My peoples, huddle up and listen...
With how crazy and hectic everything has been, it feels like there has been some lack of communication to everyone explaining what's happening besides the scenes as far as what to expect here in the near future from this website.
First and foremost: the current forum software that we are using (phpBB) is going away. Soon. Very soon.
The reasoning behind it was established by Sharp (our sysadmin, DBA extraordinary and programming wizard) and I several months back as we would discuss (theoretically) what it would take to write a good piece of forum software as we felt like nearly all off-the-shelf solutions were... bad. To put it lightly. The primary goal with this forum is scalability, performance, and to hopefully never ever see a 500 Internal Server Error again. In our minds, it is not acceptable for the site to be down for more than even a minute when traffic to the site goes crazy.
Sharp put in a lot of effort (and I mean a lot) into conceptualizing and executing our database schema in PostgreSQL to leverage it for the most performant integration possible. This has been finished this morning based on our blueprint and was quite a bit difficult to pull off.
My end of this involves utilizing my expertise in User Experience/User Interface design and front-end development to actually make something out of this. The core forum experience will be ready either tonight or tomorrow.
I define the core forum experience as follows:
I am also shooting to possibly have this ready for launch:
The other big focus from my end is to provide a great and user friendly experience. The standard phpBB user experience will not cut it. Neither will what other forum software provides. This will be a long-term work in progress and the first version of the site you see will be a bit rougher, but it should evolve over time to become something you want to use and come back to.
We will have a name and domain by tomorrow night. We will also do a proper migration to the new forum where user accounts will transfer over.
We have also discussed a future roadmap of how to expand beyond just a forum, and I welcome others to let you guys in on that and what it will entail.
Please be patient with us, as this current forum is only the first step and what we call version 0.1. Look out for version 1.0 soon. Feel free to provide feedback and ask as many questions as you wish and we'll try to answer them if we have an answer!
With how crazy and hectic everything has been, it feels like there has been some lack of communication to everyone explaining what's happening besides the scenes as far as what to expect here in the near future from this website.
First and foremost: the current forum software that we are using (phpBB) is going away. Soon. Very soon.
The reasoning behind it was established by Sharp (our sysadmin, DBA extraordinary and programming wizard) and I several months back as we would discuss (theoretically) what it would take to write a good piece of forum software as we felt like nearly all off-the-shelf solutions were... bad. To put it lightly. The primary goal with this forum is scalability, performance, and to hopefully never ever see a 500 Internal Server Error again. In our minds, it is not acceptable for the site to be down for more than even a minute when traffic to the site goes crazy.
Sharp put in a lot of effort (and I mean a lot) into conceptualizing and executing our database schema in PostgreSQL to leverage it for the most performant integration possible. This has been finished this morning based on our blueprint and was quite a bit difficult to pull off.
My end of this involves utilizing my expertise in User Experience/User Interface design and front-end development to actually make something out of this. The core forum experience will be ready either tonight or tomorrow.
I define the core forum experience as follows:
- User Accounts with a basic profile
- Forums with sub-forums
- Ability to create a thread
- Ability to reply to a thread
- Basic moderation (deleting threads/posts, ability to ban users)
- Responsive design
I am also shooting to possibly have this ready for launch:
- Subscriptions
- Read receipts
The other big focus from my end is to provide a great and user friendly experience. The standard phpBB user experience will not cut it. Neither will what other forum software provides. This will be a long-term work in progress and the first version of the site you see will be a bit rougher, but it should evolve over time to become something you want to use and come back to.
We will have a name and domain by tomorrow night. We will also do a proper migration to the new forum where user accounts will transfer over.
We have also discussed a future roadmap of how to expand beyond just a forum, and I welcome others to let you guys in on that and what it will entail.
Please be patient with us, as this current forum is only the first step and what we call version 0.1. Look out for version 1.0 soon. Feel free to provide feedback and ask as many questions as you wish and we'll try to answer them if we have an answer!
TL;DR.I wish it was as simple as that lol. I'm trying to be thorough and provide as much info as possible. I see no harm in it...
JK, we're really out here.
Well, besides setting expectations :lol:
Just to be clear, I don't think this site is going to be testing the limits of forum traffic or anything. This is just a project reilo and I have been wanting to work on for a while, and this was a good opportunity to get it started. And at this early stage, it's not going to be incredibly well optimized (well, parts of it might be, but optimization has to go through the entire stack). What we're most concerned about at this stage is integrity of data. From day one, I want to make sure people who post on the forums do not lose a single post. Towards that end, a lot of features will be there under the hood but not be exposed for use when the site initially goes online. As a particularly drastic example, until I finish the appropriate triggers it will not be possible to update a post, even though the revision functionality is present.
I really appreciate what you guys are doing and anything you do to create a home for a fun forum would be awesome...especially since even this crappy version is impressive to my Bennett tier website building skills.
http://giririsss.com/BestForum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=40 aka Announcement ahead of schedule. :ugeek:
Things are in very, very early development right now but I can say that there will be a considerable focus on content as well. This will not be just a forum site. I've already been in contact with a lot of members so far about that area of progress and I like what we've come up with so far. Again, this is fetus stage development so if you've got anything you'd like to contribute - even an idea - shoot me a PM.
Things are in very, very early development right now but I can say that there will be a considerable focus on content as well. This will not be just a forum site. I've already been in contact with a lot of members so far about that area of progress and I like what we've come up with so far. Again, this is fetus stage development so if you've got anything you'd like to contribute - even an idea - shoot me a PM.
http://giririsss.com/BestForum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=40 aka Announcement ahead of schedule. :ugeek:
Things are in very, very early development right now but I can say that there will be a considerable focus on content as well. This will not be just a forum site. I've already been in contact with a lot of members so far about that area of progress and I like what we've come up with so far. Again, this is fetus stage development so if you've got anything you'd like to contribute - even an idea - shoot me a PM.
