[Arturo]

chris i can’t find my ticket in trac… but is the “same” text in this 3d.

hey JohnJJ, i use bbpress 0.9.0.4 with mu+bp and with the latest trunk i’ve problem with deep-integration and buddybar you remember? but with 0.9.0.4 i’ve resolved this problem.

[michael3185]

Yep, the idea of a minimal core engine with stable plugin hooks sounds the best way to me too, even as a non-developer.

Something I’m sure would help is a standard for plugins. I think too many people are put off when the core doesn’t have a function they want, but yippee; there’s a plugin! Then after many hours of frustration, ah crap; this fails too, and here we go with the forum questions again. It also makes the product look bad, even though the plugin developer may not be related to that product in any way.

A ‘bbPress Certified’ system would give users more confidence, and raise the bar for forum development as the outside world perceives it. I can see that plugin developers work hard to get things right for others, and every eventuality can’t be tested for of course. However, I also know from struggling very hard with different forum packages over the last 6 weeks that there really are no standards, and on a couple of systems people seem to have jumped on the plugin bandwagon because it’s fun and brings kudos. In one case, I found myself delving into posts from as far back as 2005 in an attempt to get something simple working. They have a massive forum, but it’s jam packed with ‘How can I make this work?!’ posts going back years. (bbPress is a gem by comparison, which is why I’m still here).

Non-programmers see a plugin on a ‘legitimate’ forum and naturally assume it’s going to work properly. Not everyone’s into hacking around, and some have no time or inclination to do so whatsoever, especially working people who want Open Source software but need it to just work out of the box. On the other side of a crucial plugin may sit a very competent programmer with great ideas, but it can just as easily be a school kid who’s learned a bit of php and doesn’t have the experience to make their ideas actually work. There’s no way of knowing, unless they post in an obviously off-putting way. The current user rating system looks good, but is quickly dismissed when two or three 5 star plugins fail.

Any standard takes time and effort in the background to assess the code others produce, though it sounds like that’s already being done anyway. I submitted a very simple plugin and wondered why it hadn’t appeared on the forum, and another member mentioned that it can take a while for it to be reviewed. If some checks were done for code readability, apparent competence, etc., as well as the checks already being done for maliciousness and obvious bugs, then you’ve got a working standard. If someone submits something your programmers can see is messily written, uses innapropriate function calls, etc., then they get a ‘Sorry, it doesn’t reach our standards’ email. Maybe a Certified bbPress Star System; 1 star – not rated; 2 stars – appears competent, or is excellent but has no admin panel; 3 stars excellent structure and use of core functions, and has admin panel, and so-on. No guarantees, but at least we’d know to go for 3 stars or more, or if you love to play, grab the 1 star and have fun improving it. Kudos for both developers! The user ratings could be left in as an extra, though casual, system.

It doesn’t really have to be any more labour intensive than at present, and if bbPress and associated systems want to be taken even more seriously in the working world, then standards for plugin development are essential.

[bzmillerboy]

I tried deleting uft8_general_ci from my wp_config.php file and left it blank during the install however now I’m getting the following error.

Referrer is OK, beginning installation…

>>> Setting up custom user table constants

Step 1 – Creating database tables

>>> Modifying database: bria5519_buddypresstest (localhost)

>>>>>> Table: bb_forums

>>>>>>>>> Creating table

>>>>>>>>>>>> Done

>>>>>> Table: bb_meta

>>>>>>>>> Creating table

>>>>>>>>>>>> Done

>>>>>> Table: bb_posts

>>>>>>>>> Creating table

>>>>>>>>>>>> Done

>>>>>> Table: bb_terms

>>>>>>>>> Creating table

>>>>>>>>>>>> Done

>>>>>> Table: bb_term_relationships

>>>>>>>>> Creating table

>>>>>>>>>>>> Done

>>>>>> Table: bb_term_taxonomy

>>>>>>>>> Creating table

>>>>>>>>>>>> Done

>>>>>> Table: bb_topics

>>>>>>>>> Creating table

>>>>>>>>>>>> Done

Step 2 – WordPress integration (optional)

>>> WordPress address (URL): http://brianandlindsaymiller.com/buddypresstest/

>>> Blog address (URL): http://brianandlindsaymiller.com/buddypresstest/

>>> WordPress cookie keys set.

>>> WordPress “auth” cookie salt set from input.

>>> WordPress “secure auth” cookie salt set from input.

>>> WordPress “logged in” cookie salt set from input.

