Support International Skeptics

[ISF Staff]

International Skeptics is alive and kicking, and plans for growth are afoot! We are now launching fund-raising to further develop the platform.

You may support the site via Ko-Fi (it's like Patreon), which accepts payment via credit card or Paypal, either one off or via subscription. For other options, please DM icerat.

Click here to support International Skeptics​

Roadmap -

First half 2024

• Migrate the forum to Xenforo. This is a modern forum software platform, with better performance, better editing, better media integration, better mobile access (built in PWA) and more
• Create a main International Skeptics website, in addition to the forum. This will include the ability for members to write articles or blog posts. This may, for example, be for a "long form" argument about a topic, which can then be discussed in the forum. It will also allow for the introduction of further features in the future.
• Create and maintain an International Skeptics social media presence.

Second half 2024

• Advertising/Promotion on relevant podcasts (may occur in first half).
• Promote local meetups and events. Members may create these themselves. A map of members locations (approximate, to protect privacy) will be available, to find people who live close, or organise meetups If travelling.
• Create an International Skeptics podcast, to invite members and (other) experts to discuss "hot topics" on the forum.
• International Skeptics shop!

2025 and beyond

• Develop International Skeptics branded conferences/events

 

[ZiprHead]

My board uses Zenforo and I have to say it is a great leap forward. I applaud you for doing so. It's quite easy to manage the front end although I rely on my sysadmin to handle the back end networking aspects. Kudos.

Expect a donation after payday.

 

[smartcooky]

Oh please NOT Xenforo.

It just about has to be THE WORST forum software on the web. Member configuration is almost non existent. As a user you cannot even decide in what order posts display... you're stuck with latest post at the bottom of the last page of a thread and there is no way to change that on a per member basis.

You also cannot have any member on your ignore list have their posts not showing at all. You are always stuck with their posts appearing on the page without their content.

 

[Swordfishtrombone]

Nice to be able to help out - 5 bucks a month works for me.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Donated! Good plans!

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Oh please NOT Xenforo.

It just about has to be THE WORST forum software on the web. Member configuration is almost non existent. As a user you cannot even decide in what order posts display... you're stuck with latest post at the bottom of the last page of a thread and there is no way to change that on a per member basis.

You also cannot have any member on your ignore list have their posts not showing at all. You are always stuck with their posts appearing on the page without their content.

I suppose I'll ask what is wrong with vBulletin per se?

Is the version used on this site just old and a bit clunky? Is there a newer version which does not lose existing functionality and adds some improvements?

 

[rjh01]

I suppose I'll ask what is wrong with vBulletin per se?

Is the version used on this site just old and a bit clunky? Is there a newer version which does not lose existing functionality and adds some improvements?

vBulletin appears to be almost broken. Note not many recent reviews of vBulletin. Here are user reviews of both software

vBulletin https://au.trustpilot.com/review/www.vbulletin.com?sort=recency

xenforo https://au.trustpilot.com/review/xenforo.com?sort=recency

 

[arthwollipot]

Unfortunately I'm not right now in a financial position where I can afford much in the way of direct support.

 

[steenkh]

I just donated a one-time amount. For some reason all of these donation/subscription sites never have the option of yearly amounts, only monthly amounts. But I pay a small fee for every payment, so I prefer to pay less often, but more.

Use it wisely; I am not paying again until next year

 

[icerat]

I just donated a one-time amount. For some reason all of these donation/subscription sites never have the option of yearly amounts, only monthly amounts. But I pay a small fee for every payment, so I prefer to pay less often, but more.

Use it wisely; I am not paying again until next year

Appreciate it. Yes, I did look for somewhere that provides yearly options "off the shelf", but couldn't find an acceptable one. Patreon doesn't even handle one off donations - you have to subscribe and then cancel.

 

[icerat]

Oh please NOT Xenforo.

It just about has to be THE WORST forum software on the web. Member configuration is almost non existent. As a user you cannot even decide in what order posts display... you're stuck with latest post at the bottom of the last page of a thread and there is no way to change that on a per member basis.

You also cannot have any member on your ignore list have their posts not showing at all. You are always stuck with their posts appearing on the page without their content.

No software is perfect, but I have decided we'll be going with self-hosted Xenforo, which will give us the possibility of customising, so we might be able to improve this.

 

[Darat]

Oh please NOT Xenforo.

It just about has to be THE WORST forum software on the web. Member configuration is almost non existent. As a user you cannot even decide in what order posts display... you're stuck with latest post at the bottom of the last page of a thread and there is no way to change that on a per member basis.

You also cannot have any member on your ignore list have their posts not showing at all. You are always stuck with their posts appearing on the page without their content.

There is no obvious "best" forum software out there, all have strengths and weaknesses. The version of vBulletin we are using is heavily customised, the ignore options are an example of that. I looked at a Xenforo update back when Xenforo first appeared, indeed bought a licence and did work on an upgrade. It is highly customisable so it will be possible to customise it as I did with vBulletin to make it best suit the membership.

