Wesitetoolbox archive transfer

[saltcod]

Hello there,

I'm not personally involved in forum administration but would really appreciate some advice. I belong to an organisation that uses a websitetoolbox forum.. its had that forum for about 7 years and has 20000 posts. Recently their has been much discussion amongst members about the possibility of moving to better software but our forum administrator claims that cannot be done without losing all our previous posts. I find that quite hard to understand and was hoping somebody on this forum might be able to clarify such a matter.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I've never heard of websitetoolbox software, but depending on what software they're using, many other software have importers to do this without losing data.

 

[saltcod]

On the websitetoolbox website they say they can "export data" and that the data can be exported in XML or SQL format upon request.

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/support/68

Would data mean all the posts?

 

[Judge Dredd]

Ah these are hosted forums, he's right. You guys would have to start from scratch unless somebody makes an importer which I doubt will happen.

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

If you can get an export of the SQL Data, then it would indeed be possible to create a custom tool that will convert your data to a self-hosted forum like IPB, vBulletin, or MyBB.

It would most certainly have to be exported in SQL format, though, unless you want to do extra work with a CSV or XML file (which are harder to convert to a MySQL database).

I know IPB has a lot of 3rd Party Developers that will create a converter for you and convert your forum to IPB for a fee. Not sure about other software, though.

 

[Judge Dredd]

If you can get an export of the SQL Data, then it would indeed be possible to create a custom tool that will convert your data to a self-hosted forum like IPB, vBulletin, or MyBB.

It would most certainly have to be exported in SQL format, though, unless you want to do extra work with a CSV or XML file.

I know IPB has a lot of 3rd Party Developers that will create a converter for you and convert your forum to IPB for a fee. Not sure about other software, though.

I am not too familiar with importers, but wouldn't it require the developing of an entirely new importer for the format of database?

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

I am not too familiar with importers, but wouldn't it require the developing of an entirely new importer for the format of database?

In IPB's case, it would require an extra module for the specific software you are converting from. So, basically, yes it would require a new one to be built specifically for his data. However, the new converter can use the same core code as our pre-built ones.

It's not that hard to do, mind, depending on how complex the database schematics of the source are. Creating a specialized converter can take anywhere between a day or two to a week, again depending on the amount of work involved and what absolutely has to remain when being transferred from the source to the destination. For IPB, all converters require a minimum of Usergroups, Members, Forums, Topics, and Posts in order to perform a proper conversion. However, more data can be added if necessary. Developers usually charge more depending on how much data needs to be moved over.

 

[Judge Dredd]

In IPB's case, it would require an extra module for the specific software you are converting from. So, basically, yes it would require a new one to be built specifically for his data.

It's not that hard to do, mind, depending on how complex the database schematics of the source are. Creating a specialized converter can take anywhere between a day or two to a week, again depending on the amount of work involved and what absolutely has to remain when being transferred from the source to the destination. Again, for IPB, all converters require a minimum of Usergroups, Members, Forums, Topics, and Posts. However, more can be added if necessary.

Cool! Thanks!

 

[saltcod]

Thank you Ryan and Judge for your insights.. it is deeply appreciated.

Ryan, if in principle we could convert our database.. could you hazard a guess of what hiring somebody to create and process our base for IPB would cost.. I understand that it would probably be very dependent on the amount of content but a very rough ballpark idea would at least give me some idea if its even financially possible for us to consider. Would we be talking hundreds of $, a couple of thousands $, or many thousands?

Also I'd also like to develop my argument as to why it would be benificial for us to move to such a forum. Is there a way I could get experienced forum administrators like yourselves to look at our current forum with websitetoolbox and suggest advantages for a move to self hosted forums like IPB or Mybb. I'd also like to explore our aspirations long term, is there a place on this forum which is specifically for such discussion.

Once again, I really appreciate all your advice, I imagine that it must be frustrating talking to somebody who has so little experience with forum admin and am most grateful to you.

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

For 20,000 posts, you're looking at a couple hundred. Though, it really depends on the developer you contact and what their payment terms are. I know a few have a minimum required amount for each job, and that grows after an evaluation of the data and it's complexity (I myself do this... there's a minimum payment amount that I personally have, then I adjust that as necessary after evaluating the data so I can provide a proper quote).

I would take a look, however I don't appear to have a link to your site. One benefit, though, with going with a self-hosted forum is the level of customization you can perform greatly increasing. Most software packages are Visible Source, so you can actually download the files and modify them to your hearts content (though, doing so can invalidate your ability to obtain technical support if it's causing issues).

I'm not familiar with your set up, however I know most hosted solutions don't have much in the way of add-ons, which would also be a perk on a self-hosted instance.

 

[saltcod]

Thank you very much for your assistance Ryan.

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

You are very welcome.

 

[andrew3d]

For 20,000 posts, you're looking at a couple hundred. Though, it really depends on the developer you contact and what their payment terms are. I know a few have a minimum required amount for each job, and that grows after an evaluation of the data and it's complexity (I myself do this... there's a minimum payment amount that I personally have, then I adjust that as necessary after evaluating the data so I can provide a proper quote).

I would take a look, however I don't appear to have a link to your site. One benefit, though, with going with a self-hosted forum is the level of customization you can perform greatly increasing. Most software packages are Visible Source, so you can actually download the files and modify them to your hearts content (though, doing so can invalidate your ability to obtain technical support if it's causing issues).

I'm not familiar with your set up, however I know most hosted solutions don't have much in the way of add-ons, which would also be a perk on a self-hosted instance.

It is five years later, but I would like to convert a forum currently on websitetoolbox to a self hosted platform. Is there anyone you would recommend that could do this? Of course, I expect to pay them for it.

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

It is five years later, but I would like to convert a forum currently on websitetoolbox to a self hosted platform. Is there anyone you would recommend that could do this? Of course, I expect to pay them for it.

If you are converting to IPS, feel free to drop me a PM.

 

[andrew3d]

Ryan,
I did attempt to contact you via conversation on here, but got the following error.

The following error occurred:
Participants:
You may not start a conversation with the following recipients: Ryan Ashbrook.

So maybe you can PM me with email or some way of contacting you.

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

Sorry about that - try now.

 

[andrew3d]

Sorry about that - try now.

I think it worked this time.