From: Blair S. <bl...@st...> - 2005-07-27 11:55:06
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Hi all. Not an install question but I don't want to bother the dev list with this, hopefully some here can help out. Quick background; I've run a few low volume discussion forums over the years using various software including WebCrossing free tier license, and currently Backtalk. Recently we've decided that we want a moderation system due to ever increasing flame wars. Most forum software has moderation in the form of moderators modifying or deleting posts, but the ranking system used by Slash is a much better system IMO, so I thought I'd play with it for a while. Now Slashdot is a great site I read every day, but the people using my site are just not so tech savvy that they appreciate the complexity that is Slash. Basically all the forum software I've hosted have been "linear" and fairly simple to use. Yes, Slash has the ability to view articles in flat mode, but it still introduces a lot more complexity than I need for the users and volume of use I deal with. So I figure, hey its open source, I'm not a programmer but I've installed enough scripted applications that I'm not afraid to poke at things, maybe I can make this software easier to use by forcing it to be linear only. So, I started with the obvious. I removed the "reply to this" and "parent" links from the comments templates. That pretty much forces it to be linear - not elegant but effective. No problem there. Then I decided that with all the posts inline, there is no need for a subject line on each post. The easiest route here was to just allow people to use the subject box if they like, but not require it. So I figured if I delete the lameness filters that check the subject line, all would be good. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Seems that trying to post without a subject line still triggers a "Cat got your toungue....." NO BODY error from the error template. I was perplexed, but not deterred. So I had a read through comments.pl, and I found where this was being generated, and tried commenting out those lines; unless ($$comm && $$subj) { $$error_message = getError('no body'); return; } Voila. Now I can post comments with no subject in the box and no errors. The only problem is now the preview function does not work :-) I click preview and get no errors, but I don't get a preview either. Just the same comment box again. If I do put in a subject line, the preview works fine, so clearly preview does not work if $$subj is empty. Now I am definitely out of my depth here. I could use it as is, but I'd like to have the preview function work since there is no editing possible afterward. I could just continue to require a subject, even though its unnnecesary. Or I could put it back the way it was "from the factory" easy enough, but I hate giving up once I get an idea in my head (and feel free to comment on why you think its a stupid idea too, I'd like to hear about any possible downsides). But OTOH maybe there are some people here who are a lot more familiar with Perl than I that can point out some simple fixes. So we'll give it a try. Can I remove the requirement for a subject line in comments.pl, or am I likely to create a cascade of other problems? Thanking you in advance for your thoughts. Blair |
From: Jamie M. <ja...@mc...> - 2005-07-27 17:26:04
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bl...@st... (Blair Steenerson) writes: > I had a read through comments.pl, and I found where this was > being generated, and tried commenting out those lines; >=20 > unless ($$comm && $$subj) { > $$error_message =3D getError('no body'); > return; > } In validateComment(), you may also need to change the first line of: for ($$comm, $$subj) { my $d =3D decode_entities($_); $d =3D~ s/&#?[a-zA-Z0-9]+;//g; # remove entities we don'= t know if ($d !~ /\w/) { # require SOME non-whitespa= ce $$error_message =3D getError('no body'); return; } } To: for ($$comm) { And comment out the postersubj line from: my $fields =3D { postersubj =3D> $$subj, postercomment =3D> $$comm, }; See if that fixes it... if not let us know... --=20 Jamie McCarthy http://mccarthy.vg/ ja...@mc... |
From: Shane <sh...@lo...> - 2005-07-27 23:02:43
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On Jul 27, 2005, at 7:54 AM, Blair Steenerson wrote: > Hi all. Not an install question but I don't want to bother the dev > list with this, hopefully some here can help out. > > Quick background; I've run a few low volume discussion forums over > the years using various software including WebCrossing free tier > license, and currently Backtalk. Recently we've decided that we > want a moderation system due to ever increasing flame wars. Most > forum software has moderation in the form of moderators modifying > or deleting posts, but the ranking system used by Slash is a much > better system IMO, so I thought I'd play with it for a while. > > Now Slashdot is a great site I read every day, but the people using > my site are just not so tech savvy that they appreciate the > complexity that is Slash. Basically all the forum software I've > hosted have been "linear" and fairly simple to use. Yes, Slash has > the ability to view articles in flat mode, but it still introduces > a lot more complexity than I need for the users and volume of use I > deal with. So I figure, hey its open source, I'm not a programmer > but I've installed enough scripted applications that I'm not afraid > to poke at things, maybe I can make this software easier to use by > forcing it to be linear only. > [...] I've run a couple of sites that