The Demise of EZBoard

The Demise of EZBoard

For a long time, EZBoard would be a community that offered relatively cheap and simple to keep forums for managers. Virtually anybody could register, design, and layout a website and enable their buddies to sign up. Indeed, a few of the biggest forums on the web are made upon EZBoard. Regrettably, a current system-wide hacking attack has destroyed the business's status and sent many managers packing. Let us consider the venerable community and also the fatal flaw which has toppled the organization from the perch.

Previously EZBoard boasted over 14,000 web towns. Many were began by people seeking attorney at law forum for his or her favorite subjects, while some were began by people for example myself. The reason why companies were drawn to EZBoard were two-fold:

1. I was not knowledgeable enough about PHP to produce and manage a website to live in, and

2. We didn't want to undergo the fee for hosting our website on the devoted server and, rather, used EZBoard's huge bank of computer systems to accommodate our towns.

Of course, reason #1 would be a huge a part of why I tied to EZBoard. Sure, I understood about vBulletin and related forums but buying a license from their store and controlling the website on the devoted server would be a pricey option, especially since previously I had been controlling greater than a dozen forums! I possibly could handle the variable charges incurred from being with EZBoard by having to pay my subscription charges on whether quarterly, semi-yearly as well as yearly basis. I doubt which i dished out a lot more than $500-600 in a given year, therefore it was economical for my company.

I ought to have known that EZBoard was less than as much as the job when their system shut lower for a few days in Spring 2004 after that which was said to be an easy system-wide update from the forums. A couple of hrs of down-time was extended to many days and forum managers were left at nighttime its that point. More to the point, many forum people assumed the worst and peppered many an administrator's mailbox with queries. Individuals days weren't fun EZBoard did recover and gave managers credits exceeding the amount of days these were lower. Still, should you depended on AdSense revenue -- like I actually do -- you lost in a major way.

History ended up being to repeat itself on May 30, 2005, whenever a reported outdoors attack by cyber-terrorist introduced lower EZBoard altogether. Yes, it's remained as working, but nearly all messages were gone and then any brand new ones also started to vanish. EZBoard accepted quickly these were compromised and were working faithfully to revive the 9000 boards affected. Soon, however, this news arrived on the scene much of the backup files were compromised too. Forum managers wondered if EZBoard stored almost all their files on vulnerable servers or when the attack ended internally. Messages from EZBoard management were vague "within the interest of security" so nobody understood without a doubt.

Because the days passed and forum managers recognized the restoral process would simply be partial and take days to complete, a steady flow of managers started hitting the php sites to determine about moving their boards. With trepidation I visited the PHPBB2 site understanding that my skillsets were limited in this region. However, I soon found that this specific program was free -- essentially, free -- and also the Expensive lessons described everything clearly and effectively. So, in a single evening I setup the brand new site, moved some files, and gave it a launch.

The good thing? Within the 2 yrs since i have was with EZBoard my webhost for webpages had upgraded their website enough to have the ability to house my discussion boards. So, rather than getting webpages on a single server and my forums on another, I possibly could house them with each other. Most of all, I'd no more need to depend on EZBoard's problematic backup plans and may backup all of the files myself.

I have one EZBoard community and that i may ensure that it stays, for the time being. It's a little, but perfectly established where it's "sitting" and that i lost only four to five files underneath the attack. A couple of my sites I moved to PHP and 2 others I made the decision to remove because they were reduced entertainers. Fortunately, I'd become eliminate several more compact, no carrying out sites earlier. Still, I felt the discomfort of EZBoard's hacking incident and made the decision time to maneuver was now.

So, what's the way forward for EZBoard? That's tough to tell. They're promising a significant upgrade which may range from the ability permitting managers to support their very own sites. That might be an excellent move. However, the administrative costs with EZBoard now exceed what managers pay with lots of standard website hosting companies. Couple of sites are big enough to need a devoted server, therefore many managers will probably think about making the move away.

I had been two times bitten from EZBoard and didn't relish another hit, thus my two biggest sites are actually with PHPBB2. The move was time intensive, however the new board has numerous more complex features in comparison to EZBoard. Sure, I've more administrative things you can do -- like help America online customers who've difficulty registering -- however i no more am susceptible to the vagaries of EZBoard. I'm glad that the major risk factor continues to be removed despite the elevated administrative duties. You'll be too if you choose to result in the move.