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Experience On Paid Conversion?

Gary Lewis
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Gary Lewis Rookie

Gary Lewis

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We are seriously considering having InVision convert our Nabble forum to InVision, but are looking for advice from those of you who have had them do a conversion for you.  We've asked to talk to those who have done this but Marc Stridgen, of their sales team, suggested that we post here asking for input instead.

This is a big deal for us as it will be expensive and we are a free forum, so will have to do fund raising.  Given that, we want to get it right and would love to get your advice on what worked for you and what to watch out for.

I'm happy to do this via email if you'd like, but would love to have your input.  And if I've missed a thread on this topic in my searching I apologize.

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Joel R Mentor

Joel R

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Some thoughts:

1.  There is a third-party ecosystem of developers, many of whom may be able to perform a data conversion / migration for you at a cheaper price.  When using a third-party, be aware that those who have the most reviews may not be the ones who are the best suitable / technically competent for the job, and you'll need to conduct much deeper due diligence.    

You can check out the Providers Directory here:

https://invisioncommunity.com/third-party/providers-directory/

2.  Nabble is not a common forum, and will likely require a custom migration - whether you use IPS or a third-party.  This does mean it will be more expensive than normal.  

3.  I took a peek at your website and really liked your Platform Comparison page; it was very thoughtful in how you identified what you cared about.  

Some extra notes for you:

  • IPS offers the Blog product, which allows users to create and self-run their own blog.  
  • IPS doesn't offer a Saved Draft button per se, but the editor does actually simply save the draft in the browser.  You can try it yourself by typing something, not hitting Submit, and refreshing the page.  

Be aware that IPS is a paid product versus phpBB or Nabble, so it won't just be the initial migration that will be much more expensive, but there is the expectation of a license renewal.  Your self-hosted classic software will still work (and IPS can't stop you from not renewing), but you will lose access to things like being able to view / post in the client forums, spam protection, etc.  IPS is not shy about reminding you that you're missing out on important security updates if you don't renew your license.  

4.  Perhaps the biggest reason for switching to IPS is that you will have the unique ability to rebuild your entire website in the IPS ecosystem: not just the forums, but you can rebuild all of your Documentation, Library, About page, and Truck Shows completely within the IPS community suite using the Pages application (which is a very powerful, but also very complicated app).  It will be hard, it will be long, but you will get your money's worth 🙂. 

You are exactly the kind of site that can maximize the full capabilities of Invision Community beyond just a forum, and build an entire suite of resources, help article, databases, galleries, blogs, and more along with forums.  This means a unified experienced for users: one theme, one set of notifications, one set of bulk mail, one organized hierarchy.  You're not embedding Word documents into a Weebly page with phpBB forums.  

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Jim M Grand Master

Jim M

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1 hour ago, Joel R said:

1.  There is a third-party ecosystem of developers, many of whom may be able to perform a data conversion / migration for you at a cheaper price.  When using a third-party, be aware that those who have the most reviews may not be the ones who are the best suitable / technically competent for the job, and you'll need to conduct much deeper due diligence.    

You can check out the Providers Directory here:

https://invisioncommunity.com/third-party/providers-directory/

It is worth noting here that if you want to go to our Cloud, a third party provider cannot perform that.

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DawPi Grand Master

DawPi

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3 hours ago, Joel R said:

be aware that those who have the most reviews may not be the ones who are the best suitable / technically competent for the job, and you'll need to conduct much deeper due diligence

Thanks.... 🫣 🫣🫣

I think I can handle that conversion!

1 hour ago, Jim M said:

It is worth noting here that if you want to go to our Cloud, a third party provider cannot perform that.

We can! 😉

Do it on our/client server. Prepare database and files and you'll be able to import it into your cloud, right? 🧐

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Gary Lewis Rookie

Gary Lewis

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Wow!  Good responses.  Thanks!

Let me address them as best I can: (One reason to come to InVision is this editor.)

Joel: (Not with your same numbering scheme)

  1. My understanding, which is supported by Jim's response, is that if you want to run on their cloud you have to go with their conversion.  We are motor-heads, not IT guys, although I retired from IT and have several good ones on the forum - at the present time.  But people come and go on the forum over time and I don't want to count on having an IT guru help me do self-hosting.  I think I'll be better off running on their cloud and let them do the IT things.  The annual cost of going that way actually looks to be cheaper than the one-time purchase and annual maintenance fee plus the AWS charges
     
  2. Glad you liked the comparison.  It really helped us, mostly me, think through the issues.  And there are issues.
     
  3. I've wondered about using the rest of IPS for other things.  Some of the guys suggested that, but our main need is to get a stable forum platform.  We can address the other issues later.  But it is good to know that the capability is there.  Weebly is stodgy and a pain, but it works - for now.

