Impending Forum Upgrade (phpBB 3.0.10)

How should I upgrade the Forum?

  • The Quick Upgrade (No additional Security)

    Votes: 2 12.5%
  • The Rebuild (Now with spam filtering)

    Votes: 14 87.5%

  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .
Howdy folks, I've been busy for a while.

phpBB 3.0.10 was released a few days ago; when I actually update, the forum will be down for a bit. I'll be in Chat as that is happening.

But the upgrade isn't a security upgrade, so I have some options;

1. "The Quick Upgrade": just patch what we've currently got. Down for a hour at most, no real changes that you'll see

2. "The Rebuild": Start with a clean install of phpbb3, and start integrating the MODS. First the Akismet for phpBB3 MOD, which is currently used to great effect on the main site. Second is adapting our current theme. Third comes all the other MODS we currently use.

3. No, I'm not doing both. There is no #3.


The Problem with #2 is I have no idea how long it will take. I'll probably make a temporary test site to work on it.


So I'd like community opinion on which I should proceed with.
 
^ IMO What matters is which of the upgrading options provides the most safety. With the quick upgrade the forum wont have akismet 3 ?

Since there had been many complains about spam in the forum during the previous year, I would prefer staying a day or two without forum and have spam protection (aka no complains), than having these complains. :ayashii:
 
^ I agree with George :V:

I think having no forum for a few days is definitely a small price to pay for getting rid of spambots, as long as it's not too much trouble to update everything.

Second is adapting our current theme.

I know it's a somewhat unimportant thing, but this means that the look of the forum will stay the same after the rebuild, right? :confu:
 
Re:

george1234 said:
With the quick upgrade the forum wont have akismet 3 ?
All changes to phpBB3 come in the form of "MODs", meaning I have to actually change the forum software (i.e., the source code) directly. It's gotten to the point that I have no idea what is official and what is a MOD. If the akismet mod doesn't apply cleanly... well, we'd be screwed. It's much safer to start from scratch.

ninetales said:
Second is adapting our current theme.

I know it's a somewhat unimportant thing, but this means that the look of the forum will stay the same after the rebuild, right? :confu:
Right. At least the parts that non-administrators see.
 
thanks sud!
Does the new akismet also fight human spammers? That is our main problem and i have noticed them getting past the akismet (presumably 3 already?) on the main site often
 
Re:

Kerahna said:
thanks sud!
Does the new akismet also fight human spammers? That is our main problem and i have noticed them getting past the akismet (presumably 3 already?) on the main site often

Akismet will be used - at least according to my 'haven't studied the mod yet' plans - to filter signatures and posts for spam and spam accessories. It has its own fine-tuned criteria about what constitutes spam - which still can be fooled by a person. It will help, but it won't replace human moderators completely.

If Akismet works as expected, Human spammers will still be able to register, but not be able to post.
 
As Kerahna has said, the biggest problem at the moment is spammers.

I find it depressing that when I take a quick look at the form first thing in the morining, all too often all the most recent threads/posts are spam. Because of the time zone I live in I probably see more of this problem than most people. So my appologies for voting for the option that represents the most work, but I see the current level of spam as a real threat to our forum.
 
I would prefer staying a day or two without forum and have spam protection

Same here. :ayashii:
Thanks for taking the trouble to do this upgrade. :bow:

If Akismet works as expected, Human spammers will still be able to register, but not be able to post.

And that's where total member count starts swelling up again. :XD:
What puzzles me most is why spammers bother to set birthday information. Is it required for registration now, or is it their attempt to drag attention to their profiles with spam links? I don't see any other logical reason for the recent "Congratulations to: ghjhgjtyj (insert age here)" messages... and I'm not too far from beginning to suspect that dslava is mostly advertizing his blog by dropping by only to change his birthdate once again :desksweat:
 
It will be great if we manage to keep the current theme after the rebuild :sohappy: Thanks, Sud
 
looks like everyone wants to rebuild with spam filtering

a few more hours down for better security is definitely worthy it
 
Re:

Nick Hunter said:
And that's where total member count starts swelling up again. :XD:
What puzzles me most is why spammers bother to set birthday information. Is it required for registration now, or is it their attempt to drag attention to their profiles with spam links?

I should probably slap a rel='nofollow' on those too.

Prolific Human spammers are still working off of a script - fill in x, y and z for the best expected return. It's not required data - not here, at least.
 
It seems a large majority support a rebuild.

I've set up a test site and done initial Akismet tests; Users will be warned if their signatures or posts are detected as spam, and will be given the option to change them.

I'm still weighing out submitting user emails and websites to the service; I know at least one user has requested not submitting such personal information before.
 
Don't think I've stated my piece here yet (apart from voting).

No point doing a half-arsed job, though. Take as long as you need and try to make it as robust as possible.

I know human spammers will be hard to beat (one defence mechanism will eventually lead to another). But just do your best, anyway!
 
After much work on the theme, I have decided "screw the hard way, I know what I must do".

Update is complete.
 
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