New Message Board Software

Rxke · 2005-07-17 17:35:56

Put it up, you can always 'opt-out' in your profile. The more choice the better.

(I do prefer popups in that case. It's the only kind of popup I allow in my browsersettings.)

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-17 21:30:21

Not sure the mod allows you to turn it on or off, though. Still working on making this functional, and I have a few other things in store.

BWhite · 2005-07-17 21:55:03

New smiley icon?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/ … ...070.gif

Use it to bust unruly threads?

Rxke · 2005-07-18 03:52:27

Not sure the mod allows you to turn it on or off, though.

They do. I'm a regular at http://aegidian.org/bb/]http://aegidian.org/bb/ which is same forumengine, and just checked my profile, and it's there, you can choose for popup or not.

Rxke · 2005-07-18 03:54:39

New smiley icon?

Heehee!

and pleeeaaasee a real rolling over the floor icon, and a banging head against wall (or computer) icon.

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 13:10:04

Almost there guys!

Just to answer some questions presented by Cindy, clark, and Rxke on the "new" forums.

First off, finally the "view new posts" feature will work! It is in the upper right hand corner of the main index. I will probably create a table or something under the logo to make this more accessable (haven't grocked that yet, though), from all forums.

Secondly, all of IkonBoards functionality will remain the same. We will probably lose old IkonBoard topic summeries (those little bits of text you can put in under the topic) during the transfer, but you'll still be able to make new summeries. Editing recent topics to put their summeries back in is a possiblity.

Thirdly, you won't have to register at the new forums. It would be quite pointless to make everyone do that again. We want to keep the community, this isn't a reset, this is a move! Feel free to register of course, but it's absolutely not necessary. And in fact, those who registered under different names already for fun, are probably going to lose their names when I upload the files. Sorry about that.

You'll probably have to edit your profile to update the changes (such as birthday, and such). Most won't make it, the converter is just designed to do posts, and I am quite frankly surprised by how effective it seems to be (we only "lost" about 50 posts out of 75k, but you can't view them if you tried, anyway). You won't get your private messages imported, for example (we'll, of course, leave IkonBoard here for people to access their old private messages, this can be allowed for quite some time, as it's only taking 100 megs of our several hundred gig allotment).

Some IB code might not make it, but it seems to be doing okay in that department.

Also. I have a secret project in store, which goes hand in hand with phpBB, it will be fun, and I think that it will be used, this time.

Let me explain the rationale for phpBB. First off, it's very very popular. IkonBoard is not even being worked on anymore and its popularity is dwindling. The more time passes, the harder it's going to be to find a proper exporter for our posts. So even if later on we were to chose Drupal, we might not be able to get the posts in there without lots of hacking by myself or others in the community (it'll just be really hard, and we might have to just forgo it). phpBB is actively developed, and they have created a universial exporter already, so, basically, if we want to move again say a few years from now, phpBB will make this process a whole lot easier.

And yes, we'll get some new icons.

Palomar · 2005-07-18 13:23:52

*No avatar capability in the new forum, it seems.

?

Que sara sara. :*(

I'm double-checking Profile capabilities. Seems no avatar hosting there.

::sigh:: There goes my groovy flower...

--Cindy :;):

Rxke · 2005-07-18 13:24:36

Great job, Josh.

What about a mass-mailing to registered users, once the board is up and running, for, say a week? (i.e. once the wrinkels are ironed out...) So people know the board has moved, they can update their profiles, maybe get their interest rekindled etc...

Rxke · 2005-07-18 13:26:25

Avatars *are* possible in phpbb , Josh hasn't activated it yet, meguess.

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 13:29:23

I just activated avatars (have fun!), you guys are seeing a default install (which is why Guest users can post, etc). I haven't touched the admin capabilities because I'm working on modifying it to be as useable as IkonBoard. You should know, though, that this stuff might be reset when I upload the old posts (I really don't know in the case of users who have registered in their old names).

And Rxke, yeah, I had been thinking of a mass mailing, I bet that would bring at least a few dozen people out of hiding, and we'd have a legit excuse!

clark · 2005-07-18 14:18:03

Oh, I get it, when you talk about spamming, it's okay. :bars3:

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 16:14:39

I have imported the old forum topics without any problems whatsoever. I would like some of you to go over there and use your old username and passwords and post and whatnot, but just know that it won't be permanent. IkonBoard is still our board! I'll make an announcement when everything is complete. Give me a day or two tops. I have other things in store.

(Yes, I know the forums are cluttered and out of order right now, but like I said, I was just seeing if I can import the old posts, I'll do it again before I'm finished.)

http://www.newmars.com/forums/]http://w … om/forums/

Palomar · 2005-07-18 16:23:04

*Josh: Just thought I'd mention a "bug." My post in the "Heliopolis" thread (Science & Technology folder) from today is missing at phpBB; the last post in that thread is dated July 16. However, today's post is still available for viewing here at "old" NM.

I'm going to check some of the Unmanned Probes folders, see if there's a similar discrepancy.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: I checked the current Cassini-Huygens and Oppy/Spirit threads. A post was made in each on today's date, yet at phpBB the "last" post in C-H is July 17 and for O/S it's July 16. Everything remains current at "old" NM, though. Again, just thought I should mention it.

clark · 2005-07-18 16:34:54

i dunno what is up with the avatar's, but Shaun seems to have oversized avatar that is mucking up how posts are presented.

