vBulletin 3 incompatible with PHP 7

[bloodhound]

After my first recent login, I got the error message

"Error: Call to undefined function split() in ..../includes/functions_login.php(202) : eval()'d code on line 27"

While I don't experience other issues, a web search shows that this might be because vBulletin 3 is incompatible with PHP 7, which removed the split() function. So I'm a bit worried if running these together might under some circumstances corrupt the forum state or cause data loss. Would it be possible to update vBulletin to a supported version?

[Polaris]

I rememer big debates over a possible update more than 10 years ago... Surely things have changed since then

Say, how did you manage to log in after all ?

[bloodhound]

Oh I see it's paid software. Still, I think so we don't alienate anyone and we keep the memories, we'll have to live with this vendor lock-in. And I think it's a flat price of like 200 Euros every 10 years, isn't it? Seems fair to me, I'd be happy to chime in, also with help in the migration process. (I swear I don't work for vBulletin :-D )

Say, how did you manage to log in after all ?

I just refreshed the page and the error went away and the login still worked. I didn't log in earlier because I lost my password, but Jesse helped me out there, as I could provide evidence that the account is mine.

[elmuerte]

hmm, I thought I fixed all issues.

[elmuerte]

The reason MBN is on vB3 is not just that it's paid software, it's also that the main site kind of depends on it for its functionality. "Upgrading" to vB4 or later isn't trivial, and also vB really isn't the best of breed anymore.
Also, there were no plans for a new LBA for a long time and the community was shrinking. So I mostly kept the MBN around for historical reasons, rather than shutting it down completely.
I do have ideas to "modernize" MBN. But it will take quite some effort and I haven't made any plans for it.

[Lupin]

I think this hasn't been said enough: thanks elmuerte for your commitment to keep this forum online!
There may not be much activity these days, but I think it remains a very important place for the community.
I personnaly prefer this format over the mess of information in the discord server(s), and I know I'm not alone when saying that this forum has been kind of a home for me for many years in the past.

[Polaris]

Yep, totally with Lupin on this one. Also since you're here, does money given via the donation button still goes to the right place ?

[Kiddo]

Yes thank you for keeping the forums online!

[elmuerte]

Originally Posted by Polaris

Yep, totally with Lupin on this one. Also since you're here, does money given via the donation button still goes to the right place ?

yes, it should

[Polaris]

Nice, here's 10€ then

[elmuerte]

Thank you.

It does look like the callback to the donations page is broken though. But I can add it manually

[Polaris]

As long as the forums are on, I'm happy
How much is this costing you each month btw ?

[bloodhound]

Yeah, vB3 also works fine (although having a better mobile experience for the forum might decrease the community shrinking a bit, but then more mobile users might also mean less of the more structured conversations and proper punctuation that Lupin pointed out ;-) ). And another thing that worries me a bit is that maybe a disgruntled (e.g. banned) member could exploit any known weaknesses in vB3 to wreak havoc, but maybe I'm being paranoid there.

For the main site everything except the forum looks like static content that doesn't require authorization, so a less daunting approach to upgrading/switching forum software might be to first replace them with HTML only, then change the forum software and migrate accounts, and then to step by step bring the static pages up to date.

[elmuerte]

Originally Posted by Polaris

As long as the forums are on, I'm happy
How much is this costing you each month btw ?

There is no exact amount as I host it on a VPS which also does a few other small things. Although making the server MBN only doesn't really reduce the cost much. So it's about 15-20 euros a month I guess (hosting + domain + backups).

Originally Posted by bloodhound

For the main site everything except the forum looks like static content that doesn't require authorization, so a less daunting approach to upgrading/switching forum software might be to first replace them with HTML only, then change the forum software and migrate accounts, and then to step by step bring the static pages up to date.

That is kind of the approach I'm planning. Main site statically generated, with a "news" part still fed from the forum in some way. It is still not a trivial thing to change. Quite some time investment needed. For the static main page I'm thing about simply using markdown files and using some static site generator to convert it into HTML. Obviously I need to create an awesome LBA theme for that. I was thinking of putting the content in a github repo so others could contribute via merge request. But then I also need to work out a good construction to update the site when changes happen. For forum software the obvious choice is Discourse. For that I also need to create an awesome LBA theme. And it would result in losing some forum features. Switching to Discource (or any other newer forum software) will probably also result in higher system requirements, so increased costs.
Anyway, it's a lot of things to work out.

[bloodhound]

Sounds like a solid plan, keep it going with the awesome LBA theme! If we split the work among forum volunteers, hopefully the time investment will be manageable.

[Battler]

Originally Posted by elmuerte

Switching to Discource (or any other newer forum software) will probably also result in higher system requirements, so increased costs.

You could switch to phpBB or MyBB. They're pretty much on par with, if not better than, vBulletin 3 now.