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Office - Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

vanrozenheim - Apr 19, 2007 - 02:18 PM
Post subject: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

Do you think we shall change to the simpler version of our forum software, which might look then this way?

Except for the last 2 or 3 posts, the entire data were transferred without problems, it seems...

What do you guys think, shall we replace the PNphpBB with the phpBB standalone forum?

karnickel - Apr 19, 2007 - 07:26 PM
Post subject: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

vanrozenheim wrote:

Except for the last 2 or 3 posts, the entire data were transferred without problems, it seems...

Known bugs: no search results are delivered for whatever subject one requests. I am going to examinate this more closely. in the next few days. Karate

Feral - Jul 20, 2007 - 10:55 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

Thus far, the phpBB standalone forum has gathered to itself somewhere around 60 spammers (which are banned once they post their cargo of links, largely to porn). Usually there are two new ones a day, though some days see as many as 12. In terms of ease of moderation, the simple machines software in use at the GLR forum or the postnuke software in use here are much preferable.

berto - Jul 20, 2007 - 03:43 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

Is there some reason to change it?

vanrozenheim - Jul 20, 2007 - 05:21 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

There is no urgent need to change, but in the middle term I would prefer the SMF, too. The reason to change the software is that the software we use here on GRD isn't really up-to-date and probably will not be supported by the developers in future. The SMF software is clearly the market leader and is superior to phpBB, technically.

Current GRD's spammer yield reaches 3-5 entries a day. It will cause too much work to ban all of them manually, in a long-term.

Thus, can you guys take some time testing whether you can cope with our SMF-based forum's software? Just go to http://forum.gayrepublic.org/ and post around a little bit, just to see if everything functions well.

Feral - Jul 20, 2007 - 07:09 PM
Post subject: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

vanrozenheim wrote:

Just go to http://forum.gayrepublic.org/ and post around a little bit, just to see if everything functions well.

Just as a reminder, the forum over at GLR does not automatically contain the same members or user-names as this one -- a registration may be necessary for some people (and Yahoo, along with a number of spam filters, is likely to trash people's confirmation e-mail.

Feral - Sep 09, 2007 - 07:19 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

I have locked most of the sections of the phpBB forum -- the number of new spam posts grew to more than one person can reasonably delete. New registrations have been continuing unabated... they just can't post their porn videos anymore.

The Simple Machines tools for handling this problem are eminently superior to the phpBB method.

To complicate matters, I have grown quite attached to the way things are here with the PostNuke version. (A simple theme change for the SMF software would completely counterbalance any purely sentimental fondness I have for PostNuke.

Since we are not using the phpBB forum for anything, might I suggest an experiment with one of the tools Simple Machines has for converting phpBB databases into SMF databases? I already understand that this tool cannot convert passwords (the encryption is beyond the tool's capacity to convert) and that they must all be re-set. Running such an experiment on a forum that is not in use would cause no drama for anyone.

vanrozenheim - Sep 20, 2007 - 07:53 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

Ahem, sorry for missing this recent post. PostNuke by times marks topics as "read" - because they are somewhat older, I suspect. One more reason to try a change.

I will be not able to address this issue before October, because such an attempt will require some quite massive manual operations. Will Berto be happy with such a change? He previously reported some problems and I have so far no feedback for the SMF software, which can be tested here: http://forum.gayrepublic.org/.

Rain - Sep 20, 2007 - 11:03 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

Here's your first bit of feedback...it loads like the wind compared to this. If berto has problems accessing it, he should try a non-IE based browser like Apple's Safari for Windows. Yes, it's spartan (no pop up blocker), and not very nice to look at, but it does load twice as fast as any IE based browser.

Rain - Sep 20, 2007 - 11:09 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

I do apologize for making myself scarce on that other forum. As it is, I really need to disassociate myself from many other forums and blogs because it's just too time consuming to have to log on and post to all of them in one night. And trying to play catch up after I've missed a few days is a royal pain in the ass.

Besides, GRD is my favorite site. I can go weeks without visiting any other blog...but if I miss out on the wry commentary here I feel lost.

Rain - Sep 20, 2007 - 11:14 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

One note Vick:

Who came up with the name "La República Gay Paralela" for the Gay Repulbic in Spanish? Technically, it means the "Parallel Gay Republic". That's rather odd. I just noticed it while browsing.

Feral - Sep 21, 2007 - 01:44 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

That sounds like the "Gay Parallel Republic", a micronation on alt.politics.micronations. If so, I'm not at all sure who coined the name. They are fond of it though.

