Site/Foz upgrades

[furns]

Seeing some issues cropping up that are basically down to the foz being an old version 4.2.5 (current vbulletin is 6.1.3)
Because its so old, the php version cant be updated to the current release as VB4 doesnt support it.
Also on the backend of the website I am finding the hosting provider emailing me every few weeks about high amounts of spam emails coming from the site, which is frustrating to diagnose with free security software as I currently am trying to do.
To upgrade the foz to the current version is $179US ($280AUD on current rates) and security to $150US ($235AUD) annually
This is on top of the hosting fees which are going up to $411 a year and domain registration $24 a year.

As this site has basically been my financial responsibility since the demise of the official squadron group which used to offset the costs, this is going to be a bit of a stretch to cover on my own. The missus has been at me for a few years now to not be on the hook for all the costs.
So Im pretty much at the point where we either pay to upgrade or close the foz section down.
Traffic isnt what it used to be, however there is still a dedicated group of users in here that post so there are some people that still benefit from the foz existing. The local football section (mudslinging aside) is an important resource for the community which doesnt really exist anywhere else.
If we go ahead with upgrading, I will be setting up a donation link for people to contribute any amount they feel comfortable with.
Ive tried to keep this place free for as long as possible, however we're at the point where I need some help.

BTW not looking to use ad revenue at any stage, because I dont think it will be worth it. And it looks shite.

So please vote below which option you feel we should go with. And any feedback is welcomed.

Furns

[Bremsstrahlung]

Just out of curiosity, are there any benefits to the updated version?

Don’t mind the Knights supporters forum functions.
And for anybody that’s curious, they managed to all chip in to cover costs.


https://marathonstadium.com/threads/forum-bills-2025.17960/page-2#post-664342

Happy to contribute something. Though things have died off a little over the last few years, still find lots of enjoyment here.



Edit: just a few features from the marathon stadium forum that look good, increase interaction.

- ability to react to posts. Could be things like thumbs up, heart, shocked face, red card if disagree, an I for
I formative posts etc.
- notification if somebody responds directly to your post
- notification if somebody responds in a thread you’ve posted in
- search function works well
- novelty of attributing previous players to posters based on post number. eg maybe noobs with <50 posts would be Mario Jardel. 5000 could be Griff. Or develop some hierarchy list of players.
- able to add things in pretty easily - eg links to podcasts, website articles, gifs, highlight videos etc.

Things it doesn’t have that, that this has:
- post numbers next to members post
- custom signatures


As I said, not sure what goes on behind the scenes to set up a forum like this, but just my 2cents. Have seen some pretty horrible forum interfaces and this is definitely one of the better ones.

[380]

Just out of curiosity, are there any benefits to the updated version?

Don’t mind the Knights supporters forum functions.
And for anybody that’s curious, they managed to all chip in to cover costs.


https://marathonstadium.com/threads/forum-bills-2025.17960/page-2#post-664342

Happy to contribute something. Though things have died off a little over the last few years, still find lots of enjoyment here.

Another happy to chip in with annual or monthly fee

[Jeterpool]

Upgrade the Foz, mate. Might end up attracting people to it too! Gladly chip in. I've worked to rebuild the match previews and am working on the same for the Women's matches.

Also, without the Foz, I have nowhere to post random Jets records etc. This is where I'll be posting that info exclusively.

[ForeverRed]

I?m happy to help out financially, love your work mate

[Jetmaster]

Is changing hosting providers etc an option - I'm sure you can find cheaper.

And I have seen a few boards I am a member of move across to more modern and cheaper platforms like Proboards?

Still costs money I know and happy to contribute.

[outsider]

I?m happy to help out financially, love your work mate

I am in

[Bremsstrahlung]

Is changing hosting providers etc an option - I'm sure you can find cheaper.

And I have seen a few boards I am a member of move across to more modern and cheaper platforms like Proboards?

Still costs money I know and happy to contribute.

Happy to post up some examples?

The only other forum I’m familiar with uses xenforo.

I know I’ve seen some bloody horrible ones that are a nightmare to read and follow.

