New forum software

jsoo · 2009-10-01 15:01:18

ruud wrote:

I suspect that the forum relies on MySQL to get search results. If a keyword appears in more than half of the records, MySQL will ignore that keyword. This makes sense. If the search results are over half the topics that were ever posted, you might as well start reading every topic without searching.

Yes, but, even searching on what would seem an appropriate set of words — “article image plugin”, say, can produce the “No hits” message. I think this is misleading.

Gocom · 2009-10-01 17:20:18

jsoo wrote:

Yes, but, even searching on what would seem an appropriate set of words — “article image plugin”, say, can produce the “No hits” message. I think this is misleading.

Too many hits any better ;) More search words do not filter the search, instead more words mean more seperate search criterias which equals more hits (Yeah, the search sucks).

Last edited by Gocom (2009-10-01 17:24:10)

jsoo · 2009-10-01 18:53:13

Right, so for an unsuspecting user, the “No hits” message makes it feel as though the search is broken. A message such as “try a single, specific search term” would be much more helpful.

hcgtv · 2009-10-01 22:18:44

jstubbs wrote:

Bert, what forum software would you suggest?

My recommendation is Phorum:

The Phorum project was launched on 04/16/1998, it’s the longest running PHP forum.
Brian Moon, the lead developer, uses Phorum as the basis for Dealnews.
The module system is very mature, just about anything you want is available, if not, then plug away. BBCode is a module, so if Textile is a must have, deal breaker, then it could be used as the model for a Textile parser.
The templating system is akin to Textpattern’s, no PHP tags anywhere. A gifted designer could make their forum look like anything. Each forum has it’s own properties page, so the Plugins forum could look different from the Presentation forum.
Messages can either be viewed in traditional flat, like we have here, or threaded view. Defaults per forum, and can be toggled by user via an installable module.

Moderation features:

Messages and/or threads can be moved, merged or split.
Forums can have moderation turned on, a message would need moderator approval before being displayed.
New forum posts can be emailed to the moderator, easier to keep track of activity for the forum you are responsible for.
Message edits can be tracked, optionally only viewed by moderators.
Spam hurdles module helps to keeps out spammers, CAPTCHA can be enabled on new member signup. Akismet is also availbale as a module.

End user features:

Private messaging, with inbox and sent items boxes, with limits.
File uploads, with quotas. Upload via your control center or when you create a message. File types are configurable, zips, tars, image files, etc.
Search works rather well, all words, any word, exact phrase, only search the last 30, 90 days, last year or all.

There is an import script in the works, which I’m planning on using on my own PunBB forums. For the Textpattern forum, I would advise us to contract the Phorum team for the conversion. We can take up a collection, call it a forum ransom, I’d be willing to chip in $100 from my PayPal account.

The Phorum team can convert inter-forum links contained within messages, external links are another matter, if needed, this could also be looked at. Any other needs we may have in the conversion process, like Textile to BBCode conversion or a Textile parser module, can also be discussed.

Phorum has a lot to offer, not as lightweight as PunBB, but I think if Textpattern wants to grow, a forum with more features is very much needed.

candyman · 2009-10-02 12:16:10

+1 but only with a Textile module, even if the king of the hill, IMHO, will be soon Vanilla2.

iblastoff · 2009-10-02 18:30:21

candyman wrote:

+1 but only with a Textile module, even if the king of the hill, IMHO, will be soon Vanilla2.

i wouldn’t cry if textile just vanished off the face of this planet. or just quietly relocated to some slum district 9 style. i wouldn’t mind textile if the board implementation actually worked (aka you don’t have to keep editing and adding your own ‘.’ after the initial bq. code that always fails to quote someone who’s written more than 1 paragraph and then following up by having to write your own p. to break out of it in order to write your own post. honestly this irritates me to no end!)

Bloke · 2009-10-02 19:00:39

iblastoff wrote:

keep editing and adding your own ‘.’ after the initial bq. code that always fails to quote someone who’s written more than 1 paragraph… honestly this irritates me to no end!

