Gary Lewis

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.)

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.

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!

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?

Thanks! Still don't know what was broken, but if it isn't broken anymore I guess I don't need to know. 😁

@Sonya* - Sorry, but I don't understand. What link is broken?

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.

@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.

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?

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) 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 Glad you liked the comparison. It really helped us, mostly me, think through the issues. And there are issues. 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.

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.