1.3? (Page 1 of 2)

Presonally I think PM is allmost necessary in a forum today. At least there could be an option to enable or disable the PM-function. Polls is not that important I think, but it's a nice feature.

I think you could use (with permission of course) the modules Chacmool wrote för 1.1.5, or at least consider creating something compatible to those (at least the PM-module) ...

PM: I'm beginning to change my mind. Personally I don't like them or have any use for them. However, my impression is they are beginning to be regarded as a core feature of any bbs system rather than a high end luxury. Once a feature is regarded as standard then you have problems if you don't have it. Just so long as it can be turned off.

Polls: complete fluff.

Searching: This is quality versus quantity. If the aim is to make PunBB as good as it possibly can be then the question answers itself.

EDIT: Isn't it a bit soon to evaluate how popular sqlite proves to be?

PunBB is a forum software so in my opinion anything that is not a part of a forum or a bulletin board system shouldn't be included in the base package. Concurring the previous points and adding one that is not yet mentioned here.

Personal messages: As said before the e-mail field is there for purpose. I agree that some people think that pm's are a must, so a mod is in place for those who feel they need it. It's not a part of core functionality of a bulletin board system. Take a look at the following quote from a dictionary (emphasis is mine):

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I have used punbb earlier with the pm mod that is availlable at punres. For my forums I need some pm system too and it might just be the mod (after it's updated naturally) which I will install myself if I need to. I'm not against pm's in general, but as a part of a lightweight forum system.
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Polls: My personal view is that they are not needed at all. At least not in base package. You can do polls without fancy tick boxes just by posting a regular thread asking for peoples opinion. The after effect is that people who vote have to think about what they are doing and usually these polls lead to something better than pre-set, click-through poll values. As a mod for who might need it, but not as a part of the base package.

User permissions: The group based authentication introduced in 1.2 makes maintaining what users can see a lot easier. I see it as a way to create different bulletin boards for different people. However, to make things even easier (or more complex some might think) adding the possibility to be in more than one group at once would be a nice addition making the forum more robust. User authentication is clearly a part of bulletin board functionality even if it violates the quote above. You can use magic ink on public boards too.

Haha, true

Jacq: I generally agree with you regarding user groups, but, and that's a big but (hoho), a user group system that allows users to be members of more than one group is a lot more complex. As it is now, basically all permission checks are done in SQL. This is great because it keeps the script code nice and readable. I very much doubt that would be the case if several groups were involved. You'd have to somehow merge permissions from different groups to figure out what permission applies to the user in question. I'm talking about conflicting permissions. Members of group A are not allowed to use the search feature, but member of group B are. Which permission should apply to a user that is a member of both groups? The usual solution to this is to use three different permission settings instead of two (e.g. allow, disallow and deny). I'm just not sure I like that solution.

I have done an extensive usergroup system (to another project of mine, non PunBB related) ... as I needed alot of control, but the php function to check permission gets quite large, instead of a couple of lines, one need alot more, to handle overrides, defaults etc. And if one would start doing many of these, performance will suffer... (for my thing I might do upwards to 200 separate checks for a single page, and even though I cache the results to speed things up, it use up quite alot of time figuring out what I can see and what's hidden)

Couldn?t you release an official ad-on to the forum with PMs, or release two versions of the forum? Maybe it's too much work for you to change things in two versions... Then people have a choice.

Nothing. That's why I don't think pms and polls are needed in the base system as the mods are working great.

I think the permissions can be checked from multiple groups and still let the mysql engine do all the work. It's a KISS method, but I won't litter this thread with the specifics though.

Frank,

I think the main reason people can be leery of mods is the fact that they are not done by the PunBB authors, and when a punbb update is released, they feel the need to wait until the mods they have installed are either tested & approved, or updated to work with the new version before they update their forum.  Maybe they way mods get installed can be handled differently to help ease the pain upgrading? I know when I worked with other packages in the past, handling mods after patches and upgrades was a daunting task.  You have to also remember that not everyone knows PHP & MySQL...  So the easier you make a system to install and work with the better.  How this is done, I don't know.  I like how the plugin feature works by dropping a file with the proper name in the folder and its added to the admin section "Brilliant".  maybe something like that could be done for mods except on a folder basis rather than file.  I am sure most mods encompass more than one file.  I believe this is how systems like post-nuke and such work.

I am relativly new to the punbb world, and I am not exactly sure how current mods are installed and handled, but I feel they should be handled as Add-Ons, and not Mods (Modifications). If a Mod has to change any of the core files or database tables to work, than IMO its not a mod in the sense of module, but rather a modification.  Modules/Add-ons could be made to install their own tables, have their own functions/classes/methods if needed, and use existing functions from the core files.  When looking for mods on other systems, as soon as I see that it will be modifing core files or database tables, I move on.  Just my opinion.  Like I said I have not had to chance to look at the MDK for mod dev guidlines so I may be all wrong in my thinking. 

If the mission statement of PunBB is the embody the K.I.S.S. method, then a PM system or Poll System should not be added to the core functionality of the app itself.  They can be handled as plugins - addons - modules, whatever you like to call them.  I think there will be a need in the future for offical and non-offical modules.  I'd feel safer installing a mod knowing that it has the blessing of Rickard.

Again, this is just my thoughts and opinions.

http://punbb.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=4974 - this could make mods ALOT better

Personally I think PM is not essential because it can be replaced with emails. But polls are very important for a community. Right now the only thing keeps me from doing upgrade to 1.2 is the punpoll mod.

well the plugin system doesn't mean mods don't need to edit files it only allows extra admin pages