We noticed :-) By the same token you don’t have to quote an entire post; just the relevant parts to keep the reply size down.

Incidentally, by the same argument that’s my major gripe with BBCode: in order to to quote-reply-quote-reply-quote… I have to add [/quote] at the end of the bit I want to reply to, then add [quote user="iblastoff"] ... [/quote] round each hunk I want to quote. In comparison, adding one . and a p. is a relative breeze!

P.S. District 9 is awesome though.

Last edited by Bloke (2009-10-02 19:01:28)

maniqui · 2009-10-02 19:05:04

iblastoff wrote:

keep editing and adding your own ‘.’ after the initial bq. code that always fails to quote someone who’s written more than 1 paragraph… honestly this irritates me to no end!

In that case, you could try using the block mode: bq...

Of course, then you will have to escape from it by using something like p..

Neko · 2009-10-02 22:26:25

Bloke wrote:

Incidentally, by the same argument that’s my major gripe with BBCode: in order to to quote-reply-quote-reply-quote… I have to add [/quote] at the end of the bit I want to reply to, then add [quote user="iblastoff"] ... [/quote] round each hunk I want to quote.

Exactly. Not to mention that on some keyboards (depending on the locale, I guess), in order to type the square brackets, you need to push two buttons simultaneously. Yeah, I know I might sound like a pussy, but it’s darn annoying and time consuming. XD

hcgtv · 2009-10-02 22:59:56

This thread was an offshoot from the Sarah is going to MODx thread.

Here is the current MODx forum visitor stats:

242 Guests, 25 Users (1 Hidden)
Users active in past 40 minutes:
gloups, webman, mporrata, Jules, splittingred, kalina, calsediant, stephenrs, ChuckTrukk, Neolot,
keyman, Paprikas, arez, rjblanchette, jen, ~kvs~, guategeek, Rubendoliveira, charliez, transeffect,
avibodha, daniil_r, Chuck, OpenGeek

Here are Textpattern’s:

Online (Guests: 45, Users: 4): Els, hcgtv, nabrown78, rathersplendid

The above took me about 5 clicks on the preview button to get right.

Textile, or at least this awkward version we have running here, does nothing to spur participation on this fourm. In fact, I think it detracts from people’s first impression. Case in point, I was a moderator on the Let’s See Yours, Then forum for a while, I spent most of my time making user’s links to their fresh new sites clickable.

BBCode isn’t better than Textile, it’s just the markup language used on most every forum in the land.

This whole typing in of esoteric markup text is a thing of the past, we have javascript toolbars now :)

trenc · 2009-10-03 10:28:09

Textile is great markup.

Textpattern use it by default. Most of us use it in our websites. So why the heck we should indroduce another markup here in a Textpattern forum?

If anybody is unable to click on the »Quick Help« or »Textile» help below, I doubt, that he/she is able using a proper BBCode.

My 0.02 €.

candyman · 2009-10-03 16:08:16

hcgtv wrote:

BBCode isn’t better than Textile, it’s just the markup language used on most every forum in the land.

True. But we should use WordPress for the same reason then… :P
On the other hand is true that textile may be avoid people from posting… We could put a default jQuery toolbar like you suggested.

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#49 2009-10-01 15:01:18

Re: New forum software

#50 2009-10-01 17:20:18

Re: New forum software

#51 2009-10-01 18:53:13

Re: New forum software

#52 2009-10-01 22:18:44

Re: New forum software

#53 2009-10-02 12:16:10

Re: New forum software

#54 2009-10-02 18:30:21

Re: New forum software

#55 2009-10-02 19:00:39

Re: New forum software

#56 2009-10-02 19:05:04

Re: New forum software

#57 2009-10-02 22:26:25

Re: New forum software

#58 2009-10-02 22:59:56

Re: New forum software

#59 2009-10-03 10:28:09

Re: New forum software

#60 2009-10-03 16:08:16

Re: New forum software

Board footer