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Bug Update: March 5, 2005 There is a bug in v2.0. If a user is set
to non-active status, they're not allowed to log in,
but posted messages are still sent to them (if they
subscribed). I'll release a fix in the near future.
Workaround:
Instead
of setting a banned user to non-active status,
delete them
from your database.
WCN:Talk
is a 'threaded'
discussion board, written in Perl, using MySQL for its backend
database. The top page has a menu that allows sorting and
filtering, with a number of defaults, such as viewing new
records. The forum is Open Source (free) and complies with
the GNU General Public License.
v2.0
is a Major Upgrade.
Description
of New Features in 2.0
It is a major upgrade to an earlier version, called "FutureForum",
last updated as v1.33. FutureForum was a 'public only' forum,
with no ability to have usernames and passwords for security
of postings. The motivation to upgrade it was to provide that
security function. It now has both a 'public' and a 'private'
mode, which can be set with the variable '$forum_type'
in the setup file wcntalk_site.pl.
In the process, I changed the name to WCN:Talk -- 'WCN' because
of our business name, and 'Talk' because I read a very distressing
article about 'poison' search engine words. It seems that
search engines drop sites sometimes because of the usage of
certain words, among them the word 'forum'. Thus, I replace
the word 'forum' with the words 'talk' and ' discussion board'
in various places in the program.
Once I started adding the privacy features, I of course had
to add more and more features :-). These new features include:
Private and Public Discussion Board Feature - (see
above).
Note that the privacy function is done with 'session ids'
and cookies.
HTML Templates - Almost all html output has been
separated out to html template files. Thus, it's easy to
change the look and feel of amost all parts of the program.
The 3 primary html template files are:
html_header.html
html_footer.html
top_page_header.html
Email Subscription - Now, because the program has
a user table (allowing password protection) it also has
an email subscription function which allows each user to
receive a copy of each post via email. Alternatively, users
can receive an email at the end of the day containing a
list of posts with authors and subject lines. Users can
subscribe to each forum section (see below) with either
option, or unsubscribe completely. There is also a function
that allows the admin user to setup a section (like 'Announcements')
that has mandatory subscription. In my opinion, the email
subscription function is a significant plus when it comes
to bringing users back to the discussion board. If they
never receive any messages, they don't know if anyone has
posted anything.
Discussion Board Sections - The program now has
the ability to have multiple sections, each one contained
in its own copy of the data table. This way, discussions
can be separated from each other. Sections can be set as
'read-only' so that admins can post announcements, but regular
users can't post in those sections.
File Uploads - Now, if the variable '$allow_file_uploads'
is set to 'yes', private boards can have file uploads enabled.
Public boards cannot have file uploads at this time, primarily
because the coding would require a 'no-clobber' function
on uploaded files that I haven't written yet. Of course,
public file uploading is a dangerous issue anyway, since
someone could upload nasty photos. Note that file uploads
can be of any type. There is a variable for setting file
size limits. There is also a new table that stores the filenames
and descriptions. There is also a new link to display all
file uploads.
Administrative Options - There is an admin page
for approving, editing and deleting users. There is an admin
function for managing sections, i.e. adding and deleting
sections and modifying section names and the topic list
assigned to each section. Note that the section data is
stored in a Perl 'hash of hashes', which is a text file
on the server.
Thus, if you modify it,
you should download it to your desktop for a backup of it.
Registration Function - New users can register
via a public function (register.html). They'll be tagged
as 'denied' until the admin approves them. The admin will
be sent an email saying someone has registered.
Email Forgotten Password - Users can submit a form
to email them their forgotten passwords
Improved Menu Interface - The Menu has undergone
numerous improvements, including more searching options.
User Help Page - I've finally actually written
a User Help Page.
There are many other small improvements, as well as a
cleaned up code set.
See User Help File /talk/help.html for usage help
See comments in setup files wcntalk_site.pl and wcntalk_vars.pl for many technical notes
PARTIAL
LIST OF FEATURES (from v1.33) (see
Description of Features above for new features)
configurable display of top page structure
routine to import old messages from wwwboard.cgi (Matt
Wright's Board) (untested after v1.33)
uses 'branch_no' design to keep track of 'threads'
can display top page of messages with numerous selection
or sorting methods
uses MySQL database for speed and convenience (the major
negative is that the body text is not viewable by search
engines)
the message text is stored as pure text -- html cosmetics
can be changed in the script, and the display of the messages
changes accordingly
multiple board methodology (see notes below)
unlimited levels of bullet images (see notes below)
configurable max message and branch length vars (see
notes) (default setting handles 1 million top level messages,
10 million total)
user option: email responses to user
options to hide topics, date, time on message listings
(shortens lines)
security: has MySQL password; admin can change it
shows 'current thread' and 'parent message' on message
display
blocks duplicate messages
option to view only parent threads and expand thread
on top page
configurable html cosmetics
a number of sticky menu options (on selects)
uses topics in messages: uses select box to select by
topic
has 'toggle menu' function on top page - simple, advanced
and no menu
can select by date range and 'new' posts, and other selection
criteria
sends email of each post to admin
sends response email of message to original poster
automatically displays 'new' button for recent posts;
ages automatically
has security routines - maxlength of body, no html, no
questionable chars
Emails sent to WCN:Talk 'incoming address' get posted
in forum
Additional modifications
(to the earlier version: FutureForum) have been made by Jeremy
Malcom, in order to integrate PostgreSQL connectivity. If
someone would like to test FutureForum on a Mac, or Win95,
or other platforms, and then have me post the appropriate
cross-platform code modifications, please .
[ Note to Programmers: If you're a
programmer, and are concerned about issues such as
'use strict', 'my' and other programming constructs,
you may be interested in a
note about programming methods. ]
