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By IreneKraus on
I have decided that the SMF forum needs to be added to a site being run through a Drupal multi-site install. The directions in the bridge file on where to put the SMF software itself are rather confusing. What I did was put the SMF files in a created directory under that for the site itself. In this case, cebug.org (domain for site), and under that 'community.' When I try to navigate to http://cebug.org/community Drupal is giving me a 'page not found' error. Not sure if I have the SMF software in the right place, or if the .htaccess file needs to be modified so Drupal ignores that directory or what! Most certainly, SMF needs to go in a directory somewhere so as not to conflict with the Drupal install itself.
Did do a search of past message posts and I see others have had similar issues. None of which seem to involve a multi-site install. Hence the new thread topic. Thanks in advance for the help!
Comments
Using Advanced Profile module
Using Advanced Profile module and Advanced Forum module is very nice. Michelle works very hard to develop and maintain them. I would suggest using them over any other forum for Drupal 6.x if a simplistic forum is sufficient. Otherwise, use the DrupalVB module with vBulletin.
Suggestion regarding Advanced Profile & Forum
While I appreciate your suggestion, the combination of Advanced Profile and Forum, etc. on the site has not been working out. This is a local community site where there has been a HUGE increase in abuse of one sort or another. For one thing, the forum area itself is supposed to be open only to those living in the region the organization serves OR are affiliated with other user groups. I'm using both the Mollom and Anatoa modules in an attempt to better screen those registering. Better Formats was put in so I could gain better control over HTML tag permissions by role. (To block the use of Images, for example, inside posting and SIGs.)
So far I have not figured out a way to allow those in trusted roles to post messages while moderating those in less trusted roles. (Mollum hasn't always caught the spam postings.) Other challenges... Some way to REQUIRE all of those who've registered to subscribe - somehow - to posting in the Announcements section. Also, some means of allowing people to subscribe to all new/updated postings in other board areas. (Cannot see how to do this through Messaging & Notifications.) Then there's the confusion on the part of those helping to moderate posts as to how to do the following: 1) Issue warning that content must be modified before it can be approved, 2) Reject a posting, or 3) Ban the person themselves. I've put in the Mod8 module in an attempt to provide some of these functions, but it doesn't have all of them.
As the trouble spot is the forum area and how it is being used, it seem to make sense to provide a better separation of that from the rest of the site. I prefer SMF that is open-source over vBulletin that is a commercial program. Even then, the technique of how to set ANY of those up inside a multi-site install is at the heart of my question. I don't know if this will be a better solution than what we're using on the site at the moment, but I'm willing to give it a shot if I can get it up and running.
Can I get some help on that question, please? Do I need to put the site back into a traditional install? How do I get Drupal to not block access to the forum software itself. Thanks!
Irene Kraus a.k.a. The Computer Lady
Well, after trying to install
Well, after trying to install phpBB3 I through up my hands in complete frustration. It triggered some kind of bug in Drupal that caused logged in users to be sent cached pages. Because the severity of the problem didn't get discovered until two weeks later, I couldn't just revert my file system and database. If you do use the SMF bridge which is built by the same person who built the phpBB3 integration module using the hidden authentication you might want to use this patch if your running drupal 6.x. http://drupal.org/node/550488#comment-1931780
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FYI, I don't see anything in your description that can't be done with core forums + some contribs. That said however, afaik, you need to install and configure smf forum normally (be sure to verify it's working), then add the integration module to your drupal installation-- one of the settings is the path of the smf installation you'll be integrating with.
Other Drupal modules
Seeing as I'm going no-where fast in so far as getting an install of SMF on the site working - let alone integrated via a bridge - I am all ears as to how I can enhance the site further while staying inside Drupal itself. Just at my wits end in dealing with health issues (battling cancer) while trying to do my job in so far as accomplishing the stated goals for this site AND keep these idiots out that shouldn't have access at all. The RULES list for 'banned IP's grows longer every single day! My concern is that - as that gets longer and longer - there are going to be serious performance issues.
Please feel free to suggest other modules that can enhance the forum functions as I've outlined! Site in question, BTW is at: http://cebug.org/
I have run a number of searches in the contributed items,but I must be using the wrong search terms or something. Adding the Advanced Forum module and additional Styles has produced a huge improvement in appearance. Has also improved documentation as to number of unread posts, etc. I'm planning on recording some tutorials to go on the site in so far as how some of the things work; such as how to subscribe to notifications about new or updated Event postings. (Number one question ppl keep asking me!) Have not been able to figure out - myself - how to setup a subscription to the different board areas.
Irene Kraus a.k.a. The Computer Lady
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Unfortunately it seems spammers seem to have no end of free time-- and I'm not sure how smf would have alleviated that.
The things you mentioned in your previous post should be actually fairly straight forward. Lets see if we can get you what you're looking for ;-)
>>So far I have not figured out a way to allow those in trusted roles to post messages while moderating those in less trusted roles.
A few things:
>>Some way to REQUIRE all of those who've registered to subscribe - somehow - to posting in the Announcements section.
Not technically a subscription, but you can also set up a rule with the rules module to email all users of a role any time an announcement post is made. Otherwise you should be able to use notifications (which you mention) and maybe http://drupal.org/project/notifications_extra if necessary.
>>some means of allowing people to subscribe to all new/updated postings in other board areas.
Same as the previous comment.
>>Issue warning that content must be modified before it can be approved.
