(06-04-2023, 10:48 AM)unclemike Wrote: (06-04-2023, 01:18 AM)Maximus Dominus Wrote: Clicking on the Forum Statistics link on the main page using the Default forum theme yields the following message:
Sorry, but there is not enough information on this board to generate statistics. Before statistics can be generated this board needs to contain at least 1 member and 1 thread.
Well, glad to know this software version is bug-free :>
It's not a software issue, per se, as I've checked the same Forum Statistics option on two other forums running the exact, same software. Nor is it a software version problem.
Rather, the problem likely emanates from trying to update software that wasn't updated for years on end. I offered on multiple occasions in recent years to update the forum software in use here, but I was never given the go ahead. I probably issued a half dozen or so different warnings about not updating the software over a span of time that stretched years.
MyBB is actually fairly reliable forum software. It's one of the most reliable forum software products that I have encountered and used over a period of time that stretches back a good many years.
Furthermore, I'm not aware of any forum software product that is 100% bug free. Here, this issue (and others) emanate from neglect, which is a human trait, not a software trait. Even when I did a quick fix a while back, to enable registered forum users to be able to stay logged in, that created at least one problem in a different area. But long before that problem with staying logged in manifested itself, forum software updates here hadn't been done in years, as in multiple years. It's not as though users weren't able to use the MyBB forum in place here for a long time, before that particular problem ever manifested itself.
Whether you do a fresh install of forum software, and import a database into it from an existing forum installation, or whether you perform just update to the latest software version of an existing forum, you run the risk of certain problems or issues being retained or imported. This can be the case with a variety of different forum software products.
The Alamaze and Fall of Rome forums have not always used MyBB forum software. The original forum software in use by Rick, if memory serves me correctly, was vBulletin. Tons forum messages were lost, when vBulletin encountered major problems and the forum postings were lost. vBulletin is a product that you purchase, and which you pay a yearly fee to to continue to use, if memory serves me correctly. MyBB is free. I had used it for a while, elsewhere, and I encouraged Rick to go with it, instead of vBulletin, after the vBulletin massacre of the forum postings, back then. MyBB has actually served the Alamaze and fall of Rome communities well over a period of many years.
Try running an automobile for years on end, Mike, but never maintaining it. It wouldn't last as long as the MyBB forum software here has lasted.
The Forum Statistics option isn't a vital feature. In fact, I doubt that most forum users here have ever even clicked on it, at all. I just report the problem, because I found it.
Separate from the above, I did advise on doing a fresh installation of the forum software, and just using the existing forum as a read-only option. That way, you start fresh, and you don't have to worry about importing any problems. So, it's really a juggling act or a balancing act. On the one hand, you want to retain the large quantities of old forum postings, as there's a substantial amount of good advice or history attached to those postings. On the other hand, you don't want to carry any of the old problems forward with you. So, hard choices are what one invariably ends up facing. If a different forum software product had been in use, and if upgrades to that other forum software product were neglected for years on end, you could end up with the same or equivalent problem.
The reason why the forum software upgrades were neglected was because people don't always listen. And no forum software product nor software version upgrade can solve that kind of problem.