I think the time has finally come. SDCFans needs a restart. Our forum software is very outdated and between it and our server we are seeing more and more issues and errors. We have already migrated the existing forum database once when we upgraded SMF versions. I think that led to some of the issues we are still experiencing.
I've been looking into various options and have been trying to decide what makes the most sense. Considering how people use the internet has changed dramatically since we started this site, it might make more sense to radically change our software to be more social media integrated and dynamic. Basic forums feel pretty dated at this point, but obviously I still like how they are more permanent and allow us to look back on conversations from a decade or more ago.
I've considered Flarum, XenForo, and MyBB as well as simply re-installing the latest version of simple machines. I think at this point the best option is probably Flarum. It's free, and the extensions would allow us to easily do everything I've been wanting to do for years with these forums. We could have photo galleries, login with your FB account, mentions, blog posts, and more.
Unfortunately it would essentially be a brand new site from the ground up. I would lock the old forums and have them available to browse on a new directory, such as sdcfans.com/forums/archive
I'm just curious how many people would still use the site if I go through the effort of restarting it. Like I said, the way people use the internet has changed dramatically since we started this site, and at this point it's hard getting people off of FB and twitter to even look at a news article. I'm grateful we still have a small active community here though, and as long as there are still a few people around I feel like it's worth it to keep things going.
Let me know what you think.
