Kim,I bumped into an old blog written by you in Nov '05 about upgrading to new forum software. I read some of the pro's and con's listed, and the reluctance of members who have grown accustomed to what they have used for many years. I know I darn near had my head torn off when I first started posting on YT and suggested a change. I'm one of those "young" (35) new people who like the new stuff. Although I have gotten used to the current software. Being a seasoned forum user, (several other forums outside YT) I see a great many benefits to changing. The ease of use for the member, functionality, the archiving research of data for the user, and so on. I've read your concerns on people just being able to hop on and post. While that is a good feature, I wonder how you handle todays modern spam bots? Maybe they are unable to use this type of board, or maybe you are diligent in deleting their crap on a daily basis. Either way, I haven't seen any spam, at least in the Farmall forum where I frequent. What I'm wondering is if you have researched all the forum brands out there, and compared them for what features you believe your users would want? Phpbb is common, and easy to use. Invision Power Board is another common one I see. I personally use vBulletin for my website, as I have found it is most secure. (I had a hacker I had to step on, so got rid of phpbb)
I don't want to just suggest YT changes. I want to help find the best solution for an easy transition, if any. If I can be of any help, please let me know. Mike
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