BBS software / MODS / New forums

[Toolmaker]

Here is a thread where we can discuss the possibility of new software that hasn't been modified to the point of not accepting mods and patches. Please fell free to recommend any software and/or mods that you know of that may suit our communities needs for communication. Please keep in mind that it must be linux compatible. I know alot of folks did not take to well to this BBS software when it was implemented but keep in mind there are options out there that have the same look and feel as this. Seems as though Spanky has gone and we are getting some new staff.. it may be easier for our new king to get some new software instead of trying to figure out the modified code we have now. We can also discuss what Forums we would like to see added. For instance I would like to see a Forum for computing tips and help. Open Discussion gets so flooded that it may help the community to have a special little place for some of the eplayans to ask for help, discuss technical stuff etc. Incidentally this could also be a place to discuss new mods for the board and try to raise the awareness of open source options and freeware to users. I know for one I prefer OpenOffice to Microcrap Office and I saved a ton of money to boot. OpenOffice=FREE Microcrap=HUNDREDS!!. Only reason I am asking is cuz I have seen a few folks have problems in one or another thread about problems relating to computers. With a seperate forum maybe the needs of our community could be addressed in a more timely fashion. Also what does everyone think of online games? Chess, Checkers, Pimpwars, Tradewars, etc etc. I am pretty sure that just like in the 80s there are still "door" games available for BBSs. I know one of my favorite games to play on BBSs was Chess and Pimpwars.

[spectabillis]

thanks!

and there is no king anymore, and the reason i dont post too much because i dont want that mis-perception. i would also add to keep the past history and personal conflicts out of it long enough to make progress - that requires everyone's help.

there were supposed to be some notes that spanky had but the person trained to be his eplaya replacement quit for reasons i wont go into. if we come across them i will post them up - including a listing of the different mods that were installed as well as an explanation of why more appropriate ones were dropped because they caused some strange dependencies.

i will ask dork if he knows the os, phpbb, and mysql versions.

[spectabillis]

From what I recall reading the oppurtunity hasn't arisen to look over everything due to access issues. If our board is heavily modified and Spanky isn't available to aid in the transition it may be easier to get a new board in place with mods/patches/etc. You could always keep this one up while debugging and fine tuning the other.

there is a development version, but dont know what state its in since dork is the first person given access to it for some time. i think the best first step is to check it out and see what created the mod interferences, then see if there is a mod dependency that fights spam that can be successfully installed and tested.

starting out with something different like phpnuke or such would be a much better choice if we had the resources. problem is i doubt we do since that requires dependency on the org which is somehting i have steadily been working to avoid because ... well let me just say they havent worked out well that way.

even spanky agreed the phpbb decision turned out to be a bad one. part of the spamming problem stems from spammers targeting the technical guts of something they get a greater reward for, like some package that has a wide adoption - phpbb is the biggest.

[Toolmaker]

I wish I knew more about these new BBSs.. but as I mentioned before the last one I ran was a dialup WWIV back in the 80s. The only programming I do now is for machine tools. Last board I was a mod on ran on VBulliten and we didn't have any problems whatsoever, but that was also a private board that didn't get advertised nearly as much. We only had 6000 users that were active and a much larger volunteer staff of mods. If memory serves we had 6-8 mods for nuking garbage posts. 3 Admin level people that could restrict accounts. And 2 Mega-Admins that had god-like abilities to remove accounts and whatnot. Luckily for me I was only a mega-mod in charge of monitoring new users so we didn't get any naughty posts in the public. One thing that kept jerks away was the fact that newly registered users could not post directly to the board, the post went to a specific forum for "approval" .. once a user proved they were human and not a complete tard after like 10 posts they were unrestricted. This kept losers from trying to post links to pirate software, porn, etc etc. I did notice that we have like 5000 users with 0 posts and many with www links in their profile. Someone told me this is called linkfarming.. I don't know what purpose this serves but it may help bring more spammers around having these accounts still here.

[Toolmaker]

Personal Opinion:

The software that 3playa uses is NOT GOOD. I can not figure out how to navigate that darn thing. I personally prefer the fluffy look like VBB and PHPBBS.

[spectabillis]

i think III might disagree with that and it might be valuable to hear why, but doubt there is any chance in hell he wants to comment because too many people would take shots at him for personal reasons and he already went through it all.

part of what i like about it is its loss of clutter, it places more emphasis on what people say and post. like myspace, tribe, phpbb.. there are boarders, buttons, icons, index lists, function links... it all has a tendency to draw attention and there is only so much the eye/mind percieves at once. at least there are no banner adverts.

another thing people might want to consider is the entire topic structure. its been at least a year since that was brought up. whats here now was along with what i recommended but would like to see something new.

