Forum

ParaglidingForum

Big Air Forum - Upgrade Test

Big Air Forum

Engine

phpBB 2.0.11

Cold Fusion ?

Cold Fusion ?

Owner(s)

§  Simon Foley. Website.

§  Andreadakis Manolis (andread AT thenet.gr). Website.

§  Alexander Caravitis (norad AT forthnet.gr, norad AT hellasnet.gr, norad AT core.gr). Website.

§  Kostas "GUS" Proitsakis (gusuni AT gmx.net)

§  John "badder" Myrianthopoulos. Website.

Kinsley Wong

Kinsley Wong

Review date

2005/6/3

2004/10/13

2005/2/10

Considered because…

Owners are highly motivated and some work as an ISP (Internet Service Provider).

Legacy of the Big Air Forum.

I has been a popular forum.

Bugs (unresolved)

Status

§  Owners are highly motivated to match requirements.

§  Manolis is good with phpBB programming.

§  Big quota for attachments.

§  User count progression shows strong growth.

§  It has the needed user public identification, but presentation would require many enhancements, which already exist under a phpBB solution.

§  Good user base.

§  Anonymous messages diminish discussion quality and require extra work for moderators.

Must-have feature

User's profile (public items) can be viewed by others. That way people have an idea who is behind the post.  Example of a Forum with handles :  Corvette Forum.

OK.

OK.

No.

Registration.  The handle/username must  be unchangeable after.

Examples : "SkyGod", "MasterOfLift" or "BigDaddy".

OK.

Permanence is an option in General configuration / User and Forum Basic Settings :  Allow Username changes : Yes/No.

OK.  A few minor registration issues remain which are described the separate "ToDo" Word document.

No. User can change the "Author name" when editing/creating messages.

Recover from lost password.  We are looking for a secure mechanism to resume using a profile after a lost password.

Ideally the profile would contain the selection of a Secret Question/Answer so that if you forget your password, you may answer the question and a random password will be generated and sent to your email address.

OK. From Login, one can follow the "I forgot my password" link, supply his user name and E-mail for a replacement password to be sent by E-mail.

When going to: URL and clicking  "Forgot your Password? Get it here!"  the new window reports an error.

GG 2004/10/11: Left over code from current BigAir site, will make it work when switch is made.

JD 2004/10/12:  OK.  In the meantime I verified that the other method works :  URL

Administrator may be able to help.

Registration.  First and last name.  This would be publicly visible when registered users click on the handle next to one's postings.  Permanent, un-editable later by the user.

Alternative: enforce a rule that the user's real name must be easily found? People could have the choice of revealing their real name through:

a) User name

b) Somewhere in the profile

c) If easily found by following the personal web page profile link

On 2005/1/25, Manolis has enhanced the Forum to support extended pilot profile information. When following View Pilot Profiles (AKA memberlist), a new column shows the real names.

Manolis, 2005/1/26: I added the capture the real name during registration.

Jerome, 2005/1/27: Verified that first and last names are required fields during registration, and locked when editing the "pilot profile".

OK.

No.

Registration.  E-mail address  is invisible later, to anyone but the administrator, unless the user specifies it can be public info.  Invisible to E-mail capturing program that scan web pages for later SPAM-ing.

OK.

OK for what I check so far.

OK. Users can leave the field blank when creating/editing a message. But this is handled at an individual message basis.

Registration.  The Forum will track the history of the user and show next to his posting summary statistics :  Number of posts (or corresponding label like "Junior/Senior/...), and percentage of acceptance of previous postings.

OK. Show number of posts and the registration date.

The karma system has been implemented.

According to phpBB features :  administrator-definable ranks for users.

Only a post number ID is given next to a posting, but does not show an up-to-date representation of his total number of posting.

GG 2004/10/11: Currently, the number of posts for the user is at the time the current message was posted. What data needs to be collected to do ratings?

JD 2004/10/12:  If we could display next to each posting of a user, his current number of posts, that would be good enough as far as I'm concerned.  To do ratings, it would be based on the current number of postings, for example (it would be good for the administrator to be able to adjust the thresholds and corresponding rating) :

o      Less than 50: Novice

o      50-200: Intermediate

o      200+ : Advanced

No.

