forums everyday and ""everyday"" I think whats the big deal?
When I go to a forum like phpfreaks (http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/) I say to myself, "this is nice". In fact last week, I went back and forth over an IP board I'm a member of trying to convince myself I needed it and I couldn't. There were one or two very minor things I liked but I forgot what they were so they must not have been that great.
As someone said they use to say the same thing about WP and in fact I still hear that every now and then.
Ford, Chevy, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, PC, Mac you'll always hear and until you get more confidence you'll always feel like you made the wrong decision. I know I did.
But look at the facts, SMF can handle it, get these people to be specific about what makes VB or IP or whatever better, then see if that matters to you. Then if it fits, get SMF and take your other friends that haven't made you feel like you weren't legit out to eat, take pictures and then post it on facebook and show the trouble makers the good time you had.
I do know that SMF has got a lot more useful features than all the other forum software that I have experienced as a forum user. One feature I particularly like is the quicknav feature right at the top next to the avatar.
Right now I am trying to decide on what kind of hosting would make my forum go fastest. I have not been able to figure out what's the ram overhead for each user online. Does anyone know?
unless you will have a few hundred users/guests on your forum at one time you would be fine to start with shared hosting and move up as needed from there.
Quote from: Illori on November 23, 2011, 07:32:08 PM
unless you will have a few hundred users/guests on your forum at one time you would be fine to start with shared hosting and move up as needed from there.
I can actually buy an SSD vps with 512 Mb ram for 5usd per month. Is 512 Mb ram sufficient to handle, say, 10 users online at any one time? Also would putting centmin and webmin on an SSD make things go faster? I am very keen on making my forum run at supersonic speed, if possible. Reason being I have been on forums which dragged along like a tortoise with four lame legs and it really put me off.
What do you think?
you dont need a vps or similar to get decent speed, a decently configured shared server can give you the same speed as a vps would and you dont need the overhead that a vps has. you would be best to post questions about hosting in the hosting board though.
Quote from: Illori on November 24, 2011, 06:24:54 AM
you dont need a vps or similar to get decent speed, a decently configured shared server can give you the same speed as a vps would and you dont need the overhead that a vps has. you would be best to post questions about hosting in the hosting board though.
Will do. Thanks for all your advice. I really hope I can make a super-duper forum with SMF and prove all the critics wrong.
The easiest thing to do, is for all of us to create large SMF run forums that beat those of VB Xenforo and IPB....
Quote from: sambling on December 01, 2011, 07:26:24 PM
The easiest thing to do, is for all of us to create large SMF run forums that beat those of VB Xenforo and IPB....
I like that idea. Let's take it a step further.
How about creating a network of SMF forums which are all interlinked? Then as a whole, it should have greater prominence with the search engines. Kind of like what happens in real life. Smaller companies group together to form a loose confederation of businesses which help each other to get more customers and do more business.
How about that?
I guess something like a webring would work. More promotions is always good. Being fairly new I am not sure how Simple Machines and SMF handles their promotions. For me, it just works.
I checked out SMF because my hosting company had it with an install script as the only option for a bulletin board/forum system. The install script didn't work so I did a google search, read up on SMF, downloaded it and tried it out in my sandbox, and found it satisfactory. Since putting it into production, using it, and coding my own extensions, I have found it to be very good.
I like the idea of canned package ready to put into operation that I can also extend to my own needs. Open source is the way to go for me. Without the code I wouldn't feel quite so confident in the operations of my Forum. And it does appear as though a lot of thought and work has gone into making this forum software easy to use, secure, and robust. My users are happy that they can also use their smart phones to access the forum. Especially the add-ons that I have created.
Keep up the good work SMF developers and if you need ideas, or help, in promoting SMF, let me know. that is a bit of my specialty these days.
web rings only work for sites with related content.
And "Utilizing SMF Free Forum Software" isn't 'related content'. ;D
Maybe a Google Page (or Facebook)?
We have both a google+ page and a facebook page....
and no, "using the same software" is not a valid basis for "related content".
"Utilizing SMF" is great for forum owners, but forum members wouldn't find it nearly as interesting.