A community forum kept current across seven updates

The same client hired me seven times between 2019 and 2024 to update one phpBB board and adjust it as their branding changed.

The objective

The first contract was closer to a rebuild than an update. The board was on an old version, spam registrations and robot posts kept coming back, the styling didn't match the main site, and the URLs were still in the default query string form.

After that the arrangement was simple. Every time phpBB put out a version worth moving to, or the site's branding changed, they hired me again for the same board.

What I did

I updated phpBB to the current version, matched the board's colour scheme to the main site, and set up the CAPTCHA and moderation settings that put a stop to the spam registrations.

I changed the URLs from viewtopic.php query strings over to readable topic URLs.

I placed ad code between posts at a set interval without breaking the post templates.

Later contracts brought smaller changes: a linked menu section pointing at other parts of their site, image attachments turned on, post moderation removed so members could post straight away, new logos and favicons, fonts and colours to match rebranding, and a header to block mixed content.

The result

Seven contracts over five years on one board, each one an update or a change to the same install. It hasn't needed rebuilding since that first contract.