The future of SMF

[kat]

There are far too many idiots around, to make things idiot-proof, sadly.

[maxg]

Well @ the Blog, they are nice to have and the top used is WP at about 7% of the net usage, however the social sites are becoming more and more ( In my view) un secure and open for more hacks/ attacks and spam, than the from type software, In my eyes the Forums are more versatile and yet controllable than the Blog thing. Not saying I don't like Blogs, they  seem more SEO comparable, but you can only do so much with them. There is only so much can be done with the Blog thing, but combining things, now that is an idea. ( for me the Blog is more personal or limited subject related system, than the Forums> again Nothing matches the SMF and or the Wedge ass ar as I can tell and I test most all, Eve the Vboard, admin d a few sites of this flavor

Now I'm on both side of the fence and I love SMF and I also Like very much what the WEDGE is working toward and just just seems a shame to me that they both can not come together in some way to make a Kick ass system, that does it all. Aeva is already there, not sure what it's direct is , but I use it and it's nice so the gallery part is there! ( and the Guys at Wedge are keeping us up to date, in the transparent way!)

To me I see many possibilities both here and at the Wedge... there is plenty going on in the right direction, although SMF seems to be stuck some how, I just wish things could get together and move forward with the SMF and with the Wedge. Wishful thinking I guess!

regards,
Maxx

[Arantor]

I just wish things could get together and move forward with the SMF and with the Wedge. Wishful thinking I guess!

I can tell you right now that the circumstances will never allow this to happen.

[maxg]

Yes Friend I know!

regards,
Maxx

[Arantor]

It was more for the benefit of everyone else. I can guarantee right now that what Wedge is doing is just not compatible with SMF's direction and goals.

[maxg]

I guess I should have worded things different, but I just wanted SMF to be moving like the Wedge is :}

I know your coding is not the same and you goal as well!

regards,
maxx

[xrunner]

What more can be done to SMF though? It's a forum and it does what it does as well as I can imagine.

People post topics, and others respond.

What more is there really, other than added features?

Like a handheld hammer, it's pretty much as good as it's ever going to get. It hammers nails. If you want to add laser sights or titanium hammerhead or special reflective paint or things like that, that's fine, but its function is what it is.

I'm not complaining at all, and I'm not asking for more here, but at some point isn't a thing as good as it's going to get, or at least 98% as good as it will ever be, for what it was designed for?

[Arantor]

There are a great many enhancements that can be applied, in fact, and most of them very subtle - but potentially very important.

Off the top of my head, things that could improve SMF:
* proper timezone support, meaning weekends where daylight savings changes just wouldn't be an issue
* better mod support, without mods having to make file edits
* ability to edit email templates in the core
* not having most of the user preferences as 'theme options'

There are a surprising number of its features designed by programmers, seemingly for programmers and a decade of real use shows that those choices were not necessarily always the best.

[emanuele]

That's a perfectly working car:


That is a quite good one too:


but, heck that one is very nice too:


Would have enough money that one could be an option too:


But why not:


or



There is always space for improvement or alternatives. No matter what.

[Arantor]

Eh, give me a DeLorean any time.

[xrunner]

That's a perfectly working car:

Yes, and that's how SMF may have been at first. Did I say it hasn't been improved emanuele?

No.

I clearly stated I thought it had been improved to this point -



But both cars do the same thing - they go from point A to point B. that's what they are made for. The second car does it better than the first in lots of ways, and that's exactly my point emanuele. SMF is at the stage of the second car. People post topics and respond as well as I can imagine. How does that get better from this point? How does the base function of the forum get better? Don't just post pictures, explain how posting and responding to topics gets better from the current state of the SMF forum software.

That's what I want to know.

[Arantor]

How does the base function of the forum get better? Don't just post pictures, explain how posting and responding to topics gets better from the current state of the SMF forum software.

Funnily enough I gave you several things. There are many more things that can be done on top of that. To add to my previous list:

* ability to reorder custom fields, as well as adding them to the member list
* ability to configure displaying of multiple badges
* ability to filter out posts containing inappropriate content, either automatically moderating them or even automatically preventing them being posted

There's also various mods whose functionality would be well served in the core, e.g. setting up automatically locking old topics, better handling of mass moves.

[xrunner]

How does the base function of the forum get better? Don't just post pictures, explain how posting and responding to topics gets better from the current state of the SMF forum software.

Funnily enough I gave you several things. There are many more things that can be done on top of that. To add to my previous list:

* ability to reorder custom fields, as well as adding them to the member list
* ability to configure displaying of multiple badges
* ability to filter out posts containing inappropriate content, either automatically moderating them or even automatically preventing them being posted

There's also various mods whose functionality would be well served in the core, e.g. setting up automatically locking old topics, better handling of mass moves.

OK.

That's great. remember I'm not complaining I'm simply asking questions. But sometimes people have asked for improvements and I've seen them get shot down because somebody else says "That's fluff!" "That's an unneeded feature!" "SMF needs to stick to it's purpose and not get bloated!"

Getting back to the car analogy - one man's backup camera is another man's bloated car accessory.

[Arantor]

And that's true to a point. But you can argue by the exact same token that custom fields are unnecessary, that multiple badges are unnecessary, that even things like censoring words is unnecessary.

I personally think if it's a feature that can be argued to have benefit to a decent proportion of the userbase, without a significant performance hit, it's probably not bloat.

[emanuele]

Well, if you just need posts and **nothing** else...then you would be fine even with SMF 1.0.
But xrunner, I'm not here to convince you there is any need for features or things, I just wanted to say there is space for improvement even in the basic user experience of "post and answer" (there is, believe me).

[Arantor]

* Arantor press the like button.

[xrunner]

And that's true to a point. But you can argue by the exact same token that custom fields are unnecessary, that multiple badges are unnecessary, that even things like censoring words is unnecessary.

Yep, you sure can. That then begs the question - what is and isn't necessary to make a forum operationally sufficient for it's intended purpose?

I personally think if it's a feature that can be argued to have benefit to a decent proportion of the userbase, without a significant performance hit, it's probably not bloat.

OK, fair enough. But as computers get more powerful the performance hit will decrease for a given set of processes, so really aren't we looking at mainly "features that can be argued to have benefit to a decent proportion of the userbase"?

Features are great, but at some point some person will chime in here and say SMF is getting bloated with too many features. You just watch. If that's true, then the functionality of this software is mainly maxed out - it's development is at an end. Like a four function calculator. There is no improvements that can be made to a four function calculator. It's does the four functions as well as can be done. The four function calculator is at a development end.

All that's left for SMF if that's true is updates to security, no updates to it's core function is required.

Remember (I want to state again) I am not complaining at all, I think SMF is about as good as it needs to be. I have no complaints at all.

Well, if you just need posts and **nothing** else...then you would be fine even with SMF 1.0.

That's true, at it's heart. But I do like some of the features that have been added. But truthfully I'm just stating I can't think of any more that need to be added. I'm open to being proven wrong though.

But xrunner, I'm not here to convince you there is any need for features or things, I just wanted to say there is space for improvement even in the basic user experience of "post and answer" (there is, believe me).

And I'm very keen to see what is up your sleeves.

[Arantor]

what is and isn't necessary to make a forum operationally sufficient for it's intended purpose?

What do you call operationally sufficient? What I call it and what you call it are likely two different things. By whose intended purpose are you measuring it? You might be satisfied with a basic forum. For the uses I want to make of it, I need specific features.

OK, fair enough. But as computers get more powerful the performance hit will decrease for a given set of processes, so really aren't we looking at mainly "features that can be argued to have benefit to a decent proportion of the userbase"?

We have been looking at that for years. SMF 1.0 had all the 'operationally sufficient' stuff. Everything beyond that is improvements to various things with extra functionality that some people will need and others won't.

You just watch. If that's true, then the functionality of this software is mainly maxed out - it's development is at an end.

There are already people who won't move onto 2.0 for that reason.

Remember (I want to state again) I am not complaining at all, I think SMF is about as good as it needs to be

It's as good as it 'needs' to be, maybe. But that implies that it's perfect, which it certainly isn't. Even if you just fixed the hundreds of bugs known for 2.0 only, that's still very narrow-minded.

But truthfully I'm just stating I can't think of any more that need to be added. I'm open to being proven wrong though.

How many more examples would you like? Sure, we don't *need* anything else. But it would make the software more useful for more users if some of it was included, without impacting it for anyone else.

And I'm very keen to see what is up your sleeves.

And just think, SMF 2.1 is publicly downloadable and has been for months...

[xrunner]

Arantor - I just lost 15 minutes of typing of my response. I'm sorry. I'll try to write it up again later but right now I'm to aggravated.

Now I know a feature to request - automatic real-time post backups.

[Arantor]

Arantor - I just lost 15 minutes of typing of my response. I'm sorry. I'll try to write it up again later but right now I'm to aggravated.

No need to apologise to me.

Now I know a feature to request - automatic real-time post backups.

SMF 2.1 + 2 forks have this.