This new forum is part of our new website. If you are reading this there's a possibility this forum got launched about a week before the live site.
Converting the data from our very old message board into this modern forum was no small task - something I would prefer not to repeat again - or at least for a very long time.
GORC's old message board was based on Classic .asp code from around 1999. The oddly open-source message board was called Snitz and was one -if not the only available option around 2002 - forum software that could run on our classic. asp web platform. We are proud to say that Snitz never let us down, really. Sure, it was basic and not the prettiest thing but it got the job done.
Not wanting to get stuck with lesser forum this time around with a complete site overall, I researched many different open-source PHP-based forums. It turns out that one of the top-ranking and robust forums is not truly open-source and comes with a licensing fee. But it pretty much does everything I could ever want to offer or manage. In fact, it's quite the admin beast - basically a separate application to manage. There are literally hundreds of options available.
So I settled on Invision Power Service's IPBoard. It's the same board STLbiking uses. It can be as simple or as complex as you want. Some organizations actually use the forum software as their entire web presence.
Features that GORC can now offer registered forum users include:
--posting/uploading images and files
--a more robust and feature-rich text editor
--a better PM messaging system
--Avatars (whoa 2005, here we come)
--More stuff
Conversion Process (for the nerds in the room)
Process of Converting GORC Message Board
First of all, you cannot directly convert Snitz to IPBoard. You must setup an interim board with its own converter.
Route taken: SNITZ --> (smf converter) --> SMF 1.1.6 --> (ipboard converter) IPBoard 3.4.2
Part I
Convert Snitz MS Access Database to Snitz mqSQL Database
Almost two years ago I had considered switching from our current message board Snitz Forum 2000 3.4.06 to SMF 1.1.6 - that message board is one of the few that has a Snitz converter. After some setups and reading I got it to work