 

[Darat]

I suppose I'll ask what is wrong with vBulletin per se?

Is the version used on this site just old and a bit clunky? Is there a newer version which does not lose existing functionality and adds some improvements?

Modern vBulletin isn't really a continuation of this version so there is no advantage of staying with vBulletin for that reason. Plus this is a heavily customised version, none of that would go across in any upgrade whether to vBulletin or Xenforo, if there is a need or want for any of those customisations they are likely to have to be again customisations.

 

[smartcooky]

No software is perfect, but I have decided we'll be going with self-hosted Xenforo, which will give us the possibility of customising, so we might be able to improve this.

OK fair enough, so I'm hoping for the best.

A number of forums I used to use switched to Xenforo, and lost membership pretty quickly as the older members like me found it difficult to use and couldn't be bothered learning.

Appreciate it. Yes, I did look for somewhere that provides yearly options "off the shelf", but couldn't find an acceptable one. Patreon doesn't even handle one off donations - you have to subscribe and then cancel.

Whatever NordVPN uses for payments allows yearly subscription payments.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

vBulletin appears to be almost broken. Note not many recent reviews of vBulletin. Here are user reviews of both software

vBulletin https://au.trustpilot.com/review/www.vbulletin.com?sort=recency

xenforo https://au.trustpilot.com/review/xenforo.com?sort=recency

I actually took a look at a number of "Best Of" sites before I posted. But was not much wiser afterwards. What I would like to se is a "features List" comparison to see what we would lose and what we we gain by a move to new software. smartcooky has raised some concerns for me.

 

[Darat]

I actually took a look at a number of "Best Of" sites before I posted. But was not much wiser afterwards. What I would like to se is a "features List" comparison to see what we would lose and what we we gain by a move to new software. smartcooky has raised some concerns for me.

Security, stability and a good search feature are the reasons to upgrade to Xenforo or any newish forum software before anything else is considered!

You are not going to get a feature comparison list since I no longer have the documentation so any list of current features would be based on my memory and a lot of rummaging around. I made a lot of changes to the forum software, some small, some large, some via addons, some via template edits and so on.

For instance the homepage: https://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/index.php

That is an addon - think I even paid for that one - that would no longer exist, but standard Xenforo already offers a lot of customisation for your landing page. Book reviews are another addon, along with the newletters but they should revert to "normal" threads when imported into Xenforo. The ignore options - the ability to remove a post of a member on your ignore list from appearing in a thread view was a rough and ready hack, basic vBulletin did what Xenforo does - simply masks the content of their posts. Nominate button, ability to report PMs,

More details from a PM:

...snip...

I did a test upgrade to Xenforo 1.2 many, many years ago, did I mention it was many years ago so this is all from fallible memory.

Standard stuff went over fine, so the forum structure, layout, posts, threads all went over fine.

There were issues with polls. Usergroups, usergroup permissions, had to rework those. All the hard coded stuff such as which usergroup a new member joins, custom permissions etc. had to be redone. Members' uploaded images and links in posts to those images didn't go across. Subscribed threads didn't go over, signatures and avatars were a tad hit and miss. Profiles were lost.

At the time none of the infraction stuff went across but that was an issue at Xenfora side that I think was later fixed when they implemented their own warning system.

There was an issue with PMs not going over, ignore lists didn't go over (plus the hacks I did to extend the ignore lists), subscribed threads didn't import.

(I know Xenfora got better with importing from standard vBulletin 3.x but I never had the opportunity to redo another test.)

None of the fancy stuff went across, so the forum landing page - https://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/index.php that's a major vBulletin addon, all the stuff linked from those pages. Articles, book reviews, links manger, newsletters, menu options (drop down menus) such as Forum Index, all the how to do stuff (which will be out of date anyway after a move to any new software), FAQs, custom smilies, events, visitor messages, social groups and their messages, nomination button, custom bb codes - none went across.

...snip...

 

[EvilBiker]

Personally, I don't really care what forum software is used, as long as I can easily track a conversation/thread.

I wouldn't mind a better way to embed pictures - I really tired of having to use sites like imgur (who remembers photobucket??) to save pics to and then link to forum posts.

Monthly subscription set up.

 

[bluesjnr]

I've donated.

You are all owned by me now. I can't believe you all fell for it.

 

[Darat]

Personally, I don't really care what forum software is used, as long as I can easily track a conversation/thread.

I wouldn't mind a better way to embed pictures - I really tired of having to use sites like imgur (who remembers photobucket??) to save pics to and then link to forum posts.
Monthly subscription set up.

There are two options that allow you to do so on the forum now- the My Images that you'll see on "advanced" reply top thread box and the Pictures & Albums on the drop down under User CP.

 

[EvilBiker]

There are two options that allow you to do so on the forum now- the My Images that you'll see on "advanced" reply top thread box and the Pictures & Albums on the drop down under User CP.

Yes, I'm aware of that, and have used it However, the criteria for hosting here are pretty cruel when it comes to format as far as I can remember.

I may be wrong, as often happens