I'm a little lost on this forum software. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: RamboJj
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2013, 04:33:08 am
content: is there not a way to subscribe to threads and see them in the user control panel or have I missed a button somewhere. I would have thought being a geeks forum there would have been a lot more tools for us to track what we are doing.Is there a waiting period for access to such tools or something?I know there are a lot of other forum software packages out there that offer so much more. I hate to be the NewB that is "that guy" but man, this forum really seems stripped of any and all normal features found on any other. Especially my own forums.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 30, 2013, 06:10:26 am
content: There is a Notify button that will allow you to subscribe to the thread. Also there is that option when you post a message.This is a standard Simple Machine Forum installation, it has the exact same features as every other SMF forum.If there are any feature plug-in's you think the forum needs, then please point them out and they can be installed.Dave.

author: RamboJj
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 03:15:25 pm
content: okay, it seems that the notify button wasn't there the 1st time I posted, interesting. I see it now though.I will have to look into some hacks for this version of forum software. This is the first time I've been on a simple machines run forum. I'm so used to vB and like software that I guess I've gotten a little spoiled in the features department.Some things I notice that would be really nice is subscription list and also quick shortcut to all threads I posted in. I'll see if I can come up with some good hacks/plugins for such items but that may take some time. I'm going back to school right now so my time has been mostly nothing but Chem, Calc and all the other crazy classes I'm taking each semester. I have 5 this semester and next will be probably 6.... Yeah, I have lots of fun.... LOL./ If you believe that I'll tell you a few more...

author: SLJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 04:04:01 pm
content: Quote from: RamboJj on January 31, 2013, 03:15:25 pmClick on your profile button and select "Summery" from the drop down list. Then select "Show Posts" on the left under your avatar.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 08:59:32 pm
content: Quote from: RamboJj on January 31, 2013, 03:15:25 pmYou will find the top three (vBulletin, phpBB, and SMF) are all very similar.When I started this forum, it was just somewhere to have a few people chat about the blog, so buying a commercial vBulletin was not justified.I liked SMF better than phpBB so used that. I used to use early versions of phpBB on another site, but the newer version was a mess in the configuration and maintenance department IMO.As the forum has grown into one of the biggest in the industry, vBulletin would now be easily justified, but with this stuff you do get locked in. People don't like change.Dave.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 09:11:48 pm
content: These forum softwares are all a step backwards, compared to what we old farts knew and used as Usenet news readers. Before net news degraded to a warez delivery service. Discussion trees, all kinds or regexp filters, on all kinds of things. Search functions that worked, blazingly fast, no database errors. Oh, those were the days.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 10:01:19 pm
content: Quote from: Bored@Work on January 31, 2013, 09:11:48 pmYeah, not being able to ban trolls and nutters from the group, news servers that never worked reliably, messages taking forever to propagate, or not at all sometimes, no ability to upload and keep files and images, and I could go on.Yeah, those were the days!Dave.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 11:00:36 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on January 31, 2013, 10:01:19 pmThat's what filters were for. And not only to filter out nutters and trolls, but the typical idiot subjects like "Help!!!", "urgent" or classics like "$$$". A few such rules were all it took. Plus clever stuff like "if user X and user Y appear both in a subthread then filter the whole subthread from the point where either X or Y showed up". Try that with SMF ...QuoteThat just depended on the quality of your ISP and if they had a clue or not to manage a news server with proper connections to other news servers. Combining two or more feeds for increased reliability also was no problem.And don't tell us forum software works flawlessly and any ISP will do. How often did you have to change ISP now because the ISP sucked? How often users still get database errors?QuoteStrange, the file sharers who have taken over news, manage to do that just fine, distributing whole videos. And in the old days we already had the binary groups to upload files, including images. Of course only if your ISP didn't suck and did carry the binary groups.And really, these modern script kiddies writing forum software could learn a thing or two from those old news readers. Filter, searching, sorting, automating, topic tree representation, editors, navigation between postings, effective use of a database (how many DB queries does SMF do to show a simple thread?), to name a few.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 31, 2013, 11:40:02 pm
content: Quote from: Bored@Work on January 31, 2013, 11:00:36 pmShame many people don't know how to do that or don't want to do that, so they get bombarded with the crap and eventually leave.Same for newcomers, all they see is the vitriol and never want to contribute.The result is the group eventually dies, with only the die-hards left.QuoteGreat, so a community that is dependant upon your ISP? That's a good idea!Not everyone gets to chose their ISP.The free various news servers were not much better. The paid ones were a bit bitter, but not everyone wants to pay to access usenet.The amount of times I had to chop and change news servers was ridiculous.It was all simply a PITA.QuoteMuch less hassle than usenet!I've had 3 web hosts in 4 years for this forum (ISP has nothing to do with it!)The first was cheap shared host that has worked flawlessly for me for 10 years, but eventually got too slow to handle all the load of the blog, the forum, all my websites, and the video streaming.The 2nd one was simply a bad choice, they were a cloud company that had too many issues, so I ditched them.The third is a proper dedicated server tat costs real $$$. Not given a single problem since day one.The forum either works 100%, and everyone sees the same stuff in real time, or it doesn't work at all. Much better than the hotch-potch that is usenet, that depends upon which ISP and/or news server you chose, how all the server propagation works, and which reader program you chose to use and how you set it up.With a BBS web forum, everyone everywhere gets the same experience and instant data access. No program required, use any machine, any O/S, anywhere, any time. Your ISP only determines how fast the page is loaded.And yes, the forum software works flawlessly. I have not really found one bug in all the years I've been running various BBS forums, certainly not any show stoppers. There are the odd minor things that simply gets fixed in the next update of course.The thing with a forum, is that once it's set up and running, then it just works the same for everyone. Only the owner has to worry about keeping it running, the users just use it.QuoteOnce again, not everyone gets to chose their ISP. Binary groups was an awful service! That why most didn't use it, so usenet ended up being a hotpotch of people storing files anywhere they could. Their own ISP directory, temporary upload websites, etc. It was a mess. Or they simply didn't share anything because it was all too hard.QuoteMost people aren't complaining about the features offered by modern BBS forums.I used to be one of the top posters on a usenet electronics group, and I do not miss it one bit. BBS style forums are superior in usability in almost every way.Dave.

