MyBB Community Forums

Hello MyBB

I am a mod maker so I make stuff of my own and know most feedback is bad feedback or does not contain anything specific so I thought before I get in to the nitty gritty of running MyBB I would give you some feedback based on the local install I am using to test it.

Specifically my first thoughts on its usage.

First thoughts, wow you really have a user friendly interface on the front and back ends. I used Ikonboard and Invision both original and later professional versions and this is better than 3. Invision power board has a good set of features but they have no idea what user friendly means on the admin side. PHPBB was a match for IPB in my opinion but you do have to pay for IBP so nobody would expect it to me. But MyBB is.

To be honest I am surprised I had not come across your software before.

If I have 1 complaint at this time it is probably in that things might be easy to understand but they tend not to always work as expected once set up. EG Group promotions. That confused me for a bit but I figured it out.

I did read about it being timer based and solved that problem. Reminded me of some of my quests and the timer issues i had with those. Difficult decision i know, timer or no timer.

The user friendly interface sets your own stands so the complaint is measured against your achievement not other forum packages. Against them your way a head in my opinion.

Many of the finer details you added to MyBB is what won me over, its the little things you added that I am still finding that amazes me so much.

I dare say I'll have a few gripes later but I wanted to make the first bit of feedback a positive one, I think you earned it for the user friendly interface.

That on its own is a massive achievement, most professionals mess that up.

Thank you and good work

It's always good to hear that users are happy with the software If you need help with anything, just feel free to make a post

Kind Regards,
Tom

(2009-04-17, 02:03 PM)The Guild Master Wrote: [ -> ]Many of the finer details you added to MyBB is what won me over, its the little things

Can I ask what finer details you're speaking about?

And I'll agree that I'm more and more impressed w/ MyBB the more I play around with it. I did a test install for tinkering and liked it. Now I'm setting up a live environment and like it even more. Is it perfect? Of course not. Nothing is. But with the excitement of 1.6 and (dare I say) 2.0 on the horizon...I'm expectant.

(2009-04-17, 02:46 PM)StateDOG Wrote: [ -> ]

(2009-04-17, 02:03 PM)The Guild Master Wrote: [ -> ]Many of the finer details you added to MyBB is what won me over, its the little things

Can I ask what finer details you're speaking about?

Thats a question best answered later because these features seem to interact and create even more options for me. To be honest, i think thats where the "doesnt seem to work as expected" part comes in.

On the whole this a "clear english" system, noobie proof once setup. The initial learning curve for the admin seems to be about average since its not like other forums but once things work, they seem to work very very well.

The only thing i wanted to do that I am unable to do (spoiled by the software) is demote people to a sinbin forum to cool off without manually editing their account. Recently I started to think banning them does not actually solve the problem after i picked up a cyberstalker from one of my banned users.

Dealing with them as part of a community rather than expelling them seems like a better idea.

The reputation system is brilliant though, the comments part stops anonymous down voting too. A problem PHPBBS has.

I am going to use the post count and rep system to give people higher access because with invision I always had the issue of some helpful types not getting the access they needed to keep on helping early enough.

This cures that problem very quickly and best of all "Automatically".

Still i need to get my head around the permission system, so im off to read about it.

Still very impressed by the software.
User friendly is a rare feature these days.

Admin user friendly is even better. Once i start to understand how things actually work I expect all remaining confusing issues will fall in to place.

Actually some feedback on that.

I know its hard to see these things when your making something so I'll tell you what I thought I was looking at in the forum and group permissions and you can see how the confusing part comes in then.

I thought the group permissions overrode everything unless otherwise changed.

I assumed the forum permissions where set on the permissions screen and not the "control" part.

I assumed the group tick box would auto apply the groups permissions to that forum.

Somewhere in between those i am getting it wrong.

No need to explain it, I'll read the docs and find out.

Good work all.

I agree the permissions can be a bit daunting at first but once you figure it out, you'll be able to see how it all works. If you do need an explanation, feel free to PM me and I'll try and help you see how it works

God to hear all the positive feedback, too

Thank you for the wonderful feedback. We appreciate it, especially when it's positive.

(2009-04-18, 03:16 PM)The Guild Master Wrote: [ -> ]The only thing i wanted to do that I am unable to do (spoiled by the software) is demote people to a sinbin forum to cool off without manually editing their account. Recently I started to think banning them does not actually solve the problem after i picked up a cyberstalker from one of my banned users.

I think what you want to be looking at in more detail is the warning system.

Nice words you have there and your right it is the little things that set it apart from others. Even most of Mentors discover things we didn't see before a lot .

Like on your forum(assuming you have admin) in the thread listing page click and hold on a topic title . Or, you could probably try it on this thread too.

We're trying to make the permissions system easier in MyBB 1.6. Hopefully it will turn out good.

Ryan

Hello again

My users have come from invision board, then i closed my website and went to free sites, so i used PHPBBS for a bit (hosted) and now MyBB and the reaction to it is very good so far. And they have not had the chance to see the other features yet so this is going to be very good indeed i think.

Good news is I worked out how to use the permissions.

My problem was I was assuming it worked a different way, like most people do that used other systems before hand.

The lack of a "view threads in forum" option on the forum permissions hide the fact that the user could see the forum and thread, but not read it. The fact that i had to update the changes then click on the edit permissions also through me off for a while.

But once i worked out how stupid was i being i actually found the system pretty good. It was just not what I was expecting.

I must say, I am really enjoying this so far.

I will add, that my own users usually find a reason to post when something does not work, so i was determined to make a post because this does work. Far too often people post bad news.

I have a system setup that promotes users from a new arrival group to a guild initiate group and then to a member and finally a master group. I will not bore you with the details of this.

I need the new arrival group because i am the victim of a cyberstalker right now and that group will serve as a great filter group to isolate him once he resumes his attacks, and he will.

He uses the anonymous IP servers to hide him self basically. He usually manages to fake the IPs somehow and uses lots of emails from right around the net, mostly throw away ones.

If anybody has any advice on dealing with that sort of user, I would love to hear about it.

Otherwise, I am very happy with the forum so far.

Just curious why you left IPB for phpBB earlier (before your move to MyBB)? I think I'd completely understand the move from phpBB to MyBB, but curious about the other move.

And this sinbin forum....can you explain it more? How does it help people to cool off?

Glad you're enjoying MyBB. I just recently installed a board using it too. I'm still learning the particulars of it, but really like what I see. If there was anything at all I could say deff needs improving is a better selection of themes. I've found a few more lately that are good. But for the longest time nearly every one I found looked "cartoonish" or lacked a clean/professional zing to it. But as far as feature set, usability, and functionality...MyBB seems to be fine. Perfect? Of course not. But the developers seem to have that as a goal as they press onward.