KDXRIDER.NET platform opinions - A Brief Global Announce

[Julien D]

I'd like to ask you all for some input on how you feel about the basic platform here at KDXRIDER. We are currently operating the latest release of PHPBB, which is open source. This means I do not pay a subscription for the actual forum software, but it also means that I must complete all maintenance, upgrades, hosting fees, etc, out of pocket. Some platforms are subscription based, which may increase operating expense, but should also decrease time spent maintaining the site.

Are there any other plaforms that you prefer in general? "I don't know, but XXXXX.whatever has a really nice feel to it and is easier to use" (please obfuscate any complete URLs, just so google doesn't cross-post us one thousand times) is 100% valid and appreciated. I can look at the site myself and determine what they are running. I'm not personally displeased with our implementation of PHPBB, but am genuinely curious about the opinions of our users. I would be open to investigating to another option, either an affordable one or a completely open sourced option.

Thank you in advance for any input at all! If you're feeling is "This is awesome as is, and if you change it I'm going to be angryyyy." is also 100% valid, LOL. This post is made as a global announcement for 10 days. After that it will start dropping down the activity list in Ask The Moderators.

Cheers, KDX'ers!

[billie_morini]

Hello Julen D,
THANK YOU for all your efforts to maintain "our" website!!!

"Our" website is quite fine with me. However, I'm not overjoyed that you must expend so much effort to make it work.

I'd be supportive of changes that make it easier for you. This includes making another monetary donation. It's been a good while since I made the previous one.

[assquatch20]

I like this site as it looks at least. Has a nice 2000's aesthetic. If you can make it work better for you though, that's very understandable. If we're lucky Kawi will put out a KDX300 and that could mean a lot of new members.

[Chuck78]

I really like the aesthetics of the website. I'm not sure how much more it would cost and how much more in member donations from our small group of contributors that would entail to move it to some other host, but personally the functionality and appearance are great as is. I always have everything set to dark theme & this forum displays very nicely in it's current state with my browsers.

Thumper Talk & ADV Rider forums I use regularly, and both seem to work quite well also. I'm not sure what software they are running off of, but I have no objections to the way those forums operate either.

Things seem to be smoothed out here other than the sporadic issues where I can't get pages to load or my browser tells me the security certificate is expired. That might be related to the forum upkeep having to be done manually, however.
Now for the first time in years I actually get emailed notifications of updates to topics which I am subscribed to, as well as private messages, so that has been really nice that it's working again. That's also a good way to keep the forum more active in this Facebook groups age. I am guilty of using those as well due to the sheer volume of traffic there, but I always feel that the old forums are a much better independent platform for more in-depth information and information archiving/searching archived information.

[SpruceItUp]

I quite like the forum aesthetics and how it functions. I do understand though that it can be a pain to maintain, and as such if you need to change from PHPBB to something else, I would fully understand, as we only have so much time in a day, especially to be farting around with a computer. I will be of full support whatever you may choose to do. I am just glad you help keep the website up and running, as it is a very valuable resource to many. And the community here is absolutely amazing.