Rain - Sep 21, 2007 - 11:55 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

Is anyone aware that it's being used as the name for the Gay Homeland Foundation's idea of a gay republic? I'm a bit confused here. I was under the impression that the micronation over at alt.politics was a totally different animal.

vanrozenheim - Sep 22, 2007 - 02:23 AM
Post subject: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

Rain wrote:

Can you give me a link to the content in question? There is of course a possibility of some malicious efforts, but most probably some guy has confused the two things.

The idea of a Gay State has emerged long before the Foundation was established. It was met with little enthusiasm, but we should pay tribut to our friend K6 for tossing the idea into Internet back then:

Gay Separatist Manifesto (1998)

The author posts a "Synthesis" on http://groups.google.de/group/alt.politics.micronations/topics , previously he participated in discussions on our other forum, too. The idea of a "Gay Parallel Republic" is basically of co-existence of various peoples on the same territory: "two boats, one river." something similar to Bakunin's proposals, I would say.

Rain - Sep 22, 2007 - 05:32 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

Quote:

Can you give me a link to the content in question?

My mistake. I didn't realize that the forum over at GLR was actually WELCOMING the micronation from alt.politics to the GLR general forum. However it should be stressed somewhere that the two are not one and the same. Just so other native Spanish speakers don't make the same association I did.

Link

Rain - Sep 22, 2007 - 05:34 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Forum software: PNphpBB vs phpBB

I'm still impressed at how smooth and quick the GLR site loads in comparison to this one.

vanrozenheim - Sep 22, 2007 - 12:03 PM
Post subject:

I happily have a broadband comnnection... Was it always difficult to load this site here, or did the problem occure in the last 2 weeks? As you know, I have added some additonal code (some JavaScript stuff for advertisements), so it may have caused some more problems.

Generally, I need more feedback on this site's performance. To see all the things I wish you to see, the JavaScrip must be enabled. Wink

Feral - Sep 22, 2007 - 01:09 PM
Post subject:

This site is slower to load that GLR, but I wouldn't call it "difficult."

I shall have to rummage through the site using Internet Explorer -- the current version of Firefox claims to not be able to enable javascripts, but then they've been issuing massive updates on a remarkably frequent schedule. Presumably, they will either eventually fix their java issues or will fall into that abyss that Microsoft is so familiar with -- constant updating with no progress in evidence.

"Some" of that stuff that appears at the top of the page now (we won't talk about it in explicit terms... the stuff doesn't like being talked about) is just a cute, yellow rectangle -- something clearly wishes to appear there, but isn't. I suspect I would see dancing Internet pixies in thongs or some such if I were using IE.

The only site performance issue I've noticed in the last two weeks is merging topics... the site seems to think I have an "invalid session" when I attempt to do that.

As far as the Gay Parallel Republic goes... this project has an insistence upon employing multiple languages. I'm under the impression (I could be mistaken) that they require a certain number of uses of various other languages before they are willing to once again employ a language like English. There are merits to the scheme... I just disagree with how compelling they are. (I'm allowed to dissent, you know... I kind of make a habit of it).

The Gay Parallel Republic did, at one time, make use of the GLR forum as a place (one among others) to post it's official pronouncements. The relationship between the Gay Parallel Republic and the Gay Homeland Foundation at that time has been described both as an "embassy" and as an "interesting conversation of similarly-minded individuals." To the best of my knowledge, there is no other connection between the two organizations. The GPR characterizes the Foundation as "a sort of think-tank" rather than an attempt to form government. I would say this characterization is quite accurate.

Being a "think-tank" allows the Foundation to enter into discussions with many different entities without being absorbed into any of them. Further, any number of factions seeking to create a Gay government are quite welcome to discuss their views, philosophies, and objectives with us without any danger of it being assumed that we insist they abandon their plans in favor of our own. Talk is good. There should be more of it.

Feral - Sep 22, 2007 - 02:04 PM
Post subject:

Harump.

In Internet explorer there are no dancing Internet pixies. That's a disappointment. I was expecting pixies, not.... those things that shall not be named.

Rain - Sep 22, 2007 - 10:23 PM
Post subject:

Well, Vicky...

Microsoft Windows no longer has a native JVM (Java Virtual Machine). They stopped that some years back. The only recourse for those of us who use Windows is to download and install Sun Microsystems' Java. That in itself is a risky enterprise. That particular platform is the target of a host of viruses. Personally, I have found that NOT installing Sun's Java allows for more trouble-free computing. There are still those sites out there that will not load correctly without installing Java. But thankfully, they are now few and far between and usually older than dirt. When I was doing websites, I shied away from using java applets and relied exclusively on flash (SWiSH).

