Suggestions for Forum Improvement

What features/apps/bugfixes needed in a future Puppy
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Flash
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#21 Post by Flash »

Thanks kethd, I couldn't have said it better. :)

kethd
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#22 Post by kethd »

The Forum Front Page would entice me more to visit the various Fora if the Subject-title of the Last Posts in each one could be listed, too.

I did just see an inappropriate-seeming odd-ball post yesterday; if y'all want to deputize me with the power to take such down, I might as well be useful while I'm hanging out here... (I didn't see any flagging system for the masses.)

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Yaverot
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#23 Post by Yaverot »

Thank you for taking my post as I intended it.
I don't know if any of you have used the forums at http://gametz.com the only person there that gets paid is the siteowner/programmer and he's not actually making money. All the mods, mini-mods and the NT (I'm on the NT) is volenteer - ones the owner trusts.

<start edit, continuation after dinner>

I know their likes/dislikes, in general. No piracy, if you're advertising an eBay auction, eBay better be in the subject line, if you want to talk to the owner post in site_feedback.... While everyone appears to ignore it, the site rules are posted under rules and cover lots of informatin about the site, from what makes an item Excellent vs Good, to how loosely piracy is defined to avoid legeal troubles, to how to setup your custom color scheme.

|>Though you seem to have made more of a study of it!
Well, I tried to get all my rant out in one post, it normally takes me over an hour per post as I check and recheck to make sure I'm not being _unintentionally_ insulting. Since everyplace you need a username and a password, I now make a careful study to determine if a group is worth the effort of signing up, and memorizing another password. I have 3 places I routinely visit, that even after years, aren't worth my persicieve 'sign-up cost'.
At gameTZ no one cares if you restart a topic if the _system_ closes it, nor do people get mad when you post in a thread just before the system does so, so it doesn't get closed. Other places, like the forum for the SGVY webcomic, get mad if you post in a 'dead' thread which hasn't been commented on within the last week, although their system didn't close a topic until it went a month w/o a post. (That's where I got the 'necromancy' term in reguards to forums.)
Like I said, I learned lurk - back in the BBS days, and with off-line readers and .qwk packets you normally had a good 24 hours before your poorly worded comment became unretractable, but allowed me to learn the difference for different types of groups, but it gets me stuck when a group isn't active enough for me to see their mores, nor do they have it posted someplace.

|>I find the "View your posts" tool to be extremely effective
And where is this little --tool-- gem hidden? To refind this topic, I had to Memberlist -> sort username (reverse) -> click my name -> then click "view this user's posts" or something like that. While eventually coming to what I want, it hardly compares to clicking the A in [A]MNR. I still need to scroll and find where to continue from.

Well, I guess I'll start digging up those gems we have all around here, and making what seams to me to be conherent resources. Let me know if I start crossing the line on any unwriten rules.

kethd
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#24 Post by kethd »

Yaverot,
I feel reading your post that you have a personality like mine -- too careful! (Even if you could use some spellchecking...)
You don't have to worry too much around Puppy-land. It is a friendly place, not too big, not too small.
You can easily contribute. Just try to be helpful, wherever you see a chance. Do research, post links. Come over and help fix up the wiki... Everytime you learn something, come back and teach the rest of us.

The Forum (and the wiki) automatically sign me in, right away. Some people seem to have problems, but for me it always works -- too well! I don't remember how to log in anymore...

When I go to the main page of the Forum, it says "View your posts" right there up in the right corner. One click and I have a big list, with the most recently commented at the top. Very efficient! This has the good/bad effect that I am very encouraged to comment on anything that interests me, since then I will be able to follow future comments. (If we ever thought this was a problem, we would have to offer "watch this thread" so people would not have to comment. But I don't even know if that feature is not already here -- I just use what I have stumbled on that works.)

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Flash
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#25 Post by Flash »

kethd wrote:...(If we ever thought this was a problem, we would have to offer "watch this thread" so people would not have to comment. But I don't even know if that feature is not already here --
At the bottom of each page of a thread you should see a link to "Watch this topic," and when you post to the forum you should see a box to check: "Notify me when a reply is posted."

Do you not see those? If not, perhaps you refused them when you configured your profile.