>>> User database table prefix: wp_

>>> WordPress MU primary blog ID: 1

Step 3 – Site settings

>>> Site name: BuddyPressTestForums

>>> Site address (URL): http://brianandlindsaymiller.com/buddypresstest/forums/

>>> From email address: bzmiller@fuse.net

>>> Key master created

>>>>>> Username: keymasteradmin

>>>>>> Email address: bzmiller@fuse.net

>>>>>> Password:

>>> Description: Just another bbPress community

>>> Forum could not be created!

>>> Making plugin directory at /home/bria5519/public_html/buddypresstest/forums/my-plugins/.

>>> Making theme directory at /home/bria5519/public_html/buddypresstest/forums/my-templates/.

>>> Key master email sent

There were some errors encountered during installation!

[itissue]

I tested it out and it sort of works but when I miss just a few characters in the captcha, I still pass the test. It’s only when the thing I type is way off that it works. That’s probably how reCaptcha has it set up though. I guess it should be fine since bots shouldn’t be able to read images. We’ll see. Thanks for taking the time to code it into a plugin though dchest. It’s just what I’ve been looking for.

It does clash with bbPM though. I’m not sure what it is that’s doing it, but I can’t use both this and bbPM together.

[michael3185]

Thanks for all the excellent advice. I do like hacking around, but as I need to get a couple of forums up and running I’m best with 0.9.0.4 right now. I think that sticking with it until 1.0 has been well tested – and has the plugins or functionality I need – is the best bet too.

I’ve spent around six weeks or more trying everything under the sun, until finally settling on bbPress. Mostly, it just works. I don’t think I want to do much more than learn a little php and more css as I go along. I’m remembering that there are people outside this room, and conversation, and beer… Hacking about in the guts of things is interesting and really very addictive, but there’s life out there! Love all you folks for making it possible though, I have to say.

[dss]

I’ve got the latest version of WP and BBP

So that’s BBPress 1.0 rc-1

and WP 2.7.1

In my wp-config I have the Secure Auth Key but in the WordPress options.php there’s no “secure auth salt” so i have no idea how to find this and use it for integration.

[thekmen]

I can’t really add to the argument except to say that I never tried any older versions, so downloaded RC1 last week & love it. I only have one issue mentioned in another thread, I can’t get the function bb_new_topic_link();

to work but have worked around that for the moment using hardcoded links. The function is only used in 3 places so it’s not much of an issue.

I am using it on a live site for less than a week now – http://xfactor-updates.com/forum/ – its quiet at the moment but will get busy & fully tested in the next few months

As WordPress 2.8 is due out the door any day with it’s new widget classes, a lot of themes will have to be upgraded to take advantage of the changes so I can see a lot of people leaving WordPress 2.5, 2.72 and so on behind and making the switch to 2.8.

The sooner bbPress can be fully integrated with WP 2.8 the better in my opinion.

[johnhiler]

Great points, timskii!

One note – it’s now possible to integrate bbPress v.9 with the latest versions of WordPress, using either of the plugins here:

https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/freshly-baked-cookies/

http://superann.com/2009/02/26/wordpress-26-27-bbpress-09-cookie-integration-plugin/

I share your concerns about bbPress becoming bloated. I hope the platform doesn’t go down that path… that would be the main thing that would eventually drive me off of bbPress.

[timskii]

I’ve been “testing” 1.0 out privately over the last week, primarily by re-writing my custom code and templates, and then working through every user operation (to check both my changes, and the underlying software). So I’ll try and play devil’s advocate to _ck_’s “don’t upgrade!”

From the user’s perspective, little has changed. The most significant feature to pull out is the use of Display Names. That’s a huge plus on an “international” forum, because users can now set their names to contain non-English characters. And there’s no need to workaround empty display names in WordPress (when a user registers via BBPress).

Templating is similarly unchanged. About the most significant change is that the contents of tag-form.php can no longer be altered via a template – which was likely never required anyway. Semantically, existing oddities remain (like the profile edit is still a table), and usability can be clunky in places (when you register successfully, there’s a message that tells you to log in, but nothing immediately helpful, like a login screen).

Plugins very much depends on how deep they go. The only place I stumbled was in user roles, where the underlying code had completely altered. But I’m not using many plugins, and the custom code I had been using, I’d been prepared to rewrite. (Most of it was a mess anyway!) A clear “your mileage may vary” caveat, and particular risk if one doesn’t understand enough programming to work round anything that breaks.

Technically, 1.0 feels fairly solid. I have found glitches, but nothing worse than some of the 0.9 versions. 1.0 does perform many more database queries. Like 50 on certain pages. Although it is hard for me to assess the load implications without running it on a public site. Integration worked OK as an upgrade, once I’d realised that the upgrade did not automatically add the new cookie-related keys (which needed to be added manually to the existing config files). The whole package feels more “bloated”, but that may be more the fault of WordPress than BBPress. I just hope BBPress doesn’t evolve into the messy, feature-overloaded forum software I had been trying to avoid.

