Discuss: phpBB Collective

[Marshalrusty]

Please use this topic to discuss the phpBB Collective announcement

[danieltj]

Is there any reward for donating / backing the project? Like a rank on the forums or something. Not that a rank specifically is imporant, but some recognition goes a long way. A means of 'showing off' essentially. Things like that can incentivise people to become a backer.

[naderman]

Is there any reward for donating / backing the project? Like a rank on the forums or something. Not that a rank specifically is imporant, but some recognition goes a long way. A means of 'showing off' essentially. Things like that can incentivise people to become a backer.

There's nothing like that for now.

The primary goal for now was to find a better legal & financial setup for the project, progressively transitioning any current income and expenses into the new phpBB collective. The secondary goal was to provide anyone who already wants to donate to phpBB a way to do so, after this has been requested many times over the last years. That said, wouldn't rule out small at least symbolic rewards entirely for the future. But for now the only reward is being listed as a donor on Open Collective or the GitHub sponsors page.

[Meis2M]

a question, is it possible use for developing phpBB 4 project? or only for server and etc ?

[naderman]

For now there is no plan to change what the project spends money on. So as listed money is used for things like events, conference attendance and operating costs like servers or other tools.

[Mannix_]

Bring back Bertie !!!

[GanstaZ]

This may be semi-OT, but it is connected anyway.

To be honest.. There are still some questions and concerns, that don't have concrete answers.
phpBB has been proud of security, but is still supporting php7.x & phpBB 3.2 branch. For how long?
Symfony components in 3.3 branch are so outdated.. master branch has at least 5.4 (Not to mention that symfony will release 6.3 in may). Same goes for twig.
As I see it.. It affects extension development + who knows how many bugs were fixed in latest versions.
Maybe vision for version 4 (if there is any) has to be re-organized?
Some years ago.. There was a working page with approximate dates on releases, EOLs and so on.. Now there is only silence or in other words.. there is no relevant/concrete information about future.
I wont mention style development.. There are enough topics, that cover it all.

Some light is needed or concerns will stay & that wont benefit anyone.

[danieltj]

Bring back Bertie !!!

I’ve always wanted one, I feel as though after the warehouse flood things came to a halt and obviously never returned which is a shame and easy way to raise cash money.

This may be semi-OT, but it is connected anyway.

To be honest.. There are still some questions and concerns, that don't have concrete answers.
phpBB has been proud of security, but is still supporting php7.x & phpBB 3.2 branch. For how long?
Symfony components in 3.3 branch are so outdated.. master branch has at least 5.4 (Not to mention that symfony will release 6.3 in may). Same goes for twig.
As I see it.. It affects extension development + who knows how many bugs were fixed in latest versions.
Maybe vision for version 4 (if there is any) has to be re-organized?
Some years ago.. There was a working page with approximate dates on releases, EOLs and so on.. Now there is only silence or in other words.. there is no relevant/concrete information about future.
I wont mention style development.. There are enough topics, that cover it all.

Some light is needed or concerns will stay & that wont benefit anyone.

I think this is a valid point to bring up. phpBB has stagnated for years whilst other forum software has progressed. phpBB works very well and is a solid choice as a forum, but it does make me wonder who would donate to the project considering the project hasn’t really made any significant developments for a while. It’s a shame more isn’t being done.

[sakm]

Whatever happened to viglink that is installed with every installation of phpBB?

Does that generate any form of revenue?

We was told at the time that its their to provide some money to be able to develop phpBB

Did this not work as intended?

[naderman]

Whatever happened to viglink that is installed with every installation of phpBB?

Does that generate any form of revenue?

We was told at the time that its their to provide some money to be able to develop phpBB

Did this not work as intended?

It does generate some revenue and this will soon start to be visible as income in the Open Collective transactions and budget as well.

[lurttinen]

Merchandise, Berties, reusable coffee mugs..

[sakm]

Whatever happened to viglink that is installed with every installation of phpBB?

Does that generate any form of revenue?

We was told at the time that its their to provide some money to be able to develop phpBB

Did this not work as intended?

It does generate some revenue and this will soon start to be visible as income in the Open Collective transactions and budget as well.

I'm glad its creating some income and hopefully with a bit more generated it helps to progress phpBB

[Marshalrusty]

Bring back Bertie !!!

I’ve always wanted one, I feel as though after the warehouse flood things came to a halt and obviously never returned which is a shame and easy way to raise cash money.

I'm interested in doing another run, and have explored this possibility (admittedly not super recently). The problem is that manufacturers don't want to do a completely custom toy to then only sell 100 of them. That is, unless you want to pay a ton of money. Many places won't even bother for anything fewer than 500 units. And if we ordered that many, we'd have to store them somewhere, for years, and that would also cost money.

There aren't too many folks who want to spend $50 + shipping (which is $10 in the US and possibly another $20-30+ depending on where it's going) for a stuffed bear, even if it is Bertie. Also, since they're technically classified as a toy, there are some international restrictions on materials, small parts, etc. that we have to comply with if we wanted them to be legal in the US, EU, etc.

One thing we could do is make them a bit smaller (<16oz with the box), which would significantly decrease the cost of shipping, especially in the USA. I don't think this would raise any amount of money, by the way. On the previous batches, we were breaking even.

Anyway, I'd be game to do this. I think, with a new design, and slightly smaller. Just have to find a manufacturer who is willing to jump through all the hoops with us for a small production run without charging a crazy amount.

[danieltj]

Who designed the original Bertie bear?

I have no experience in this sort of thing but I would be willing to try and help some how.

[Marshalrusty]

Who designed the original Bertie bear?

I have no experience in this sort of thing but I would be willing to try and help some how.

The designer was a former team member. The company who made them isn't interested in making a run of fewer than 1000, unfortunately.

I sent a message to a couple companies last night to gauge if they'd be interested.

Here's the small prototype I had made years ago, in the hopes of another run.

PXL_20230114_223456919~2.jpg