Xenforo Help Central

[Neo]

This thread is for the general discussion of the item Xenforo Help Central. Please add to the discussion here.

 

[joelr]

@Neo Congrats on the launch of Xenforo Launch Central. Should be great to provide another independent resource for XF owners and provide unfiltered discussion about XF. This must be the site that @Tracy has been secretly helping out with!

Is there a reason why you're not using Xenforo to power the site?

 

[Neo]

Yes, it is probably the site he mentioned. He is providing server related skills for it and some help with SMF since he has used it, but not as much as I have. I don't think secretely is really true as he uses his real name over on it, unlike some of our members that are worried about payback.

As for why not Xenforo on the site, I mentioned in the listing there is a high probability that Xenforo would try to revoke a license used for a site such as this. We had a participant willing to provide a license, but did not want to take a chance on losing it. It would have been better if we could have used Xenforo on the site, but we are not looking to make any money off this and investing $200 into it and having it revoked is too risky.

It is cheaper to use a free script right now and if things go well we may look at moving the site off the server it is being hosted on and to its own server and running something different (leaning towards Woltlab, Invision or Discourse right now). I really wanted to use Discourse to start with but that meant someone was going to have pay for a new VPS and this we can run on existing server space that is being provided to us for now.

We don't need a resource or download system and have no desire to become a resource for distributing add-ons or code. The site is mainly for giving help to posted questions.

 

[Tracy]

Yes, it was the site I mentioned in passing.
I like helping folks, but won't be doing it at the "official" site since I'm post banned over there and even if I wasn't I wouldn't continue to assist folks there. I don't mind helping others on sites like this and over on Xenforo Help Central.

I've mentioned to @Opus X to stop asking me questions about how XF works or how to fix something and then using that to help others over there. I do still help him out with XenForo on his site and I have no problems with him helping others based upon what he knows how to do, but I do have an issue with him quizzing me and then providing help over there based upon that, especially knowing that what he is asking about does not pertain to his site.

I was one of the ones that commented that if they used XenForo over there, it was a highly likely that they would end up with their license revoked, so just start on another script and plan on moving if they take off and look at another software if SMF wasn't working well.

 

[Al]

Why would their license be revoked?

 

[Neo]

Why would their license be revoked?

The chance that Xenforo would try to claim trademark on the word. They may have it trademarked in the UK, but not where the site is based from. You have to trademark names in multiple countries to be covered, or so it was explained to me. Their copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases.
Then you have the problem that the site will not restrict criticism of the Xenforo developers. And from past behavior of some of the Xenforo staff that has been commented on by many, that would be held against the license holder. They would know the name of that license holder. There is then a trickle down effect if that license holder owned other licenses.
It is easier to keep them and their software out of the mix completely even though it would look better to be running it on a user based support site.
I was honestly surprised that @Tracy used his real name on it, but he's already been banned so he doesn't really have anything to lose I guess.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Tracy has mentioned this board here in another thread and I think it's great it exists. Plus SMF is my personal favorite free software, at first I was confused on why you went with a different software than Xenforo but after reading your thread it all made sense. (And after Tracy told me first lol then I went back and read it. :V) It's quite a joke that they could potentially revoke your license if you went with their software, when you're not making a profit off the site at the moment, plus you're just offering another resource forum to help those out who may or may not feel welcomed on the official Xenforo support forum. (Which that's a completely different issue that needs to be addressed all together.) I wish you folk the best of luck with Xenforo Help!

 

[Tracy]

i need to get back over there and work on that SES thread some more, but am having a hard time finding any "spare" time right now.
I can see where the site might be of benefit to some, especially those that feel uncomfortable visiting the official XenForo site since they know that if they post anything perceived as negative, the cult members come out in full force with their pitch forks and torches for the party, because we ALL know that XenForo is the ultimate form of perfection for a forum script and provides what everyone needs (notice I didn't say want) and if you disagree you are a blasphemer.

I've even been warned about no "flaming XenForo" the site, although constructive criticism will be welcome.

 

[Neo]

Tracy has mentioned this board here in another thread and I think it's great it exists.