I have a broadband connection, and I still notice a difference in the initial load times between this site and the GLR site. It may be that Vista and IE 7 just prefer the newer technology to this one. Never mind that I do not get that weird error message (only when attempting to log in from the main page now). The GLR site coveniently places the log-in applet ON the main page. No link needed. That's a handy feature.

Quote:

"Some" of that stuff that appears at the top of the page now (we won't talk about it in explicit terms... the stuff doesn't like being talked about) is just a cute, yellow rectangle -- something clearly wishes to appear there, but isn't. I suspect I would see dancing Internet pixies in thongs or some such if I were using IE.

Install Sun's Java if you wish to see what's behind the yellow door. I have yet to install Java, for my own paranoid personal reasons (I like the seedier corners of the internet), so I see that lovely, washed-out yellow strip too.

As for the Parallel Gay Republic thing, I don't know. Perhaps that's a personal quirk of mine. Spanish is my mother language in so far as it was the first language I ever spoke. I have to actively translate from English TO Spanish mentally, because I no longer think in Spanish, I think in English. That may be the source of that confusion. Sentences that would make perfect sense in English, somehow sound odd to me in Spanish and I have to stop and sort out the meaning of words. Some words, while quite similar, have totally different meanings in Spanish. One example...embarasada. At first glance, you'd think it's the equivalent of "embarrassed", but it actually means "pregnant" in Spanish.

So...we're a lavender think-tank, huh? I feel shshshpecial!

Feral - Sep 22, 2007 - 10:46 PM
Post subject:

Quote:

"pregnant" in Spanish

A fact that made my twelfth-grade Spanish class quite the hoot from time to time. It wasn't really a Spanish class... in the sense of those classes that are meant to teach you to speak Spanish. Nah. It was more like English class, but there wasn't any English in any of the books or in the classroom for that matter. Living near Washington as I did at the time, the class suited the "English" requirement for all the kids of South American embassy staffers (a very sensible measure on the part of the school -- literature in Spanish is as much of a bitch to write papers on as literature in English, though I'll take Borges over Bronte any day) and the foreign language requirement for those who didn't actually speak Spanish all that well. Had the school been really sensible, they'd have not obliged me to take English as well -- Pity me, my brothers: I was obliged to wrestle with Bronte and Shakespeare and then walk down the hall and wrestle with Borges and Cervantes.

Oh... yeah... Embarasada... almost every Anglo in the room got hung up on that one. They'd be all confused and perplexed until some kind soul whispered to them, "Dude... you just said you are pregnant."

The class was quite a time.

¿Dónde puedo cojer un autobus?

Comience con un taxi -- es más pequeño.

vanrozenheim - Sep 22, 2007 - 11:43 PM
Post subject:

Feral wrote:

The only site performance issue I've noticed in the last two weeks is merging topics... the site seems to think I have an "invalid session" when I attempt to do that.

That's... interesting. OK, it's totally weird and I have no idea on any remedy. The PostNuke thing isn't really a competetive product, though it is easy to understand and it works, well most of the time. Wink

Feral wrote:

I shall have to rummage through the site using Internet Explorer -- the current version of Firefox claims to not be able to enable javascripts, but then they've been issuing massive updates on a remarkably frequent schedule.

Ahem, does the search function not work as well? I find it remarkable that Google so heavily promotes a product which is undermining its very basis. May I humbly suggest using Opera instead of the other browsers? It is pretty convenient and has no stupid habits of imposing its own funny ideas upon the user. I run Windows XP on my PC, it is fine with JavaScript. Or is it just the IE 7 which has this kind of problems? Rex Wockner put a notice to his blog: "This site doesn't work with IE 7 because Microsoft are idiots."

Rain wrote:

The only recourse for those of us who use Windows is to download and install Sun Microsystems' Java. That in itself is a risky enterprise. That particular platform is the target of a host of viruses. Personally, I have found that NOT installing Sun's Java allows for more trouble-free computing.

There is a way to protect your Windows system from attracting CATs (Curiousity-Associated-Troubles). Never, ever use your administrator account for surfing purposes. Simply create a new account with limited access level and use it for your daily work, it is worth the additional frictions. My system is clean for many months now, and the switching between the accounts is not that annoying as it might appear in the first days. Give it a thought, your system folder will be protected from those pesky things which are more difficult to get rid off than syph.

