Skynet "Elvis has left the building ... "

[Morris]

Yeah, I find the new setup with the multiple threads and the add-ons outside the main Merlin thread considerably less enticing. I used to spend an hour or more looking at all the threads, even those that were of no particular relevance to me.

Now my visits are strictly transactional: look for issues I raise and maybe if there new firmware. Otherwise I'm in and out.

Seems like a shortsighted choice by the managers of the forum to alienate a dedicated group of users. And to make the forum visits, dependent on advertising, less attractive to visitors.

@Adamm, I've bookmarked your landing page, and check in there periodically, though it's not as engaging as the single mega-thread was. If you set up shop elsewhere, let us know! (You may wish to create a new master Skynet thread that tells users that you're not actively participating in this forum too).

The single thread was confusing yet educational. Just finding the announcement post for a plugin is not a huge task. This is not an improvement.

Over time, the old links around the Internet will be replaced by new correct ones.

One thing that would be great is if there were a readme provided with updates for scripts when you check for updates in them. I hate updating and not knowing what I'm going to get. Updating for the sake of updating is a great way of running into problems. Even with this great community of testers that help avoid issues.

Morris

 

[XIII]

They need a style guide.

They already have that:

Primer

Principles, standards, and usage guidelines for designing GitHub interfaces.

styleguide.github.com

 

[Morris]

Some pages look like that :-}

 

[agilani]

I'm taking my support issues directly to github now, at least that way i can find the answer directly at the source. Takes out the community support part of it though.

 

[dosborne]

. I used to spend an hour or more looking at all the threads, even those that were of no particular relevance to me.

I use the "what's new" - "new posts" for my daily scan. Works well for me and I never encounter the site structure at all

 

[dev_null]

I use the "what's new" - "new posts" for my daily scan. Works well for me and I never encounter the site structure at all

True (and thanks!), but I used to be more curious and would stick around for a while, ignoring the ads but at least they were showing for the site owner... now, not so much.

 

[ttgapers]

Nice read through on this thread, and @Adamm has also been releasing CakeQOS updates as well. To be honest I don't like the auto-close after 6 months either, but I do prefer keeping track of issues in Github from a project development perspective.

 

[steelskinz]

the unifi dream machine isn't very good for security purposes. go with pfsense. I plan on using an old pc and popping in a 20 dollar network card and if needed a cheap switch and a raspberry pi as a controller. Untangle i hear is very noob friendly and simply to use. was thinking of trying it, but the fact the home version is not the same as their enterprise turns me off. But It is the best for web filtering and reporting. But Now i'm leaning towards pfsense and sophos since I don't need the web filter. Sophos xg or utm home versions is also limited to 50 devices but I believe you get everything enterprise has. If not then pfsense it is... To be honest the asus routers even with addons simply don't compare to a real IDS/IPS and more advanced vlan control and openvpn support.

I hope another defensive guy aint leaving his project. Is OP saying the forums would really archive his thread and not allow people to post to it? Suspect.

I assume that the XG version for Sophos is hardware restricted, not anymore on IPs as it was on SG. Now you can't have more than 4 CPUs and 6GB RAM on home version but no restriction except endpoint solution and cloud console.

 

[cooloutac]

I assume that the XG version for Sophos is hardware restricted, not anymore on IPs as it was on SG. Now you can't have more than 4 CPUs and 6GB RAM on home version but no restriction except endpoint solution and cloud console.

ya i think I read the same about the ram. didn't realize about the cpu's interesting. Probably would hurt openvpn performance as well as suricata. not so much for snort though? I would think 4gb of ram for home use would be sufficient. Like untangled I read they recommend 80gb hdd as a minimum as well.

In reality this is all just a cool tech experiment to me and not something thats really necessary. Its overkill. I've just purchased a cheap ax58u and probably will try a firewall when I get my old pc back, but its not going to be any time soon. and I have no plans on getting unifi ap's anymore. I just don't think any of it is worth the hassle except for learning purposes and fun tinkering.