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Lobster
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#26 Post by Lobster »

The forum is slow again
I can create a temp or even permenant forum on my new server
but I am loath to do so
John is an experienced bullentin board host (from the tech side) - I am not
I would be happier to do this in 3 to 6 months

Why the slow down?
Too many browsers?
Bandwidth?

Should we start using Puppians board until something is sorted?
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

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Flash
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#27 Post by Flash »

I've noticed it too. It's erratic, and very annoying. Sometimes it's fast and sometimes it takes so long to respond that I do something else, and by the time I get back to the forum I'm no longer logged in. I wondered if it might be due to that thing where you set up your browser to download a site by several connections simultaneously.

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Flash
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#28 Post by Flash »

Send all spammers to hell, to burn in agony forever.

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Pizzasgood
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#29 Post by Pizzasgood »

AMEN brutha!
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[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
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ecomoney
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Forum Skin

#30 Post by ecomoney »

I have just started a poll on a new skin for the forum.
Puppy Linux's [url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=296352#296352]Mission[/url]

Sorry, my server is down atm!

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ecomoney
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just upgrade

#31 Post by ecomoney »

Send all spammers to hell, to burn in agony forever
:roll: But who gets to decide who is a spammer and who is just posting informtion that relevant to them :shock: :P

Automated signups would of course be discouraged by a upgrade to the latest phpbb, which includes a graphical code checker the user must enter. Yes PHPBB IS AN OPEN_SOURCE PRODUCT TOO!!! It has responded to the comments on its forum and evolved since this forum was installed.

This is a just a matter of the .php replacing .php files on the severs as this is a standard, unmodified phpbb install (Ecomoney is my company -100% puppy powered - that specialises in creating and customizing them!)

After the poll on this forum Im just about to go ahead and start work on a demo of a skin for a forum especially for puppy linux and I will be showing the demo soon on a fresh install of phpbb (althouh all of the 2.xx series boards are skin-compatable). It will be relatively easy job to transfer the post and user data across given a recent backup.

I want people to contrubute to the forum design in true GPL/OS fashion. I know there are lots of features in the new PHPBB boards that would be useful to Puppy Linux, and I am frustrated that Im such a newb with puppy linux (and spend an hour trying to set the time) This I believe is the best way my business can contribute to the development of Puppy Linux, as Puppy Linux has helped the development of mine!!!

Demo URL Coming Soon...
Puppy Linux's [url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=296352#296352]Mission[/url]

Sorry, my server is down atm!

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Flash
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Re: just upgrade

#32 Post by Flash »

ecomoney wrote: :roll: But who gets to decide who is a spammer and who is just posting informtion that relevant to them :shock: :P
Me, that's who. :evil: (Until they pry my cold dead fingers from the trigger.)
Automated signups would of course be discouraged by a upgrade to the latest phpbb, which includes a graphical code checker the user must enter.
Discouraged, perhaps, but not prevented. I recently read an article describing the newest spam-generating software (a phrase that makes me doubt my own sanity.) It is capable of defeating at least some if not most graphical code checkers.
After the poll on this forum Im just about to go ahead and start work on a demo of a skin for a forum especially for puppy linux and I will be showing the demo soon on a fresh install of phpbb ... It will be relatively easy job to transfer the post and user data across given a recent backup.

I want people to contrubute to the forum design in true GPL/OS fashion. I know there are lots of features in the new PHPBB boards that would be useful to Puppy Linux...
John Murga might be glad for the help. You should contact him.

If you're disappointed in the response to your poll, I can tell you that I didn't reply because you only gave a choice between an unkown (or undefined) skin and the one we have. In other words, I might have answered yes if you had said "If the new skin looks better, would you be willing to change?"

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Flash
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Re: just upgrade

#33 Post by Flash »

ecomoney wrote: :roll: But who gets to decide who is a spammer and who is just posting informtion that relevant to them :shock: :P
Me, that's who. :evil: (Until they pry my cold dead finger from the trigger.)
Automated signups would of course be discouraged by a upgrade to the latest phpbb, which includes a graphical code checker the user must enter.
Discouraged, perhaps, but not prevented. I recently read an article describing the newest spam-generating software (a phrase that makes me doubt my own sanity.) It is capable of defeating at least some if not most graphical code checkers.
After the poll on this forum Im just about to go ahead and start work on a demo of a skin for a forum especially for puppy linux and I will be showing the demo soon on a fresh install of phpbb ... It will be relatively easy job to transfer the post and user data across given a recent backup.