author: baljemmett
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2013, 12:42:59 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on January 31, 2013, 11:40:02 pmAnd one, alas, that some people seem determined to repeat -- witness the occasional debates here about whether to use the forum's attachment options, so that your photos stay with your text until the forum as a whole disappears, or to stash your pictures on some image host somewhere so that in five years time someone looking for answers finds your "see the indicated component in this image, and don't touch anything else or you'll blow the entire thing up" and a "this image has been moved or deleted" placeholder.Not that this is a particular bugbear of mine, you understand...QuoteThe number one (IMO) killer feature of newsgroups which only a few web discussion systems have copied is threading. It makes life so much easier to be able to follow a discussion which has branched in several directions. The quote function and links on here allow for a poor substitute (and again, see the learning-from-history issue), but... Yeah. Someone lift me off the fence, I'm getting splinters.(Hmm, I've just realised that I haven't opened my newsreader in something like six months, because I've switched main machines. Oops.)

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2013, 01:10:28 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on January 31, 2013, 08:59:32 pmvBulletin is never justified. Nor is Invision Power Bollocks. It's like cPanel, they're only used because of the attitude that free cannot be good.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2013, 01:14:53 am
content: Quote from: baljemmett on February 01, 2013, 12:42:59 amWell, yes, it's always going to be an issue.But IME, I see sharing of attachment info on forums an order of magnitude or two more often than I ever saw on usenet. It's always less when the forum doesn't allow attachments, like is the case with a group on usenet.QuoteYes, I don't disagree. But that's the only real advantage I can think of in terms of usability.But it never stopped someone polluting a good branched thread anyway, so often you'd end up with many good branches in the one main thread.I kinda miss it a bit, but you find ways to make do, like just ignoring the entire thread if it goes somewhere you don't like. So now it's 2nd nature.Dave.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2013, 01:16:45 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on February 01, 2013, 01:10:28 amThat's not what I hear. I hear that vBulletin generally offers more and better functionality than SMF and phpBB, and is the #1 BBS forum software for that reason? But I could be wrong...Dave.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2013, 01:23:34 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on February 01, 2013, 01:16:45 amMy experience with vBulletin is that they've been playing catchup with free software for years. Anything it does, phpBB probably did first, even if it was a third party addon. vBulletin doesn't even support UTF-8 last I checked.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2013, 02:53:45 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on February 01, 2013, 01:23:34 amIf that's true that's really, really sad. Playing catch-up with the competitors is one thing, but catch-up with the late 90s? Come on...