Sonya: Nabble will shut down at some point.  And even while it is up there are lots of problems.  The joining process is broken/poor, you can't email between members anymore, the orientation of pictures is awful and causes handholding with all newbies, etc.  So if we are going to have to move at some point why not move now and enjoy the benefits of a better platform?

Jim: That was my understanding.  In fact a friend is a specialist in the migration area and was very interested in doing it for me for free.  But then we found that we'd have to run on someone else, and after totaling the price of the purchase and annual maintenance we decided that it isn't worth it - if we can come up with the money for the migration.

DawPi: If you want to contact me behind the scenes to enlighten me on your services I'd be interested.

 

 

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Gary Lewis Rookie

Gary Lewis

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12 hours ago, Joel R said:

Just wait until you discover how to mention other users @Gary Lewis!  

 

Help me understand that, Joel?  You mean I could have clicked a button to put your name, and that of the others, in my post?  Or am I missing something deeper?

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Gary Lewis Rookie

Gary Lewis

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@Joel R Got it.  Thanks!

I really love this editor.  We've tweaked the one on Nabble such that I can do bulleted and numbered lists, but most users can't - or at least don't bother.  This one works like using Word and lets me format posts easily.

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Gary Proficient

Gary

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Hi @Gary Lewis,

First and foremost, nice name and I'm glad you spell it correctly! 😉

I have been a user of Invision Community since 2004 when it used to be called InvisionFree. Since then, I have used so many different forum software (both free and paid) and always made my way back here. Every single time Invision Community has been far superior to anything else I have used. It has proven time and time again to provide everything my community or projects required and the overall feedback I received from my members was very positive. I have loved forums from a young age and would've opted for Invision Community straight away, but with no job, still being in school and trying to convince my parents to pay for something online in those days was my biggest hurdle.

Generally speaking, community managers always opt for a free forum software first. As their community gains traction, gets more popular and activity increases, the benefits and confidence in longevity a paid platform offer becomes more and more important. I see your community now evolving into this stage of its "life", and you won't be making a mistake by migrating/converting to Invision Community. You are also on the right path of going with Cloud to have everything on the backend handled by the team so you can focus on your community. The team here are switched on, experienced, always happy to help within the scope of the software and know exactly what they're talking about.

Invision Community 5 is almost here as well which might be perfect timing for you! You can check out some sneak peeks that @Joel R has shared in his topic.

If you have any other questions to assist with your decision, by all means let us know. We are all here to help each other for the benefit of our communities and members.

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Gary Lewis Rookie

Gary Lewis

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Thanks, namesake.  But I think our decision has been made - we are going IPS.  I've basically raised the funding for the migration and the monthly costs are supposedly covered as well.  Right now I'm creating a non-profit through which to run the funding and then we'll make it happen.

Concerning 5, that's icing on the cake.  But reading some of the concerns of people in that First Look thread makes me glad that we aren't really planning on having any apps or plug-ins.  We've found that the basic implementation works pretty well for us and that makes the ongoing support much easier.

And yes, we chose a free forum to start with, just 'cause we didn't really think it was going anywhere.  But it is/did and now it is time to move to something that will provide the support and the features we need.  Invision is it.

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Gary Lewis Rookie

Gary Lewis

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1 hour ago, Andreas Grace said:

I am a happy customer where invision themselves converted my custom phpbb2 + plugins forum to invision self hosted a couple of years ago. The price was fair and the job was well done.

Excellent!  That is good to know.  But did everything come over?  And was there a lot of work to do to clean things up, move them around, etc?

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Andreas Grace Enthusiast

Andreas Grace

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Everything converted, messages, topics, gallery, calendar, comments, profile fields, attachments, even custom smilies. Passwords remained the same. And old forum URL's forward to new.

After conversion, it was just a matter making some settings and it was good to go.

 

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Stuart Silvester Grand Master

Stuart Silvester

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Just now, Gary Lewis said:

Excellent!  Hard to believe that even the passwords came over.  I doubt they will in our case as they are encrypted and IPS doesn't think they can.

Thanks!

It can depend on the encryption type and whether we know enough information to replicate it. Some are much simpler to replicate than others.

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Gary Lewis Rookie

Gary Lewis

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3 minutes ago, Stuart Silvester said:

It can depend on the encryption type and whether we know enough information to replicate it. Some are much simpler to replicate than others.

Would it help if I could get some info on the encryption techniques?  I doubt they'd tell me everything, but maybe enough to help.

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Gary Lewis Rookie

Gary Lewis

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I just emailed him.  I doubt I'll get an answer, but I'll let you know if I do, Marc.  I'll email you with what I find out - if I find out.  Don't hold your breath as he's not been quick to reply in the past.  (I'm not complaining as he's given us a free ride for 7 years.)

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