PunBB 1.2 (Page 4 of 6)

you don't need a mail server to send emails through PunBB though do you?

My vote:
==>  Forget the Private Messages and Polls. 
They waste space on my server.  I like this forum because it's lean and mean, and I hope it stays that way.

Rickard, I just got news of the v1.2 release!  Very cool, very exciting.  I can't wait to install it and play with it.  Thanks so much.  I love that it's xhtml 1.0 strict - that's what I write with.  You're the man!

My apologies to Paul.  We talked about this a few months ago and I knew there were several of you involved with this project.  Taking another look at the first post, I see that you credit Paul Sullivan for the semantically correct xhtml/css, and Bert Garcia for the documentation.  Is it mainly the 3 of you or are there others?

>>> "Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."
LOL.  Great tagline.

Regarding upgrading from 1.1.5 --
Would it be just as easy if I make any needed changes to the old database, delete the forum files, and then do a basic install of 1.2?  It won't be any trouble for me to have my forum down while doing that.  Is doing a clean install of 1.2 (while saving the old database and modifying it via phpMyadmin) easier than following the upgrade procedure?

You have hit the nail on the head. There is no universal answer for this and I'm willing to bet there are more people for it than against it anyway. The answer wether or not to have a PM system can not be decided in a poll. If 51% vote no and 49% vote yes then there is a lot of people who would like a left out.

The solution is to make the PM system opional, toggle it on or off.

Some people here have been trying to tell others that they don't need a PM system. Who are they to say that? Everyone who would like one has a very good reason for saying so. The email form is no substitute for a PM system and never will be in my eyes and the eyes of others who wish to use a PM system.

I'm not going to explain my reasons for needing them once more since they shouldn't need justifying anyway. I simply asked if it was planned for the future and still have no answer so I guess I should take that as a no. A definate answer would be a plus however as I would like to know for certain before I start work on a PM system which I will have on my site one way or another.

Connorhd, PM's are more obvious that Emails? How did you work that out? I don't have an advertisement for PM's on my site and the PM button is no bigger than the Email button. People are given a fair choice between the two and they choose the PM system everytime.

Maybe someone should release punBBpm lol

thats not really a solution as for alot of people that is a bloat

i think you'll find most people will click the PM button if there is one as they think it is better, or easier to send a PM than to send an email, since many people don't "look after" their email account as well as they could

yeh Chacmool did for 1.1.5 and hes working on 1.2

i'm not saying they are more popular i'm saying email is a good alternative, even if its an option its still there, its still in the code and taking up space

OK you misunderstood me Rickard. I am well versed in PHP and fully understand that it would still be there if included in the way you are thinking of. I meant making it in such away that you can install just upload the mod and then enable it As soon as the Mod is launced it auto-installs it's DB tables. That would be nice

As for the PM's being more popular than Emails, surely you didn't think I mean that outside of forums? Inside forums, PM's rule

Yes, it would. Any ideas?

I never said it did.

Sure. But what about when someone wants me to add attachment support? Or what about an avatar gallery? A full-fledged template system perhaps? I have to be very, very careful with what features I choose to implement or one day, I'll wake up and will have turned PunBB into a new vBulletin. Then all the work will have been in vain.

maybe you should take some interest in this - http://punbb.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=4974

Any ideas Rickard, what type of ideas do you want exactly?

I understand your point about adding too many features but even with all the features you just listed punBB wouldn't be to bloated.

To me bloat means two things:
1) Two many gimmicks (features of no real use that will rarely be used).
2) Slow in speed due to no bad use of PHP code and/or lack of consideration for performance.

PunBB's code is such that even with those features you mentioned I can't see it having a great impact on the forums. The code is tight and there has clearly been care taken to improve performance where possible.

Anyone can code a forum (well anyone who can code but you know what I mean), it's easy to assume that your script will perform just as well on your host as it does on your local host. The hard part is making the code good speed/resource wise, spoting ways to rewrite this process in a better way or restructing a system.

I guess the decision has to be made just how minamalist punBB should be. I think there is a balance and that balance is decided by how much need there is for a particuar feature.

What you have to do is look at your target audience, I understand that punBB is minamal and it's an attractive feature that it isn't too similar to other forums. However, if you had two versions of PunBB, This version and a version in with all the features you mentioned. Which one do you think would have the most downloads by now

It's a difficult choice Rickard, one that only you can make. Only you know which direction you want punBB to take

Fast and Minimal or Fast and Featurefull?

Connorhd and Bwongar you posted whist I was writing my last post so I'll reply to those first.

Connorhd, thanks for the link, a usefull and interesting project.

Bwongar not too sure about how your idea would work. I think I would just prefer a normal PM system lol. P.S. Nice site you have there, just checked it out *Bookmark's Site *

Now, Connorhd I understand what you are saying and yet it's easy to write software to please the masses. However in this case the masses want performance and that comes at a price. What I'm talking about is a balance between features and performance.

As for PunBB not being made to get the most downloads I understand that but is it so bad if more people download it because it has a PM system for instance? Like I say, it's a balance

I think there is a solution floating around here somewhere guys

Can you emplain how PM's effect thread hi-jacking? Not saying I dissagree, just interested in your logic

Hey no prob. If I see something that deserves a comment I'll give it one