General

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

Jack Roberts — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 10:50:40 GMT

There is a mybb irc chan on freenode i think it is and they can be very helpful with migrating databases from other forum software to mybb.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

liberation — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 10:04:58 GMT

So,

Why don't you just use MyBB? Best free forum software out there.

http://www.mybb.com/

What forum engine actually this is? The worst I've ever seen.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

AJ — Mon, 02 May 2011 03:38:54 GMT

Nielsio:

you have to remember that you can drastically adapt the look and feel of forum software (for example, to make it look how it does now).

Oh, that changes things then. I do definitely prefer this overall look to the new one, FWIW.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

Nielsio — Sun, 01 May 2011 23:55:02 GMT

AJ:

I agree. I'd much rather have quotes and the editor working as they did than have the new style in community.mises.org. Most Internet forums feel cheap and campy to me, without the visual appeal and cleanness that these forums have. When you post here, it sort of feels important, which I think is good. I'd like tree-threading like Reddit/LessWrong/Slashdot, but not if everything has to break to do it. The old style before the quoting was broken (but minus the slowness) would be plenty improvement for now.

That sense of importanceness probably has more to do with the site, the people, and the Mises culture than the forum looks. It does play a part, but you have to remember that you can drastically adapt the look and feel of forum software (for example, to make it look how it does now).

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

AJ — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:13:36 GMT

filc:

Israel Curtis:
All I know is that everyone hates it

Prior to the last update, before quotes were broke, what exactly was there to hate? How many people were actually complaining? It's usually a small group of people who shout the loudest but they don't necessarily always represent the entire community. IMHO, prior to last years update when quotes and WYSWYG editor worked correctly, It was one of the best forum platforms out there. It still looks far cleaner and more attractive then most other forums out there.

Taking a look at http://community.mises.org/forums/, it just looks and feels like a huge step backwards.

I agree. I'd much rather have quotes and the editor working as they did than have the new style in community.mises.org. Most Internet forums feel cheap and campy to me, without the visual appeal and cleanness that these forums have. When you post here, it sort of feels important, which I think is good. I'd like tree-threading like Reddit/LessWrong/Slashdot, but not if everything has to break to do it. The old style before the quoting was broken (but minus the slowness) would be plenty improvement for now.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

Jack Roberts — Sun, 01 May 2011 19:03:06 GMT

Or you could do it like Reddit, or even better, like LessWrong.

slashdot.org has a good comment tree system.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

filc — Sun, 01 May 2011 18:59:22 GMT

Israel Curtis:
All I know is that everyone hates it

Prior to the last update, before quotes were broke, what exactly was there to hate? How many people were actually complaining? It's usually a small group of people who shout the loudest but they don't necessarily always represent the entire community. IMHO, prior to last years update when quotes and WYSWYG editor worked correctly, It was one of the best forum platforms out there. It still looks far cleaner and more attractive then most other forums out there.

Taking a look at http://community.mises.org/forums/, it just looks and feels like a huge step backwards.

Just my 2C. The current software would be perfect if quotes and the WYSWYG editor was fixed. Other then that the current posts are very easy to read, very clean, and it's easy for a poster to focus on the material in each post rather then distractions from functions around. Any added functions in the software only seek to add to the discussion. Like the star system, and suggesting a correct answer to a question, and having a link to reference each individual post, ect....

If it's an expense issue however and the licensing just costs too much I can understand that.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

Marko — Sun, 01 May 2011 17:29:47 GMT

I have a suggestion for the new forum:

Make it so that by default private messages are enabled and that users opt out of them.

Here we have so that they disabled and users opt in to have them enabled.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

AJ — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 06:35:32 GMT

The way to do effective tree-threading for posts is this:

The Active Topics page looks the same. But when you click on a thread, instead of going straight to all posts, it expands a map of the thread itself. It shows who replied to the OP and the branching trees of replies to each person. Personal arguments between two posters you don't care about form one single branch that is separate from the rest.

1st reply to OP (just the poster's name is shown)

Reply to the 1st reply (again just the poster's name)

Reply to the reply to the 1st reply

Angry personal reply

Angry response

[More flaming personal stuff...]

Another reply to the first reply

Reply to OP

Reply to the second reply

Reply to the reply to the second reply

[Interesting conversation develops between two discussants...]

Reply to OP

So if you see a long, snaking back and form exchange between two people you don't want to read, you can completely ignore it. You don't have to scroll past it in this lame vertical format. This makes it actually possible to go off on tangents in threads without destroying the main thread and making it unreadable after the second page, as is now the norm. It makes it way easier to follow the discussion as it branches out into various sub-discussions, instead of how it currently always peters out or turns into a cacophony of different arguments that only the most careful and dedicated can keep track of, with people constantly wondering who's replying to whom, and having to include some kind of quote to make that clear when there is otherwise no need.

The only disadvantage to that is you have click on each individual post to read it, but that could be remedied by having a button to "Expand all posts replying to this one."

