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Thread: Message Boards

  1. #1
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    Dec 2003
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    Message Boards

    I'd like to host a message board for chatting with some of my online friends, but i thought it would be cool to manage the board on our own site(not using on of those free, link to it message boards) I imagine that John Vranesevich and his staff keep this board running. How would I go about creating a message board? is there someplace i could download some source code that i could easily implement a site? maybe a tutorial on how to do it?(i have the basic idea, but i might hit a few snags or something). I could try using a free board but it would be more fun to try making our own, also i dont think those boards give the admin as much control, we would need the ability to modify user/password, and banned user lists for deleting accounts, banning people etc. since we would only be for a small number of people, i think we could do it fairly easily.

    thanx for the help

  2. #2
    1) JP does not run this crappy site.
    2) google is your friend.
    3) http://www.phpbb.com

  3. #3
    Senior Member
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    Aug 2001
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    Uhh, you could look to the bottom of the page to at the "Related Topics" or whatever the exact title of them is...

    There are a lot of free forum apps..., lots. Many run on php and somekind of database, but then there are also ASP and CGI solutions...

    Basically it depends on the kind of server you have access to.

    And, it has been a while since JP sold this site to corporate america..., but then if it was as crappy as many "old-timers" complain it is... (Granted it has changed..., but such is life really.)
    The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk. -Hegel

  4. #4
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    Invision have free boards that are quite good, google them.

  5. #5
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    i use phpbb at www.stekdoza.com/forum and i host a friends forum at www.stekdoza.com/djracer those are exmples of phpbb boards, i download the zip file from phpp.com and modified the board to look like as it does now...if you want to see Invision Power Board .... me and d00dz attackin use it on www.introonline.com/forums . In my opinion IPB is much better....the AdminCP is better etc....for phpbb modification www.phpbbhacks.com is great, also for skins, mods and icons, smilies etc....

    do you have a domain name ? .com ? if you do IM me at "LSysAdmn" and i'll help you set phpbb up ...if not tell me how many categories you'll need and how many people are gonna be on that forum and mayb'e i can host it for you at like www.stekdoza.com/phonedog or whatever. ...

  6. #6
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    Dec 2003
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    I got phpbb off of phpbb.com and i am not totally sure how to install it. I dont have any hosting as of yet. I read the installation instructions and I understand how to do it, in theory, but i havent been able to try it out. so i have a few questions about it:

    1.) is it normal for all of the pages to be blank or just jumbled php code when i try to view them from my desktop?

    2.) do most servers have php and mysql installed? a host doesnt, is it likely that i would to ftp the php and mysql installations onto the server and just install them?(i think the readme file for mysql or php says to do this)

    2.) Can i get a tutorial or something on doing those customizations i really liked those.(i havent worked with php much)

    i was going to use comcast hosting that comes with my isp, but its not real hosting, its only lets you host pages that you make useing their limited wizards and junk. I dont have a domain name yet, bout i could get some kind of redirection service or even a cheap name off of somplace like go-daddy.com. and to memorY, I have your name in my contact list and I guess i'll talk to you sometime, that will be cool

  7. #7
    Senior Member
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    Aug 2001
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    251
    1) PHP is an interpretted language. This means that PHP files are basically text files that begin with <?php and end with ?> and have a .php extension. The .php tells the server that they need to go through the PHP engine and the <?php and ?> tells the engine that it actually has to do stuff. You can read the entire source for phpbb if you feel so inclined, just grab everyone's favorite text editor Notepad.

    2) Host that have PHP and MySQL will advertise the fact. If they don't tell you they have it then probably they don't. If a host doesn't have them installed, it is very unlikely that you would be able to install them yourself. And you certainly wouldn't be able to install them simply by ftp'ing the files for MySQL and PHP there, you'd need to ssh in to run the configure and make commands. You'd probably pay more for a host that allows you to install mysql and php yourself than you would for a host that has it pre-installed, silly but true. You could install Apache/MySQL/PHP on your computer just to fool with it, just becareful as that's how I ended up learning PHP.

    Peace,
    Dhej
    The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk. -Hegel

  8. #8
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    but, alot of the pages are blank, even in notepad, whats the deal with that?

  9. #9
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    Some of them are being written to as they are viewd as i understand....some should be blank..dont worry about it....If you have web server space, upload the extracted folder to it, and i can help you further ...

  10. #10
    Senior Member
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    Dec 2003
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    is there a way that i could try it out on my home computer? i tried installing mysql and php on i cant get it to run. i was hoping i could kind of simulate it locally before i buy hosting, etc. also, when people do all of those mods on phpbb message boards and stuff, do they install it and then modifiy it or do they modify the installation files?

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