LowEndTalk v3 Discussion - Bye OSQA, Back to Forums Again
  • LowEndAdminLowEndAdmin
    Administrator

    Whether OSQA is a suitable platform to build LowEndTalk has been frequently discussed before. I think as the community grows, it still finds more comfortable with a generic forum than a Question/Answer type system.

    With "v3" I am settling for Vanilla 2 for now with some plugins for tagging, reporting, etc. One plugin that I am not sure whether I want to enable is the "Vote" plugin, which allows users to +1 or -1 each post/comment. It would give more OSQA feel, but need to discuss whether voting is a behavior that we want to continue.

    Now, feel free to comment on whether this would suit the community better, and what else needs to be done.

    Blog at LowEndBox.com.

    Tagged:
    Thanked by 5Zarafolas Gary WillOS JTR littleguy
  • cedriccedric
    Member

    Hey LEA, thanks for the email! I'd personally like to see voting plugins remain off as the whole points/karma thing caused a huge issue last time. I also like the layout of the forums (having all topics on the front page instead of 'categories' or 'sub-forums')

  • dmmcintyre3dmmcintyre3
    Member

    I agree, do not use a voting/karma system like OSQA had.

    FreeVPS.us - The oldest post to host VPS provider

  • AsimAsim
    Member

    I second that too

    I blog at www.asim.pk

  • cedriccedric
    Member

    What about a 'quote' button?

  • drmikedrmike
    Member

    I just noticed that the profiles have no field for a URL. That would be nice.

    Hey even I have to pay at least some attention to SEO. :)

  • FranciscoFrancisco
    Member

    I think a vote/thanks style plugin is useful.

    :)

    At first glance I wasn't liking this that much but it's growing on me pretty quick.

    Francisco

    BuyVM - OpenVZ & KVM Based / TUN, PPTP, FUSE, SIT & GRE Enabled! / Stallion Control Panel

  • cedriccedric
    Member

    I'd agree with a 'thanks', but I like to post thanks rather than clicking a button :p

  • lioncolalioncola
    Member

    after a while posted thanks might get spammy though.

  • cedriccedric
    Member

    Ah, true.

    How about disabling editing after ~15 mins (kinda like WHT) or keeping edit history?

  • lioncolalioncola
    Member

    Editing works for 1 day only at the moment.

  • iann0036iann0036
    Member

    It's a nice interface nonetheless. Very clean style :)

  • vldvld
    Member

    I'm already missing the +/-1 stuff :(

    /karma whore

  • cedriccedric
    Member

    @vld: That's the one thing I don't want back :P

  • lioncolalioncola
    Member

    Interesting, how can we delineate signatures?

  • cedriccedric
    Member

    Do we need signatures?

  • lioncolalioncola
    Member

    I just saw vld's last line was grey, I was wondering how.

  • FranciscoFrancisco
    Member

    I recommend some sort of PM rate limit to stop PM spamming. On WHT they rate limit it to 30 - 60 seconds between each PM :)

    A captcha is also an option, though the more annoying of the two.

    Francisco

    BuyVM - OpenVZ & KVM Based / TUN, PPTP, FUSE, SIT & GRE Enabled! / Stallion Control Panel

  • LowEndAdminLowEndAdmin
    Administrator

    Syntax

    It is Markdown, similar to what we had with OSQA. No BB code. Maybe HTML with sanitising.

    Quotes

    I was testing some quoting plugins yesterday. Yeah I'll install one.

    Thanks

    So we won't go back to the voting system (+1/-1) but maybe a "Thanks" button.

    Signature

    Signature feature was explicitly disabled for now. What @vld did was using a HTML tag to set the color of the text to grey.

    Blog at LowEndBox.com.

  • KuJoeKuJoe
    Member

    Good riddance Dr. OSQA! :P

    -Joe @ SecureDragon

  • dmmcintyre3dmmcintyre3
    Member

    A tutorials section would be a good thing to add

    FreeVPS.us - The oldest post to host VPS provider

  • Mon5t3rMon5t3r
    Member

    i woke up today and got an email from LEA. :D test test test post post post.. :P i like the new forum interface. more clean and simple.. :D

    A. Mylo Von Ilengna || DoB May 1, 2009 || 8 Pigeon Die 4 KO

  • yomeroyomero
    Member

    Yomero is here!!!

    And no LEA, your forum is working very fast

  • drmikedrmike
    Member

    -1 on the tutorials. That's why we have the wiki.

  • LowEndAdminLowEndAdmin
    Administrator

    This testing site would be moved to a new VPS with eNetSouth in Chicago today.

    @drmike -- yes I think I probably agree with that. Tutorials are probably something people edit and make updates all the time. I am thinking of moving the wiki over here (LowEndTalk) + implementing single sign-on so wiki uses Vanilla's credential. Could also embed the discussion inside the wiki.

    Blog at LowEndBox.com.

  • cedriccedric
    Member

    @LowEndAdmin - I like that idea

  • LowEndAdminLowEndAdmin
    Administrator

    Added Quotes and Thanks. Going to tell the main LET site about v3 later.

    Blog at LowEndBox.com.