had the same/similar dilemma. (Basically, they wanted the Slash backend, but wanted a ubb-ish forum area). What I ended up doing was: a) creating a bunch of discussions like 1) general discussion 2) tech support 3) flamefestival b) used Slash::Page to make a new index page, and had that index page, for the section 'forum' just 'list the available forums' c) modified the comment-menu-bar (for lack of a better word), for section eq 'forum' to replace the "reply button" with a "post" button, if they were viewing a flat comments.pl w/o a cid or thread info being passed to it I think this wasn't as easy as it sounded, because the 'reply' was hard-coded to the button's op in comments.pl. Blair, I'm not sure why you wouldn't want people changing the subject. The comments would be linked by parent cid, so displaying them in flat, threaded, nested, would still group them, no matter what the subject. Is what you did online somewhere so we can check it out? Where it gets interesting is: I lost all those changes, those sites (and customers) are long gone. I've seen subtle changes to the slash sourcecode to make a ubb-ish interface somewhat easier. However, I don't think that code was ever finished. When you say 'low volume' - how are you defining volume? When we've talked about doing a forum-interface for slash on irc, one of the main concerns was that it could cause mysql to do a full-table- scan for entirely ancient posts. If your comments data is rather large, this could eat cpu cycles on your sql server, and memcached wouldn't help you because the comment posts would be so old, and so numerous, that they'd time out of memcached fairly quickly. I would love to hear if anyone else has ventured into attempting a 'forum' type area backened by slash. Shane |
From: Blair S. <bl...@st...> - 2005-07-28 09:44:50
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Hi Shane et al, excuse the long response.... >"Basically, they wanted the Slash backend, but wanted a ubb-ish forum area" Exactly! I've looked at UBB and phpBB, but with all the security issues with PHP lately I'd rather stay away from those. I prefer the compiled apps like Backtalk or Caucus as they run better on my older hardware, but Slash with Mod-perl is pretty well optimized so should work OK for me. The problem with all the boards I mentioned is the lack of a community moderation system (Slash is the only software I've seen that has anything like this). Most of my posters are from the old CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) forums, which used (insanely expensive license) WebX. Without getting into the boring details, that forum's demise was basically caused by biased and unfair moderation, so I want to have as fair a moderation system as possible. I'd prefer to avoid censorship entirely, but that represents the primary moderating functionality on most software. The rating system fits my need much better. If I was a programmer, I'd probably look at adding a post rating system to one of those other open source products myself, but since IANAP, I figure I'll just play around and see if I can make Slash fit my needs. Obviously there are going to be compromises. If I can't make it work to my liking, I'll try something else. This is just a sort of hobby for me. >"I'm not sure why you wouldn't want people changing the subject. The comments would be linked by parent cid, so displaying them in flat, threaded, nested, would still group them, no matter what the subject." Basically this stems from one feature that would be pretty tough to add to Slash but is present in a typical linear forum - the ability to remember what posts users have seen, and present them only with new posts when they visit. With a linear board, without that feature at least all the posts are in a simple chronological order and its fairly easy to come back and pick up where you left off. Its much more difficult to have to go through every thread on every discussion to see new posts since your last visit. >"Is what you did online somewhere so we can check it out?" I've got Slash running at http://www.freecbc.ca , but nobodys using it yet as I am really just experimenting at this time (It certainly gets an A for customizability. I've barely scratched the surface so far) For an idea of the sort of format I normally use, the current functioning board is at http://www.steenerson.com/cgi-bin/backtalk/backtalk.cgi/abalone/confhome?conf=general >"When you say 'low volume' - how are you defining volume?" Roughly a few hundred posts per day. I have about 75 active topics right now, but I plan to consolidate that into about 10-12 more general ones. >"one of the main concerns was that it could cause mysql to do a full-table- scan for entirely ancient posts." I'm sure there will be some other issues I come up against as I go along, as happens whenever one tries to use software in a non-standard configuration. Thanks much for the technical ideas and advice. Its much appreciated BTW, one more quick question if y'all don't mind - I've added IMG (and IMG SRC) to approvedtags but people still cannot post images, which I'd like to allow. Any idea what the problem might be? Cheers Blair |
From: Shane <sh...@lo...> - 2005-07-28 11:18:45
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On Jul 28, 2005, at 5:44 AM, Blair Steenerson wrote: > BTW, one more quick question if y'all don't mind =96 I=92ve added IMG =20= > (and IMG SRC) to approvedtags but people still cannot post images, =20 > which I=92d like to allow. Any idea what the problem might be? Did you setup the var "approvedtags_attr"? Did you restart httpd after you changed the var's? You can try turning approveTag_debug on. I poked through =20 Slash::Utility::Data looking at sub approveTag, seemed like once you =20 set the 2 var's up it should work. But that was just a quick glance =20 so maybe someone else can give you a more definitive answer. Shane |