[DVD Burner]

Have you heard of



http://drupal.org

[spectabillis]

definately what i think as clean without clutter.

wonder if these things can be successfully voted on, that hasnt worked out too well for getting everyone's input.

[DVD Burner]

definately what i think as clean without clutter.

Are you speaking of drupal?

[DVD Burner]

Last board I was a mod on ran on VBulliten and we didn't have any problems whatsoever, but that was also a private board that didn't get advertised nearly as much.

I beleive last I knew, VBulliten cost money now.


Also, I have one or two more free boards I want to run by yall but I'm at work now.
I'll post them when I get home. ( I cant remember the names of them at the moment.)

[DVD Burner]

Drupal also is irc ready: http://drupalirc.com

There are also topics on cgi irc's on the drupal site: http://drupal.org/node/32621#comment-58431

[ibdave]

[Dork]

A few clarifications:
1) I don't have access to anything yet. Supposedly there's an account set up for me but I don't have a link to the servers or information on what sort of access I'll actually have.

2) We don't really know much about what Spanky did other than "a lot" - it might be possible to install the stock mods with a little tweaking.

3) Although I'm happy to try and figure all this out, I'm far from being an expert at Zope or Plone or php or phpbb or anything else. I see one of my main roles as being the one who breaks through the layers of beauroctratic muck of getting access so it will be easier for others to do the same later. If there are actual experts who wish to volunteer that would be wonderful.

4) I don't think we can count on much support from the ORG for anything. I'm hoping we can get a few volunteers set up with enough access to do 99% of the work.

If we do switch, Simple Machines forums seem pretty good. The format is pretty close to phpbb.

[DVD Burner]

Hey Dork, got a link?

Never mind. found it.

SMF. Now I'm on the same page as you.

That could work. Plus it's easy to transfer eplaya into with minimal loss.

[Bay Bridge Sue]

...
If we do switch, Simple Machines forums seem pretty good. The format is pretty close to phpbb.

Think it is transferrable - migrated an old (infected) php board to it and it seemed to go pretty seamlessly, tho I was not on the transfer team, so I am by no means an expert.

BTW - congrats and good luck!!

bb

[Toolmaker]

http://www.simplemachines.org/
Took at look at it and it looks pretty nice. Migration from php2 with that one.

I glanced at Drupal and it looks pretty slick as well. Not sure about migration capabilities.

Here is a place that lists just about all of em, commercial and freeware, they also list a few handy specifics.
http://thinkofit.com/webconf/forumsoft.htm

VBB has been charging for awhile now, I take it were are limited to open-source? No Problem, there are more open-source programs than commercial these days. YaBB is still free though but kinda old and I think SimpleMachines was a new project from one of the YaBB folks.

[Archantael]

Information / general resource on how to secure phpBB against attacks...
http://www.hardened-php.net/

I've used this site before while patching Firefly / Cirrus and this morning it made it onto Slashdot...it might be worth the time to skim through it.

[The CO]

Not speaking as a techie here, but I have been dealing with a Drupal bbs for about 2 years & am not real fond of it. Not awful, but not real user friendly. The guy who set it up still can't get pics to post or any file to upload, it was hacked in its first month up, threads are a nightmare, and everything seems to take twice as many steps as php. Again, just my mid-level user experience-I know squat about the deep tech issues.

[DVD Burner]

Just a question.

Will the smilies be gone when the new BBS is online?

Just askin.



Just my opinion, but seems like it may be an issue if it is.

I could be wrong.

[Toolmaker]

Just a question.

Will the smilies be gone when the new BBS is online?

Just askin.



Just my opinion, but seems like it may be an issue if it is.

I could be wrong.

I thought smilies were available for almost all the new BBSs. Isn't just a simple mod to download if its not built in?

[A Human]

Drupal is good, phpbb better?

In my experience a well run/modded phpbb board has much more flexibility than Drupal given ease of operating and modding.

The issues on this eplaya is simply one of process and action which I believe is coming. Hold the faith - the cavalry is coming, just don't shoot it before it tries a resuce:)

This board hasn't even begun to consider all the mod possibilities which I am confident that once installed would have people feel more inclined to use it without all the dramas.

Peace

A Human