FireBoard

[defeedme]

Kindred. I'm only speaking truths and facts, I just went to JoomlaDayUsa.org [nofollow] in NYC last week and everyone there agrees FireBoard is the way to go. The bridges can cause big problems and slow down your site - this is a fact. SMF is great on it's own and Joomla.org [nofollow] even uses it - but for true community builder integration, FireBoard is the only seemless solution. I think people should be aware of all the facts if they are using Joomla.

[rummie]

uc

[defeedme]

rummie,

interesting, since these last posts there has been more and more Fireboard talk on this forum. I'm not the only one discussing the facts about Joomla integration.

I don't work for Fireboard and have no reason to promote them except for the fact anyone who wants better "seemless" integration. There has been another thread started asking smf if they are going to make better integration - I don't think they are.

I really have no idea what you are talking about "viagara/casino" sales.

[Kindred]

once again...  we have stated the REASON that we CAN NOT (legally) continue the bridge. It has nothing to do with wanting to (or not).

IMO, fireboard is not a valid replacement for SMF...  it has significantly less functionality and is a minimal solution. Yes, there is an integration with joomla...   but I (and a significant number of others) would rather switch from Joomla to Mambo rather than change from SMF to fireboard.

(and, since you apparently missed the joke... you used a non-existent word...   the term is seamless...   by saying seemless, as rummie said... fireboard does indeed SEEM LESS than SMF.)

[Orstio]

I think it's important to realize that Fireboard is a Joomla component, and SMF is a stand alone forum product.  Fireboard is perfectly suited to many Joomla site owners' needs, but one needs to understand that it is limited to its dependence on Joomla.

Others need the power that only a dedicated forum software can give.  And still others need a forum that will work with a CMS other than Joomla (for example, some people need the configurable access control of a CMS like Xoops, or the configurability of extensions like e107).

[rummie]

k yo

[dukeofgaming]

I've used fireboard... it is maturing, and I'd like to think it is the way to go, but its not... regardless how seamless adapting it is.

I have a community of over a thousand users, using fireboard would make me loose a lot of control... it will be a pain, but I will have to use the joomlahacks' approach if nothing better comes out...

I miss the days where updating was just 3 little patches away...

[defeedme]

ha ha , now I get it! sorry about my spelling...

it's very interesting how this thread has struck a nerve...
Finally someone else has noticed that Fireboard is maturing (thanks capt.)

I fully understand that SMF has it's place as one of the best stand-alone free forums available and integration options with other cms products. Unfortunately, Joomla is hands down the best cms out there and it would have been really awesome to have the best forum option available for it (SEAMLESS)... there are 2 new exciting templates available from RocketTheme(populus) and TemplatePlaza(comuna) that are really pushing the envelope which allow for easy "turnkey" high-quality community based sites...

Joomla has been recognized by Google as a premiere project and they have partnered on more than one occasion.
There really isn't much more to say about this topic and I appreciate all the responses and honesty..

Just like Microsoft and Apple still co-exist today - I'm sure Fireboard and SMF will both continue well into the future...

Best Wishes and Happy Holidays..
Mike

[cferd]

I hate to rain on your parade, but Rocketwerks is working on a bridge for Joomla 1.5 - PHPBB3, that from all indications is being endorsed by some Joomla devs. When it comes out, if it works as they say, FB will be in serious danger of losing support fast. It will in all likelyhood be relegated to small sites, and maybe not many at that.

[Sundog_AK]

Like mentioned above, Fireboard may be suitable for certain sites and needs, but you are likely going to need SMF or other standalone forum software (bridged if need be) for sites with large forum usage. A Joomla Mod mentioned why the Joomla forum wouldn't switch to Fireboard in this thread:

hxxp:forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,194373.msg1065844.html#msg1065844 [nonactive]

I have played around with the Populus theme and it is indeed quick and dirty to get a web site up and running with Fireboard embedded.  But like everything, you have to decide what your long term site usage/volume is going to be to make decisions on what software solution is best or you will go through the major pain of trying to convert messages from one forum to another. 

Anyway, my 2 cents. 

[rummie]

u!