Search tool to find character strings in messages.

OK.  Also highlights the search string in the found messages.

None found.

GG 2004/10/11: Planning to add after forum launch.

JD 2004/10/12:  OK, keeping this request open until then.

OK.

Backups of the Forum's contents.  So it can be restored if a crash occurs.

Web-hosting service probably provides this, but Forum owner should have his own backup procedure.

Simon, 2005/1/26: This is done every day by the host. The DB is backed up, the code not. It can

be replaced from my hard drive or downloaded from net.

Alex, 2005/1/26: The site is on shared hosting servers with load balancing (6 web servers)

that are connected to a file storage system (29 TB) via fiber optic. The storage system is backed up daily on storage tapes. A few photos of the data center that has hosted PgForum (and a

few more thousand sites): Pic1, Pic2, Pic3. Also have a look at our hosting service.

GG 2004/10/11: It will be periodically. After launch we will convert to MSSQL and nightly backups will be performed.

OK.

User can create/start a new discussion thread (topic).

OK.

OK.

OK.

Moderation.  Ability to edit/remove specific postings while keeping the rest of the discussion.

Almost sure due to linear nature of discussion (no embedding), and reinforced by the fact that as a user I was able to remove my own posting.

OK.  Verified using Kinsley's profile.

OK.

Moderation.  Ability to edit thread title.

Yes, according to phpBB features.

OK.  Verified using Kinsley's profile.

OK.

Users who are not registered/logged-in can still read messages (but not post).

Verified.

OK.

OK.

Static thread addresses.  Useful for creating links to specific discussions.

OK, single reference (t=1024).

Example:  Nova/Tattoo.

OK, double reference needed : URL.

Is there a way for using a single reference id to a topic (thread) ?

GG 2004/10/11: The current Cold Fusion forums also has a double reference noted as CFApp=3. This is equal to Site_ID=. We plan on having more than one forum. Site_ID=1 is for Kiteboarding forums.

OK, single reference (Thread_ID=9972). Example: Nova/Tattoo.

No Ads.

OK.

Not at the moment.

OK. One can avoid them by going to this URL.

Attachments.  Ability to include JPEG pictures at a minimum, possibly other document types.  If disk space is an issue, there could be a size limit preset by the administrator.

Verified by making one.  From the public profile: There is a 800 MB quota and a tool to manage all attachments for the user.

Attachment Mod.

OK.  Rescaling of pictures ?

OK. Not limit!

Links.  Users can create links in their messages to a given URL (web page, picture,...).

OK. BBCode accepted, or automatic URL address automatically converted to a link.

OK.  HTML syntax accepted.

OK.  HTML syntax accepted.

Users can delete their own postings.

OK for messages at the bottom of a topic, but unable to delete ones above. Discussion. Old messages remain editable.

OK.

OK.

Nice-to-have feature

Recovery of old Big Air Forum contents.

Maybe : Technical and ethical issues. Discussion.

To be confirmed by either Kinsley or Gary.

GG 2004/10/11: Yes

No need.

Registration.  E-mail address verification.  The user gets mailed his initial password (he can change it) and a welcome message to the Forum.  But users can have temporary addresses.

OK.  Could not log in, until I activated my account following reception of activation E-mail message.

OK.

Needs to be verified.

Registration.  Country, City.  No need for exact address, and this would be kept confidential.

"Location" field can be used for this.

OK.  Country is a required selection from a list box.

Not displayed next to messages, or visible by others from a public user profile.

Registration.  Home page URL, if available.

OK.

OK.

Not displayed next to messages, or visible by others from a public user profile.

Registration.  Personal biography space, or whatever he wants the world to know about him when they click on his handle.

Aside from the small fields for Occupation and Interests in the basic profile, there is a "pilot profile" (mine) with more fields.

OK.

Not visible by others from a public user profile.

E-mail notification.  User can identify specific discussion so that he gets notified (through his E-mail address kept confidentially in the system) of new messages.  He can view/edit the list of discussion he is "subscribed" to.

