Hello all,

As you might be aware we have been planning to open a VIP area for members that donate, provide huge amounts of info, files etc.

The problem here is that apart from a VIP forum area, we have nothing to give in return. I'm asking for people to post their suggestions and ideas so we can try and give something else apart from the VIP forum.

After scouring the web, to see what other forums give VIP members, i have collated a few suggestions:

• "@betaarchive.co.uk" email address (like CableHell give @cablehell.co.uk addresses)
• Larger PM inbox (although it is very large already)
• The ability to open/close your own thread
• A coloured username in the who's online section, i.e. Admin is orange, Mod is green, VIP could be red? (i think this is possible with phpBB2)

Thats all for now, if i see/think of anything else, i'll add to this list

An @betaarchive.co.uk/.com address is totally possible but it introduces the possibility of abuse. I'll have to see about that one.

Larger PM inbox would affect everyone. At 1000 messages already, I doubt it needs to be any higher, but this can be considered if needed. You'll find most places won't allow anywhere near that amount so you're quite priviledged!

Opening/Closing your own thread I don't think is possible in phpBB2. I'll look into it.

A coloured username I also don't think is possible in phpBB2. However I do believe it is possible in phpBB3 so when it 'finally...' comes out of beta stages we will probably make the switch.

How about a betaarchive.co.uk email forwarder, so instead of having to host mailboxes you can just have, say, pr0gramthepr0grammer@betaarchive.com redirect to my gmail or whatever.

Maybe webspace for your beta-related projects (ie. not a personal page). You could have for instance projects.betaarchive.co.uk/pr0gramthepr0grammer/MyLeetModForWhistlerOrWhatever. You wouldn't need to have that much space, probably only like 10-30mb of space.

Maybe priority access to servers? I dunno.

An e-mail forwarder sounds better...

Web space is already offered to those who want it. All they have to do is ask.

Access to servers is already unlimited plus it has 1Gbps on SP server so I doubt thats going to be used up easily.

Nothing a phpBB MOD can't do.

Probably not going to happen, Andy has phpBBModophobia

Indeed. People don't seem to realise how difficult it is to mod a forum, and then having to do it again every time you upgrade to a newer version.

it's not really difficult to mod phpBB, it's just annoying having to do it again when you upgrade versions. Ahh the wonders of the vBulletin Product System

It depends on the complexity of the mod. Most ones I do are basic but there are so many of them it gets annoying having to do it all the time. Because of that I didn't bother upgrading for a while.

Yeah, the annoying mods are those that require database modding, i've screwed up a few databases in my time doing this and usually those ones can take 30mins + to install

easyMOD ftw.

IPS Mod Install Wizard FTW

EasyMOD is not compatiable with all mods though

Can't you only install one mod at a time with easymod?

I think so

No good to me then.

Why not how many mods do you need to install simultaneously

Several behind-the-scenes mods. Mainly admin mods which make life easier for me as an admin, leaving me more time to bring you the amazingly amazing content I bring to you (hehe)

surely you can just install them one after the other, that way you still get all the admin tools and we get all the content

No because easymod uses the original phpBB files, and if they're not the originals it lose track of the lines or something.

Hmm, there is that
OK, back to the drawing board it is then

No I use it, it works with ANY phpBB, if not it's the MOD's fault, like I had Quick Reply, Country Flags, Userlist Admin (handy for mass deletion), and more, all at once. Problem is it isn't always working with themes other than subSilver and similar. Andy will kill me for this, but I had the glass theme installed, NOT default, just for testing, and Quick reply didn't work with it, and some other mods didnt either. (OC BTW is no longer mine, so if andy has to kill anyome, its not me!)

You know what could fix this? We could just switch to SMF ... then to install mods all you have to do is upload the ZIP file to the site via the admin page, and the mod is installed.