From: Blair S. <bl...@st...> - 2005-08-21 20:51:34
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Shane wrote: > > On Jul 28, 2005, at 5:44 AM, Blair Steenerson wrote: > > > BTW, one more quick question if y'all don't mind =96 I=92ve added IMG > > (and IMG SRC) to approvedtags but people still cannot post images, > > which I=92d like to allow. Any idea what the problem might be? > > Did you setup the var "approvedtags_attr"? > > Did you restart httpd after you changed the var's? > > You can try turning approveTag_debug on. I poked through > Slash::Utility::Data looking at sub approveTag, seemed like once you > set the 2 var's up it should work. But that was just a quick glance > so maybe someone else can give you a more definitive answer. > > Shane > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email > is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September > 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices > Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing > & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * > http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf > _______________________________________________ Slashcode-general > mailing list Sla...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/slashcode-general > > Hi again guys. I've been on vacation for a while, but now that its over=20 I'm back to trying to figure this out. Still no luck getting users to=20 be able to post images in their comments. I've added approvedtags_attr thusly INSERT INTO vars (name, value, description) VALUES ('approvedtags_attr',=20 'a:href_RU img:src_RU,alt,width,height,longdesc_U', 'definition of=20 approvedtags attributes in the following format a:href_RU=20 img:src_RU,alt,width,height,longdesc_U see Slash::Utility::Data.pm for=20 more details'); Of course I always restart httpd and slashd when I make changes. I=20 just found these vars on the net at Koders, there appears to be very=20 limited info reading through Data.pm or the related Utility perldocs. I=20 see no mention at all of approvedtags_attr, so I'm really unsure of the=20 syntax and if the above should work or even what functions use it. I'm=20 assuming approveTag_debug is just 0 or 1 so I guess I'll give that a=20 try and see what, if anything, it does. I did see a mention of lonetags=20 in Data.pm, so I also tried adding that, but it did not help. INSERT INTO vars (name, value, description) VALUES=20 ('lonetags','P|LI|BR|IMG','Tags that don\'t need to be closed'); Is any of this documented anywhere? Using Slash 2.2.6 btw - maybe some=20 of this has been deprecated?. As always, any thoughts are appreciated. Cheers Blair |
From: shane <sh...@lo...> - 2006-01-05 04:33:22
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On Aug 21, 2005, at 4:51 PM, Blair Steenerson wrote: > Shane wrote: > > > > > On Jul 28, 2005, at 5:44 AM, Blair Steenerson wrote: > > > >> BTW, one more quick question if y'all don't mind =96 I=92ve added = IMG > >> (and IMG SRC) to approvedtags but people still cannot post images, > >> which I=92d like to allow. Any idea what the problem might be? > > > > Did you setup the var "approvedtags_attr"? > > > > Did you restart httpd after you changed the var's? > > > > You can try turning approveTag_debug on. I poked through > > Slash::Utility::Data looking at sub approveTag, seemed like once =20= > you > > set the 2 var's up it should work. But that was just a quick glance > > so maybe someone else can give you a more definitive answer. > > > > Shane > > > Hi again guys. I've been on vacation for a while, but now that its =20= > over I'm back to trying to figure this out. Still no luck getting =20 > users to be able to post images in their comments. > > I've added approvedtags_attr thusly > > INSERT INTO vars (name, value, description) VALUES =20 > ('approvedtags_attr', 'a:href_RU =20 > img:src_RU,alt,width,height,longdesc_U', 'definition of =20 > approvedtags attributes in the following format a:href_RU =20 > img:src_RU,alt,width,height,longdesc_U see Slash::Utility::Data.pm =20 > for more details'); > > Of course I always restart httpd and slashd when I make changes. =20 > I just found these vars on the net at Koders, there appears to be =20 > very limited info reading through Data.pm or the related Utility =20 > perldocs. I see no mention at all of approvedtags_attr, so I'm =20 > really unsure of the syntax and if the above should work or even =20 > what functions use it. I'm assuming approveTag_debug is just 0 or =20= > 1 so I guess I'll give that a try and see what, if anything, it =20 > does. I did see a mention of lonetags in Data.pm, so I also tried =20 > adding that, but it did not help. > > INSERT INTO vars (name, value, description) VALUES ('lonetags','P|=20 > LI|BR|IMG','Tags that don\'t need to be closed'); > > Is any of this documented anywhere? Using Slash 2.2.6 btw - maybe =20 > some of this has been deprecated?. > > As always, any thoughts are appreciated. > > Cheers > > Blair FYI - I just tried this, and it worked (with slash-cvs that's a week =20 or two old). The only change that I did was this: update vars set "b|i|p|br|a|ol|ul|li|dl|dt|dd|em|strong|tt|blockquote|=20= div|ecode|img" where name=3D'approvedtags'; as an admin, i could save a comment/journal with an img tag. as an anon coward, I could save a comment with an img tag. Shane |