Thanks!
The neat thing is, we've already helped two XenForo users out over there when they could not get (or find) answers over on the official XenForo site.
Compare the help in this thread to the one on the official XF site and tell us which is more helpful.
No, you can't see the attachments... encouragement to join the site.

So we do have some experienced XenForo admins participating.
Just saying.

 

[Tracy]

I help when I can and it's in my wheelhouse.
I just hope the site doesn't gain the atmosphere that XF has. You and the others need to make sure you tamp down on any of the cult members trying to take over.

 

[Al]

If I may make a suggestion it would be this:

Most people who join the forum are doing so because they want help with their specific problem, therefore a homepage which shows Recent Forum Topics is not helpful:



A better option is going to be your default forum list so that a new user can quickly navigate to the area they are having an issue with and post their problem. I signed up because I need xenForo help, but locating where I would post my issue is proving to be frustrating so I simply haven't and I'm looking elsewhere instead.

Which is a shame, because this is a great idea.

 

[Neo]

Thank you for the feedback. I think part of the problem was you were not familiar with the offerings for the different display formats offered users.

As in your image, the default page is new topics and the list of the nodes are on the right hand side of your screen with totals of the topics inside them. That add-on needs a little tweaking in that it shows stats/last post. I think that is a carry over from just moving the regular listing and narrowing the display down to fit that box but have not looked at it closely yet. It may also be due to it being designed to work with the default style.
We wanted to get the site online quickly, especially with the issues with XF 2.3 and as frustrated as some people are getting.



That format can be changed to several different options by clicking on the format option.



The option highlighted in black gives the recent topics post at the top and then a list of nodes down below it.



By clicking on the dots on the right of that menu you can control how many new topics (5/10) you see per that recent topics page listing (only available when signed in).




We used this format (which can be changed by the user) to condense down the page size of they desire.

We also believe there is a valid use for a 3rd party XenForo help site that is not limited by worrying about being moderated because of what some would consider interference by developers and their staff.

 

[Al]

Thanks, man. It's actually the icon directly to the left of the black one.



I'll have a mooch about.

 

[Neo]

Yeah, that was only showing where they were, not specific display formats. I thought I clipped the image that actually showed what was correct.
Have fun!
Hopefully it will be something that one of the members can answer. None of us are into coding so if it is something related to that, you will usually need to contact either the add-on developer or XenForo developers themselves.
The site is more for the day to day operations and changes that most admins make to a site.

 

[Neo]

I guess I should note that we have also changed the default style up to a darker one after some commented the lighter style was harder to read.
Users can still select a few other themes that are installed, but not all of them have been customized yet.

 

[Cedric]

Been trying to sign up but it's giving me an error.



Tried multiple usernames and email addresses, even different IP ... so I gave up lol.

 

[Tracy]

Been trying to sign up but it's giving me an error.

View attachment 4855

Tried multiple usernames and email addresses, even different IP ... so I gave up lol.

It seems that the SMF Stop Forum Spam add-on is acting up. It blocks any new IP as being bad.
It has been removed.

Try now and I am pretty sure you will not have an issue.
I had to take a look at it as it was even blocking me from logging in just recently.

 

[Cedric]

It seems that the SMF Stop Forum Spam add-on is acting up. It blocks any new IP as being bad.
It has been removed.

Try now and I am pretty sure you will not have an issue.
I had to take a look at it as it was even blocking me from logging in just recently.

Yep, it worked.

 

[Neo]

I wondered about about that and was going to look at it.
I tried to log in several times over the last few days and it took multiple attempts.
Could it be that the new VPS is running the latest PHP and your other one was on an older version because of that one package you are using?

 

[Tracy]

Could it be that the new VPS is running the latest PHP and your other one was on an older version because of that one package you are using?

I don't think so. I think it was more to do with the add-on. You on on the Contabo VPS now and this plug-in is back to being installed. So any users that have issues will need to figure out some way to contact you. Sadly, SMF does not appear to have a "Contact Us" link by default, so you really need to monitor (as I mentioned in our convo) the SFS logs to make sure that valid attempts to register are not being blocked. It is one of the downfalls of using a free script that the add-ons seem to be neglected at times for updates.