• Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Topic: Unusual punbb implementation

I need to setup a bulletin board-esque system for use by a bunch of senior citizens (in conjunction with their 50th class reunion). The intent here is for them to be able to post and reply to comments as well as post images. Because they're elderly, many of them are (more than) a little technophobic, so this needs to be a 1-page deal, and as simple to use and minimalistic as humanly possible. I'll want to strip out as many features, links, etc. as I possibly can. Less is more for old fart technophobes! wink The good news is, I'm plenty comfortable editing the php and css code. The bad is that it's not always so easy to find!

I'd like the login to be non-verified and allow instant access, but I also want people to be recognized when they return. (No big deal - enable cookies, but disable the password mechanism - but is that possible?) Of course, I'd like to prevent bots if there's any good way to do so, but obviously I'm eliminating some of the main tools for doing so! Likewise, some sort of system needs to be used for posting (preferably not challenge/response image-text verification since that will confuse many of them - not to mention eyesight issues.) I will supplement anti-bot measures by moderating the forum regularly.

So my questions are...
1. Can anyone point me to a similar implementation of punbb? If someone has done this, I'd love to take a look.
2. Any suggestions as to the best way to pull this off?
3. If I manage to pull this off, should I post it somehow for others to use? (As a mod? As a custom "full" install?) Or has someone already done this? (I can always hope! big_smile)

  • Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

I should probably clarify something... when I said "a 1-page deal", I meant that reply would be exclusively via Quick Post (I'd want to add code for uploading images, though) and all "Post reply" links would simply link to the Quick Post section at the bottom of the page. (Though maybe it would make more sense - to them - at the top of the page.) I would still need a second page, though, because I'd want to use a login page. It would be displayed whenever someone (wasn't logged in and) clicked "Post reply", "Quote" or "Submit" (after entering a comment.)

3 Reply by Donny Bahama (edited by Donny Bahama 2007-01-17 00:38)

  • Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

Hey, here's a thought (now I'm in brainstorming mode - anyone care to join me?) - What about a self-policing forum? If the query that populates the page included "WHERE 'badpost'=0" then anyone could flag an objectionable post - and when they did, it would instantly go away. This could work within a small, focused group of people who aren't real tech-savvy. At least until someone started abusing it by disappearing all the posts of the guy who used to beat him up in high school! lol ) Of course, flagged posts would have to be reviewed by a moderator, and easily restored, too. Banning abusers would be tough, given the accessibility of the forum, though.

  • Registered: 2006-06-05
  • Posts: 410

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

Donny Bahama wrote:

then anyone could flag an objectionable post - and when they did, it would instantly go away.

You might be interested in this: http://www.punres.org/files.php?pid=331

So, is this supposed to be like a guestbook?

  • Registered: 2006-04-30
  • Posts: 382

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

In that casei would create a table to relate posts with badpostreports and the origin user and eventualy ip address.
If more than, lets say... three people report a post than a maintainance script would drop it.

  • Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

guardian34 wrote:

You might be interested in this: http://www.punres.org/files.php?pid=331

Cool. Thanks for the link.

So, is this supposed to be like a guestbook?

Closer to a chat room, I suppose. It basically is a forum. Imagine a punbb forum with only one category, one forum and one topic ("Hello classmates!") - and everyone posts to that topic. No more need for the main index, since there's only one category - and no more need for a list of topics on the forum page, since there's only one topic. May as well skip directly to the topic page, right? From there the goal is to just make it as simple and as easy as possible for seniors.

  • Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

Since I got such a useful, helpful link related to that aspect of my idea, how about this one (is there some mod that someone knows of that's similar to)...

Part 1 - I'd like posts to say "in reply to" with a link to the specific post they're replying to (I'm sure that one's out there - it's an easy one, but...)
Part 2 - I'd like posts that have been replied to to have a line at the bottom which says, "Replies: 1 2 3 4" - where the numbers are links to the specific reply posts.

  • Registered: 2006-04-30
  • Posts: 382

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

mmm...
in that case i would recomend you something else than punbb.
Would a threaded tagboard do it?

i mean, something like this:
http://www.dotcomjunkies.com/members/St … ven/forum/

in that case i would recomend you tribby board:
http://www.tribby.com/board/
it has not been maintanined for years but is still great.

Since you need user acounts then maybe phorum would be more suitable as you can use a threaded view.
http://phorum.org

  • Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

pedrotuga wrote:

in that case i would recomend you something else than punbb.
Would a threaded tagboard do it?

I have no idea what a threaded tagboard is, but thank you very much for the links - I'll check them out and report back. Hacking punbb to do this would have been fun and interesting, but I really don't have the time for that (I need to have the site up by February 1) so again, thanks for the suggestions! smile

10 Reply by Donny Bahama (edited by Donny Bahama 2007-01-17 17:09)

  • Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

Oh. OK. Now I know what a threaded tagboard is. (Didn't know they were called that.) Putting aside my personal bias (I hate threaded tagboards!), this could be what I'm looking for (with some modification - and probably a lot less modification than I'd have to make to punbb). It would have to be flat mode, though - like this: http://www.phorum.org/demo/read.php?1,13

Thanks a lot, pedrotuga - you've probably saved me many hours of work! cool

Edit: When it's done, I'll post a link so you can check it out.

  • Registered: 2006-06-05
  • Posts: 410

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

Side note: This is how Facebook's discussion boards work, if anyone is familiar with that?

  • Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

Never heard of Facebook, but I'll try to find it and check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!

  • Registered: 2006-06-05
  • Posts: 410

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

I expected that reply; Facebook is a social website, not something you can download. smile

  • Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

I figured that out. lol Oh, well...

15 Reply by teenagegluesniffer (edited by teenagegluesniffer 2007-01-17 20:59)

  • From: usa
  • Registered: 2006-08-09
  • Posts: 96

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

What about just a shoutbox that uses punbbs users?

Edit: Nevermind, you said you didn't want one the way i was just thinking of having one...hahaha

my site

teenagegluesniffer's Website

  • Registered: 2006-06-05
  • Posts: 410

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

Side note: Here's an example of Facebook's discussion boards (notice the "replied to whoever's post" link and "X replies" parts?): http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/244/ … ionda5.png

  • Registered: 2007-01-16
  • Posts: 18

Re: Unusual punbb implementation

gluesniffer (like your site!) - A shoutbox would be a little TOO simple, I think.

guardian- That's pretty cool - and definitely what I had in mind.


I think Thomas was right - I need to start with a php-based guestbook (I've been doing some digging and there really are some pretty full-featured ones out there) and then modify it as necessary.