OK.  One can click in a specific discussion (topic) "Watch this topic for replies", and reversely stop watching for replies.

OK, but user has to reply in that thread to start the notification process.  No way just to subscribe with posting ?
GG 2004/10/11: Yes, after login, click on the “yes” or “no” link under subscribe. It will reload page and change status.
JD 2004/10/12:  I was unable to verify the behavior.  This is what I did:  I had previously created 2 users (jtest, rien) and for both set to "on" the subscription to this discussion: URL . Then as both users, I added a reply in that discussion (without checking the "Notify me by email when posts are made to this thread" box).  No E-mail notification after a day.

Did not find a way to view list of subscribed threads.
GG 2004/10/11: Will add

Possible by toggling a button for each interesting threads.

Login process simplified by making use of cookies.  That way a user would not need to re-enter his handle and password each time, if he chooses to use cookies.

OK.

OK.

OK, but ther remains a confirmation window (need to click YES each time).

Font control :  Bold, italics for parts of the message.

BBCode syntax supported.

OK.  HTML syntax accepted.

OK.  HTML syntax accepted.

Moderation.  Link to a definition of guidelines.  So people are aware that moderation is active.

Suggested guidelines.

2005/2/4: Moderation Policy by the Moderation team.

No yet.  See list in here.

GG 2004/10/11: Administrators/Moderators can add/edit/delete pages in user administration. See test “forum rules” page.

OK. Posted guidelines.

Moderation.  More than one moderator, so they can overlap during vacation times.

Yes, according to this demo (click on "Look up a User") where every user can be given moderator status.

2005/2/4: Moderation team.

OK.  Found the place where an administrator can qualify a user to be a moderator.

That is currently the case.

Ability to disable everyone's graphic signatures, to optimize performance.

Unsure. It seems to be a non-issue at the moment.

Non-issue since there are no signatures to postings.

No graphic signatures.

Polls.  User can create one.

OK. Created Best 2005 DHV 2 wing for XC. Poll option can be added after poll creation (not good statistically but good for afterthoughts).

No tool found.

GG 2004/10/11: Will have to be after launch.

No.

Future of the Forum is not dependant on a PG business.

OK. Multiple owners also offer extra stability in case one drops out of the sport.

Not sure, but owner has been offering a Forum for a long time already.  Seems committed to the community.

Unsure.

Killfile. User can create a list of other users to ignore.

Related discussion.

Manolis, 2005/1/17: Implement the "Contact list" mod which also has a "buddy list" feature. This allows to ignore any given users.

No mechanism found.

No.

See all new posts since last visit, ordered by discussion thread (topic).

Note: Default phpBB tool is limited to finding most recent post in topics, which contain at least one new post.

Related discussion.

Jerome, 2005/2/11: Manolis completed an even better implementation today.

GG 2004/10/11: Once logged in an asterisk will be next to new threads and messages for the current session. An image can be added in place of asterisk.

JD 2004/10/12:  Thanks, as a regular user, the asterisk is helpful from the top-level view of the Forum where we see the list of topics.  But becomes less obvious when we get inside a discussion.  My main concern as a moderator is how can I quickly list and browse all new messages to see if something needs moderation?

No ordered by discussion thread.

No-need-for-this feature

Instant messaging between users.

OK.

No tool found.

No.

Emoticons.  Graphic smiley.

There is a basic set. More could be copied from here.

There is a basic set. More could be copied from here.

No.

Moderation.  Auto-pruning of old or unanswered messages.

Possible, according to phpBB features.

No mechanism found.

No.

Moderation.  Word censoring.

Possible, according to phpBB features.

No mechanism found.

No.

Mass emailing of groups and users by the administrator.

Possible, according to phpBB features.

I did not find this feature.  But I didn't look very hard.

Maybe possible as users share a common database with a commercial application.

Chat room.

None found.

None found.

No.

Avatar selection.

OK. Need to be 120x120 pixels or less, and 39 kB or less.

OK. One can easily upload a picture, and it is re-sized automatically.

No.