Why the forum didn't use the latest version?

John Abraham

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Quote from: tranthidung on March 27, 2023, 09:04:46 AM

Guess why the forum has 2 admins and 3 global moderators. Cheesy

I understand Cyrus may have access to the server, which he can modify. If he doesn't have access, that could be a significant pain. Do you believe global moderators have access to the server? If I am not wrong, is Bitcointalk using a private server that could be located in one of the Admin's houses or offices, which is somehow protected? I could be wrong because it is a potential threat to them. They don't want to get traced by the hosting server on their place. It seems we are going off-topic. I will try to find out similar thread where it was discussed.

tranthidung

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Quote from: John Abraham on March 27, 2023, 07:21:45 AM

That's what I am curious about. I don't know precisely how many Forum admins there are. I see theymos and Cyrus only.

Let's check in List of the forum's admins/ global moderators/ staffs. Moderators come and go so perhaps I missed some outdated cases.

You can check it by Forum search. Tick the option: Search by position. Use the keyword: Staff, Global moderator, admin

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=mlist;sa=search

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I am not sure if every one of them is an advanced coder (I guess they are). Suppose he thought about the future of this forum. In that case, other admins or whoever going to maintain the forum should already have access to the server because we can't guarantee that we will be safe wherever we are and will have time to hand over things to others.

Guess why the forum has 2 admins and 3 global moderators. Cheesy

John Abraham

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Quote from: joker_josue on March 27, 2023, 07:07:30 AM

Quote from: John Abraham on March 27, 2023, 05:25:16 AM

Now a question is spinning in my head. As he said, he id the only sysadmin and on-demand programmer. What will be happen if we unfortunately lost theymos? This may doesn't make much sense but the possibility is unlimited.

I believe he already thought about that, and there are other people who are prepared to continue to maintain the forum, in case something happens.

That's what I am curious about. I don't know precisely how many Forum admins there are. I see theymos and Cyrus only. I am not sure if every one of them is an advanced coder (I guess they are). Suppose he thought about the future of this forum. In that case, other admins or whoever going to maintain the forum should already have access to the server because we can't guarantee that we will be safe wherever we are and will have time to hand over things to others. It may sound too deep. But, as I said, The possibility is unlimited.

joker_josue

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It's not just a matter of time it takes @theymos to make changes to new software.
After so many years, the current software has already undergone so many changes, that many of them certainly don't even remember where they are. So it was easier to start everything from scratch, than trying to make updates.

Quote from: John Abraham on March 27, 2023, 05:25:16 AM

Now a question is spinning in my head. As he said, he id the only sysadmin and on-demand programmer. What will be happen if we unfortunately lost theymos? This may doesn't make much sense but the possibility is unlimited.

I believe he already thought about that, and there are other people who are prepared to continue to maintain the forum, in case something happens.

John Abraham

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Quote from: tranthidung on March 25, 2023, 08:31:05 AM

Because theymos want to code with things he is most familiar and comfortable with to save his time.

It's been a decade since they modified this forum software. Too many changes were made in this forum software which maybe we did not notice. But, Upgrading to a new software would require modifying those features again, which is too time-consuming and theymos doesn't have it. Of course, he will be familiar with new codes as well once he starts to play with the new software. But, once again, He doesn't have this time.

Quote from: theymos on February 25, 2019, 08:28:23 PM

- I am the only bitcointalk.org sysadmin and on-demand programmer, and I'm used to the current software. Furthermore, I need to frequently make changes to the current software, but each change I make might require alterations to Epochtalk, which is problematic.

Now a question is spinning in my head. As he said, he id the only sysadmin and on-demand programmer. What will be happen if we unfortunately lost theymos? This may doesn't make much sense but the possibility is unlimited.

tranthidung

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Quote from: hugeblack on March 26, 2023, 06:59:21 AM

The value created by this forum is in the written content, the old versions focus on showing the writing versus animation.
This is a screenshot of the new update, and I do not see an essential feature added other than the animation.

It is not supported by this forum community. Even animated avatars were detected after theymos stepped in and disabled them all since February 2019.

APNGs are now detected.

With this precedent, I don't think theymos like a new SMF version with animation and more important, more security issues under tip of iceberg.

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The value created by this forum is in the written content, the old versions focus on showing the writing versus animation.
This is a screenshot of the new update, and I do not see an essential feature added other than the animation. The current version is good for those who search for texts, although it lacks a lot of things.

If the update is necessary, it will be difficult to use and browse the forum on the phone.

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Quote from: Not your key not your BTC on March 26, 2023, 12:00:55 AM

IDK, what does security have mean?,
because forum didn't hold any funds such as an exchange.

what kind of fear?

Changing to a new official version will require re-editing many files that have been modified over 10 years.
Do you have any idea how many hours of work this can involve?
Furthermore, all those hours of work can end up in frustration if something doesn't work, and cause more security problems instead of solving them.

At that moment, @theymos is better to be aware and correct possible security flaws that may arise, than to modify the entire software.
Another point you have to take into account is that probably all known bugs from the initial version of SMF 1.1.19 have already been corrected over the years by @theymos, which makes the entire system more secure.

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IDK, what does security have mean?,
because forum didn't hold any funds such as an exchange.

what kind of fear?

tranthidung

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Quote from: Not your key not your BTC on March 25, 2023, 08:08:00 AM

this forum used SMF 1.1.19, IDK why didn't update to the latest version 2.1.3?

Because theymos want to code with things he is most familiar and comfortable with to save his time.

Not all upgrades are good and some are bad in security.

Quote from: theymos on February 25, 2019, 08:28:23 PM

- I am the only bitcointalk.org sysadmin and on-demand programmer, and I'm used to the current software. Furthermore, I need to frequently make changes to the current software, but each change I make might require alterations to Epochtalk, which is problematic.

Quote from: theymos on August 20, 2018, 08:18:08 PM

A big possible reason is that I'm the only person who does development on the current code, and my time is limited. Another big reason is that this is a huge forum with complex dynamics, and even small policy changes can have big effects which need to be thought through very carefully.

BitMaxz

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There is no reason to upgrade the forum to the latest version since theymos already handle all attacks before and fix all issues without upgrading to the latest version and the forum is already optimized. So I don't think the forum needs to be upgraded unless there is leaks/security breach that can't solve with the current version.

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Good question, it should be easy to update the forum software only if this current smf software used only the way it is. But this forum software is already customized and added some many features by theymos example, the trust system, merit system, membership subscriptions and not to mention the near April fools feature lol.

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this forum used SMF 1.1.19, IDK why didn't update to the latest version 2.1.3?

Topic: Why the forum didn't use the latest version? (Read 183 times)