Suggestions for Forum Improvement

What features/apps/bugfixes needed in a future Puppy
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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?

:?
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

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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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pakt
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#41 Post by pakt »

I agree with Lobster that the forum no longer works. Perhaps it has reached a critical point - maximum posts? maximum database size? who knows...

Perhaps a solution would be to keep this forum but make it read-only so the valuable information contained within it can be referenced, and a new empty forum (Puppy Forum II ?) started.

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Béèm
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#42 Post by Béèm »

Yes we all suffer from the forum behavior these last month.

To extend on Wolfen's comment, the important info about KDE, OOo etc etc.. could be brought over to wikki pages maybe.

Also I experienced the closing of the developer forum and the Puppy2 forum. At that time I was anxious too about the info in there and access to it, but now some time later, I don't even think about those old posts anymore.

A new Puppy II forum could probably develop the same symptoms over time, but ala in the beginning it would be a relieve.

But it has always been my preference to use nntp based newsgroups in stead of this http based forums.
It couls be that nntp based newsgroups are more difficult to maintain, I don't know.

Anyhow, let's hope for a solution shortly.
Puppy Linux 2.02 SMkey, KDE354mini, wine0.9.20, devx-qt-renamed.
Puppy Linux 2.10r1 SMkey, JWM, devx_qt_renamed_210, KDE355mini

GuestToo
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#43 Post by GuestToo »

one thing that should be done anyway, is to move all of the older dotpup packages from the forum to file servers (like MU's http://dotpups.de/dotpups/)

i don't know if the attachements are having any affect on the performance of the forum (there are over 3000 attachments) ... the attachments may not be a problem at all, but it is at least a possibility

GuestToo
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#44 Post by GuestToo »

another alternative to forums is a mailing list

whether a mailing list would be useful or practical, it is easy to set one up

jmarsden has already set one up here:
http://www.freelists.org/list/puppy-devel
but it seems to have been abandoned ... anyway, there are no recent messages that are archived

jmarsden's email list had a specific goal of developing a Puppy base like Linux-From-Scratch, so that all the source code to compile all the compiled kernel and drivers and applications would be all in one place. I think that T2 has already done much the same thing

i think MU prefers a forum to an email list ... i think i would too

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#45 Post by MU »

yes, I prefer a forum.

dotpups.de is running out of space, so we would have to use puptrix.org.
Is there a folder, where all dotpups could be downloaded from?

It would be good to save them in their original name.
wget saves them as "download.php?id=3085", so it is not good to be used in a script to download all :roll:

Mark

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pakt
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#46 Post by pakt »

Yes, me too. I also prefer a forum over a mailing list.

marksouth2000
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#47 Post by marksouth2000 »

I like the forum. Now, I'm far from the only one, but I've spent some time (a lot less than many others, admitteldy, but some time) answering questions and making suggestions etc on this forum. Put all of us together and it makes quite a useful resource. I think it would be a great loss to close it down.

That said, a newsgroup is a good idea, and that way one can get it archived at google groups, which makes finding stuff easier.

Cheers,
Mark

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Béèm
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#48 Post by Béèm »

GuestToo wrote:another alternative to forums is a mailing list
No not a mailing list. :roll:
It charges the e-mail traffic of one's account and is not practical at all.
In order of preference:
1 - newsgroup
2 - forum
3 - mailing list.

In order of preference in the actual situation:
1 - a performant forum
2 - newsgroup
3 - maling list.
Puppy Linux 2.02 SMkey, KDE354mini, wine0.9.20, devx-qt-renamed.
Puppy Linux 2.10r1 SMkey, JWM, devx_qt_renamed_210, KDE355mini

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Pizzasgood
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#49 Post by Pizzasgood »

(Puppy Forum II ?)
Actually, that's what this is. Before this one, we were using simpleforums.

I don't know if starting another forum is a solution though (unless it's different software/hardware that works better). This one's only been going for about a year and a half. So we'd have to start fresh yearly, assuming usage remains at the current level, which is not very likely. There must be a better solution.

On the other hand, it could help the documentation effort. If every year we started over, people would be more likely to put documentation in more stable areas. Also, during the "relearning process" when we start a fresh one, knowledge would re-surface and could be documented better.

As for attachments, it might be worth putting a sticky in the Announcements section explaining how to get an easy list of your attachments and some suggestions of where you could put them to get them off the server. I have maybe five still here that I plan to move when I get back to my dorm tonight (don't have the address for my site's ftp on-hand).

That's just my .5 cent (they used to make those...)
[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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GuestToo
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#50 Post by GuestToo »

It would be good to save them in their original name.
wget saves them as "download.php?id=3085", so it is not good to be used in a script to download all
a good way to download all the dotpups on a wiki page is

edit: post deleted

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