[My2BobsWorth]

Happy to pitch in Furns although I fear there may be too many slack arses on here just looking for the free ride.
This forum is the old Inside Sports forum which was rumoured to be closing so everyone migrated to this one
https://greenandgoldfc.com/
Are you and JP still on the committee, I wonder if management might throw some dollars in, same goes for NNSW football if anyone has friends in the know

[jessepinkman]

I know you don?t want to sell ad space in terms of Adsense, but what about a forum sponsor? Surely there?s a local business out there that wouldn?t mind being in front of such a geo targeted group of users (and non user viewers). Over the course of the year it would be a pretty decent CPM for them.

[My2BobsWorth]

The top graph has been sitting on 8 persons all day, if it doesn't reach 50, shut it down

[jessepinkman]

The top graph has been sitting on 8 persons all day, if it doesn't reach 50, shut it down

tbf i didnt even see that there was a poll til you wrote this, blends in well when youre logged in

[evolution]

tbf i didnt even see that there was a poll til you wrote this, blends in well when youre logged in

Might be because I am viewing on my phone but I still can?t see any poll.

FWIW I?d happy chip in some $$$

[belchardo]

$950 all up. Furns, If you want to private message me your bank details or PayPal, I will make a contribution.

[Bremsstrahlung]

I know you don?t want to sell ad space in terms of Adsense, but what about a forum sponsor? Surely there?s a local business out there that wouldn?t mind being in front of such a geo targeted group of users (and non user viewers). Over the course of the year it would be a pretty decent CPM for them.

I know they probably don’t have much of a use for ‘advertising’ but the forum could be a good resource for NNSWF and Jets.

I guess a lot of us are already Jets sufferers, but advertising merch or tickets or memberships on here would be a bargain compared to a newspaper ad or television ad etc.

Similarly Northern if they wanted to promote LMRFF for fast 5s or summer comps or “become a referee” campaigns.

Happy to organise a paid Sheep Quiz fundraiser with the blessing of pv4 with a % as prize money.

[furns]

Is changing hosting providers etc an option - I'm sure you can find cheaper.

And I have seen a few boards I am a member of move across to more modern and cheaper platforms like Proboards?

Still costs money I know and happy to contribute.host is Panthur - Australian company with local servers. While $400 a year seems exxy they are top notch to deal with and have been able to provide tech support whenever I've asked for it. I can look around for cheaper, but it's not always better.
As far as sticking with vbulletin, I was looking at an easy way to keep all our data intact - everyone remembers the GFC (Great Foz Crash) and it would be a death knell to the foz if I somehow effed it all up and we started from scratch again haha
Proboards doesn't have any migration tools to bring across vbulletin databases etc without a lot of backend dicking around and even then apparently some stuff will not transfer. Upon investigation it looks like Xenforo forums do have a migration service for vbulletin and was actually created by former vbulletin ppl so that may be an option. Check out avforums.com they are using Xenforo as their platform. And it seems to have a better reputation than vbulletin especially security-wise.

Xenforo is $195usd which gives you lifetime use and 12 month access to support and updates. If we want to continue the support & updates it's $60usd per year. There are also a bunch of add-ons that can also be purchased to enhance the platform as well as the option ($60usd) for them to handle the install but not the migration as we have a self hosted forum.

Thanks for all the comments everyone, keep them coming. The more input the better, and thanks as well for all the kind words.

[furns]

$950 all up. Furns, If you want to private message me your bank details or PayPal, I will make a contribution.
Cheers mate, if we do go ahead with the upgrade etc I will set up a donation link on the website which I will post up in here.

[furns]

Might be because I am viewing on my phone but I still can?t see any poll.

FWIW I?d happy chip in some $$$
Another vbulletin bug lol looks like the mobile view doesn't show everything unless you click the 'full site"option on the bottom of the page. Another joy of running an outdated version.

[furns]

Happy to post up some examples?

The only other forum I’m familiar with uses xenforo.

I know I’ve seen some bloody horrible ones that are a nightmare to read and follow.xenforo may be an option :thumbsup:

[Bremsstrahlung]

xenforo may be an option :thumbsup:

I was trying to PM you, but for whatever reason the page won’t load.

