I have been a YABB user for over 15 years but never went beyond YABB 2.2.1.  My hosting company (BlueHost) says the problem I am having is probably because I am on an old version (that the DNS etc is okay) the message everyone is getting is "The information you are about to submit is not secure." Since it IS most likely that I have to upgrade my YABB 2, I have NO clue hoe to do it . I am not a programmer and just know how to use the tools within my forum. Can anyone help me upgrade? Over 10 years ago someone on the YABB2 forum did it for me. ???? help??? My site is a poetry forum with about 300 members.

Thanks so much Dandello --- I sent you information through PM and will await your help.

Well, I do not know. I'm currently on your FTP and pulling down all the data because I couldn't log in to the forum. Doesn't work. I discovered that the forum was installed completely incorrectly. You have installed the cgi-bin in the public_html. That will not do. I'm just pulling down all the data. This will take a while. When I'm finished, I'll be in touch.

Update:

Okay, I found two forums. The showcase is totally out of date, but I can add the data to a forum if you want. Otherwise I'll do two forums. Then I found a folder (bad but leave along) under the directory. Here, too, I may be able to transfer the data. Shouldn't really be a problem. Both forums are installed incorrectly and therefore no topics are displayed. Why members are shown is a mystery to me. It shouldn't work either and that's why I can't log in there.
Now you have to tell me how to do it.

2. Update

I can still find files from Wordpress. Do you still have WordPress installed? It's all in the public_html and it doesn't really belong there.
Is there anything else installed in the public_html that doesn't belong to YaBB? I have to delete the directory completely.

Bluehost login details are not working. I need access to the server. FTP is not enough.
Otherwise I cannot do SSL encryption or import a certificate. Your server is then always http and therefore not secured.

Now we have the problem. I was able to install the last version of YaBB, but it no longer works correctly on your server. The reason is as follows: The Linux version installed is totally out of date. Unfortunately I can't find out which version was installed on your server. The power panel doesn't do anything in this regard. The Perl modules are also from the last Stone Age at least 2009. It's probably mainly due to the CGI module and that can only be changed with root access and you probably don't have that. Debian 5 is probably still installed on your server. The Perl version is also from 2009, so it's totally outdated, so it fits Debian 5. I can only install an old version of YaBB (as long as I can still download it from SVN), but then security suffers again, because in the old versions The password was not stored encrypted. What do we still have? Net:NS is also not available on the server and is important for sending encrypted emails. The FTP is also totally insecure (not SFTP) and not verified and probably cannot be verified. In summary: You will no longer have any fun with the server, an old YaBB version will not achieve the security standard that is required today.

Check it out for yourself:
https://www.poemtrain2.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

[url]and compare it with my test forum:

https://www.yabbtest.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl[/url]

Good advice, cancel this server, it's not worth the money.

Unbelievable! Pyrgony54 I cannot thank you enough for this! I will work on it this coming week but so far all looks perfect. Regarding "As a next step I will try to update and link to the "showcase" forum. To do this, I will install a subforum on the server," there is no need to fix that link. It has been dormant for years and not used by the members.

I am humbled and so grateful for your efforts on all of this.  I'll stay in touch as I progress checking everything out. Please keep handy all the information that you needed from me to resolve this...just in case.

Normp wrote on Oct 9^th, 2023 at 3:11pm:

Please excuse the interruption, but I had something similar happen in a YaBB 2.4 forum that I operate. I don't know if my solution will work, but it may be worth a try. It worked for me.

The error that I noticed was that the "Forum Start Date" was incorrect for some reason, which can easily be corrected in the Admin Center.

If my solution doesn't work, you can simply change your "Forum Start Date" to whatever it was before.

Edited:

As you can see, not all members were transferred when converting. I transfer them manually.
I have created an admin account for myself. Please don't delete this. If there are errors, it will be easier for me to get into the forum.

Normp wrote on Oct 9^th, 2023 at 9:36pm:

I'm sorry that didn't work. It worked for me, but I also remember engaging the "Rebuild Members List" after that, which temporarily put the forum into maintenance mode.

Because your forum was still in maintenance mode after you changed your forum's start date, I'm guessing that you're correct about it being worked on. As such, you seem to be doing the right thing by waiting to get word back from pyragony54.

Edited:


Edited: