princed.org (phpBB forum + webpages)

[Norbert]

Can you add a Quick Reply extension, so that a text area is displayed at the bottom of every thread page, and one can immediately quote posts into it and reply without being directed to a separate page?

I'm afraid that adding such a mod would work fine until a new phpBB update comes along and then things may either work or explode and kill millions.
Unfortunately, when the authors of phpBB decided to create a Quick Reply option they didn't add a quick quote feature nor a preview button nor AJAX functionality.
phpBB really is quite a mess. If I'm not mistaken phpBB 4 will be a complete rewrite from scratch.

[David]

So, I have now enabled the Asirra extension that shows animals and the user has to pick all cats.

Then the page shouldn't say "please solve the simple sum below and enter the answer in the box"!

[Norbert]

Then the page shouldn't say "please solve the simple sum below and enter the answer in the box"!

True.
Changed to something that's a bit more accurate.

[Norbert]

The shoutbox (which displays chat messages and vice versa) can be found at the top of each forum page.

Hum... did the shoutbox just die or what... What happened...

[Edit: Never mind, apparently it fixed itself.]

[Norbert]

I've added a spoiler tag (BBCode) to this forum.
This means we can now add hints/spoilers. Example:

Spoiler: show

When writing a post, click the "spoiler" button above the textarea to use it.

[Norbert]

Should we allow or remove threads like this:
viewtopic.php?f=66&t=1647
viewtopic.php?f=94&t=1727
viewtopic.php?f=93&t=2878
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=3095
The Sands of Time, for example, is not abandonware, because it can be bought via for example Steam.
Even Prince of Persia 3D is not abandonware.
My opinion is: we should lock all these threads and remove the download links from them.
Also, maybe we need to add a global announcement that only PoP1 and PoP2 may be shared, nothing else.
If the forum/contest starts to attract more visitors, we need to make sure we don't upset the copyright police (too much).
How about merging the two global announcements about spambots, or remove them? Are these bots still a big problem?

I'm bumping this, because I would like feedback... Are we okay with something like this or not...
My opinion is: we should lock all these threads and remove the download links from them.

[Andrew]

I'm afraid that adding such a mod would work fine until a new phpBB update comes along and then things may either work or explode and kill millions.

Guess you decided to risk killing millions after all, eh?

Oh, and I wish (along with many other things it is missing), that phpBB included links in every quote to jump to the actual post quoted. This version really is woefully lacking compared to SMF, IP Board etc.

[Norbert]

I'm afraid that adding such a mod would work fine until a new phpBB update comes along and then things may either work or explode and kill millions.

Guess you decided to risk killing millions after all, eh?

Well, I enabled the basic Quick Reply that comes with phpBB itself. Which is pretty basic, unfortunately.

Unfortunately, when the authors of phpBB decided to create a Quick Reply option they didn't add a quick quote feature nor a preview button nor AJAX functionality.

This version really is woefully lacking compared to SMF, IP Board etc.

But these other forum packages probably have their own disadvantages in one way or another.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

[Andrew]

Ha! +1 for that image.

But these other forum packages probably have their own disadvantages in one way or another.

For sure, but they don't seem to be as bad as this version of phpBB is. Anyway, guess we've all got used to it by now, although a forum upgrade if ever it could be managed sure wouldn't hurt.

[Norbert]

For sure, but they don't seem to be as bad as this version of phpBB is. Anyway, guess we've all got used to it by now, although a forum upgrade if ever it could be managed sure wouldn't hurt.

Well, this is version 3.0.10 and the latest is 3.0.11.
Dozens of changes between these versions, but nothing that you would notice, I'm afraid.
Anyways, I will upgrade it today and post a message here when it's been upgraded.

[Norbert]

Should we allow or remove threads like this:
viewtopic.php?f=66&t=1647
viewtopic.php?f=94&t=1727
viewtopic.php?f=93&t=2878
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=3095
The Sands of Time, for example, is not abandonware, because it can be bought via for example Steam.
Even Prince of Persia 3D is not abandonware.
My opinion is: we should lock all these threads and remove the download links from them.
Also, maybe we need to add a global announcement that only PoP1 and PoP2 may be shared, nothing else.
If the forum/contest starts to attract more visitors, we need to make sure we don't upset the copyright police (too much).
How about merging the two global announcements about spambots, or remove them? Are these bots still a big problem?

I'm bumping this, because I would like feedback... Are we okay with something like this or not...
My opinion is: we should lock all these threads and remove the download links from them.

If there are no objections this month, I will remove links to software that is not abandonware starting October.
In my opinion, only PoP1 and PoP2 are abandonware. (Not including the PoP1 remake, of course.)

Also, I would like to make one of the current mods a fellow administrator by sharing the login information for the "contest" account.
I think it's better if I'm not the only active administrator. Any volunteers/nominations?
Prior to sharing the login information, I will ask for poirot's approval.
Should we remove administrator privileges from folks that haven't been around in a long time?
The other administrators, besides poirot and contest, are currently: Autor_Serwisu, BlackChar, Brendon James, Dr_Bakier, peter_k, tV2 and ultimateprince.
I've never even heard of Dr_Bakier.

[musa]

Should we remove administrator privileges from folks that haven't been around in a long time?
The other administrators, besides poirot and contest, are currently: Autor_Serwisu, BlackChar, Brendon James, Dr_Bakier, peter_k, tV2 and ultimateprince.
I've never even heard of Dr_Bakier.

I don't know. The forum hasn't been active in many years but I do not think it is a good idea to remove administrator privileges, since we don't know why they disappeared in the first place, they may come back.

[mk1995]

I'd consider enlisting myself, but my knowledge of PHPBB extends only to the tags used in posts to make text alterations like these, so I'd rather stick to a mod's functions. Also, I agree with Michael here. You shouldn't take privileges from people simply because of their inactivity. Enrique knows some of the admins very well, I believe. If you can persuade him to, he might track them down and bring the admins back to the scene.

[Norbert]

The shoutbox (which displays chat messages and vice versa) can be found at the top of each forum page.

Hum... did the shoutbox just die or what... What happened...

[Edit: Never mind, apparently it fixed itself.]

It's happening again. [Edit: And is fixed again...]
No idea why.

[Norbert]

(We've been having problems with hackers at princed.org. WordPress (and some other stuff) has frequently been broken because of them.)

I've just e-mailed this to poirot:

- - - - -
Hi Enrique,

The main page at http://www.princed.org/ seems to be broken since today.

I think it may be best to move away from WordPress.
Nobody is using its functionality anyways.

Here is my suggestion: I could design a new simple but decent page, with
plain old html (.php), and I'll make sure to add old messages (news
archive) to it, so all the old links still work. I will make sure
visitors can tell comment on news posts, but I'll do this by linking
from each news post to a specific, related thread on the Princed Forum.

The only problem is that CusPop is a WordPress plug-in. However, since
it currently doesn't work anyways, I don't think it's a problem to move
away from WordPress. Obviously, if you could somehow make CusPop work
again without requiring WordPress, that would be great. (It was really
being used _a lot_ by authors of mods.)

What do you think?

Best regards,
Norbert
- - - - -