Thinking about starting my own forum script

Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 10:52 pm

I'm really thinking about how interesting it would be to make my own forum software from scratch. To consider all the little features, simple things like "mark this post as read" and "subscribe to this topic" it would be allot of work because there's so many little features like that which are overlocked but still very good to have, but I think if I start small and simple, and move my way up, it could get somewhere. I would make it available to the public and make it free, but it would be much less restricted then IPB 2.0 will be. I would have to figure out a way to get money out of it though since I would need more bandwidth once it gets very popular.

I would probably do the copyright removal thing, since I think allot of people do actually pay so they can get it removed legally. But unlike IPB I would not charge $300+ for it, but rather something like $50. Also, I could always put a small ad in the admin CP or something which could generate a bit of cash once lot of people start using the software, and it would not really be all that bothersome.

I will deep scan the whole IPB database to see just how much work I'm looking at and see if it's something I'd have time to keep updating and also check out the source code more deeply on how certain things are done to be more efficient.

I'll keep thinking about it and keep everyone posted. If I do start this project I'll either have a seperate website for it, or have a subdomain here. One thing I will probably avoid is making the support forums in here, but that's not decided yet. And I guess it would not be very good if I'm offering a BBS system but yet use a different one for the support forum.

But by the time it would reach 1.0 I'd try to get it at least as good as phpbb in terms of features.

With all the features in the cybervillage that I made so far, I have a general idea of how stuff would be structured. Really the easiest parts would be categories, forums, topics and posts, and the rest is all features that go around it such as the user CP, admin CP etc...

I just have a habit of hard coding stuff in php, so that's something I'd for sure have to not do at all but instead have a nice template system.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 6:19 pm

Oh and if anyone has any good idea for a name, please let me know. I have a few in mind.

-nuclearboard
-freevision
- MABBSEM (most awesomest bulletin board ever made)
- cssbb
- httbb

some of those may be copyright infrigments so that's why I need more ideas. I want to try something that gets near 0 results on google. so far nuclearboard is my first choice.

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manadren_it · Post by **manadren_it** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 6:44 pm

I have a feeling this would be a lot more complicated than you think it is, but I have no doubt that you could pull it off. And if you do, and it gets toopopular, don't forget there are options like SourceForge. If you wanted to make it an open source project there, they'd provide the hosting for you for free, and you could still take donations through paypal or whatever.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 6:51 pm

Yeah that's probably what I'd do, since I could never afford a dedicated server. The support forum... that I'm not sure how I'd do it, unless source forge would want to host that too.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 5:24 pm

A few other ideas I have in mind for the name.

-squirrelbb
-nBulletin (n for nutty)
-boomboard
-superboard
-zigbulletin
-zigboard

Superboard sounds kind of cool... but anyone else have ideas.

Once a good name is chosen I'll get started on the base of it. I need to come up with a good skinning engine and authentication engine etc.... I want this both secure and efficient.

I think the most complex feature will be the calendar, since it involves allot of calculations and it has to be done in minimal queries. For example it has to be able to calculate on what day a certain date will fall on, etc.... for each day.

But for now I won't bother with a calandar. I want to try and get in between phpbb and IB in terms of features, before an official release.

edit: I think I'm going to go with Zigboard, and the slogan will be "move zig".

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:11 pm

It's official now: http://squirrelbbs.iceteks.com/

Now I can start working on it, since I'll know what to name the subfolder on my server.

The name was the only thing holding me back, that and school, but now I'm almost done school.

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:24 pm

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:27 pm

I want to try and release it by Christmas but that's not written in cement and that's why I did not write any date in there.

If I was IPB I'd plan to release it by summer, and end up pushing the date till spring 2005 LOL

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:28 pm

You gonna convert your forum to squirrelBBS when it's releasedt?

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:42 pm

Probably once it's just as good as IB or better. I won't convert to the beta though.

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 12:19 am

Red Squirrel wrote: Probably once it's just as good as IB or better. I won't convert to the beta though.

Aww, but we could be the bet4 testers

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 12:42 am

I probably will have a beta board setup somewhere though.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 5:33 pm

Just made and uploaded the site so it's better now.

http://squirrelbbs.iceteks.com

Now I have to actually start working on the product itself.

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:33 pm

Red Squirrel wrote: Just made and uploaded the site so it's better now.

http://squirrelbbs.tripod.com

Now I have to actually start working on the product itself.

Link seems to be teh brokeneded

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:33 pm

http://squirrelbbs.iceteks.com/
This one looks nice, though

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manadren_it · Post by **manadren_it** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:44 pm

sintekk wrote:
Red Squirrel wrote: Just made and uploaded the site so it's better now.

http://squirrelbbs.tripod.com

Now I have to actually start working on the product itself.
Link seems to be teh brokeneded

OMGWTFBBQ!! Don't you see it! That's an awesome site! It looks exactly like a Tripod 404 page!!!!!1

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:47 pm

How could I miss the subtlety and genius of that page?
Thanks for pointing out my mistake, Manadren

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 10:06 pm

LOL my bad, I put tripod instead of iceteks....

That's kind of scarry though. I won't be around tomorow, I have a doctor's apointment.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:20 am

An unofficial update!

I just completed the way mysql queries will be handed,which is designed to enable third party support of other database formats without changing a bunch of scripts around.

The current forum output is not much, yet however, but the engine behind it is what I'm working on and I only expect to produce useful output by the end of the weekend.

Server time: Jun-18-2004 00:06:57 (1087532337)
mysql queries: 1
Script execution time: 0.0001 Seconds

These 3 lines can be individually ommited by editing a config file. (which will be produced by the admin cp)

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 3:00 pm

Red Squirrel wrote: An unofficial update

But.... your the only official working on it

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 3:02 pm

lol good point.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 7:02 pm

Yet another "unofficial" update.

I got the skin system worked out, the debug system is all set, the error handling will be worked on more when there's actually errors to handle, so things are progressing. I will probably make an official update on the squirrelbbs site soon, and even send it out to my mailing list.

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Triple6_wild · Post by **Triple6_wild** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 8:06 am

sup ppl's

i like the color choice red ... looks good

and the cybervillage could be a great feature no? lol and im sure you will probly come up with alot more features that no one has ever thought of b4 lol if i knew php i would lend a hand to help you along but since i know nothing php i cant lol i should learn it tho but where and why to start .... need my own reason to start

anyways whats up with all the care bears? did i miss somthing? lol

laterz

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 1:43 pm

we sort of started our own care bear cult .

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Chris Vogel · Post by **Chris Vogel** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 7:16 pm

Care Bears! Who would have thought?

Kenshin, once Red gets something workable, we can help him. We can look for errors, test the board out, recommend features, etc.

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