What kind of content are we talking here? I'd like to contribute if I can.
Yes, written content. Reviews, articles, editorials, previews. Summaries, that sort of stuff.
We're really just putting ideas together on how we want to get to the end point.
There's actually a lot of talent among the people / communities that are coming over. Hopefully we'll be able to let people show it off some and really build it up.
We're really just putting ideas together on how we want to get to the end point.
There's actually a lot of talent among the people / communities that are coming over. Hopefully we'll be able to let people show it off some and really build it up.
I'm quite excited to see what comes next and if there is anything I can help with, I don't mind helping out!
Can we have a banner for the forum that says fuck the Knicks?
Can that just be the URL?
FUCK THE KNICKS FORUMS at http://www.fucktheknicks.com/fuck/the/knicks/forum.php
I'm really glad you guys are doing this, it sounds like it's going to be great.
I would love to do a Basketball podcast, or join forces with you guys to do one. I also write so I'd also love to do editorials or really just contribute in anyway.
I would love to do a Basketball podcast, or join forces with you guys to do one. I also write so I'd also love to do editorials or really just contribute in anyway.
as long as I become a mod I'm cool with whatever
You may want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you.
i'm gonna be an admin? :oas long as I become a mod I'm cool with whatever
You may want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you.
omg mori kun
Will I be a mod?
You may want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you.
I already know about Bazemore.
Will I be a mod?
You may want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you.
I want Ninja to be a mod. It'll be hilarious.
but then he'd have to be sucking his own dick 24/7Will I be a mod?
You may want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you.
I want Ninja to be a mod. It'll be hilarious.
thatd get uncomfortable
8-)
I want Toronto to play TheBobcats in the playoffs for similar reasons.
We'll take those bastards to 7 games. Just you wait.
but then he'd have to be sucking his own dick 24/7
thatd get uncomfortable
8-)
Uncomfortable for who? Some of us might enjoy it
We are getting close on a name and domain for the site. I'll post an update as soon we have something concrete.
I am the collective groans upon the unveiling of reilo-gaf.comThat wasn't on the list!
*puts it on the list*
We are getting close on a name and domain for the site. I'll post an update as soon we have something concrete.booooo
let's vote on it.
We are getting close on a name and domain for the site. I'll post an update as soon we have something concrete.booooo
let's vote on it.
Because that never goes wrong! :D
We are getting close on a name and domain for the site. I'll post an update as soon we have something concrete.bonergas.net?
No but if you don't take that for yourself right now you're a damn foolWe are getting close on a name and domain for the site. I'll post an update as soon we have something concrete.bonergas.net?
BestForum.
Simple, highlights the name that NBA-GAF had, and kinda is a subtle dig at NeoGAF w/o mentioning it (unlike EvilBore)
Simple, highlights the name that NBA-GAF had, and kinda is a subtle dig at NeoGAF w/o mentioning it (unlike EvilBore)
BestForum.The point is not to be just a forum nor a singular community. We want to have a broader reach beyond spots, too.
Simple, highlights the name that NBA-GAF had, and kinda is a subtle dig at NeoGAF w/o mentioning it (unlike EvilBore)
===================================================================================================================
Small update.
The following core functionalities are in working alpha:
- User Flow
- User Registration
- User Login
- User Profile
- Edit User Profile (basic info, avatar, password) Admin Panel
- Forum Creation
- Admin panel is gated based on User permissions Threads and Replies
- Thread Creation
- Thread Viewing
- Reply to Thread
- User permission check: if the user attempts to create a thread or reply to a thread, they'll be prompted to login
Tomorrow I am spending some time cleaning up the SQL calls based on what Sharp wrote, and then diving into writing the HTML markup and start some preliminary design.
Keep checking back for more updates.
Also, just to let you all know we're taking this seriously, we're using an Amazon RDS reserved Postgres instance with automatic checkpointing and upgrades, among other things. This is significantly more expensive than some other options but we decided it was worth going for because of the increased data protection it provides--even if something catastrophic happens, we should be able to recover.
Can we get rid of the post submit screen that confirms your reply was submitted? That screen is annoying as fuuuuck, even if it only lasts for 3 seconds.
Can we get rid of the post submit screen that confirms your reply was submitted? That screen is annoying as fuuuuck, even if it only lasts for 3 seconds.I've heard a couple of people request this, I think (or maybe it was just you twice, but I think not). My initial inclination is, "not without an AJAX reply system." Otherwise, the server has to keep a connection open when it's not really that important that a connection be open, which hurts scalability. In a forum this small we might be able to get away with it, but it wouldn't really be in line with the spirit of the software.
Edit: It could be made a lot less obtrusive than it is on this forum though.
Edit 2: Yeah, let me get back to you on that. We'll have to benchmark.
Just get rid of the 'a new post has been made, review your post in light of this' screen though? super annoying.
Just get rid of the 'a new post has been made, review your post in light of this' screen though? super annoying.I don't think there are any plans for that functionality, so we don't really have to get rid of it :)
Just get rid of the 'a new post has been made, review your post in light of this' screen though? super annoying.That shit is so annoying.
Also, when clicking on links from the forum, it doesn't open a new tab. So it takes me away from the thread I was in.
Fix dat shit, clown.
Fix dat shit, clown.
Also, when clicking on links from the forum, it doesn't open a new tab. So it takes me away from the thread I was in.Learn to middle click bro.
Fix dat shit, clown.
(Might be nice for this to be configurable but different people have different preferences on this. I don't think there's one right answer).