I want people to contrubute to the forum design in true GPL/OS fashion. I know there are lots of features in the new PHPBB boards that would be useful to Puppy Linux...
John Murga might be glad for the help. You should contact him.

If you're disappointed in the response to your poll, I can tell you that I didn't reply because you only gave a choice between an unkown (or undefined) skin and the one we have. In other words, I might have answered yes if you had said "If the new skin looks better, would you be willing to change?"

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ecomoney
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New Forum Demo

#34 Post by ecomoney »

http://ecomoney.eu/pupdemo/

Heres a mock up of how a puppy forum might look, with some suggestions of possible themes and MODS that would make it easier to use. Its the latest stable phpbb Release.

Ive contacted John the main "top ten" forum users by PM, told them about the demo and offered my assistance. Although Im a fairly experienced programmer and phpbb creator Im new to contributing to open source. I have no idea of the 'right' way to do it so please set me straight if Im going about things in the wrong way. As you can tell by some of my other posts Im pretty green when it comes to configuring Puppy, so I think this is the best way I can add to the project, which I would dearly like to do more of. I have had a some experience in running a board and I know that people dont like having changes imposed upon them without being asked.

Heres one of your earlier quotes Flash
I'm sure we all agree with Getnikar. The problem is, what can each of us to do about it? Maybe we can't all contribute code or how-tos or manuals, but each of us can contribute something, even if it's only to neaten up the grammar or spelling of a wiki entry so it reads better.
from here

Ive set up the Demo totally as that. If it gets used then I will be glad, if it doesnt then I wont go back to using Windows! The forums great and I can only imagine the amount of work it takes to keep it as such a useful resource. I hope I can make it easier for you and harder for the spammers.
Puppy Linux's [url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=296352#296352]Mission[/url]

Sorry, my server is down atm!

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ecomoney
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Logo Link

#35 Post by ecomoney »

Would it be possible to have the puppy logo in the top left hand corner of the board like standard phpbb forums?

Apart from the "Branding" it also means that there is a convenient link to get back to the index page. Cheers
Puppy Linux's [url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=296352#296352]Mission[/url]

Sorry, my server is down atm!

jus407
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#36 Post by jus407 »

this would really help the website in my opinion, but stop letting the website (murga.org) host files to be downlaoded (im not talking about your personal files murga in no way am i saying take your own pics down off your own site) im just saying dont allow an attachments section and if you do make it host the file on puptrix.org they say they have plenty of bandwith.

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Flash
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#37 Post by Flash »

Spreading the forum database around doesn't sound like a good idea to me. That's just a personal preference.

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Pizzasgood
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#38 Post by Pizzasgood »

Several people have commented on not being able to delete their own posts when the forum acts up and causes duplicates. Would it be possible to activate this, or is there some reason against it?
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
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Lobster
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The forum does not work

#39 Post by Lobster »

:)

I am concerned.
The forum does not work.

:(

Day after day I can not get to it. Information I need to access or provide is not available. This situation has been worsening.

Why is this? What is the solution?

I know *having tried to run two forums now' how difficult it is to avoid spammers (just to mention one problem). So I know how hard this is . . .

In the past we have moved to new solutions. Is this required now? As we are using hosted forums would one of those be a solution?

I believe the forum has reached a critical point. Even though I value what has been done. This needs to be stated quite clearly.

The forum does not work

Can it be fixed? (that seems to have been tried for months now)

Do we need to start afresh?

:?
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Wolfen
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#40 Post by Wolfen »

Well, if we are going to make a new forum, I think it would be useful to take some posts with us to the new one, at least the more important ones. I don't know if this is possible, but it might help to not have to post all the info about Megapup, KDE, OpenOffice, and so on again. :?
This is just me, but I think the demo Todd has put up is quite nice, with some tweaks. I don't know much about php and the likes, but what I do know is a little HTML and CSS, so if it is needed, I am glad to help. :wink:
Wolfen

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