[Facebrowser] Move facebrowser to a new framework

[Biscuit]

Short description: Completely change the framework facebrowser runs on to a different framework.
 

Detailed description: So to make sense of why and how I'm going to have to explain a little bit in greater detail why and how. The real reason I didn't go to management regarding this suggestion is because it will greatly impact anyone whom uses facebrowser in a negative and positive way.

 

First off, as a detailed explanation as to why I'm even making this post; Currently we're running on what is essentially just plain PHP, it means that the current platform isn't running any framework, I would not really mind this /that/ much, were it not to be for how messy the codebase actually is-- To give a perspective, the framework runs through what is essentially 1 file that has about 14 thousand lines of code. There's barely any way to figure out how something works and the code is pretty inconsistent in it's methods, which means that the one function is written one way and another function is written a completely different way. Along with that, the current framework has constant performance issues due to the way SQL statements are written and the fact that there is no use of caching. This currently completely limits us from implementing new features and we completely rely on a third-party that barely releases any updates.

 

Which brings me to my suggestion; currently, were this suggestion to be in the scope of consideration, we have three methods to consider:

- We can use an older laravel framework that has more or less the same functionality that our current facebrowser website has, however, it is extremely out of date and would require some patching.

- We can create a completely new social media platform using Laravel.

- Or we can continue using the current framework for what it is.

 

What does each one mean in detail?

 

If we move frameworks in general; It means that all the data will be gone, apart from a general community announcement to let the community know we're moving frameworks, everything ranging from posts, photos, chat logs and VIP statuses will be gone, whilst it doesn't necessarily mean it cannot be recovered moving onto the new site and the fact that we'll most likely apply those VIP statuses to the new profiles on the new site, but people need to realize the fact that it will take lots of time to recover all of those statuses as it will have to be done manually. This does, however, not come without pros, we will finally solve the age-old issue of not being able to create new features for the website as well as probably and most likely performance considering not every function is going to be bunched up in one file alone.

 

If we move frameworks to an older pre-made framework;  We run the risk of not knowing what type of framework we're getting ourselves into, I found a singular framework for sale for a cheap price, however, it's currently reported to be outdated in a massive way and will require lots of patching before we can even get it functional, it's currently running on a very old version of Laravel and we'd have to upgrade it to the latest version otherwise composer will not work properly. We also don't know performance-wise what exactly we're getting into, as it can be a bigger mess then what the current facebrowser framework is, however, this does not come without the ability to fix it, as with Laravel, fixing such an issue isn't going to be much of an issue as it would rather only boil down to us using Laravel's main functions to improve performance. This will take in general less time to complete and will allow the community to enjoy a fresh environment.

 

If we move frameworks to a completely new framework that we make; This will take a lot of time to create, with the fact known that our web development team is already stretched thin with resources and that we're all incredibly busy with a multitude of other projects and the fact that we're not full-time developers, we're basically talking about re-creating facebook. However, it doesn't really come with many risks and considering how easy it can be to create a social media platform with Laravel, it only becomes a matter of "Hey, this may be pretty easy and we don't need to be that negative about it.". However, you never really know until you get into it.

 

If we don't move frameworks; We'll just have to deal with the fact that there will not be any new features and that there will be performance issues, however, there's no risk of pretty much anything that can go wrong in other sections.

 

Additional information: I'll try and make sense of any questions that I get as a reply to this suggestion, but without going into technical detail, there's not much I can explain on how something works.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Biscuit
typo fix

[i dont wanna od in LA]

if that reduces lags then yeah sure seems like a cool change

[Rin]

I believe we could just parse the SQL database to a JSON format and run it through a front-end framework (eg. react), that way there'll be no data loss and increase performance.

[Biscuit]

6 minutes ago, Rin said:

I believe we could just parse the SQL database to a JSON format and run it through a front-end framework (eg. react), that way there'll be no data loss and increase performance.

Something like that, with the framework that we currently have, is impossible and no developer is going to want to do it. It simply boils down to the fact that the codebase for the current framework is such a mess that nobody wants to even open the files for it. Even front-end code is messy and so inconsistent that I simply don't even want to consider doing anything with the current framework.

 

We're better off re-writing the entire backend if we're gonna go down this route as it will take more time to do what you suggested then to create a framework like facebrowser.

 

We simply have to note that if we don't move to a better framework, no developer is going to want to work with the current framework on new features.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Biscuit

[Mitch]

i really don't want to move to a "new" platform that'll be on a outdated version of laravel brings up possible security and vulnerability concerns, also there's no guarantee this is the golden bullet to fix lags in the future, short term sure, long term? who'll fix the performance problems from occuring once again. 

[Biscuit]

6 minutes ago, Mitch said:

i really don't want to move to a "new" platform that'll be on a outdated version of laravel brings up possible security and vulnerability concerns, also there's no guarantee this is the golden bullet to fix lags in the future, short term sure, long term? who'll fix the performance problems from occuring once again. 

If we move to the older social media platform, one of the first priorities will be to update to the newest version of Laravel, which shouldn't be that much work in general due to how easy it is to port some older versions into the newest Laravel.

 

Long-term wise, it's basically a requirement to know Laravel to get into the web development team, whilst it's technically not a 100% guarantee as I stated, Laravel does offer many tools to manage performance in the long-term as well.

 

If we do however, create a framework from it's base, then we'd have to develop with performance in mind. Something similar to how the MDC and UCP are done with the fact that we'd have to account for more storage for pictures and stuff like that.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Biscuit

[Levitate]

If it helps up with the lag and the security is well maintained, yes, totally. 

[Selena]

@Nervous @St3fan[NL]

[Gamble]

The only issue I've got with Facebrowser is the lag, so whatever fixes that sure.

[Sixty]

Make sure to post this in Discord @Biscuit so everyone sees it there as well. I’d suggest using a new platform, as much as I know how long this would take. Anything other than that, you run into issues that you might not be able to solve in the long run.
 

I guess the next question you have to ask, is it worth it? Do enough people or would there be enough people willing to use a new platform to justify such a project? I can’t answer that. That’s something left to those who can see the activity of all users. 

 

Finally, you may not get everyone positive with this because of the current perception of Facebrowser. Right now it’s viewed as a shitposter’s paradise for e-thots, hornyposts and e-gangsters. If you were to consider changing platforms or making a new one, I’d emphasize features that tend to help improve the use-case of the platform for regular users who have grown tired of what it’s become. I’m not hating on people who use it now. That’s their choice and I have no qualms about it, but a lot of people do.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Sixty