[defeedme]

hmmmm...
I acutally use phpbb 2 on one of my sites and it's OK but not so good. I may be converting it soon to FB..

I guess phpbb3 is much better, but no matter what they are working on, it's still a "BRIDGE" and FB has a huge jump out of the gate right now... I can't see why a fully matured FB can't be awesome for any size forum.

just checked out rokbridge and it does look interesting and has potential, also if Joomla.org [nofollow] is converting to phpbb3 - that is very interesting also...so yes, nothing is written in stone: but one important thing it does appear to be missing right now is community builder integration/support - that is a huge killer right there.

Just an FYI: FireBoard is based on the two-shoes m-factory joomla component joomlaboard. Community Builder (www.joomlapolis.com) has the largest known two-shoes m-factory forum with 50,000 users.  That's pretty solid in my book:

http://www.joomlapolis.com/component/option,com_joomlaboard/Itemid,/func,view/catid,6/id,37481/#37481 [nofollow]

Joomlapolis - city of 50,000!   
Website - Announcements 
Written by Nick A.     
Monday, 23 April 2007 
Recently our site - Joomlapolis.com [nofollow] the home of Community Builder - naturalized its 50,000th citizen. The growth has been phenomenal! The community is still growing at an average rate of 100 new members each day. The forums are also operating at high speed - currently over 8000 topics and around 27,000 replies. Joomlapolis might just have the largest Joomlaboard installation around.

The CB Team would like to thank its worldwide community of Joomla community builders. Without their support and encouragement Joomlapolis and the Community Builder would not have reached this milestone.

[cferd]

Actually, Rockettheme/Rocketwerks IS a Joomla dev if I'm not mistaken
(which explains the convenient loophole of templates not needing to be GPL to interface with Joomla - while all other PHP code must be )

Thanks for pointing that out rummie. I wasn't aware of that. I only remember Brad and Johan talking it up. I don't use PHPBB, and am not sure yet if I will use it on the 2 sites that don't have SMF. That bridge does look intriguing though.

defeedme, BestofJoomla has about 9K users of its own and it seems to work ok. But why would the people that know best (Joomla devs) be looking elsewhere? I mean, it's not like Simpleboard-Joomlaboard-Fireboard is brand spanking new.

[rummie]

c

[cferd]

No there is not a BIG or HUGE difference between MEMBERS and USERS. To be a member you have to be a user first. You don't get to register, in most cases, unless you visited a site. Once you register, it makes you a known USER, or a MEMBER. See?.

When I said 9000 users (which is actually more like 11,000 users) I meant USERS, not users at any one time. You seem to be nitpicking to get a point across.

Nonetheless, I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of sites using FB will not have anywhere near 10k users, so they will probably be just fine with it.

[Kindred]

actually, cferd, although he was wrong in indicating a huge difference in the TERMS, he was right in the overall sense...

registered users and users concurrently logged in are two completely different things.

One of the forums that I admin has 50,000+ users...   and regularly has 300-500 concurrent log-ins.
Fireboard would crash with that load...

[defeedme]

Kindred,

I am very interested in how you came to the conclusion that FireBoard will crash with 300-500 concurrent log-ins. Did you actually test this using a shared hosting account such as go-daddy or 1&1 ?  If this is true, Is there a reason why FireBoard can't fix this problem in a future release ? Does it have something to do with being part of joomla ?

Also, do you know if it will crash with 300 concurrent log-ins if the site were hosted on a dedicated server instead of a shared hosting account?

I am very curious about this because the site I plan to use with FireBoard will definitly be getting 100 or more concurrent log-ins on a regular basis with CB also..

Thanks
ps. It appears something happened to rummie's posts - he mentioned something about mysql

[Kindred]

I tested fireboard on a shared server and had it visibly slowed with 20 users online at once;  I never went any further,  and I never said that they might not make it better. However, from my experience, fireboard has some in-elegantly designed code which will eventually use up the available resources.

They may improve it.. they may correct the code...  but I still would not switch out of SMF for my forum needs. (besides, Mambo is doing some really nice things with the 4.6 and 4.7 series)