 

[eclp]

No surprize on the owners decision. If granted to you, I would request immediately the same for my threads and others would probably would want their old threads back too. I admit that lately, SNBForums has considerably lost its appeal to me. I still check in regularily but am more reluctant to participate.

Reading this thread and this post makes me very sad.

@thiggins @RMerlin

Maybe I have not read it? Or is there a statement from the bosses of the forum about this? Sometimes you can change things for the better after the fact.

 

[L&LD]

Unlike this thread, their minds are closed on this issue. It feels like we're merely hobbling along now instead of being on an interstate piloting an exotic automobile.

C'est la vie!

 

[jsbeddow]

Without adding any eloquent statements or philosophical stance, I do have to say that this change has done two things: dramatically increased the number of threads (as each user/topic gets a new thread), and this has consequently diminished my likelihood of spending time on the forum and reading those threads (the dilution of interest effect). They are simultaneously more dilute/diffused and yet have hyper specific issues raised in this new environment, so I am less likely to read very many threads. It was vastly easier to follow the threads that interested me previously. Overall, a big bummer, definitely not an improvement (unless sheer number of new threads is what is considered important to the site owner).

 

[dave14305]

I did note with curiosity this morning that Github is rolling out "Discussions" for projects. I wonder if @Adamm will enable this as an option to interact with his users.

 

[kernol]

I did note with curiosity this morning that Github is rolling out "Discussions" for projects. I wonder if @Adamm will enable this as an option to interact with his users.

View attachment 28499

Interesting - this past weekend I did some research on Github [owners / market share / content etc] and began to feel it would be the IDEAL "home" for all this wizardry - especially given Merlinware itself plus most [if not all] of the add-ons already live within its repositories ... if ONLY it had a forum friendly discussion front-end for us non-coders ... ... looks like it might be brewing ???

 

[nlurker]

I did note with curiosity this morning that Github is rolling out "Discussions" for projects. I wonder if @Adamm will enable this as an option to interact with his users.

I really hope this comes to pass. snb has become too hard to follow, I don't have time to sift through so many duplicate threads.

 

[dave14305]

I really hope this comes to pass. snb has become too hard to follow, I don't have time to sift through so many duplicate threads.

It won't be any easier having to follow discussions across multiple Github repos, however.

 

[jsbeddow]

It won't be any easier having to follow discussions across multiple Github repos, however.

Exactly the point I was trying to make in my post above: we used to be able to follow the discussions relevant to our interests in the ONE big thread for each Add-on script and/or Alpha/Beta/Release threads, so at most we might have to peruse a half dozen threads to catch up. Now everyone gets to make a new micro-focused thread on their immediate problem at hand, and in many cases I am not interested (or experiencing that issue personally), so I don't bother reading those threads. I used to pick up more general knowledge just by being "forced" to at least scan/read the full contents of the master threads, but those are now a thing of the past.

 

[nlurker]

It won't be any easier having to follow discussions across multiple Github repos, however.

The main advantage is that those forums would be under the direct control of the developers themselves. They could set their own rules and run them as they please. Elvis would control his own building.

 

[dave14305]

Exactly the point I was trying to make in my post above: we used to be able to follow the discussions relevant to our interests in the ONE big thread for each Add-on script and/or Alpha/Beta/Release threads, so at most we might have to peruse a half dozen threads to catch up. Now everyone gets to make a new micro-focused thread on their immediate problem at hand, and in many cases I am not interested (or experiencing that issue personally), so I don't bother reading those threads. I used to pick up more general knowledge just by being "forced" to at least scan/read the full contents of the master threads, but those are now a thing of the past.

I know we're all beating a dead horse, but I would be interested in learning (statistically) how the site activity level changed after November 1 (new threads, new posts, thread views, new registered users) and whether the changes achieved their desired results of being friendlier to new users. Even Coca-Cola backtracked on New Coke back in the day.

The main advantage is that those forums would be under the direct control of the developers themselves. They could set their own rules and run them as they please. Elvis would control his own building.

But I'm sure none of us want the burden of moderating our own forum, but your point is well-taken.

 

[nlurker]

But I'm sure none of us want the burden of moderating our own forum, but your point is well-taken.

Most of us won't, but Elvis might.