Holy smokes, I made a forum

[Zensunni]

I just built a forum with php code and txt docs. It has a login/logout and theme selection to boot. I never thought I could do it so quickly either.

Once I've ironed out all the bugs (which there is an abundance of) and make the code more user friendly, I plan to put it on my site for downloading along with a manual.

The url is: http://thehiddengrotto.com/php

I just made a dummy account because I haven't set up the database for it. So, if you want to post something, use:

Username: testing
Password: testpass

(Edit: this has been changed to: guest, password: guest.)

BTW - It has a lot of bugs so it would probably be best to be easy on it. But don't worry too much. I've got a backup.

Edit: Only the "development and design" threads are in operation....but the other ones can be replicated easily....I'm just too tired, ATM

[linbetwin]

Offtopic here... are you really a communist?

[Zensunni]

Heh,

Kind of,

I beleive in the ideal, but it doesn't mean I'm completely against capitalism. They both work if there's enough care put into the system.

But, I hate facist entities like huge conglomorate corporations.

[linbetwin]

Fortunately for you, you didn't live in a communist country like Romania used to be before 1989. Sorry to disappoint you (I hope I don't offend you) but the communist ideal is a dangerous illusion used to manipulate the masses into submission. If you hate huge conglomerate corporations, I'll have you know that the communist state was the biggest, most vicious conglomerate corporation of them all.

[Linux BASHer]

Fortunately for you, you didn't live in a communist country like Romania used to be before 1989. Sorry to disappoint you (I hope I don't offend you) but the communist ideal is a dangerous illusion used to manipulate the masses into submission. If you hate huge conglomerate corporations, I'll have you know that the communist state was the biggest, most vicious conglomerate corporation of them all.

I'll second that. This is why my parents had to leave their country.

Thanks,
Linux BASHer

[tomski]

nice forum may i suggest a different text colour as it is quite hard to read i ended up doing ctrl+a to be able to read but other than that the layout is v.nice

well done

[23meg]

Also the theme selector returns to gray regardless of what theme one chooses.

[Malphas]

Fortunately for you, you didn't live in a communist country like Romania used to be before 1989. Sorry to disappoint you (I hope I don't offend you) but the communist ideal is a dangerous illusion used to manipulate the masses into submission. If you hate huge conglomerate corporations, I'll have you know that the communist state was the biggest, most vicious conglomerate corporation of them all.
Isn't that more Stalinism-brand communism rather than the Marxist ideal though? I'm not a supporter of communism (or unbridled capitalism for that matter) but it does seem unfair sometimes to use examples of obvious dictatorships that weren't exactly what Karl Marx had in mind, as the criterion for the entire philosophy. A lot of believers in communism would probably argue that most - if not all - supposed communist regimes that exist/have existed are failures at achieving communism as it was originally intended. Personally I think "true" communism is a pretty niave concept and probably unachievable.

[xmastree]

Isn't that more Stalinism-brand communism rather than the Marxist ideal though?Careful, you'll have one of the moderators jumping in if you keep up the political discussion...

[xmastree]

Hmm. still a few bugs in there. I just tried the new thread button, called the thread W00T! and it came out as sh*tW00T!
I then made another, called Hmmm... with the content What's this?
But the Hmm... was added to the previous thread content, and the new one titled What\'s this?

[SteelValor]

Zensunni, you should send me all your old games. I'm opening a game museum next year and need more exhibits. :D

[Malphas]

Careful, you'll have one of the moderators jumping in if you keep up the political discussion...
The political discussion was already going before I posted. Also, I've yet to read any rule that forbids political discussion.

[lleb]

well back on topic, good start on your forum. that is something i will bring live someday for my school, so i hope.

anyways gratz again and keep hacking away.

[xequence]

Its quite cool. I think a new text based forum type is needed (if thats what your goal is). Maybe it can be as popular as phpbb someday :P

[Malphas]

Its quite cool. I think a new text based forum type is needed (if thats what your goal is). Maybe it can be as popular as phpbb someday :P
Have you checked out PunBB (http://www.punbb.org/)?

[xequence]

Have you checked out PunBB (http://www.punbb.org/)?

No, but thanks for the link. I am hoping to make a forum site myself sometime. (But paypal is stupid and wont work -.-)

Wow, it is small. The main page of the forums is 3.4 KB. Ive made text files 300 times bigger then that.

I think I might have just found forum software to use if I ever get my site running ;)

[Malphas]

If you do stay the hell away from phpBB. It's absolute crap. Go with PunBB or SMF, or if you're prepared to pay, you may wish to use vBulletin (personally though, I think it's bloated and inferior).

[Zensunni]

Thanks for the feedback,

I don't think the cookie is working. If it was, you'd be able to switch to another theme (unless your browser is blocking them) ....I think the orange one is easiest on the eyes.

I realize the code is quite brutal and will need a lot of adjustments. That's the fun of programming. Keep in mind that I only spent a day on this. My end goal is to make a shell for people to expand upon (which would probably require a complete reconfiguration of coding).

