Forums upgraded to XenForo

[Monsta_AU]

Hi everyone;

First off, I would like to welcome you to our new forums which is powered by XenForo - a brand new piece of forums software which was written by the guys that used to work at vBulletin. While it is early days for them (currently we are on the v1.2.4 release) there is quite a number of great features built into the software.

It's been a busy weekend, and I finished up quite late this morning. Notwithstanding a lack of sleep, I am proud to bring the new forums to you after being given such great financial support to make it happen. This is me giving it back to you all.

You will have noticed a few things - first off we now have a proper logo so no more references to Vision Collision or Morbid Blue will be allowed! Also there are all sorts of extras like:

• Search Engine Optimisation with Friendly URLs built-in (goodbye vbSEO!);
• Facebook Integration;
  • New users can register via their Facebook account;
  • Existing users can link their Facebook account;
  • Users can like content which their friends can see;
  • We have also just started a Facebook Page, so you guys will be able to go and like that also;
• Threaded, multi-user private messaging ('conversations');
• A trophy system, with trophies and points awarded for actions in the forums;
• The ability to link user access to forums and features based on trophies, points, posts or time (not just posts or time in vBulletin)
  
• Gravatar support - if you have a Gravatar account where the email address matches your account email address, your Avatar will automatically be loaded; and
  
• nginix (pronounced 'Engine X', a fast Apache webserver replacement) support.

We will shortly upgrade to v1.3 of the software which is currently in beta. Once that is released then we will be upgrading very quickly. It brings a few extra functions like

• Multi-Quote;
• Ability to register via Twitter and Google+ accounts;
• Custom BB Codes;
• For Drubbing: Extra Smileys & Smiley Management;
• Editor Toobar addition & improvements; and
  
• Some extra niceties for Moderators and Administrators.

As time goes on and I can retire certain functions of the vBulletin software, you will notice new changes. I will be evaluating a new portal page (running as a plugin) and a few other bits and pieces. Nginix will be turned on once vBulletin is fully removed - one major sticking point during the migration was that vBulletin 4 does not have any Nginix support and the whole thing stopped working.

There are some drawbacks that we will need to get through in the short term - mostly to do with our search engine visibility. Unfortunately that has gone right down as all our URL's have changed. That will pick back up, but any posts to Facebook or Twitter with links is helpful, as posting a qualified link to your own blog or another website you use.

Finally - get in and use it, and report any issues to the correct thread. Create content that can be indexed, and given a short time we should have increased our membership significantly. There will be some serious efforts put in to measure and reward members who get qualified referrals.

Thanks guys, enjoy the forums!
Monsta