Author Topic: Has DBF become yet another dead/seriously broken forum? (Read 11160 times)

STos · « **on:** February 28, 2023 »

So it's been 2 days since my last post hoping an Administrator would reply, but nowt yet.

Still can't reply to http://www.dbfinteractive.com/forum/index.php?topic=6936.msg84961;topicseen#msg84961

Getting 403 Permission Denied.

For what it's worth, the original user (vtlmks) that started that thread also has had the same problem apparently.

vtlmks · « **Reply #1 on:** March 02, 2023 »

Yes, I have the same problem, on Google Chrome the forum is not working at all, I had to install Firefox to use the forum, and it still gives me 403 Permission Denied every now and then, completely random.

/ViTAL

Rbz · « **Reply #2 on:** March 02, 2023 »

Did 2 tests, one using Firefox and another on Edge and both works fine.

Maybe something to do with this site is not being a https? Not sure

Another possible problem would be about forum PHP version, there is a post by Shockwave mentioning that this forum uses PHP 5 and host changed to PHP 7 and support for version 5 was going to stop and he said that the upgrade might break a lot of things.
I did check and this forum still uses PHP 5

STos · « **Reply #3 on:** March 02, 2023 »

Thank you for the reply Rbz, appreciate it.

Still can't reply to said post.

But if you read this then this one got through.

...Although it seems PM's are broke too, just tried to PM vtlmks.

slinks · « **Reply #4 on:** March 02, 2023 »

Posting via Vivaldi brower; if you can read this then it works

boogop · « **Reply #5 on:** March 24, 2023 »

Had a problem getting in until after about 3 tries it popped up a capcha screen and then let me log in

Shockwave · « **Reply #6 on:** April 07, 2023 »

The hosting company we are with updated the version of PHP to 7.4 which (as well as the invalid https) would probably have not been helping with the 403 errors when trying to log in.
I've manually downgraded the PHP version so you should now be able to log in at least.

Is the forum broken and dead? Probably. Towards the end all I seemed to ever do here was delete spam posts from the xrummer bots.

I've continued to pay the bills for here and retro-remakes to at least keep the lights on and I've renewed the domain for another year so that people can still read the posts.

I can only apologise for not maintaining this actively, truthfully very few people posted in the end and when I looked at the time it would take to bring it all up to date against the other commitments I have, I could not justify the time.

If there is still enough interest then maybe my mind can be changed I think that the online world has moved on quite a lot from forums though so I'll take a lot of convincing.

Again, apologies for the difficulties logging in and posting, I have no plans at the moment to stop paying the bills.

ttemper · « **Reply #7 on:** April 08, 2023 »

A push to IRC or DISCORD may be an option for (semi) active members?

I know there are still active IRC channels for sceners/demo-sceners still (although i havent logged in to them in a while).

A "DBF" Discord server may help revamp things here?

-Just a thought-

Shockwave · « **Reply #8 on:** April 08, 2023 »

If I was starting this place again, now, discord would be a good option - There are some excellent technical coding communities on Discord.

I can't really see the benefit of having people post there without migrating all our content and files over though as that would just mean we end up with this.place still dead and a new community on Discord.

Having said that, it's very possible that I haven't understood what you mean?

Is there a way of migrating everything? I would want to.keep everything accessible in one place.

ttemper · « **Reply #9 on:** April 14, 2023 »

Quote from: Shockwave on April 08, 2023

If I was starting this place again, now, discord would be a good option - There are some excellent technical coding communities on Discord.

I can't really see the benefit of having people post there without migrating all our content and files over though as that would just mean we end up with this.place still dead and a new community on Discord.

Having said that, it's very possible that I haven't understood what you mean?

Is there a way of migrating everything? I would want to.keep everything accessible in one place.

TBH Discord was merely a suggestion. As for migrating the DBF (SMF) forum to Discord, not sure how that could be done either (scraper? webhooks?). Keeping the site/compatibility upgrades functioning for all will help. Maybe a revamp of the site logo(s), color scheme etc too? IRDK.

It seems not many are active on DBF these days (including myself), but I do drop in from time to time (when I remember) to check whats new. Currently I'm more active on IRC (lurk-a-lot) than anywhere else (Discord, Forums, etc. I got burned out on Discord, and needed a break... 8 months and counting

)

If things were to 'start-again' on a new/different platform in attempt to revive things, not sure what would be best either... Discord seems decent for it, but archiving/porting what is here over to it... no idea.

hellfire · « **Reply #10 on:** April 24, 2023 »

Hi everyone,
Nice to see you're trying to revitalize this place!

Shockwave · « **Reply #11 on:** May 02, 2023 »

Hey Hellfire

Yeah, wouldn't that be nice?

