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SMF and Proboards' interface similarities

Started by Unruler, November 16, 2012, 09:01:09 AM

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Unruler

I couldn't help but notice striking similarities between SMF's and Proboard's interfaces, that I didn't saw on other forums. Which begs the question, are both based on the same engine?

MrPhil

Under the covers (HTML produced, or even the original PHP code, if you have access to it), does it appear to be derived from SMF? If so, are they following the rules set out in the SMF license? If they are, it sounds legal, and that's the point of Open Source. SMF has no legal lock on the interface design, but the code underneath is copyrighted and licensed under certain terms.

Herman's Mixen

It is the Main father of the birth of SMF...

Yabb (perl version) ---> Yabbse --> (php converted version) ---> SMF (Unknow's secret project)

So bassicaly they use the same engine's

Looking back- an interview with Joseph Fung, Jeff Lewis and [Unknown]
Met vriendelijke groet, The Burglar!

 House Mixes | Mixcloud | Any Intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.
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Former Godfather of our dutch community ;)

青山 素子

TL;DR: Both software products were inspired by a common system and have (had) similar themes and ways of working due to that.

Long story:
Proboards originally started based on the forum product YaBB. Back in 2002, the owners claimed to have undertaken a full rewrite, so it's not really based on YaBB anymore. The interface theme still hails back from the YaBB days, however.

SMF has roots back in YaBB SE, which was a rewrite of YaBB from Perl into PHP. SMF itself doesn't use any YaBB SE code, but is the spiritual successor to YaBB SE. It originally started as a single contributor's project, but was accepted by the YaBB SE team, who then concentrated on work with SMF. As part of the whole legacy, the "Classic" theme, which was the default theme for the SMF 1.0 series, is based on the YaBB SE theme, which is similar to the themes for YaBB 1 Gold SP1 and YaBB 2.0.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


Unruler

Thanks for clarification.

It's a shame that PB explicitly prohibits migration or any database transfer, because SMF is a much better option.

青山 素子

Quote from: Unruler on November 17, 2012, 09:32:57 AM
It's a shame that PB explicitly prohibits migration or any database transfer, because SMF is a much better option.

Yeah. But advertising delivery is how they make their money. There used to be a set of scripts that would crawl a Proboards forum (among other ones) and import the topics to SMF, but most of them were removed because of that restriction.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


Unruler

Quote from: 青山 素子 on November 17, 2012, 11:17:31 AM
Quote from: Unruler on November 17, 2012, 09:32:57 AM
It's a shame that PB explicitly prohibits migration or any database transfer, because SMF is a much better option.

Yeah. But advertising delivery is how they make their money. There used to be a set of scripts that would crawl a Proboards forum (among other ones) and import the topics to SMF, but most of them were removed because of that restriction.

I know I've tried to find those.

The thing is that it probably wouldn't stop someone who unsatisfied by PB's functionality from moving. That's just they being unfriendly to their users.

Akyhne

I don't quite follow? You can't export your DB or are you not allowed to?!

青山 素子

Quote from: Akyhne on November 19, 2012, 08:33:33 PM
I don't quite follow? You can't export your DB or are you not allowed to?!

There is no database. It's a hosted service. Their terms prevent any attempt to retrieve data, even use of a scraper tool.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


Unruler

Also they've deleted forums of the people who attempted to export their databases w/o any warning or explanation since their terms of service allows to delete one's board for any reason or without the reason. Wonderful, wonderful!

Thorney

Proboards are awful, used them once and never again!

darkknight89

And I thought Zetaboards was crap for not having the option to move a forum.  At least when I asked about it I was told that using a scraper was an option but not exactly recommended since it's slow, unreliable and could be mistaken for an attack on their servers but they said I was more than welcome to try it if I felt it was necessary.  I just opted to start over.  Best decision ever.
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