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20 hours ago, memoria said:

 

  • Profile Field Puller Thing. You can only display custom profile fields on topics, member listing, member pages. registration, and UCP edit profile areas. I've done a bit of custom work to pull the custom profile field data and display them on other areas though. So, it is possible, just requires work. @Muse Also uses phpBB and might have an idea on how to do this as they also have a character listing of sorts.

 

Hello! I currently have custom hand-coded a Character Profile HTML page that is updated via a Google Sheet (that keeps track of all our players/characters/activity and is updated by hand by my mod team) and Pearl script, so, uh, I have yet to find or pay for a custom extension that does this. Theoretically, it's probably possible, but we have an application/approval process for my forum and character  sheets that aren't built into the User Profile (unlike @memoria's lovely Khy'eras profile/CS), so I'm not pulling anything from anywhere already built into the software.

 

But, if I was more skilled as a coder, I'm sure it's not impossible. I'll be honest, @memoriais a much better phpBB coder than I'll ever be (her site is beautiful!). Mine is a heavily customized theme (Milk v2). 

I have, admittedly, never loved jcink but I know folks who will die on that hill. I like the flexibility of phpBB and while the community isn't always positive or immediately responsive, I have definitely met some folks  who are helpful and willing to assist with customizations. I'm a web designer for a living, already pay for my own hosting service, and find the installation/updating/maintenance of a phpBB site to be super easy (on par with a Wordpress site, imo). 

Edited by Muse
Added a link.

Thorns: Uprising
A Unique Victorian Fantasy Play-by-Post RPG

LORE | FORUM | CHARACTER CENSUS | WANTED ADS | DISCORD

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@Muse  That sounds pretty clever, actually! The level of fancy scripting people here are capable of is absolutely insane to me. For the puller thing specifically, I do know that it is possible, but anything beyond straight HTML/CSS and tweaking jQuery scripts I find on Stack Overflow is well beyond my knowledge base at this point. I've seen AJAX codes for it to get around Jcink's convoluted variables system (that I'm pretty sure are just masked php includes or something along those lines).

 

I'm not really for or against any particular platform at the moment. Jcink just happened to be the first platform I found that had a quick set up time/low barrier for entry, which was necessary at the time. I'm not too concerned with the vibe of a community (I used to hang out on /b/ as an edgy teen. Anons aren't nice lol), so long as the response isn't "no, now kindly piss off", but I am nervous about having to deal with non-HTML/CSS files. I know I can host through RPG-I and I can get someone who knows what they're doing to install it for me, but mucking around in other files... kind of terrifies me. Is there much of that with phpBB (either for updating/maintaining, or doing admin or design stuff), or is it more a case of just replacing a few files here and there? (Feel like I already asked about that, so I'm going to blame a lack of sleep making me derpy if I did)

Candide: An original dystopian RPG

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21 hours ago, ThriftStoreTeeth said:

@Arceus No worries on the admin panel! I'll definitely be signing up and checking it out! 

@Arceushad me sold too, I can't wait to transition and try it for myself. I even bought a domain. 😄

  • Preach it! 1
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18 hours ago, ThriftStoreTeeth said:

@Muse  That sounds pretty clever, actually! The level of fancy scripting people here are capable of is absolutely insane to me. For the puller thing specifically, I do know that it is possible, but anything beyond straight HTML/CSS and tweaking jQuery scripts I find on Stack Overflow is well beyond my knowledge base at this point. I've seen AJAX codes for it to get around Jcink's convoluted variables system (that I'm pretty sure are just masked php includes or something along those lines).

 

I'm very much in this boat—if I can't find a tutorial on it on CodePen or figure out the process through W3CSchools, I probably won't attempt it. I'm not at a level of comfort with PHP or phpBB quite yet that I feel confident in my ability to make more than surface-level modifications, but maybe one day! 

Thorns: Uprising
A Unique Victorian Fantasy Play-by-Post RPG

LORE | FORUM | CHARACTER CENSUS | WANTED ADS | DISCORD

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I can say after YEARS of using phpBB I was very satisfied with it as long as there was not an update. Updates come frequently, as it's open source, and it can indeed break your work. Self hosting just about every forum software out there over the last 20 years I am going to say, with a level of bias here: Your free option is phpBB. Everyone can boast about others, but phpBB was the direct competitor to VBulletin back when VB was good. phpBB is still here, and being actively developed open source. That right there is reason enough to learn it.

 

My favorite paid option is this software right here. Invision. It has a hefty price tag and took me a while to save the money to get it, but as most admin will tell you, it is so flexible you can do literally anything you want with it. As we speak, today, I am in the process of making it work as a search index site(about 50% done) like wowhead for world of warcraft. Invision can do that. So my recommendation here is going to be, instead of letting us sell you an idea, you should just play with everything and see how it fits.

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  • 1 year later...

There are a lot of free forums that you  can try. JCink and Proboards are usually the top ones to try. The only thing I can suggest is that you at least try each one out and see how you like it.

I dont have one.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am super bias towards MyBB though I will have to say that phpBB is an alternative I would consider, if of course MyBB no longer existed. I have yet to find something that is not doable in the sense of coding it yourself or hiring someone to do it for you, which is not hard to find as the MyBB community forums is rather active and large.

 

======================================

 

Ease of Use and Updating.

- Use in my opinion is extremely simple.

- Many modifications and plugins you can apply to automate just about anything you'd like to automate. 

