So we've made some changes..
Orlando United's
forums now sit on its own dedicated site & have changed from using vBulletin's forum software to Xenforo's.
We realize a lot of you were clamoring for a better forum and user experience, and after much discussion between Drew and I on how to better that experience, we came to the conclusion this was the best move for the forums.
I understand that this is a pretty drastic change, especially since we've been using the same forum software for 8 years but as the internet and websites evolve, we had to evolve with it - and vBulletin's software was not evolving for what we felt were the best needs for you guys.
The good news is that I transferred everything possible from the old software. Usernames, posts, threads, reputation (now trophies), likes, private messages, avatars, smiles, etc; were all imported into the new forums. There were some restrictions however, but very small ones - I am confident that everything from the old forums is "as-is" minus the new look.
So why pick this software?
1. Mobile Experience - I know that the old mobile version was really lacking and really put a damper on some of your experiences when using a mobile device. Further more, other *ahem* future plans.... needed a better mobile experience as well.
2. User Experience - vBulletin was a simple forum to use, but really lacked (IMO) a great way for users to engage and interact with each other beyond just posting in the forums. With our new forums, you guys can now tag users that are relevant to the discussion, or if you want to bring their attention to something. Furthermore, you can also use hashtags to better index discussions. After some usage, we'll be able to create a page that gathers the most popular and relevant tags regarding future discussions (Kong, Volcano Bay, Mako). Another great feature is that addition of a "Similar Thread Check" that will populate when you create a new thread. My favorite feature is the inclusion of Link Converters. Instead of having to use a BBCode, or some sort of tag, all you have to do is just paste the link and the software will automatically convert it to either embed it or simplify the link. Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, plus 100 more other websites are all included.
3. The Backend Experience - vBulletin was great for a long time, but as stated, wasn't evolving with the times. I'm not going to get into the specifics since it's all tech jargon; but long story, short - What I needed to add or hack into vBulletin to better the forum experience were default options on here.
There are countless new features included, and different ways of going about using features you're already familiar with so I'll try to help as best as I can. After all, it's still new to me too.
If you have any questions or complaints, please post them here - but I do ask to bare with me. There is only so much you can do to test the forum, and the only real way to make sure all systems are go is to have you guys take it for a ride. There will be growing pains in the next few weeks, but we feel this is the best way to go forward for you guys.