SimplePortal
Social => General Discussion => Topic started by: impennetrate on June 04, 2010, 12:28:49 PM
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While browsing DzinerStudio, I came across a topic written by a DzinerStudio member titled "TP Closing." Shocked because of what I thought was about to ensue as I heard the news, I rushed over to www.tinyportal.net. As I was welcomed by their board index I was given a less warm welcome by the messages in the shoutbox, all of which suggested the closing of TP.net. I found the topic containing the news at http://www.tinyportal.net/index.php?topic=32798.0.
Directly from Bloc:
After some 4-5 years with http://www.tinyportal.net as the main support site for the TinyPortal mod, I have decided to close this site down. This is due to several reasons, but limited time for myself to work on TP is a major factor. There are also now so many "portals" for SMF that I personally don't see that big a need/potential for it anymore.
My SMF themes will still be maintained at http://www.blocweb.net but all TP related support will be done on SMF mod site in the future. The closing-up will not happen right away, I will address the many bugs present in TP v1.0 beta5 first and then release beta5.2/RC1 on the SMF mod site - after that tp.net will be closed.
This doesn't mean that his mod is going to become unavailable, it just means that his mod's official website is shutting down. Even so, the www.tinyportal.net website is the basis of information, documentation and support of, about and for the mod, meaning that all of the forums using TinyPortal that are out there, are now forced to get support from the official SMF Mod Site which, as you all know, only provides a basic means of giving very limited support.
I spent the majority of my time with portals invested in SimplePortal for quite a few reasons, but when I saw what TinyPortal could do with a homepage in terms of layouts and freedom of modification, I was impressed. Then I dabbled with it and found the even more useful article system. So I jumped from SimplePortal over to TinyPortal.
As I started becoming more and more quaint with the software, I realised that it still lacked many features that were already present in SimplePortal, such as compatibility and the level in difficulty of creating blocks, because let's face it - SimplePortal has some very nice block snippets. As all of this information was passing through my head, I couldn't help but wonder, where SimplePortal and TinyPortal would be today if they had ever decided to merge their softwares?
Knowing that that would never happen, I quickly discarded the idea. But what now? Are all the site owners who use TinyPortal but are always asking for support just meant to accept limited support? or are they going to give up eventually and move on to a different portal or even a different forum package? I suppose one's only bet would be to wait for DreamPortal, that's at least what everyone else is saying. But from what I've seen, I don't think DreamPortal will be as promising as everyone makes it out to be.
Oh well, I at least have my back covered, because I'm downloading the TP site for offline use in the future.
And I know that TinyPortal and SimplePortal are competitors, but consider the amount of influence both packages have: A fair amount of people claim that SimplePortal is the best, and a fair amount of people claim that TinyPortal is the best. But can SimplePortal, if it ever pulls out like TinyPortal is doing, make someone say the following...?
Without tinyportal i think is time to go to another forum script :/
Thank'u for all Bloc ;)
(taken from http://www.tinyportal.net/index.php?topic=32798.msg263367#msg263367)
That there is influence. My only hopes at the moment would be for someone familiar with coding a portal to help him. I really think that even just the smallest bit of help could go a long way, and possibly turn into something even more beautiful.
Impennetrate.
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I was kind of shocked, and yet not that surprised by this. All things come to an end, a project can't rely on a single person to do a huge amount of the work. If that person burns out, then there isn't much that can be done about it.
IMO, in terms of portals, TinyPortal has always had the most CMS like features, which is why a lot of other people use it. Its SMF 1.1.x version is also well matured. SimplePortal has been building up the number of included features from day one, while working hard to ensure that every released version is as stable as possible, and putting lots of effort into supporting SMF 2 (as well as SMF 1.1.x), rather than adding a whole bunch of features at the same time, it makes sense to gradually build them up, at least that is the general path that SimplePortal has been following. DreamPortal seems to be following a similar principle, so I think it will be a while before it has a range of features to compete against TinyPortal, although it will most likely attract users who might use some of the other portals (like SimplePortal).
SimplePortal was started because of a different concept of portals, the whole idea is to have a system that is simple, elegant, and powerful. Our goals may be different from Blocks, or the ways that we strive to meet them are perhaps different (not necessarily better, just different). With that in mind, its sad to see that Bloc is giving up TinyPortal. I find it likely that people will try to continue TinyPortal though, but we'll have to wait to see what happens there.
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I'm one of those people. I, so far, have 3.1 gigs of the entire website downloaded. I however lack the knowledge to develop the portal further after Bloc releases his final beta. I lack the money to host it as well...
But I've made an effort to find if anyone's interested in joining in, I'm sure plenty of people are.
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I have to wonder if it is right that you are downloading and may be planning to use something that is not yours .. ie tinyportal.net... have you requested Bloc approval?
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Is it wrong for me to be using the documentation and block snippets for offline purposes, as their website is closing down? as a reference? Am I in any way claiming it to be my own? No.
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Why will you take it if you you can not maintain.
Create your own portal and the take of effort as much as these guys from tinyportal.I do not understand people like you.
If the tinyportal creator decided to stop working I guess it should be respected, because it is 5 years working for free for people like you and me. :thumbsdown:
People are most ungrateful and this is probably one of many reason why is Block give up.
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I admit to not being a fan of Tiny Portal however what I am going to say is:
Tiny Portal the support site (similar to this one) is closing.
Tiny Portal the mod is still available on sm.org as is the mods support topic which simpleportal also has.
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I am one of the people (many I now expect) that is now looking for another portal system.
TP was good and I used it since the early days but now with one final release now out and nothing but bug fixes then one has to look. I have been waiting for 3 years for the TP Gallery but never made it to the release so now I have got SP on another on my domains and testing it out.
SP is good, I see only teething problems with myself trying to understand a few things as there is no full SP documentation but it will come.
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You only have to screech and someone will help.
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This is what happens when you solo a project, and refuse anyone's help.
I like to reply to this.
That "refusing of help" have kept TP alive for more than 5-6 years. Where others have given up, I persevered but have always stipulated that I required full control. Its not democratic, by far..but would being more democratic helped you think? Look at the state of Dreamportal, look at (partly) SimplePortal(which I think will outlive all of the others lol) and the upcoming Yourasoft software, to mention the most immediate examples. They all have problems with recruiting contributors to code, and IMO have even lost the initial vision of the software in the process. If not lost, at least the passion have dwindled. TP have been in beta for a long time..but thats due to my ongoing tendency to explore new ideas, and improve existing ones. The TP team have actually been a good shepherd and halted the most outrageous stuff lol. It might been "final" a long time ago, but then I guess would also its existing features.
So yeah, its somewhat bad to rely on one person, but even worse to rely on a team that doesn't stay on and certainly won't 5 years++ (that does NOT apply to everyone of course). I would have kept on with TP, and will still do to a certain degree...but this distancing have been good for me personally. TP may never be so actively developed again, but the will and passion to create something that expands SMF is still there. It has just shifted direction. But TP will never be gone from my mind.