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Some Questions About The Forum!

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Phantomboy
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Some Questions About The Forum!

Post by Phantomboy »

Hello all, so I was doing a bit of digging around and felt I might ask about two different things to see what the general consensus was!

Let's start off with the shorter question. So, it seems like Xenforo has an available option that allows double posts to automatically be merged together. This is something I would need to talk to Wowfunhappy about before turning it on, but would you peeps dislike having a function like that turned enabled? I mean, double posts often get merged manually anyway - so perhaps this is more self serving. But what do you think?

Secondly, blogs! I've talked a bit about an idea I (and a couple others) had about adding a blog page to OMB, with site updates logs, Atmosphir Design Contest Announcements and now this talk about having and Editorial Staff has come up - so having LOTW housed on a blog page could be a thing. If you remember how the 'News' page looked over on the old Atmosphir site, then you have essentially seen what it would look like.

Apparently Xenforo has a fairly basic set up to add something like this (although I need to double check that) but, Xenforo user Rigel Kentaurus has created a thing called Better Blogswhich is a paid application that could be added to the forum. It runs for fifty American dollars, which is pretty steep. He's also put together a Free Better Blogs application that still is fairly fully featured but lacks some of the sharing options that the full bundle gives.

This is far from something that I would just add without really saying anything, mostly because it would be Wowfun's final call. Anyways, if you have the chance - take a look at them and let me know what you think!

It could really work for us :3
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Entity
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Post by Entity »

For automatic double post merging, I really don't have an opinion. It wouldn't be annoying or anything, so whatever is easier for you guys.

As far as the blog though, $50 is a /lot/ of money to pay for a blog. If that's the only option, I think you should just set up a wordpress site. Sure it wouldn't be embedded in the main omb site, but I mean... $50 is a lot :P I'm sure somewhere there's a cheaper/free option?
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Phantomboy
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Post by Phantomboy »

Ah, yeah that makes sense - the Free version of Better Blogs though isn't lacking all too much and that would be something that I doubt would be too difficult to install :3
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Post by bionicnacho »

Entity wrote:As far as the blog though, $50 is a /lot/ of money to pay for a blog. If that's the only option, I think you should just set up a wordpress site. Sure it wouldn't be embedded in the main omb site, but I mean... $50 is a lot :P I'm sure somewhere there's a cheaper/free option?
I had thought of doing wordpress before and I really don't see a problem with using that. OneMoreBlock.com/blog anyone?

On the double posts merging thing, I have the same opinion as Entity. If I see a double post then I just merge it and I really have no trouble doing that since it's quite easy to do so. (I should probably do a better job at saying i've merged the post :P )

On the free version of Better Blogs, the only thing I see is the 255 entry limit which I guess is pretty big but over time things will add up. I don't know how much stuff would be posted on the blog so idk if it would be a problem or not in the long run. Integration with actual forum accounts is a pretty cool thing as well.
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Post by Entity »

bionicnacho wrote:I had thought of doing wordpress before and I really don't see a problem with using that. OneMoreBlock.com/blog anyone?
That sounds perfectly fine to me :) You could embed it too, the way you did with the Stats right?
bionicnacho wrote:On the free version of Better Blogs, the only thing I see is the 255 entry limit which I guess is pretty big but over time things will add up. I don't know how much stuff would be posted on the blog so idk if it would be a problem or not in the long run. Integration with actual forum accounts is a pretty cool thing as well.
Yeah... I can't really give my support for the free version with a post limit like that. I mean it really looks like the only reason he's charging $50 is because there's no competition, so he can charge that much.
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Wazi
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Post by Wazi »

+1

Auto merging isn't a problem at all.
Not sure about blogs though.
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

If you want to do a blog, may I recommend using Weebly? It's what I use for my blog, and I LOVE it. It's very easy to use and you have 100% control over any website you create with it. You can change the theme and color scheme anytime. Best part is, you get all of this COMPLETELY free of charge. :P

Obviously it's your choice, but if you want to do an Atmosphir blog, I think Weebly is the way to go.
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Phantomboy
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Post by Phantomboy »

Weebly did cross my mind, I mean ideally we would want to have it embedded in the site some how. You know, I am going to look into seeing what Xenforo offers in terms of their basic blog set up. Because, it might be a little confusing if nearly every aspect of the community operates on this site but then to get news about it you must view another. I'll see what I can find :3
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

Yeah, but if boberto could pull it off with Atmosphiric, it could probably work out OK to have it elsewhere if need be. Besides, you could always just create a thread on here like Dave always did.
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Phantomboy
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Post by Phantomboy »

Yeah, I suppose you are right. I did a bit more digging - it's obvious that I will need to gain a further understanding of Xenforo and creating things on it. I did stumble upon XenPorta which is for creating an announcements feed, but I have reason to bet that we could probably give the privileges to a community managed ES and have the reviews put in there :3

Again, that sort of discussion does sort of come back down to asking Wowfun if embedding something like that is something he would like. However, if you guys want to make a separate site - even if it is just in the meanwhile, that is entirely up to you guys!
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Post by Entity »

Question... Why are we even using Xenforo? It's a paid service, so there's /bound/ to be less options than something opensource like phpbb or simple machines (and I've used both, they're both perfectly capable forum services.) I'm not trying to criticize, just asking :P
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Post by Swords761 »

Wowfun bought Xenforo, so you're gonna want to ask him. I think the cleanliness/simplicity look is a big factor in the decision, though. It also is what bukkit.org uses, which was hopping back when this site was first created and where Xenforo got popular IMO.

I support both the merge double posts and free blogs options. Don't pay $50 for sharing features; or get a blogger/wordpress or something.
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Post by bionicnacho »

Swords761 wrote:Wowfun bought Xenforo,
Turq*

I really like XenForo though... I don't see why it gets so much hate sometimes.
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Post by Swords761 »

bionicnacho wrote:Turq*
Oh my god that's hilarious, how did I not know that xD
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Post by Miniike »

WHY DO HUM4NS H4V3 FORUMS

:pigflag: for fricking fricks sake why do i still care :pigflag:
:lock: 1. Wild Life 2. China Pig 3. The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica) 4. Sugar N' Spikes 5. Ant Man Bee :lock:
:bomb: you'll love it, it's a way of life :bomb:
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Post by bionicnacho »

Swords761 wrote:Oh my god that's hilarious, how did I not know that xD
It used to be on the site's footer or something...
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Entity
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Post by Entity »

bionicnacho wrote:It used to be on the site's footer or something...
I remember that xD
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Post by Hollabyte »

Maybe we should install ads on the site to make money for the better blogs thing!

On second thought, nah. Adz might get a little territorial.
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Phantomboy
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Post by Phantomboy »

Hollabit wrote:Maybe we should install ads on the site to make money for the better blogs thing!

On second thought, nah. Adz might get a little territorial.
Territorial? What do you me- Oh I get it! Dear gosh! That's silly :P
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Post by Entity »

Hollabit wrote:Maybe we should install ads on the site to make money for the better blogs thing!

On second thought, nah. Adz might get a little territorial.
It took me a minute and then I lol'd xP
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