ZetaBoards

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ZetaBoards

The ZetaBoards main page
URL	www.zetaboards.com
Commercial?	No
Type of site	Remotely hosted internet forum
Registration	Required for creating forums; Admin optional on individual forums.
Owner	Zathyus Networks, Inc.
Created by	Brandon Kopetzky
Current status	Public

ZetaBoards is a forum software and website created by Zathyus Networks. ZetaBoards are free to set-up and run and according to its terms of service, ZetaBoards does not restrict forums on the basis of post, topic, or member number, bandwidth and nor are forums deleted for inactivity^[1].

1 Background
2 Development
3 Features
4 Limitations and Criticism
5 Gallery
- 5.1 ZetaBoard Default Themes
6 References
7 See Also
8 External links

[edit] Background

ZetaBoards is the successor to InvisionFree which is still run by Zathyus Networks and offers the hosting of a modified version of Invision Power Board version 1.3^[2]. Zetaboards however was designed from scratch, without any ties to Invision Power Board. ZetaBoards, like InvisionFree, is remotely hosted as opposed to being downloaded like other forum software such as the aforementioned IPB and vBulletin. The software has been described by Brandon Kopetzky, the founder and leader of Zathyus Networks as this:

"ZetaBoards is an all-encompassing upgrade that will take the place of InvisionFree's service. ZetaBoards features enhanced moderation, automatic protections against spam bots, a post search, a new PM system, and an enhanced skinning system, as well as many more new features and enhancements."

InvisionFree was founded in September, 2002^[3] and information regarding ZetaBoards was made public in March 2006 although the contents of the post were lost in a server crash.

[edit] Development

Zetaboards had been several years in development since first being announced as Invisionfree 2. Zetaboards underwent a closed beta test in October 2006, using selected members and staff from the InvisionFree Support Forums. Then on January 21, 2007, a test board for ZetaBoards was opened to the public for testing. Approximately two months after on March 3, 2007, the members were able to register their own test boards.^[4]. On November 27, 2007 ZetaBoards completed its Beta phase. Users can now register the latest version of Zetaboards at the registration page.

[edit] Features

ZetaBoards comes as standard, with a variety of features common to other forum software and many which were improved from those offered with Invisionfree. They are visible here and here.

[edit] Limitations and Criticism

Limitations of ZetaBoards include the lack of FTP access, editing restrictions and inability to access the MySQL database directly, as the software is remotely hosted.

Google AdSense is present on all forums to allow for the free cost to forum admins to host their forums. File space for uploads is also limited to 16MB. Users may purchase ad removal for their forum. ^[5]

InvisionFree forums have been given the option to opt-in to the upgrade to ZetaBoards since December 31 ^[6], but the conversion system was not released to the full userbase until May 28, 2008 when a first batch of boards were upgraded. Following that bugs that arose after the conversion are being worked on.