MySQL Bulletin Boards

[MrBlunt]

Has anyone had any experience with WWWThreads?
http://www.wwwthreads.com/

I am currently using UBB but I am not happy with its performance and I am now aware that the next generation UBB will only be a hosted solution. Not having the source code to modify is unacceptable to me. There are a few big sites using it (ie; Sony, A&E, etc) but I was wondering does anyone on FutureQuest run it? I also do not want to cause any server problems if at all possible.

I am trying to make my site either PHP or MySQL based and the UBB is the last big program still using flat files.

Thanks

[ilya]

www.phorum.org (http://www.phorum.org)

[MrBlunt]

I was aware of Phorum. I did not like the features. I do not HAVE to use PHP. I can make a Perl version work with the rest of my site with no problem. The bigger issue is using a MySQL database.

[nemesis]

We run WWWThreads, and we're very very happy with it. :) I would totally recommend it. If you'd like to see what we've done with ours, it's at www.buffyguide.com/cgi-bin/wwwthreads/wwwthreads.pl (http://www.buffyguide.com/cgi-bin/wwwthreads/wwwthreads.pl).
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The Complete Buffy Episode Guide
www.buffyguide.com (http://www.buffyguide.com)

[Shalazar]

Thanks for your info Justin.[nbsp][nbsp]I was just checking out WWWThreads at buffyguide.com, and was seriously impressed with its load time with MySQL on the backend.[nbsp][nbsp]It ROARS, and their's has several thousand posts in it if I read the numbers correctly.

And it offers both a threaded and flat-style viewing of posts, (the change from one form to another, at least here on FQ is almost immediate) giving you the best of both worlds.[nbsp][nbsp]And if it can be configured correctly in the style mode, it could come close to UBB style look and feel which seems to be the gold standard of user interfaces.

In any event, I just checked out the Threads' homepage and it looks like a purchase is going to run 100 bucks, which is comparable to UBB.

Is the Threads code hackable like UBB, or has anyone even tried since it already has a bevy of features built in?

More research...woo, as if there's not enough to do already.[nbsp][nbsp]Just a word of warning however, do NOT go near the new Ultraboard 2000, its buggier than Win2k![nbsp][nbsp]Although I hear eventually they too should have a MySQL module for it...whether it works or not, or will be released this century is another story.

[Dan Kaplan]

Is the Threads code hackable like UBB, or has anyone even tried since it already has a bevy of features built in? When I was following WWWThreads back around summer time, it was certainly possible to hack the codes and there were several forums for discussing such things on their site.[nbsp][nbsp]I think that was a big aspect of the early development, being open source and all, so I'm not sure if that's still the case or if it's to a different extent.
Just a word of warning however, do NOT go near the new Ultraboard 2000, its buggier than <OS name removed to buffer the confidence-loss factor of someone who just purchased a new computer with it>! Doing my best to not sound smug...[nbsp][nbsp]That doesn't surprise me in the least.[nbsp][nbsp]I'd be very shocked if they released a product that was anywhere near bug-free (and that includes grammatical and aesthetic considerations).[nbsp][nbsp]Especially bad now that they've redefined the word &quot;free.&quot;

Desecrate

[Shalazar]

It's ok to sound smug Dan, in fact, it's hard not to when you go to their homepage to check out the support forum and find out that bug reports in the Bugs forum outweigh the entire number of posts on the rest of the board.

Their Setup Wizard doesn't even work.

And then they have the nerve to charge for it now =)
[This message has been edited by Shalazar (edited 03-01-00@3:50 pm)]

[MrBlunt]

Thanks to all for the input. I have set up the demo of WWWThreads on my site and it seems as though it would be quite easy to modify the code to look almost identical to UBB. The problem then is upgrading will not be an easy
task.

At this point I have a script to convert UBB Members to WWWThreads and I am debating whether it is worth it to do the same for all the UBB threads. Maybe the better way is to wean people off of UBB by transfering a few Forums at a time. Thoughts?

I went ahead and sent in my $200 bucks for a commercial license today so I guess I have officially started my migration away from UBB. :|

The other big plus is I will now be able to intergrate the Forum membership with the rest of the site and Member profiles will be much more secure.

Justin, on a side note, how will storing this much data in MySQL effect FutureQuest? Will this ever count against my WWW space? Just curious.

peace...

[This message has been edited by MrBlunt (edited 03-01-00@9:49 pm)]

[Shalazar]

Maybe Charles can key in on this, but, does that mean newer versions of UBB won't be hackable because they will no longer be downloadable by the user?

If so, that's a grave mistake IMO, and might change my inclination to drop 80 bucks on it in the next couple weeks or so.

[Justin]

Charles will be better able to clarify, but my understanding was that the standard UBB would still be supported, with the &quot;Enterprise Edition&quot; being the newer system (which cannot be downloaded/modified)... I would be willing to bet that support for the standard UBB will not be the same, as they would be pushing for the EE. I also bet that new features, bug fixes, etc will not be as frequent (is that a good or bad thing? ;) ) in the standard UBB...

Either way, after all the hype about the Enterprise Edition, I am quite disappointed...

As for WWWThreads, I haven't used it in over a year but I've heard they are now charging for it - it used to be completely free...

I liked it quite a bit back then, so I'm sure it has only become better. The guy knows how to code - the code I saw last year was all using strict subs and with Taint checking and warnings turned on - quite impressive for such a large script. If you are looking for a very well coded forum script, WWWThreads is the best I've seen :)

The only real benefits of the UBB would be that it is familiar to most people. The other one would be that it generates static HTML files, though as non-resource friendly as the rest of the UBB is, I think it cancels itself out...

Phorum is another one I haven't messed with in over a year. Back then it had promise, but was far from being any sort of complete solution IMO. I'm not sure where it stands at this point...

My recommendation would have to be WWWThreads...

Hope this helps.

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest (http://www.FutureQuest.net/index.php) Support

[Justin]

Space used in your MySQL is of course counted against your disk usage - however, it is not calculated in the CNC Disk Space module at this time...

On an unrelated note - I was extremely pleased with Windows 98 over 95, and I am again quite pleased with 2000, despite my installation problems last week. Tip of the day: when they say to make sure *everything* in your system (hardware/software) is on their 'compatibility list', they really mean it ;)[nbsp][nbsp] Other than that, my overclocked PC has never been this stable :)

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest (http://www.FutureQuest.net/index.php) Support

[MrBlunt]

Is there a easy(sic) way for me to check my MySQL space usage? I usually download the entire database using phpAdmin but is that a reliable figure in terms of disk space?

Side Note: Were you able to install 2000 over 98 without losing data?

peace...