So, if I was just running BBPress, on balance I’d stick with 0.9, at least until the dust settles on 1.0.

But. There’s a but.

If nobody uses 1.0, hardly anyone is debugging it, hardly anything gets fixed, and so on. There’s a danger of putting 1.0 on the shelf, waiting for someone else to finish it, and then wondering why the bugs never get found. So even if you aren’t running it on a live site, it might be useful to try it out privately.

Rightly or wrongly, WordPress 2.5.1 makes me increasingly nervous: As times goes on, I’m going to find plugins and templates that aren’t designed for that version. And while it is claimed that 2.5.1 has no security flaws, if almost nobody is using it, the chance of any flaw getting found and reported is also low. In contrast, the latest version is sure to get picked apart and patched back up very quickly.

And then I started to look at BuddyPress, and… I don’t even know if it’s possible to run that on top of 2.5.1. But you can see the way I’m starting to think: An old BBPress is itself rooting me in the past. And while I knew it was unfinished software when I started using it, I had rather assumed it would at least keep pace with WordPress, not get left a year behind.

So right now, it’s a rather person decision. All other things being equal, I tend to agree with _ck_.

However, I see a lot of WordPress 2.7+ blogs with phpBB forums hosted alongside. And naturally no integration between them. In the near future, that’s the first big, obvious “market” for BBPress. Yet almost all those people need compatability with the latest WordPress. For us “early adopters” that’s important: Some of those new BBPress users will write plugins and templates, and they won’t bother trying to support outdated code. Once that starts to happen, old 0.9 users will find they are missing out – which will probably be the time for most existing users to upgrade.

[michael3185]

Apologies! I just re-uploaded it after you downloaded it, so grab it again. I added a needed plugin to the bbVanilla.zip file, which you should FTP to your my-plugins folder (no need to activate it). That provides a consistent warning/error page for various things.

Also, if you really want the Latest Topics at the top of the front page (a mess in my group’s eyes) then I can show you how add back it easily, or do it for you.

Just noticed on your site (looking sxc by the way); there’s a gap in front of .com in the title (intentional?), and you’ve left the default ‘Just another bbPress community’ message in the banner (Admin, Settings to change).

[michael3185]

Yep, know what you mean. Do install Human Test too – the simple math question stops bots, which can’t answer.

[johnhiler]

Can you check to see if you have the latest version of “My Views” installed?

https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/my-views/

You need at least 0.1.1 for Hidden Forums to work properly… I remember I used to get an error from Hidden Forums until I upgraded the My Views plugin.

If that’s not the issue, I’m officially stumped!

[michael3185]

I’ve tried messing around in Admin in all sorts of ways, and cannot get Private Forums to reset again now. However, in case it might in future, I’ve installed Hidden Forums to test that. I got the impression it hid the forums from guests completely, but I may be wrong as it has a forum label (which I’ve changed to an asterix to keep things subtle). It fails though. I have the following set up in the php file;

$hidden_forums=array(2,3,4,5,7); // hide these forums, list by comma seperated number

$hidden_forums=array(‘keymaster’,’administrator’);

$hidden_forums[2]=array(‘administrator’,’moderator’, ‘member’);

$hidden_forums[3]=array(‘administrator’,’moderator’, ‘member’);

$hidden_forums[4]=array(‘administrator’,’moderator’, ‘member’);

$hidden_forums[5]=array(‘administrator’,’moderator’, ‘member’);

$hidden_forums[7]=array(‘administrator’,’moderator’, ‘member’);

$hidden_forums=”*”;

But on accessing the front page I get;

Warning: in_array() [function.in-array]: Wrong datatype for second argument in /home/letsdoo/public_html/MB/my-plugins/hidden-forums/hidden-forums.php on line 37

Have I misunderstood the instructions..?

[edit]

I disabled it, and re-enabled Private Forums, and the latter came back with all settings intact and works fine. Hmm…

[john500]

The issue has been resolved and no problem with BBPress Latest Discussion. Only issue is with the Reputation plugin. Can’t get to work in adding and deleting reputation points and developers don’t seem to know how to change so that it does not add reputation points for merely making a posting.

[johnhiler]

This plugin gives registrants a math test before they sign up:

https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/human-test/

This lets you easily delete spammy signups (you should back up database first, of course!):

https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/mass-delete-users/

This is a bit hardcore, but you can actually hold new registrations for approval:

https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/approve-user-registration/

Hopefully one of those will do the trick!

