The Next Big Thing: Updating the Forum to 3.2

[NoPunIn10Did]

phpBB
We use a software called phpBB to run our forums here on PlayDiplomacy. It's overall a great piece of software!

The trouble is that we haven't updated the core platform in years. We're currently sitting on version 3.0, and that version (as well as 3.1) are both no longer supported by the phpBB development team. It's time to upgrade to 3.2.

This will come with some major improvements in regard to accessing the forum via mobile browsers. However, it's also likely to be disruptive in other ways, as we have a few mods installed to our current forum that may cease working until we can find upgrades.

I'm going to tread lightly in this regard, but it is going to happen. As actual changes are implemented, I will note them in this thread.

Tapatalk
I don't know how many Tapatalk users we have on this forum, but I expect that Tapatalk compatibility may be one of the first thing to run into trouble as we perform the upgrade. My hope is that the forums in 3.2 will be accessible enough to mobile that no one needs Tapatalk to use them, but we'll have to see. After the 3.2 upgrade, if there is demand to bring Tapatalk access back, I will look into doing so.

Unread PMs
The other significant mod installed is "Show Unread PMs". It allows some custom formatting for unread private messages. This is a mod that has no equivalent for 3.2, but that may simply be that it is no longer needed. I'll do some further investigation, but it seems like we won't be missing any actual functionality once we turn this off and perform the upgrade.