MyBB Community Forums

Hello all,

Throughout MyBB, I have consistently noticed that messages are phrased in an unprofessional manner with simple vocabulary and negative connotations. Other forum systems include much more refined wording. Is this because the MyBB development community is exceptionally young?

I would like to request that future versions of MyBB endeavor to improve the wording in all areas of the forum software. We have much to improve.

Here is an example. I recently built a forum for a professional engineering association where all viewers must register before posting or viewing the forums. Therefore, the very first message that all visitors receive is worded:

Quote:You are not logged in or registered. Please use the form at the bottom of this page to login.

You do not have permission to access this page. Are you trying to access administrative pages or a resource that you shouldn't be? Check in the forum rules that you are allowed to perform this action.

Your account may have been disabled by an administrator, or it may be awaiting account activation.

You have accessed this page directly rather than using appropriate forms or links.

The bold is unnecessarily accusatory and childish really. Mentioning "You do not have permission to access this page" is more than sufficient.

Frequently, there is a message saying "you will now be taken back to where you came from". This statement would be much better worded as "you will now be returned to the thread". Furthermore, we should never end our sentences with prepositions (in this case, "from").

I could continue with more examples if requested.

Report any changes you want on the tracker. I know I've submitted a few languages changes that will be implemented in MyBB 1.6.5.

Thank you - I will definitely add my language requests there.

but remember, its all easily editable to meet your needs via the ACP or direct language file edits.

i'd rather have a more "light" feel to most messages given the fact that most forums are not used at a "professional" level like yours. you are free to modify the language files as you see fit.

in fact, you could "translate" all the language files and submit them to the mods site for others to use as well. call it "English (White Collar)" or something like that

Just edit the language file yourself and release it. I agree there's some not-so-great writing in MyBB but it's so easily fixed it's not really worth complaining about.

That redirect message is used for all redirects, so you can't make it specific to threads.

you should be able to change the phrases yourself, and if you feel generous you can release it as a modification

(2011-09-28, 07:33 PM)Wimbledon Wrote: [ -> ]Furthermore, we should never end our sentences with prepositions (in this case, "from").

Just a minor point, but while Churchill might have said it, it's not a rule of English Grammar, and it's far better than the circumlocutions some people go through to avoid it. "This is something up with which I shall not put" is better?

(2011-09-28, 07:33 PM)Wimbledon Wrote: [ -> ]Other forum systems include much more refined wording. Is this because the MyBB development community is exceptionally young?

Most of the community has kiddie sites, but the actual developers are older (i think)

Actually even the staff are for the most part are in their 20's and some in the late teens. From what I've gathered anyway .

But, the language files don't get changed too much which probably means they were just never made more professional.