Feral wrote:

Being a "think-tank" allows the Foundation to enter into discussions with many different entities without being absorbed into any of them.

Rain wrote:

So...we're a lavender think-tank, huh? I feel shshshpecial!

Yep, thinking is what we do all day long, ney? Now that you mention this... finally I have something I can tell my friends inquiring me on what I am doing all day long -- why, I am working for a pink think tank! Wink

The Parallel Republic is always a welcome friend and discussion partner to us, even if their idea of language quota proved impractical for us, at first. I have no quarrel with them on this issue, as long as they seek for other communication partners to fulfill their quota, and allow me to conveniently stick to English. Not that I were reluctant to learn French and Spanish for some general reasons, it's simply the lack of mental capacities on my side at this time in history. By Denneny, struggling to come on terms with English is hard enough.

Rain - Sep 23, 2007 - 12:12 AM
Post subject:

Vicky wrote:

Have you ever attempted to use Vista with elevated User Account Control protections? It's a harrowing experience. The very first time one of those warnings went off in my face I almost suffered a stroke. I have UAC turned off by default on my system. I'm putting my faith on the firewall, windows defender and NOD 32. Basically, I'm riding without a saddle. But I've become very, very picky about the things I do install lately. No more keygens for pirated software. No more visits to crack sites. And no more allowing permission to web pages attempting to run or install active x dlls. I'm a reformed whore.

But I should create an alternate account on this system. If only because the admin account is disabled by default in Vista. Personally, THAT has been a royal pain in my tuchus. These gnomes on Microsoft's payroll act more like gremlins.

Rain - Sep 23, 2007 - 12:25 AM
Post subject:

Feral wrote:

I was obliged to wrestle with Bronte and Shakespeare and then walk down the hall and wrestle with Borges and Cervantes.

Oh... yeah... Embarasada... almost every Anglo in the room got hung up on that one. They'd be all confused and perplexed until some kind soul whispered to them, "Dude... you just said you are pregnant."

The class was quite a time.

¿Dónde puedo cojer un autobus?

Comience con un taxi -- es más pequeño.

Well, that depends on the Bronte. Shakespeare's always been my kinda guy. I'm obsessed with Macbeth. The story and the language he used. I can recite whole soliloquy's from memory. J.L. Borges, well...never really cared for him. But he's a standard assignment in Spanish classes. Cervantes on the other hand...his importance to Spanish literature is comparable to Shakespeare's in English. Still, my favorite Spanish writers are Marquez, Neruda and Allende (the first and the last in translation...I have yet to read Neruda in English).

One note about taking the bus in Spanish:

When I first moved to Dallas, I needed to get downtown by bus. I asked a Mexican man "¿Dónde se coje la guágua para ir a downtown?" Not only was I unaware that the verb "cojer" is used as "to fuck" in Mexican Spanish (but ONLY in Mexican Spanish), but that they have NO idea what "guágua" means. That word is a Taíno word only used in the Caribbean. How the Taínos knew about autobuses is still a mystery to me. Regardless, the poor man looked at me like I had just landed from Mars.

By the way, Mexicans use "agarrar" for the verb "to take". To the rest of the hispanophone world, that verb means "to grab".

Feral - Sep 23, 2007 - 01:27 PM
Post subject:

Ah, not just in Mexican Spanish. A Peruvian co-worker found my telling of the autobus joke to be almost hilarious. At least... his subsequent laughter interfered with his ability to perform his job function for a few minutes. It seems the bulk of South America is of that opinion regarding that verb.

Rain - Sep 23, 2007 - 09:22 PM
Post subject:

No, "cojer" CAN have a secondary sexual meaning in other places. So can "venir", the verb for "to come.", but only in the reflexive sense...i.e. "me vengo". Likewise only in the transitive sense can "cojer" be a sexual word in other forms of Spanish (as in "Está cojiendo pinga." ~ "He's taking dick.") Which is precisely the only way the verb "cojer" can be used with a sexual connotation. Only Mexico considers it a sexual word above all.

This is a curious divergence from the Castilian norm, especially considering the importance that the vice-royalty had on Mexican speech.

Rain - Sep 24, 2007 - 02:32 AM
Post subject:

BTW, Fer...that joke on the Blizza, Blizza blog...it's not accurate. Dominicans speak the exact same variety of Spanish as Puerto Ricans. And, god knows, my mother (born in Altamira, in the mountains near Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, but raised in Puerto Rico) would also agree. Cojer is just cojer in both San Juan and Santo Domingo. Of course you should really know the distinction between reflexive/intransitive "donde SE puede cojer" and transitive "donde puedo cojer".

