Interview - Jeff Lewis of YaBB SE

What specific resources, in terms of computers, Internet access, hosting, funds, software for development, etc. do both the YaBB and YaBB SE teams employ now? Is there an office where more than one member of either team resides, or is everything done online?

I can't really speak for YaBB any more, as I pretty much left that project completely when we splintered off to do YaBB SE. As we were unhappy with the direction it was going in, we decided to start with a different philosophy.

Most people have heard that YaBB is a resource hog, that it's slow, etc. These complaints are all based on the Perl version of YaBB, and we've tried our hardest to shake this way of thinking (and in fact even debated releasing under a different name). So I can't comment on the YaBB side of things.

As for YaBB SE, most things are done online. However, Joseph lives in the same city I do, so occasionally we get together and do some coding, or meet to discuss things, but we're also in business together on other projects.

YaBB SE is run on a dedicated server, donated by the aforementioned business that Joseph and I share along with Peter Crouch and Ted Suzman. So funds were brought over from Lewis Media (the company I now work for) for use in the YaBB SE project. Now it sustains itself, which was always our goal.

Success To Date...

So far, YaBB SE has enjoyed great support from both new users and YaBB veterans. What reason would you give to explain the success and support YaBB SE has gained in the script world since its launch? Has it sprung form the fact that you decided to support MySQL -- which has helped reduce server loads (a common complaint in the original YaBB? Was it the completely fresh approach the team took with the product?

Since it was launched in December 2001, YaBB SE has done quite well for itself. YaBB was (and still is) suffering a major image problem due to the fact that the Perl version sucks up server resources. Though YaBB wasn't the only product that was having issues due to the flat file structure, it may have been the first to be noticed as a resource hog. But eventually, even the "amazing" Ikonboard was taken off servers for the same reason.

With SE, we basically converted the original product to PHP code. Now, this product was built upon the original YaBB so it still had some flaws, but it got a head start thanks to PHP and MySQL. This initial speed burst and easing of server resource usage brought some users back, but it'll be a long process.

With each subsequent version we've focused on optimizing what we can. We've released versions 1, 1.1, 1.3, and now 1.4 -- all since December. With the latest release, we've optimized even more.

YaBB SE also used a new approach and a new team. Joseph Fung, who started SE with me, is a fantastic programmer. His coding and problem solving skills are second to none, an if something's adding a query or a fraction of a second to the process, he's on top of it -- changing it to ensure better performance. We decided that SE needed to clean up YaBB's act, so we focused on creating a great product that will be easy on servers. We already have a decent jump on optimization for SE 2, and are planning to almost rewrite the product.

While people were toying with v1.1 and 1.3, we'd begun to put SE 2 together, adding advanced features that no other board currently utilizes. On top of that, we managed to cut down the query numbers by 70-80%. So the speed boost and different approach have helped the product immensely, and it's got a strong following despite the fact that we haven't hyped it up.

Do you think YaBB users are gradually converting to YaBB SE?

Yes. The YaBB users have been waiting a very long time for YaBB 2, as it's gone through delays, rewrites, and the team never seems to want to release any information on its status. People have grown impatient, and even the hardcore fans of Perl YaBB have started to migrate over now, possibly because many hosts frown upon Perl-based systems.

Have any benchmarking tests between the YaBB and YaBB SE been carried out on large scale forums?

To answer the question, no real benchmarking has been done on any YaBB software. The only benchmarking done to date was by Ikonboard, as far as we know. We performed well for speed in those tests, beating out vB and phpBB, but at the same time the tests indicated that we needed to address the number of queries we were using -- which we've started to do (already slashing the number by 70-80% in SE 2).

Is YaBB SE being used on any large-scale community?

YaBB SE has been used on a few sites with fairly heavy traffic but so far I haven't seen it on sites that have over 300 members online at any given time. Several larger sites have opted to use SE as their means of communication, though. One particular hockey site had upwards of 150-180 online at all times. A Mac site using YaBB SE hovers close to 300.

These are only a few; but since I don't visit many sites, I'm not aware of them all.

Currently, YaBB SE offers an optional "Site License" for a one-time fee, which makes the script fall into the "Paid-Scripts" category. Can you explain how this concept was first thought of, and whether it has won user support yet?

The Site License was formed in the days of Perl YaBB as a way for companies to be allowed to remove the copyright -- as some don't want to display that on site. The cost for the license was $250, and the money went towards hosting and other costs associated with YaBB. With SE, we offer the same thing, but we decided to go with a price of $150.

Naturally it doesn't mean much to the average user, who's a hobbyist and is only looking for free software to begin with. However, several companies and individuals have taken advantage of the license for their sites, including a large pharmaceutical company in Germany, and a large computer company in the USA.

The license isn't geared towards the average user -- they tend to offer donations rather than outlay a large sum just to remove the copyright. It's not at all required for anyone to purchase this license, either, unless they wish to remove the copyright from their template.