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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 6
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 6 |
Hi-
I've been using UBB classic for about 6 years now and after years of effort, have a gazillion links to it's posts and forums indexed well on many search engines.
I'm curious if anybody has converted from .classic to .threads and dealt with the issue of keeping all their current search engine-indexed URL's active.
If not, does anybody have a clue how the ultimatebb.cgi could remain running on a website, yet modified to properly reformat the incoming querystring variables for .threads and then re-direct to the appropriate page so that all my search engine URL's don't go dead when I convert to .threads?
(d*mn that was a big sentence)
Thanks,
Steve
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 9,242 Likes: 1
Former Developer
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Former Developer
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 9,242 Likes: 1 |
Currently, I don't have alot of experience with .classic, but I'm installing a copy to play around with to help answer some of the conversion issues/questions.
I don't think there will be a way to do a redirect to the actual post. Meaning, if you have a link in a search index to post # 323 in .classic, I don't think we'll be able to redirect to that post # in .threads. When doing the import there is no way we'll be able to keep the post #'s the same.
It should be fairly easy to modify ultimatebb.cgi to at least redirect all requests to it over to the main .threads page. I'll look into this shortly, in the meantime there may be some people who have already done this, that might be able to give some advice as well.
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,796
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,796 |
The move kit that comes with classic/threads allows you to keep your current topics in place and forward everyone to your threads forum. Threads actually works a bit better in search engines because SE register topics flat and threaded - a topic with 15 replies may be in a search engine 16-20 times. Probably not quite fair to others, but works - www.threadsdev.com has more than 100k plus listings in google.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 6
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 6 |
I guess I just don't get it. How would all my currently indexed links still work if the new URL's to the same topics are different?
As I see it, unless there is still a file named ultimatebb.cgi with a script that translates the incoming URL and redirects the user to the new page, users will get a 404...right?
I understand what you mean about the new URL's getting indexed by engines(eventually), but I want to keep all my existing indexed URL's active indefinitely.
Any thoughts about writing a version of ultimatebb.cgi that can be put into sites that convert to threads specifically for this purpose?
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,796
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,796 |
You could make your old forum read-only and add a link to the new forum in the header
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 182
member
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member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 182 |
>When doing the import there is no way we'll be able to keep the post #'s the same.
How about keeping a conversion log in a mysq ltable that has 2 rows, old post number, new post number, and then use those data to feed the 404 error redirection script?
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 182
member
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member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 182 |
I do it like this on my site, after I changed the site structure. These are the contents of the 404 error file
<?php
// get the link from the url
// in this case one would have to get the post number from it
$pathinfo = rtrim(trim($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']),"/");
//the (excerpt from the) array that holds the old and new links
//one can use the database to pull the link pairs
$location['/contact.htm']= '/English/Contact';
$location['/pf/tyvek.htm']= '/English/Tyvek';
$location['/flowhood']= '/English/Flowhood';
if (array_key_exists($pathinfo, $location)){
$header = "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently";
header($header);
header("Location: $location[$pathinfo]");
exit;
}else{
print <<< END
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Not Found !</title>
</head>
<body>
Some error message....
</body>
</html>
END;
}
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 182
member
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member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 182 |
In the anouncement it says:
"The upgrade to UBB.threads 7.0 will require a data import. It is not a simple software update from UBB.threads Version 6."
Rick, why should/would anyone want to convert to from .classic to UbbThreads 6.52 at this point?
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 9,242 Likes: 1
Former Developer
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Former Developer
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 9,242 Likes: 1 |
[]>When doing the import there is no way we'll be able to keep the post #'s the same.
How about keeping a conversion log in a mysq ltable that has 2 rows, old post number, new post number, and then use those data to feed the 404 error redirection script? [/]
That might very well be possible. I'll be modifying the current .classic -> .threads importer to work with the new database design and should be able to do that without slowing things down too much, will take a look when I get to that step.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 9,242 Likes: 1
Former Developer
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Former Developer
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 9,242 Likes: 1 |
[]Rick, why should/would anyone want to convert to from .classic to UbbThreads 6.52 at this point? [/]
I'll admit, at this point there is very little compelling reason to do so. If people are happy running .classic for now that's perfectly fine. I've worked with a few people already that wanted to switch over so they could get used to the current version of .threads before the upgrade comes out.
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 116
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 116 |
[]You could make your old forum read-only and add a link to the new forum in the header [/]
If I remember correctly the license agreement you are not allowed to run 2 forums on a single forum license, unless of course you have a multiforum one.
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 116
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 116 |
[]
Rick, why should/would anyone want to convert to from .classic to UbbThreads 6.52 at this point? [/]
If all you do is to install a message board as it is, then sure why whould you wanna give up .classic? But if you want to integrate .classic with your existing website, oh boy oh boy. The .classic I had did not have templates, no style sheets nothing. But one thing I miss about .classic, IT WAS NOT TEMPERAMENTAL. Threads is a nightmare in this respect, but it is mighty flexible and I have tons of ideas how to modify and integrate it. Any of you guys run AdSense? If yes, then you would understand what I mean.
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 116
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 116 |
This idea might just work
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 182
member
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member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 182 |
>If all you do is to install a message board as it is, then sure why whould you wanna
>give up .classic? But if you want to integrate .classic with your existing website, oh boy
> oh boy
But if you used classic until now, why not wait a couple of months more and only do the conversion to threads7, inseatd of the 6.5 inbetween?
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 116
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 116 |
Well, to be honest I don't know even what the threads 7 would be like + the amount of bugs it will have...oh boy oh boy... years of dissaray <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> . But seriously, I am more interested in the content of my forum and easiness to manage, the good looks and innovative ideas come second but not last.
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