  • Mon5t3rMon5t3r
    Member

    and also, LEA can you put smiley here? :D i have 1 vanilla forum too, i love the Yahoo! messenger emoticons. :P

    A. Mylo Von Ilengna || DoB May 1, 2009 || 8 Pigeon Die 4 KO

  • LowEndAdminLowEndAdmin
    Administrator

    Sure you can put smiley here. Here is an example :)

    Oh do you mean those plugins that translate ASCII smiley into graphics emoticon? Hmm I was hoping no one would ask for that. If I have that implemented, sooner or later people will ask for dancing bananas and other animated GIFs!

    On an unrelated note, I do plan to advertise v3 on the current OSQA site later today so existing members will know about this site and started posting here. Vanilla however, cannot do self-moderation at the moment, which means I'll need some volunteering "moderators" before the site is flooded with sign ups and new posts.

    Post here or email me if you wish to help.

    Blog at LowEndBox.com.

  • drmikedrmike
    Member

    ASCII smiley into graphics emoticon

    I wouldn't mind that actually but that's just a personal thing that I like. On our rollout packages, we have a collection of a couple hundred of those. Just something that goes over well.

    While they are less than completely professional, it's not like we're 100% professional around here.

    edit: On a personal vote, I have to admit that I would like to see a list of possible moderators vetted by the community. I have no interest in being a moderator and there are a few folks here who I would not like to see them being one either.

  • cedriccedric
    Member

    LowEndAdmin said: Oh do you mean those plugins that translate ASCII smiley into graphics emoticon? Hmm I was hoping no one would ask for that. If I have that implemented, sooner or later people will ask for dancing bananas and other animated GIFs!

    Please don't! I prefer text-based smilies

  • ZarafolasZarafolas
    Member

    I'm also more comfortable with Vanilla although I kinda liked the badging system OSQA had, Could that be ported to vanilla?

  • cedriccedric
    Member

    Then it would turn into a badge war :P

  • JoshJosh
    Member

    Is anyone else going to miss LEA's posts that get stuck into some of the 'more interesting' providers? :P Or are you still going to review some of those as well as the good ones, LEA?

  • maxexcloomaxexcloo
    Member

    I quite like this new system! Just an FYI if you didn't know, Vanilla can be intergrated with wordpress :)

    My Website. View my GitHub projects here (Debian Minimal Script, LEMP Setup Script).

  • VictorVictor
    Member

    I am liking the new forum, nice interface and easy to navigate around. :)

    Hello there.

  • dirkdirk
    Member

    How to get an avatar in the new forum?

  • SteveSteve
    Member

    @Dirk, use Gravatar.

  • dirkdirk
    Member

    @Steve I mean were can I set that within my "profile"?

  • innyainnya
    Member

    It is a lot quicker than old one. voting need to be included for quarterly voting of the best vps provider.
    :D

  • SpiritSpirit
    Member

    It's good to see posts in order instead searching for new post through whole thread. I also prefer not to see "+1 or -1 each post/comment" option enabled as through time we see more and more up/downvoting posters as such instead what individual poster have to say.

    side note.
    @cedric have you consider to apply as mod? :) I don't know you but I like your calm, mature approach.

    Tim, how is Life treating you today, buddy?

  • drmikedrmike
    Member

    @Dirk use Gravatar.

    ie You set it up at gravatar.com, not in your profile here.

  • cedriccedric
    Member

    @Spirit: Thanks! :). To be honest, I hadn't considered it at all - I think I'll wait to see what LEA decides the moderators or if there will be any

  • MartinMartin
    Member

    Much prefer this forum for lowendtalk, seems clearer and is easier to keep track of than OSQA was, I'll have to try and be more involved! :)

    All Simple Internet Services LLP - UK based Xen VPS.

  • TigersWayTigersWay
    Member

    Glad to be back here! And glad a very simple (with no vote, please) has been chosen :-)

    PS: I miss a "mark all discussions read" button

    Debian Scripts

  • LowEndAdminLowEndAdmin
    Administrator

    @TigersWay -- See "Mark All Viewed" link at top. I've just enabled that plugin.

    I have also enabled the signatures with some restrictions:

    • Signatures are formatted with Markdown as well
    • Only the first line of signature is saved
    • All links are rel="nofollow"

    Still having to come up with a rule on signatures, but basically a signature helps other people to identify why you are without making disturbing the discussions. So anything that's too much an eyesore is a definite NO. Please flag the posts/comments if you see any signature that you think is violating.

    Blog at LowEndBox.com.

  • vedranvedran
    Moderator

    I'll miss some of the OSQA features, but this looks promising.

    We can have signatures now?

  • IxapeIxape
    Member

    How can we post code here without it getting broken?

    69 Megabytes Blog

  • drmikedrmike
    Member

    Looks like it's the code tags wrapped by pre tags:

    http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/15468/proper-way-to-add-code-to-a-post/

  • drmikedrmike
    Member

    I will also ad that it's nice to get away from the OpenID signon. I set up account up over on the v2 site with that and never could get the system to pay attention to me trying to create a password for it.

  • LowEndAdminLowEndAdmin
    Administrator

    I'll say OpenID is just another place where it would break. Yes Vanilla would support OpenID but I don't really want to enable it. Relying your authentication on a 3rd party is probably not a good idea anyway, and I am trusting all you guys here are using different passwords for each site and have your own password management system in place :)

    Blog at LowEndBox.com.

Add a Comment

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Apply for Membership

Categories

In this Discussion