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2013, 03:00:22 am
content: Quote from: c4757p on February 01, 2013, 02:53:45 amWelcome to proprietary software, enjoy your stay.

author: RamboJj
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 09:04:48 am
content: Quote from: SLJ on January 31, 2013, 04:04:01 pmIt just seems like you have to jump from link to link to get what you want, just my opinion though...Quote from: EEVblog on January 31, 2013, 08:59:32 pmphpBB does have it's benefits though, there is a rather large community that really does put out some great mods for it so it can easily be tailored to have some nice looks and benefits for your needs. It just depends on what kind of work you are willing to put into it.Quote from: Bored@Work on January 31, 2013, 09:11:48 pmYou do have a couple points but a lot of the other points are kind of mute at this point anymore as there are so many other benefits to the newer systems anymore.Quote from: Monkeh on February 01, 2013, 01:10:28 amI quite disagree with this set of statements here. If you enjoy good structure and menus then vB is the way to go. I however do agree that IPB is not so great. They pretty much failed in a number of areas. There are a few other up and coming forum softwares though that I have been keeping an eye on the last couple years though.Vanilla and bbpress are pretty decent, myBB is another one as well.Quote from: EEVblog on January 30, 2013, 06:10:26 amDave, I've been using vB for the last 10 years and I like it, I haven't upgraded to the newest though because of needing to get members back on the site but that's been largely due to the decline in the automotive scene due to the economy taking a crap but it's starting to pick back up lately.Once my membership activity gets back up to par I'm going to be getting the newest version of vB.Once I get some time though I'll do a little digging and see if I can't find a couple good menu type mods for you.

author: RamboJj
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 09:11:59 am
content: Damn, now I forgot what I came here to post tonight, oops.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 09:29:58 am
content: Quote from: RamboJj on February 04, 2013, 09:04:48 amSo does SMF. It is the 2nd biggest free BBS forum software behind phpBB.One big advantage of SMF is that mods can be added or removed with a few clicks. No source code mods, tech knowledge, or even FTP access required.Dave.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 02:19:39 pm
content: Quote from: RamboJj on February 04, 2013, 09:04:48 amYay, endless tiers of menus, just what I have never wanted on a website.

author: RamboJj
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 11:43:11 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on February 04, 2013, 09:29:58 amPlugin based system are really nice to have. I will probably end up messing with SMF for my other site over the summer. Right now Chem, Calc, and my other classes are pretty muchall that I do right now, lol.Quote from: Monkeh on February 04, 2013, 02:19:39 pmUhhhh no, pretty much every user option is no more than 1-2 menu selections down. Yes the back end is a bit complicated but for good reason, all the options that are there.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 11:46:17 pm
content: Quote from: RamboJj on February 04, 2013, 11:43:11 pm1-2 menu selections too far, thanks. Menus don't belong on a website, especially the sort which automatically pop up (an affliction IPB thankfully does not usually suffer from).

author: RamboJj
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 11:54:04 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on February 04, 2013, 11:46:17 pmWow, you are so critical of the least things. I prefer good organization over just having a mess of links all over the place.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 11:56:23 pm
content: Quote from: RamboJj on February 04, 2013, 11:54:04 pmSo, you don't like SMF because it doesn't have menus and I don't like IPB because it does.. (among many other things..)Pot, meet kettle.

author: RamboJj
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 01:42:33 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on February 04, 2013, 11:56:23 pmyou're reading into my posts. I like SMF because it can be modded with plugins vs code editing. which through plugins I can get menus like I like....Do read into posts that don't explicitly say what you are thinking, you have a strong chance you are wrong.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2013, 02:07:52 am
content: SMF is awesome! Try using Telligent;it has good looks but really sucks in several usability aspects. I know from personal experience...