I would just enable the contact module and inform users that way. Another option might be the flag module-- you could setup a warning flag that kicks off an email action that emails the user their content needs to be modified.
>>Ban the person themselves.
checkout the http://drupal.org/project/fasttoggle module
Not sure what you mean by reject a post-- you can just leave it unpublished. You could also setup a 'rejected' flag that informs the user of the rejection.
some other ideas:
let other users flag users and/or posts they find objectional (using the flag module).
http://drupal.org/project/troll
http://drupal.org/project/badbehavior
http://drupal.org/project/httpbl
http://drupal.org/project/forum_access
http://drupal.org/project/abuse
The lego nature of drupal can sometimes make the forest difficult to see from the trees but that also makes customized solutions easier to implement.
Great Suggestions for Community sites!
First off, WorldFallz, let me thank you for taking the time to make such a great list of suggestions. I've downloaded several of those to take a look at them. Have had Fasttoggle in place for a while now too. Not sure if I remember it having an option to ban someone easily. Maybe I didn't enable that aspect of things in the upgrade from Drupal 5 to 6.
In so far as these:
http://drupal.org/project/troll
http://drupal.org/project/badbehavior
http://drupal.org/project/httpbl
http://drupal.org/project/forum_access
http://drupal.org/project/abuse
The bulk of those do not appear to be fully ready for deployment on an active site running Drupal 6. Had been using the Forum Access module in combination with Content Access and ACL when the site was in Drupal 5. When I did that upgrade in September, I found them to conflict with each other in a major way that could not be resolved. (Think I reported it, but I may have forgotten it. ) In any case, as the area of the forum it was to protect was so limited I decided to opt for creating a new content type through CCK instead. That is set - by default through Content Access - to be private. About the only complaint I have in so far as this methodology is that there is no easy automated way to setup 'threading' or method to link items together within the menu system. Had thought to use the Book content type first, but that is already in use on the site for public posting. (Our 'Shared Links' section for members to recommend sites, newsletters, whatever.) Did try adding that sort of functions into the created content type, but it seems that really confuses the members anyway. So, I decided to leave that set as 'unpublished' by default and then I can link it to wherever it should go later.
Had tried the Abuse module before in Drupal 5, but I ran into some sort of issue with it. That was a very long time ago, and I can't remember what it was now. (Early days of using Drupal before I started making notes to myself about this or that module, setups, modifications to code, etc.) Have learned the wisdom of keeping notes since, suffice to say!
Yes, I have several distinct roles setup with increasing amounts of permissions assigned to them. A number of those 'default' permissions given to those who are simply 'authenticated' have been removed. This means ppl can register on the site and get authenticated within a matter of minutes. However, they cannot generate any content at all until someone assigns them to one or more of those 'trust' roles. (Until after someone reviews the answers they've provided when they registered, checked out their IP, etc.) Wouldn't mind being able to use that 'better' e-mail authentication module:
http://drupal.org/project/email_verify
I've not been able to get that to install on any of my sites. When I try to enable that, I get this error message:
In talking to my hosting provider (GoDaddy), it seems they are unwilling to make changes of this type in their setup on a shared hosting account. I will probably be moving to a VPS setup next year so as to gain more control over the setup on the server. (This isn't the only item that I can't get to work exactly as it should.) Not sure if that will be through GoDaddy or what at this time, as I'm still looking at options. Opting for VPS seems to be the next step I should take, but there's a lot of learning I need to do before I take it! (Also need to give my health time to recover so I can work for more than 4 hours per day.)
A lot of what I am dealing with, in so far as the member side of things, is the need to educate them on how things work. That's is where I need to make tutorial videos for them on a number of subjects. Discussion is on-going at this point as to how much of those should go on the site itself in the form of Flash files, or if they should be made into WMV's that can go onto CD's or USB pin drives ppl bring into meetings. I'm prepping a few test files now to see how hard that kind of thing will be. The program I use to create the tutorials (Techsmith's Camtasia) will output the necessary HTML, Javascript, and XML code needed to make things work inside a web page. Crossing fingers, I'm hoping I won't need to add in yet more modules in support of that as I should just be able to copy & paste that code into a content page making the corrections into path statements and so forth as needed. Then again, I know there are a wealth of modules for Drupal designed for multimedia. Came very close to buying Packt's book on the subject not long ago until I realized it was written for the Drupal 5 environment. (My library of Drupal books alone takes up one whole shelf in my book case now!) I decided to wait on that to see if there is an update on that, or if I can get by with the suggestions made in these other books or from the site here, etc.
Again, thanks so much for all the suggestions! Sorry for bending your ear off in this reply, but - as I am doing so much of this on my own - it is nice to talk things over with other Drupal users. I've learned so much from reading the postings and documentation here in addition to what is found in these books. Words just can't express my appreciation! Yes, I hope to be a more productive member of the Drupal community myself when and where I can too.
Irene Kraus a.k.a. The Computer Lady
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Seems like you have things under control!
One other suggestion-- regarding your tutorials. I too have an extensive screencast component to one of my sites (though I use captivate rather than camtasia). If you have any trouble posting the camtasia output, I've got a great system setup with a filefield that takes the screencast (in .flv format) and displays it with the excellent flowplayer flv player using the swftools module (which also has the benefit of handling mp3 and provides a nice flash gallery as well). All that's involved is uploading the flv file via the filefield module-- it's easy enough that anyone in the organization can do it.