Frankly, that meaning for "cojer" is an archaic survival of what was once a euphemistic use of "cojer" in Spain. Recall that the empire was implanted first and lasted longer in the Caribbean. Changes in usage in peninsular Spanish were quicker to be adopted there then elsewhere. It's one reason behind the total abscence of "vos" in the Caribbean and Spain.

And cojer is not catch, despite what the site says. Its meaning is "to take". And just like "take" in English, it forms a plethora of compounds (i.e. "encojer", literally, to take in...as in the hem of a clothing.) The idomatic term "to catch a bus" would sound utterly ridiculous in Spanish. You just can NOT catch a bus in Spanish, no matter how hard you tried or how big a catcher's mitt you used.

One final note...to use cojer in a sexual context in Caribbean Spanish is to literally descend to a level of vulgarity that even the vulgar shy away from. It's just that offensive. It is usually only used in reference to prostitutes.

vanrozenheim - Sep 25, 2007 - 01:58 AM
Post subject:

If those little things which dare not speak their name turn out to be annoying, just say so. The troubleshooting makes less fun, but it slowly looks like what I want it to look like. The experience would be most certainly helpfull for the upcoming conversion to SMF.

Feral - Sep 25, 2007 - 04:09 AM
Post subject:

We shall not speak of these things that are not to be spoken of... but I think they might be spawning. Either that, or the GRD pixies sprinkled them with pixie dust and so making them visible.

I suspect that it is spawning. Everyone knows that while there are such things as pixies, it is a superstitious myth that they sprinkle anything with pixie dust.

vanrozenheim - Sep 28, 2007 - 01:46 AM
Post subject:

I have tested the conversion from PNphpBB to SMF:

http://fufbuf.gayrepublic.org/

The conversion moves smoothly, you can test it all there. In case there is a consensus to move, I can make this within the next days. This forum will be taken off (or disallowed to post, whatever) and all you need to do is to bookmark the new URL.

Some extra-wishes like more beautifull themes etc will be served either when I find time, or you can simply twin a consisting theme and play with settings using a test account.

Enjoy. Wink

Feral - Sep 28, 2007 - 07:06 AM
Post subject:

Mmmmmmm. Sweet.

So far I find few problems with it. Its search function is a little odd -- I was searching for topics that contained posts regarding General Pace in order to test the merge function (that works just fine). The search found instances of the string of letters PACE, all right. It just found them when included in the word MySpace as well. Adding the man's rank to the search did not limit it at all... it just added all the instances of 'generally.' (Note to self... stop using that word so much.)

The other thing is a trivial matter... everyone's signature line is missing it's first character. If that proves to be the worst of the translation difficulties... how pleasant!

Happily, the spammers who are so fond of that URL have yet to figure out how to post. (Though we've already collected two "new members" there since the conversion).

Feral - Sep 28, 2007 - 09:42 PM
Post subject:

I take that back... only one of the two new members at the test forum is new; the other is a really quiet member from here. So the cyborgs have yet to begin their assault.

vanrozenheim - Sep 29, 2007 - 02:35 AM
Post subject:

There is something like a "Karma" in that forum, which has extraorbitant and unpredictable values... Are you sure that function works as it should? Wink

So, shall we move or not?

Feral - Sep 29, 2007 - 04:44 AM
Post subject:

For myself, I like it. I think we should change over to it when it is convenient.

The Karma thing was just an experiment to see how it would work. I suppose that it might have a certain value with a larger (or more quarrelsome) pool of members. There is a phenomenon on large boards that many have noticed (and some people find quite objectionable): namely that while all posters are nominally equal, some posters are "more equal" than others. It is a fact that in any group, the opinions of some carry more weight than the opinions of others... even to the point of a variable interpretation of the rules. The Karma function is a crude attempt to quantify this phenomenon.

Clearly the current settings are of no use at all (one may 'applaud' or 'smite' as many times as one wishes with no time interval between 'votes'... and anyone with more than three posts to their credit may do so). Limiting the function to those whose post counts represent a greater investment in the board and putting much more stringent limits on its use might make it more useful. I can think of at least four Left-leaning forums that would benefit greatly from this sort of graphic display of public confidence in individual posters. After all... they are all great boosters for "democracy." The experiment would, I think, prove edifying.

I do not see any use that we can put this function to currently. Having turned it on to play with it a bit, I will shortly turn it back off -- but not before I take revenge on Kyle for "smiting" me.

Crussaiding