- Updating is simple download x files, upload and navigate to yoursitename.com/upgrade and bam click the buttons.

 

Good Admin/Mod Panel.

- Pretty much everything is straight forward. The admin panel, while not responsive friendly yet (can download free themes to make it that way), is rather simple to navigate. Although there are a few sections of the admin panel I would put in different places because I don't personally feel the link belongs 'there' kind of thing.

- Mod panel I would personally say isn't my favorite though. Its literally the only thing I dislike about MyBB but again, it can be customized.

 

A Solid Community.

- Any question I've ever asked has been answered. Sometimes in depth, sometimes not. If you're looking for educational reasons just state so and most users will give resource links and why the did "x,y,z".

- The community is quite literally a forum, no support tickets or emails! And the forum has LOTS of useful information if you do some searches. Usually whatever issue your having or whatever thing you're trying to do already has information out there to help guide you.

 

Granular Subforum Control.

- Yes, all forums have permissions. You have your basic permissions which you can drag and drop or you can go even further and do very specific permissions.

- MyBB does also allow usergroups and secondary usergroups. So you can have an account with X usergroup as their primary but for example put them as an admin in their secondary usergroup and they will have all the perms that the admin usergroup has. You can also dictate which of the usergroups you would like the username style to display as (so it doesn't have to display as the primary usergroup).

 

Points/Shop System.

- Newpoints (currency) and Newpoints Shop (items and what not) is about the only choice plugin wise unless you want to write your own or buy one. There are also other plugins made for Newpoints from different creators.

- "Having a 'shop' setup where people can use those points to buy awards/change things automatically" could honestly be done with a custom mod directly off of Newpoints. I have seen a few different plugins such as using newpoints currency to buy a 'sticky' thread or other things. So whatever you're aiming to do can be done for sure and if you play your cards right you can probably get it done for free if someone is bored and looking to make a plugin.

 

HTML/doHTML/custom BBcode Functionality.

- HTML yes (doHTML not required if you just set "Yes, allow HTML in posts" in the forum in question or by downloading this plugin (which basically saves you the time of having to checkmark that box on every forum).

- By default <style> tags will not work but there is a workaround for this.

- BBcode/MyCode, not sure if they are the same or not but MyBB calls it MyCode and you can create your own custom ones as well. The community forum has a crap ton of cool ones!

 

Full Skinning Ability.

- This is the actual reason I switched to MyBB years ago from the good ol' PB and Jcink days. MyBB allows complete control of skinning via a templates system where everything is chunked up into individual templates that can be coded however your heart desires!

 

Custom Profile Fields.

- YES. All the fanciness.

 

======================================

 

Subaccounts Switcher.

- Enhanced Account Switcher plugin.

- Comes with an accountlist page that will show the parent account and all attached accounts. (Link reference is an RPG that came to mind that I know is using it).

- Posted as the wrong character? No worries, you can go to the post and click "change author" and choose one from your attached list that it was supposed to be.

- Displays on profiles!

- If any account you have receives a private message a notice will appear at the top to let you know you have an unread message.

 

Skin Switcher.

- You can have as MANY themes (skins) as you want and can flip through them at your own discretion.

- Themes can also have usergroup perms set to the them if you don't want x usergroups seeing them (great for production).

 

Better Awards System.

- OUGC Awards is a fantastic option.

- All award systems available on the mods site.

- Some of these can be automated to grant an award on x achievement.

 

PM Controls.

- Account switcher shows any pms on any accounts.

- You can also control PM usage per usergroup.

 

Profile Field Puller Thing.

- There are plugins for this but this is also my specialty and if you're looking for education on how to do x,y,z I'm just a PM away. ❤️

- I have my Face Claim directory that I modified from a manual install script to a plugin.

- You can also view the source of that code and get an idea of how simple it is to just create a directory you would like if you are familiar with PHP. Otherwise I encourage users to copy and paste my code and play with it to get just what they'd like because knowledge is power.

- Stats are simple, I've got a ref sheet for some basic things you can add to your files (or if you use php plugin you can add it into the templates directly).

 

Discord Webhooks.

- This would be a plugin.

 

Automagic Pruning.

- This could be done with a modification/plugin, I'd personally make use of the task manager system but it is not a core feature.

 

Rich Text Editor.

- Now I will say MyBB does not compare to some of the other softwares like Invision but then again it is a free open source software.

- This is what the editor looks like. Video doesn't show much because the timer isn't long but you can sign up on the MyBB community and just go to post a thread to play with the editor.

- There are alternative text editors though! Plugins! 

 

Members Moving Threads.

- Can be done with Mod Tools in the Admin CP. Just set up perms, usergroups that can access and etc.

 

======================================

 

If you have any super specific questions about MyBB feel free to DM me on Discord! c.widow#6666 
Sometimes I don't get around to checking anything but discord.

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  • 4 months later...

I think I'm going to be the only one to pitch this, but I'm currently running a game on Wordpress. That's right, using the blogging platform. Everything I do at CoSC hinges on two plugins: Pods and WPForo. Between those two I can build an excellent modern forum system with granular control of the subforums, and Pods... Well, Pods is incredible. It lets you build a fully customizable, editable, character system with automated rosters that update based on how they're set up by the creators. With some handy admin-only fields, suddenly you have an approvals system, too.

 

Since it's such an oddball choice I welcome people to ask away about how it works and what went into it. I'm sure if anyone is curious they have major questions.

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