Oh, and as for the whole communist thing... I would probably enjoy a discussion if I were face to face, but I've learned that all people seem to do on forums is stomp their opinions on others. It wouldn't be a discussion, just an endless arguement. So, please, no further posting on the matter.

[majikstreet]

If you do stay the hell away from phpBB. It's absolute crap. Go with PunBB or SMF, or if you're prepared to pay, you may wish to use vBulletin (personally though, I think it's bloated and inferior).
I really disagree with that.

phpBB is not crap... It may be more "basic" at first, but you can add addons/plugins/mods to it... check out http://www.integramod.com PHPBB + many many mods.... I used to be a member with 700 posts on that site. my username was esher2292 fyi..

majikstreet

[Malphas]

It's not the basicness I have a problem with, PunBB is even more basic (but it also has mods and plugins for pretty much everything). My problems with phpBB are that it only outputs HTML 4.01 Transitional (PunBB outputs XHTML 1.0 Strict); it's buggy - even more so when you start throwing mods into the mix; 3.0 should have been completed years ago now, by the time it finally gets here it's going to be ridiculously dated (almost all of the new features are pretty much the standard now, and have been for some time); some of the development team left, which is no doubt going to make things worse; and the remaining developers have been badmouthing the users/community on their blogs.

[kassetra]

The political discussion was already going before I posted. Also, I've yet to read any rule that forbids political discussion.

There is only one area of the forum that political discussion is allowed, per the guidelines:


"The Backyard" is an unmoderated section of the forum for highly controversial discussions such as religion, politics etc. Please keep it clean and professional. "XXX" Rated posts and attacks against personal individuals or groups will be removed.

[xequence]

If you do stay the hell away from phpBB. It's absolute crap. Go with PunBB or SMF, or if you're prepared to pay, you may wish to use vBulletin (personally though, I think it's bloated and inferior).


I have a version of vbulletin in a zip file on my computer. Not sure if it works or not, I havnt tried it. I was on a site that used SMF and it didnt feel right. I personally like phpbb and vbulletin, but ill probably avoid phpbb now ;)

A couple weeks ago I was looking at phpbb styles and found the PERFECT one for the site I am hoping to make. It looks very underground-ish and cool.

[Malphas]

There is only one area of the forum that political discussion is allowed, per the guidelines:
You may wish to consider making that rule more explicit. The fact that there's a section for controversial discussions such as ones regarding politics doesn't make it immediately obvious that discussing politics is forbidden everywhere else. What about discussions about politics which aren't controversial, for example?

[kassetra]

You may wish to consider making that rule more explicit. The fact that there's a section for controversial discussions such as ones regarding politics doesn't make it immediately obvious that discussing politics is forbidden everywhere else. What about discussions about politics which aren't controversial, for example?

Currently, I have no desire to alter the guidelines - all politics, when discussed, are generally relegated to the alternate area.

[xmastree]

The political discussion was already going before I posted.My post wasn't aimed at you in particular, sorry if you took it that way.

[majikstreet]

It's not the basicness I have a problem with, PunBB is even more basic (but it also has mods and plugins for pretty much everything). My problems with phpBB are that it only outputs HTML 4.01 Transitional (PunBB outputs XHTML 1.0 Strict); it's buggy - even more so when you start throwing mods into the mix; 3.0 should have been completed years ago now, by the time it finally gets here it's going to be ridiculously dated (almost all of the new features are pretty much the standard now, and have been for some time); some of the development team left, which is no doubt going to make things worse; and the remaining developers have been badmouthing the users/community on their blogs.
ahh... I haven't been with the "forum scene" for a while..

@xequence: that doesn't mean you have to stay away from phpbb... do what you want, though!

@kassetra: I like the santa hat.

[Zensunni]

Okay, I've updated everything. It's actually in working order (hopefully).

I've also deleted the "testing:testpass" account and created a guest account:

Login: guest
pass: guest

Note: The registration will not actually register you. It will just send you an email.

Aside from a few touchups, I will leave this forum for a while now. When I come back to it, I will start from the ground again. After I've rebuilt it, I will put it out on the net as a downloadable beta. I would like to even make it available through the apt-get command.

Expect these things in the downloadable rebuild (beta):
-Hexidecimal color customization
-Full guide with configuration instructions and process map
-MySQL adaptation
-a name

What not to expect:
-formatting with images
-complexity
-to be forced or obligated to donate

What to expect on the horizin:
-admin browser customization interface
-signatures
-account section
-Two versions: code-core and friendly-core
-whatever else I think of....

[benplaut]

i actually like IPB... it looks nice, and is easy to theme. i must try PunBB, however (does anyone know of a good free host?)

Zensunni - that's looking nice... quite lightweight :)

[WildTangent]

This is looking interesting so far, I'll definately have to give it a try.

I'm more of a fan of IPB myself, since I know how it works, and how to skin it. I've always wanted to try phpBB for my own forum, but I may now try punBB instead. BTW, I dislike SMF...and I'm not too crazy on vBulletin either.

-Wild