Can we control for this so either we get to choose the size, or the avatars are all the same standard size?

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 16:36:50

I should note that this is a relatively oldish backup (I think I made it day before).

Like I said, I'm not going to finalize it until I know everything is working. Since I don't have a huge swath of time to do it until next weekend, I have to play with a bit here and there, you know? I need to make sure there are no catches (and if there aren't I can redo the steps and have it done quite quickly). So far everything is fine. Right now the "new" forums are doing a search database rebuild (this is taking quite some time), so the search feature shouldn't be fully functional until it's done.

Once that's done, I'm going to start applying several mods, then we'll see how it works. If it's okay, I'll do it all over again sometime late at night when no one is around, and then the move will be done.

edit: speaking of bugs, it does look like some of Cobra's more recent posts are kind of borked, with their color codes, but I only noticed it in two threads, hopefully it's not a widespread thing.

Edited By Josh Cryer on 1121726447

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 16:38:20

Yeah, I noticed that clark, I think phpBB lets you dictate how large icons are displayed. I have to look, but right now it's doing a search database rebuild, it'll take a bit (it'll be interesting if our old bet thread comes back in it).

edit: I just looked, it won't let you, not with off-line images, I'll have to find a mod for that, too.

See why I'm not just locking IkonBoard and shuffling you all over there? I want it to be clean! I'm a picky bastard.

Edited By Josh Cryer on 1121726867

clark · 2005-07-18 16:44:55

Will you be enabling the delete function for users, or will you be limiting that ability? I don't mind, but I know others have complained about deletion of posts. :laugh:

clark · 2005-07-18 16:52:01

What are you going to do with the "usergroup" function?

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 16:54:06

Uh huh, you don't mind because, if I recall, you were the one who used to edit your posts the most.

I dunno about deletions, I find it a useful feature, myself. I might leave it on to test for abuses, but we'll have to see.

Just now on 20k of 70k posts on rebuilding the search database. Looks to be the longest process right now. Going to take well over an hour. When I do the actual moveover, I'll have to plan a movie or something for when I rebuild it again.

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 16:55:42

What are you going to do with the "usergroup" function?

Use them to create mods. (Bill White, and Cobra.)

clark · 2005-07-18 17:03:23

Uh huh, you don't mind because, if I recall, you were the one who used to edit your posts the most.

An unused ability is a useless ability. Besides, in my defense, I direct your attention to the legal verbiage located at the bottom of the message board, "© Posts are the property of their authors."

Just sayin. [shrug] One can easily get around the loss of a delete function. But it would save us all from having to bleat to the mods and admins to delete this or that.

I know I will regret this, but any thought to utilizing the usergroup function for more than just Bill and Cobra moderation rights?

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 17:07:12

What would you suggest using it for? I won't answer for a bit, I have to take care of some errands. I take it everyone logged in okay? I did, so I guess it worked fine for you guys too.

clark · 2005-07-18 17:17:35

I make no bones about it, I'm not big fan of the whole "banning" user concept.

I think the usergroup function can act as graded detterent to misanthropes and borderline abusers by creating a thread where these malcontents can be bannished for an indeterminite time.

Call it the "Airlock", one step from outright banning. Have them sent to this thread, able to post only in this thread, for a set period of time, or until they disavow their previous trangression. Which ever occurs first.

Or call is "battledrome". Whatever. :laugh:

Just a thought.

Another controversial idea is to create posting number requirements to access specific areas. It might encourage some to post a bit more, but I am less enthusastic about this idea.

Just some ideas that I will no doubt regret in the future. But there it is.

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 19:11:40

We actually have a warning system here already, but no one uses it. What you're suggesting is that we encourage calling people out. I suppose it's bound to happen, eventually. Especially given the new stuff that's going to be added (I think NewMars will be a nice content site when I'm done). It's a possiblity, certainly. But, I don't know if I'd like certain trolls wearing their little signifier as a badge of honor. Especially the ones that don't see when their behavior is destructive. (If you cannot see your behavior, but you're being "punished" for it, you're likely to just laugh it off.)

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-18 20:16:08

Damn, took freaking 5 hours to rebuild the search database.

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#26 2005-07-17 17:35:56

Re: New Message Board Software

#27 2005-07-17 21:30:21

Re: New Message Board Software

#28 2005-07-17 21:55:03

Re: New Message Board Software

#29 2005-07-18 03:52:27

Re: New Message Board Software

#30 2005-07-18 03:54:39

Re: New Message Board Software

#31 2005-07-18 13:10:04

Re: New Message Board Software

#32 2005-07-18 13:23:52

Re: New Message Board Software

#33 2005-07-18 13:24:36

Re: New Message Board Software

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Re: New Message Board Software

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Re: New Message Board Software

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#38 2005-07-18 16:23:04

Re: New Message Board Software

#39 2005-07-18 16:34:54

Re: New Message Board Software

#40 2005-07-18 16:36:50

Re: New Message Board Software

#41 2005-07-18 16:38:20

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#42 2005-07-18 16:44:55

Re: New Message Board Software

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Re: New Message Board Software

#44 2005-07-18 16:54:06

Re: New Message Board Software

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