[michael3185]

I’ve turned Bad Behaviour off today, so that may explain why IE6 was ok..?

The plugins I have enabled now are (just in admin order);

Enhanced Registration

Moderation Suite

Auto Add Favorites

Terms of Service

Related Topics

bbPM

Tweaks (incl. _ck_’s IE8 fix)

Approve User Registration

Admin add user

Private Forums

Avatar Upload

Human Test for bbPress

Web Compression gzip

My Views module – Started/Participated Topics

Year Long Cookies

Post Notification

bb-chunk

Moderation Notify

I did have Akismet, Skip Akismet for admins, and Bad Behaviour too, but have now removed these. Interestingly enough, Private Forums now works perfectly, even when I disable and re-enable other plugins or change their settings.

These plugins give me the essential functionality I need (apart from user roles which would be neat) so I think I’ll go with Human Test and watch for spam. If things do get silly spam-wise then I’ll have to invest some more time in stopping it, but for now I have a lot of other things to do to get it all up and running. Many thanks for checking it for me.

[michael3185]

I like the idea of roles, but am using the latest stable release 0.9.0.4 Nobody’s said here which version this attempt at role creation is for..?

[Atsutane]

@johnhiler

I want to correct something here. Bbpress latests discussion is a wordpress plugin, not a bbpress plugin. It should not conflict with any bbpress function.

[johnhiler]

Two questions:

1) Do you still get that error if you deactivate the bbPress Latest Discussion plugin?

2) Did you try upgrading the bbPress Latest Discussion plugin to the latest version?

[john500]

<bbPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ‘t posted was that when is Rugby Canada going to have a stadium policy. Are we go’ at line 1]

INSERT INTO bb3_posts (topic_id,post_text,post_time,poster_id,poster_ip,post_status,post_position,forum_id) VALUES (’57’,”,’2009-06-01 05:18:02′,’13’,’24.80.235.218′,’0′,’4′,’2′)

Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/content/a/l/e/alexander9999/html/forums/bb-includes/db-mysql.php:130) in /home/content/a/l/e/alexander9999/html/forums/bb-includes/pluggable.php on line 232>

Here is message minus the post. The forum is on this site Canadianrugby.ca

there doesn’t seem to be a problem with latest discussions but with postings on the Forum it seems that a long message and perhaps punctuation such as , or apostrophe can cause the error and the post not posting

[johnhiler]

Just noticed – according to the developer notes on the bbPress Latest Discussion plugin, earlier versions of the plugin were using the “wrong table name for 9.0.4”:

https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/bbpress-latest-discussion-for-wp/other_notes/

This has been fixed in the latest version of the plugin (1.3.9). I noticed you mentioned you were using version 1.3 along with bbPress 9.0.4, which would create a problem… I’m guessing that upgrading to the latest version of the plugin might resolve the issue?

[johnhiler]

If you deactivate the bbPress Latest Discussion plugin, does the error go away?

[johnhiler]

Just trying to get my head wrapped around the issue: so bbPress is working fine for you… it’s just that when you activate the bbPress Latest Discussion plugin, you get the error you mentioned?

[Arturo]

hi, i’ve installed the latest trunk integrating it with wp mu 2.7.1, the installation finish without problem, but when i try to login with the mu administrator i’m redirected to forum home…

any idea to resolve this problem? thanks!

[michael3185]

Ouch. I’m pretty savvy at some computer stuff, but not php or css. I’ve been working on two forums for community groups, one of which may grow quite large if it works out as hoped. So, I tested just about every forum package out there. I settled on Vanilla, but had problems with plugins crashing it, and having to hack around for days to try and get something working. Their support is good from a few community members, but there isn’t enough and it often isn’t timely.

I’ve settled with bbPress because I found it very simple to install and set up. My problems were minor, forum members have helped me very quickly indeed, and in a non-geeky manner. I’ve read lots of other posts where people have had WP integration issues, and the help given has been quite extensive. One other thing that I like is the fact that they use it with 100,000 members and 500,000 posts, and it’s still zippy. Also, modifying themes isn’t so bad if you delve into just a few files and play around. I love simplicity as well as my user group, so I created a vanilla clone(ish), which you can get at https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/new-minimalist-theme-available. (Check the posts at the bottom).

If you have some spare time and a nice cup of tea/coffee, click ‘integration’ in the front page tag list and have a good read. I don’t use WP, but I get the impression that many haven’t found it too difficult with a little assistance. There’s an integration plugin too. PS. Read some of your blog; just a body? Nooo…