Or you could do it like Reddit, or even better, like LessWrong.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

Nielsio — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 17:51:30 GMT

Israel Curtis:

Jeffrey passed your comments on to me. I would be one of those "technical people" ;-)

I'll confess up front that I have not been eating "at this table" (the old teligent community system) and thus am not versed in the specific grievances you might have with it. All I know is that everyone hates it (members and admins), and thus I've been trying (amongst other mises projects) to get the new community off the ground. I got close some months ago, and am now back on the job...

I am a wordpress developer by trade, and have been responsible for nearly all of the migration to linux/apache/mysql/php for the blog, academy, wiki, etc.

While I agree that putting up a standard phpBB/myBB forum would be rather simple (and would serve very well as a forum), the choice to go with the wordpress multisite / buddypress system for the new community was based on the desire to have the community be more than just forums - to continue to allow users to host their own content (blogs), socialize/connect (groups/members), and discuss (forums). The old Teligent software we've been running here covered all those bases, but it's too expensive, too closed, and too hated.

Of course, wordpress does blogs like no other, and phpBB (+variants) do forums like no other - but the Mises universe already had so many separate systems, each with their own login accounts, that spawning even more was not desired. Wordpress/Buddypress was the best solution for open, free software that covered all the bases while allowing for a single userbase.

The weaker link in the new system is definitely bbPress (the forums inside Buddypress), as it doesn't have the developer base that Wordpress does, and so development goes much more slowly. I've only recently got tinyMCE (rich-text) editor working for forum posts (you'd think that would have been in the core long ago), and I'd love it if someone could solve the issue of threaded replies...

There are some very close updates to Buddypress and to the social-network integration component Buddystream which should help a lot. Stay tuned for more updates...

Okay,

I'm beginning to warm up to the concept. I see what the function of a Group is now (though I don't know if it's usable in practise, maybe you can explain how it will work?), and it is nice if users of the 'community' can post their own blog in Wordpress style.

As far as threaded replies go: Do you mean with indentation, similar to Wordpress blog comments? Because I don't think that's very readable in forums. Take zerohedge.com for example, their comments are an absolute disaster. It could possibly work if it was collapsable. I would say quoting with a statement who you're quoting and a link to the original post is the way to go. Very standard for forums.

I would also get rid of one post gray background next post white background. It's not calm to the eyes.

Why a rich text editor? Activating links and posting youtube videos is too much of a bother with it, especially for new users. Copy-pasting is also a problem with them because mark-up is brought over. No major forums use it, and for good reasons.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

Giant_Joe — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:57:45 GMT

Sounds like good stuff.

Thanks, Israel.

Neilso,

I would volunteer. But there is nobody I can offer it to because Jeffrey Tucker nor anyone else is responding to email or questions elsewhere. I'm suspecting this is because Jeffrey and the technical people (I have no idea who they are) have an idea of what they want and are not interested in any deviation from it.

You can follow some (but not all) of the tech talk here:

http://groups.google.com/group/misesdev/topics?pli=1

I haven't been able to find much forum stuff there, but you might be able to chip in your 2c.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

Israel Curtis — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 07:23:25 GMT

Jeffrey passed your comments on to me. I would be one of those "technical people" ;-)

I'll confess up front that I have not been eating "at this table" (the old teligent community system) and thus am not versed in the specific grievances you might have with it. All I know is that everyone hates it (members and admins), and thus I've been trying (amongst other mises projects) to get the new community off the ground. I got close some months ago, and am now back on the job...

I am a wordpress developer by trade, and have been responsible for nearly all of the migration to linux/apache/mysql/php for the blog, academy, wiki, etc.

While I agree that putting up a standard phpBB/myBB forum would be rather simple (and would serve very well as a forum), the choice to go with the wordpress multisite / buddypress system for the new community was based on the desire to have the community be more than just forums - to continue to allow users to host their own content (blogs), socialize/connect (groups/members), and discuss (forums). The old Teligent software we've been running here covered all those bases, but it's too expensive, too closed, and too hated.

Of course, wordpress does blogs like no other, and phpBB (+variants) do forums like no other - but the Mises universe already had so many separate systems, each with their own login accounts, that spawning even more was not desired. Wordpress/Buddypress was the best solution for open, free software that covered all the bases while allowing for a single userbase.

The weaker link in the new system is definitely bbPress (the forums inside Buddypress), as it doesn't have the developer base that Wordpress does, and so development goes much more slowly. I've only recently got tinyMCE (rich-text) editor working for forum posts (you'd think that would have been in the core long ago), and I'd love it if someone could solve the issue of threaded replies...

There are some very close updates to Buddypress and to the social-network integration component Buddystream which should help a lot. Stay tuned for more updates...

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

DanielMuff — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:56:12 GMT

Yes, Daniel James Sanchez.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

Nielsio — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 22:19:22 GMT

Daniel Muffinburg:

Email DJS.

I don't what that stands for/who that is. The Mises faculty page lists David Veksler as Lead developer. Is that him?

edit: Oh, you mean Sanchez.

Re: My thoughts on the forum software

Wibee — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 22:14:30 GMT

Anything is better than this current software unfortunately. If the quote button actually does what it is supposed to do, that would be a huge step forward. I dislike the compatability issues with Opera... :(