As most of you know here, Makestation is powered by MyBB. Until recently, it was actually powered by SMF, and then (thankfully) the conversion to much better software took place.

I have used phpBB before for other websites, and I can say that it has become quite outdated. I don't particularly love it as much as I once did, and its lack of a good plugin system is also a bit annoying. I still have to say that it is much better than the most recent versions of vBulliten, but that's not saying much.

What are your thoughts on phpBB?

I just join this forum. It looks like a wonderful site. I run a small online community. How are you? 

Peasants are always superstitious, and the appearance of a comet in the sky has caused panic among our people. They are convinced that this is a sign that the end of times is near or that something bad is going to happen in the near future.

I personally love both "despicable me" movies. The minions are just plain awesome.

Any other fans here?

MyBB is certainly not bad software out of the box, but undoubtedly one of its biggest advantages is its extensibility and its great plugin/template system. Installing and removing plugins, and even writing them, is very easy to do. However, although there are certainly many plugins out on the market today, it can be hard to pinpoint the some of the popular plugins used by forums today. This is certainly not intended as an all-inclusive list, but I figured I'd post this for people looking for some good ideas for plugins to use on their forum.

MyAlerts
This plugin adds a fully functioning xenforo-style alerts system for MyBB, and works quite well. It's worth considering for any MyBB forum, and the latest version is pretty stable. Just make sure to use github to download the mod. The author, due to the fact that the official MyBB mod site is extremely buggy, refuses to update the mod on the MyBB mod site. In fact, I don't blame him. I have never even been able to get a file to even upload, much less get a mod approved!

Page Manager
This is a very simple and effective mod for adding an unlimited number of additional HTML pages to your MyBB forum. It undoubtedly is a must have for any forum.

Profile Comments
Profile Comments is another one of those simple essentials for MyBB. It allows users to comment on the profiles of other members, and is definitely a very useful plugin for any MyBB forum.

Registration Security Question
This is a great plugin that will significantly reduce the amount of spam that reaches your forums. Considering it doesn't take much these days for the spambots to find your forum, this is undoubtedly a must-have for all MyBB users to protect their forums from getting mega-spammed by spambots.

Sidebox
This is a pretty simple mod that allows you to put portal widgets on a sidebar for your forum. This may not necessarily work for all themes, but if you're looking for a way to get the latest threads list on the sidebar of your forum, this plugin is for you.

NewPoints
Newpoints is a fairly popular points and "currency" management plugin that is used for a variety of different purposes. It is highly configurable, and many forums have found it immensely useful.

Thanks
This plugin adds a "thanks" button below every post on the forum. I personally love the plugin. It adds a nice element to posting on the forums, and it's a nice way to "thank" someone for a post as an alternative to the +rep feature.

Someimage Image Uploader
This plugin adds a simple image upload form on the new reply and new post pages, allowing users to quickly and easily upload images in the post editor. It also allows users to select sizes for thumbnails and automatically creates the BBcode for them. For users who aren't well accustomed to using an image host, this plugin can be a nice addition to any forum.


Of course there is quite a large selection of MyBB plugins out there, and quite a few of them are definitely worth trying. If you have any other suggestions for the list, feel free to add them below.

As most of you know, Makestation is running a custom theme exclusive to Makestation. The original theme received quite a bit of feedback, but there were a few things that weren't really ever finished in the original development. I'm now pleased to say that an updated version of the theme is now installed. I think you'll notice the difference. It includes...

* CSS buttons. Most buttons have now been converted. The remaining buttons will be converted in a future update.
* Improved postbit designs.
* A sidebar, with a new style for portal boxes and a new page layout.
* An alerts plugin that gives Makestation a xenforo-like notifications system.
* Some bug fixes.

This is a minor update, and there will also be future updates with more improvements. If you come up with something you'd like to see in a future update, or notice something that is fishy or out of place, let us know here!

UPDATE: We will be doing another very minor theme update in the next couple of days to fix a few additional bugs. If you notice a glitch or something that looks out of place, please don't hesitate to let us know!

Alright, here are the winners of our first posting competition here at Makestation:

Congratulations...
TehAco

This was a pretty close round, thanks to the active participation of many members here. Also, a makestation update is coming soon that will have a somewhat improved version of our theme. Stay tuned!

Also, we may be throwing out some random prizes and competitions for high quality posts here at Makestation, and they will be unexpected and will be a surprise. Stay tuned!

Personally, I've always felt that the ridiculous bandwidth/image size restrictions, photo albums, unneeded features, and of course the ads, were quite annoying with photobucket, imageshack, etc...

Someimage.com is a pretty neat imagehost for people who just need a simple image hosting service, and it doesn't have a bunch of unnecessary clutter that isn't useful. It is also owned by the owner of icyboards, which is a growing forum host with a great reputation.

Anyway, someimage is worth checking out if you haven't checked it out already. It's worth a look.

Ever wondered if a song could be potential elevator music?
If you can imagine it played with high pitched percussion instruments such as the bells, or a synthesizer and it would sound awful, it has elevator music potential. If the tune is really good, it won't sound so bad.

This is sort of funny - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07...19233.html

A writer wrote an article about a "big" security hole in Google Chrome. Personally, I don't think it's a security hole. It is as designed. I bet FireFox and other web browsers do the same. With Chrome, it is possible to show the passwords that you saved with a simple press of a button. That's one of the many reasons why I never save any passwords in Google Chrome (or any web browser).



Another way to check out saved passwords is by entering this URL into the URL Address bar in Google Chrome - chrome://settings/passwords (that's the URL that you see when you go to the saved passwords page in Chrome - still, it is as designed. No "big" security hole there).

Of course, one can set a master password to prevent this.

What are your thoughts?