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I can't really complain as I do get the forum for free but if I had one comment I would say there's too much space between posts and and it all needs to be "closed up" a bit more. Apart from that it's fine.
It does make this forum the "WORST" I have ever seen.
CUK Admins - PLEASE reconsider this forum layout - it is awful - so much so that I don't really bother to visit any more.
While I agree that it may be feature rich - it is terrible to view and use. (And end users make a forum)
BIG step backwards IMO - admit the mistake and change it!
If you can suggest specific improvements rather than just "Change it" then they can be taken under consideration. Bear in mind that the forum software is written by vBulletin, so you may need to take your suggestions to them - it makes no more sense for CUK to start rewriting third-party software than it would for you to start replacing bits of the Windows kernel with your own code and expect it to keep working after the next security update.
I'm not the administrator and cannot speak on his or the site's behalf, but I am involved with the forum upgrade and can explain some of the reasons for it.
The forums are powered by a bit of software called vBulletin. Previously the site was running on version 3. Version 4 was released last year, and that is the version to which the forum has now been upgraded. As a result of the release of version 4, the makers of the software will in the future cease to support version 3, and this will result in it becoming increasingly insecure.
All web software is susceptible to security vulnerabilities, and malevolent people put a lot of effort into discovering such vulnerabilities. A widely-used piece of software like vBulletin is an important target for such ne'er-do-wells, as the discovery of a vulnerability allows them to attack many thousands of web sites and thereby infect the computers of many millions of people with malware, spyware, trojans, viruses, botnet software... you name it, they will try to do it.
Once support for version 3 of vBulletin ends, any security holes in it will remain unpatched. If the forum continued to run on that version, then every user of the forum would in the future be at risk of having their computer attacked, simply by visiting the site, when a new vulnerability was discovered and exploited. By moving to version 4, the site is running on a version that will continue to be upgraded whenever a risk of attack is discovered, and the users of the site will be safer than they would otherwise be.
So if I am getting this correctly, the reason we migrated to this version was because the previous one was about to become unsupported, and more susceptible to attack by sad geeky-types that get off on hacking etc.?
Well okay, I can live with that and accept it. Must confess the new layout took some getting used to, but now I am up to speed I am fairly content with it.
What has gone downhill is not the display, it is the propensity for certain whining dullards to post utter claptrap on a regular basis. That will occur regardless of what version of any given s/w we might be at, so we will all just have to put up with it. Nobody is holding guns to heads people, and there are plenty of other sites to emigrate to if this is no longer to one's liking. Toodle-oo to those who feel they cannot cope!
“The period of the disintegration of the European Union has begun. And the first vessel to have departed is Britain”
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