MyBB Community Forums

We have definitely decided to go with MyBB over any other forum software.  I just have a few questions.

1) We will be changing hosts in the next 6 - 8 months.  Can we migrate the current and archived threads to the new host?

2) Is there a way to make the entire forum closed?  We want forum membership to be limited to our organization members and not the general public.

3) Is there a way to import our current members list (usernames/passwords) into MyBB without having to manually enter them individually?

4) Does the mass mailing feature (newsletter) allow content-rich features such as images and links so that it can by stylized to look like a newsletter?  Or is it simply text or rich-text format?

Thanks in Advance for your responses.

1. Yes, you can copy your files and database across no problem.
2. Yes, you can set permissions for guests to not be able to view the forum at all.
3. Do you have a forum already installed? The Merge System will allow you to covert from other forum software to MyBB, but if it's importing custom data it would need a custom script.
4. It supports HTML so you should theoretically be able to put anything in them, although I personally have never tried.

Thanks for the quick response, Matt.  The current site uses proprietary software that I am unfamiliar with.  I was hoping at the very least we could convert the current database into a form that MyBB recognizes (say flat text file) and then import the list that way.

Unfortunately I don't think the Merge System works quite like that, it's build with specific forum software in mind to convert from. I'm sure it will be possible to write a custom script to import it though, it's essentially just a case of mapping the fields up and inserting everything into the new structure; if you like you can send me a backup of the database to matt dot rogowski at mybb dot com and I can have a quick look to see how easy it might be... obviously remove any email addresses/passwords etc.

Thanks Matt.  I'll pass this info along and see what we can come up with.  Given all the other features, this is not a deal killer   I'm just looking at what options we have.

Hey Matt. The current forum is Lyris. Does MyBB work with that?

Nope (I've never heard of it ) but like I say, send me a backup of the database to the email address above and I'll look into the feasibility of converting it