I had some of the best times of my life being a part of this community and meeting you all.

boogop · « **Reply #12 on:** May 09, 2023 »

I also had a ball on this forum, really enjoyed the old contests. I drop in from time to time to see what's going on, though I mainly lurk now. I still consider it hands down the best for learning demo coding. I suppose the question is how much of that is being done anymore...guess the world moves on. But I stuck some code on github a while back https://github.com/boogop/DemoFX and somehow it's gotten 7 stars (literally how), so who knows. I'm currently on dbfinteractive using microsoft bong and it seems to be doing ok.

coderJeff · « **Reply #13 on:** May 13, 2023 »

Hi folks! Jeff from freebasic forums here. Good to see the site is still up!

As can see from my post count, I never really posted here, however I often lurked the forums to see what interesting things were going on. I have enjoyed this forum over the years though I never said so. ://)

Hey Shockwave,
I used discord for the first time only 2 years ago.
I don't know ... I find it great to connect with people for real time chat. but it doesn't seem like a good fit to share where some amount of persistence is expected.
I know can search discord as a transcript but I feel is not the same as posting on a forum with topics dedicated to specific subjects or projects.
I don't run fb's discord, so maybe it can be used in a way I never seen.

Of course, have to assess the costs: not only real $$$ but also time to maintain any kind of site / server - often a thankless task by very few (or one, I can relate).
Anyway, I appreciate you sharing openly with your members ... whatever might happen next.

Shockwave · « **Reply #14 on:** May 15, 2023 »

Thanks for your thoughts, boogop and Jeff

I remember you from the FB forums, I hope you're doing well.

We'll see what motivation is there when the summer holidays come, maybe I'll try updating it here a bit but I will admit, I find the thought a bit scary, I haven't touched php for years!!

va!n · « **Reply #15 on:** June 03, 2023 »

Nice to see you want to reactive this great demo coding place.
I think it would be a lot of work to recreate and reactivate this place.

What about to cooperate with pouet and having a special forum / coding section like this,
by reaching at something like "coding.pouet.net" or "forum.pouet.net" ?

Personally i had to use discord (for emuelec) and personally i really don't like it.
Maybe it's me and i need to study how things works on discord. But for me, i like
the good forums a lot more (even from the usability).

greetz to all in this round and keep on your nice work and motivation.

coderJeff · « **Reply #16 on:** June 04, 2023 »

Quote from: Shockwave on May 15, 2023

Thanks for your thoughts, boogop and Jeff I remember you from the FB forums, I hope you're doing well.

We'll see what motivation is there when the summer holidays come, maybe I'll try updating it here a bit but I will admit, I find the thought a bit scary, I haven't touched php for years!!

heh, I believe I am doing well. Hard to tell sometimes...

I was very involved with fb early on but because I felt I did not have the time for it, I ended up taking a very long break, about 8 years. Eventually, when I got back in to it 5 or 6 years ago, I decided to come back with a different attitude where I would (mostly) do things that interest me and are rewarding to me and accept that whatever time I have for this hobby is the time I have for this hobby and not beat myself up about not having capability to do more. Maybe it can work for you, I dunno. Basically decide on limitations and what you are willing to give before going back in to it.

Updating fb's server software first time was very scary for me ... still is, tbh. Ensuring backups work, old incompatible php, deailing with defunct software, etc. What worked for me to help manage this fear was to set up a test server where can try everything out first. Backup / restore / update / test / etc and allowed me to plan out the upgrade tasks. If things go badly, then can restart and try again before deploying to the live server.

ninogenio · « **Reply #17 on:** July 07, 2023 »

its nice to still see this place going! having originally registered with the ezboard ps2yabasic forums in 2003/4 then here i feel like the internet in general has turned to shit since the world moved on from forums and computers came to the mainstream.. i drifted away from forums myself not fully appreciating what we had,.. but have never felt a buzz like when we were all living in this place, if a forum came back around or just a place that resembled this place in its glory id be all over that!

Yaloopy · « **Reply #18 on:** October 03, 2023 »

Hi all, good to see everyone. Had a 403 problem myself just now logging in but seems ok after a couple of false starts. Thanks to Nick for keeping this place going all these years, as nino mentions above it is cool to have a more or less direct link back to the yabasic days through the peak of dbf itself. Good times!

benny! · « **Reply #19 on:** October 04, 2023 »

Quote from: Shockwave on May 02, 2023

Hey Hellfire Yeah, wouldn't that be nice?

I had some of the best times of my life being a part of this community and meeting you all.

Yeah ... I am also visiting the forum from time to time. This has been a great space for me back then with all of you and all the cool coding competitions.