I hear you, Adrocknaphobia... there really isn't a "perfect" forum system
out there. (I've been running online forums for several years, most recently
for a large non-profit website...)
That said, PhpBB comes pretty darn close... and it's because of the reasons
you describe. A large developer community contributing code, mods, new
themes, and doing code peer review, etc... has created some excellent
results. The result is a top-knotch OpenSource project with the extended
feature set one might demand from such a project.
So... here's my question... Why bother to compete? If all you're looking for
is a top knotch opensource forum, why not dive in and contribute to PhpBB?
It's a pretty remarkable little project, and certainly worth checking out.
Don't get me wrong -- I think CF could really use a high quality OS forum
system. I know we'd use it if we could migrate from Fusetalk. I mean,
fusetalk is cool and all, but I had to hack the heck out of it to get it to
do what we wanted.... and now any kind of upgrade path is somewhat dubious
to say the least, given all the little changes we made. I'd contribute code
the code that I changed to fusetalk, I guess, but the motivation to improve
somebody else's commercial products in a way that doesn't benefit me (or the
community as a whole) at all isn't all that strong.
Obviously, with CF, it's not that hard to build a mediocre forum system. But
building a great one... well, that's another story altogether. If someone
does dive into this, let us know -- I might be interested in helping out a
bit as well if it's the right project.
-- jon
-----Original Message-----
From: Adrocknaphobia Jones [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2002 2:10 PM
To: CF-Talk
Subject: RE: Cold Fusion forum (OPEN SOURCE?)
Yeah, I think we have two different philosophies on open-source.
I'd write open-source for the need of building the perfect application
utilizing multiple developer perspectives. (To save from the headaches
of rewriting everyone else's) Quite frankly, the 'perfect BBS app' has
yet to be written. And I'm surprised.
Adam Wayne Lehman
Web Systems Developer
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Distance Education Division
-----Original Message-----
From: jon roig [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2002 10:35 AM
To: CF-Talk
Subject: RE: Cold Fusion forum (OPEN SOURCE?)
I've open sourced small things in CF, but as for Open Sourcing a big
project... why on earth would I want to do that on a platform that is
inherently not free?
As much as I like CF and working in it -- I do make a living from it --
I'd
much rather do my open source programming in a language that presents no
$$$
barrier to adoption, a platform that anyone on earth can use, regardless
of
financial backing. (I created OpenRealty --
http://jonroig.com/freecode/openrealty in PHP, for instance, and it's
being
used by hundreds of sites...)
I'm not one of those little Stallman groupies either... and that's also
not
to say there aren't little pockets of OS CF stuff developing. I mean,
look
at CFLIB.org and how helpful that has been to the community.
-- jon
-------------
jon roig
senior manager, online production
epilepsy foundation
phone: 215.850.0710
site: http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: Adrocknaphobia Jones [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2002 11:47 AM
To: CF-Talk
Subject: RE: Cold Fusion forum (OPEN SOURCE?)
Chris,
I've dealt with UBB, fuseTalk, ezBoard, and the old Allaire Forums. If I
can say anything on the subject, it's that NO ONE has gotten it right
(especially on the database end).
Mike D said a year ago he was going to re-write the old Allaire Forums
and eventually open source it. Which, stop me if I'm wrong, is what is
being used on houseoffusion.com? But I think I missed the part where he
open sourced it. Last I checked in June at cfFun, he said he was still
working on it.
I for one would really like to work an open-source bbs project. I think
there is a pretty high demand for a sturdy open source board, which can
be customized at the will of the programmer. I've thrown around the
open-source idea with a bunch of people but found our selves intimidated
by the legal requirements.
You know we have a really great community here, but I can't tell you of
ANY cold fusion open-source projects. Is open source cold fusion a pipe
dream? Would anyone else be interested in contributing?
Adam Wayne Lehman
Web Systems Developer
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Distance Education Division
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Montgomery [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 10:58 PM
To: CF-Talk
Subject: Re: Cold Fusion forum
Howdy Michael,
Thursday, December 19, 2002, 7:54:13 PM, Michael T. Tangorre wrote:
> I am attempting to to try some more advanced things with an idea I
> have. I am going to be building an online forum to tinker with.. can
> anyone point me to some database examples? The code side is what I am
> going to be playing with but need a good architecture to use.. anyone
> know of one I can download?
I didn't see a reply to this yet, so I'll offer one to consider:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/fbopenforums/
It uses Fusebox, but you might be able to get something useful out of
it.
If you are wanting to explore how the database would be structured for a
forums app, you might want to research hierarchical database design,
parent-child relationships, or using recursion with your database.
This page is an example of doing recursive joins for a forum:
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/sqlguru/q120899-1.shtml
with a follow-up here:
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/sqlguru/q121799-1.shtml
Another post about threaded discussion forums database design:
http://www.sqlteam.com/item.asp?ItemID=1353
with a follow-up here:
http://www.sqlteam.com/item.asp?ItemID=1602
Some good SQL sites to check out:
http://www.dbmsmag.com/index.shtml
http://www.codebits.com/ntm/
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2001/07/12/aboutSQL.html
http://www.sqlteam.com/Default.asp
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/
http://www.intelligententerprise.com/info_centers/database/
http://www.databasejournal.com/
http://www.sqlmag.com/
Hope that helps you somewhat.
Happy Holidays!
--
Chris Montgomery monty @ airtightweb.com
Airtight Web Services http://www.airtightweb.com
Web Development, Web Project Management, Software Sales
210-490-3249/888-745-7603
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