Was in touch with the guy that runs the marathon stadium forum that runs Xenforo.

In summary
- domain rego $15 USD
- they use Geek storage for hosting - $158USD for 2 years - not sure on intricacies of deal but seems within the realms of what you’re on.
- xenforo $120 USD for 2 years but as you said, not an ongoing cost, but helps keep things up to date.
- essentially $280USD every 2 years. Usually covered by the members there in a few days

You seem to be all over it and have a far better understanding of all the behind the scenes thing, but If you had any questions regarding xenforo, I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any questions. I just dropped him a message asking a few questions and he went above and beyond to give me the above, nice guy.

Like the idea of migration. Would be a shame to lose the data

If we do move to a new one, any chance we can find a way to archive some of the all time threads or give us some time to say goodbye.
- World Cup diary
- the goalkeeper debate
- anything Jeterpool has posted

[evolution]

Another vbulletin bug lol looks like the mobile view doesn't show everything unless you click the 'full site"option on the bottom of the page. Another joy of running an outdated version.

Bloody hell years and years of being on this forum and I never knew that was an option :facepalm:

Can see the poll now :thumbsup:

[Couscous]

Furns, I think the answer depends on how many users the site has. I don't look at local Newy football talk, so I don't know how busy this place is. What is the approx cost required per active user?

[Couscous]

Bloody hell years and years of being on this forum and I never knew that was an option :facepalm:

Can see the poll now :thumbsup:

How do we revert to mobile version? The foz is now unreadable.

[furns]

How do we revert to mobile version? The foz is now unreadable.
Bottom left of the screen is a style drop down box that says default style. Click it and select default mobile style.

[furns]

I have had a quick look around for other Aus-based hosting services with decent reputations and found VentraIP and Crucial.
On comparing what we get with Panthur, an equivalent hosting plan with the others is actually be more expensive.
We can go for an overseas host however servers and support will also be overseas.

[furns]

Have done some behind the scenes tweaking of forum permissions, removed the ability for users to email each other, as I think that's where the spam emails were originating. Have also repaired the databases so hoping that should get rid of the database errors ppl were getting when trying to view the foz. Please let me know if anyone is still getting those errors.
Not sure why private messaging is still not working, will investigate on weekend when I'm off, and I will also be pruning some users as well.

[My2BobsWorth]

I contacted Pasquali on Green and Gold forum re the hosting. He said he uses this mob
https://www.accuwebhosting.com/web-hosting/linux
Said he uses the GoSolo++ but probably not suitable if you're wanting to take the forum history with you.
Personally I don't care either way, take it or leave it

[Bremsstrahlung]

Have done some behind the scenes tweaking of forum permissions, removed the ability for users to email each other, as I think that's where the spam emails were originating. Have also repaired the databases so hoping that should get rid of the database errors ppl were getting when trying to view the foz. Please let me know if anyone is still getting those errors.
Not sure why private messaging is still not working, will investigate on weekend when I'm off, and I will also be pruning some users as well.

Thanks for your efforts Furns.
Appreciated by many here. Even if they don’t know it.

Enjoy pruning some users. This sounds like a fun time.

[Lofty]

Should be an annual fee of $5, something negligible but still inclusive. It might actually reduce some of the trolls that come on here and also users that create more than one account.
Goes towards admin costs and then the balance could go to a nominated local charity or something.

I feel an upgrade would be great and added features like being able to react to posts.

[Jetmaster]

host is Panthur - Australian company with local servers. While $400 a year seems exxy they are top notch to deal with and have been able to provide tech support whenever I've asked for it. I can look around for cheaper, but it's not always better.


Yes I have used Panthur for some years - can't do much better.

Might be worth seeing how these safe kids privacy laws ride out too - the possibility is there that ID "may" be needed for forums as well as socials, but nobody, including eKaren, knows for sure yet..

[380]

Should be an annual fee of $5, something negligible but still inclusive. It might actually reduce some of the trolls that come on here and also users that create more than one account.
Goes towards admin costs and then the balance could go to a nominated local charity or something.

I feel an upgrade would be great and added features like being able to react to posts.

The member would have to take out a loan to cover the cost of all his multi's