Irony board powered by smf. Automatic forum engine detection

Tours and holidays in Australia

Forums on the Internet are one of the most popular types of Internet resources. This is quite understandable, since forums are an ideal platform for free communication of visitors. A forum is a great way to build a community on your site and build a loyal audience of visitors.

There are many forum engines. I have long wanted to review forum engines. I will not compare them with each other - this is the topic of a separate article.

When choosing a forum engine, I advise you to determine for yourself the following points:

1. What kind of forum functionality do you need. Most forum engines have a wide range of features, but some of the nuances are not implemented in all forum CMS. I recommend visiting the official websites of the engines and get acquainted with the detailed description of the functionality.

2. Paid or free engine - this point must also be taken into account. In this review, there are only two paid engines - vBulletin and IPB, the rest are free.

3. The development of the community - when the engine has a developed community in both the English and Russian Internet, this is a big plus. The development of the community is directly related to the number of different modifications, improvements and design patterns. If the engine has a small community, then you need to keep in mind that many points will have to be solved on your own.

4. The date of the last update of the engine - if the engine has not been updated for a long time, this indicates that the developers do not develop it or have abandoned further development. This is a big disadvantage. Internet technologies are constantly evolving, and a forum with outdated functionality will limit the possibilities for its further development.

Okay, enough big words 🙂. I'll start with the most popular forum engines based on this CMS ranking.

This is my favorite forum engine, and I keep my Planet Photoshop forum on this engine. The reason is not only that this is a free forum engine, but also that it has wide functionality, has developed communities both in the English-speaking Internet and in Runet, so many mods have been developed for phpBB for every taste, with which you can further expand the functionality.

Logs of user, moderator, administrator actions, fine-tuning of moderator and administrator access rights, identification of search robots, creation of user groups, polls, attachments in messages and private messages - these are just some of the phpBB functionality.

I also really like the direction in which phpBB is developing from version to version. phpBB is convenient for both the administrator, moderators and ordinary users.

My opinion after several years of using phpBB is that it is a wonderful forum engine that is not demanding on hosting resources and provides all the necessary potential for running a forum.

Useful phpBB resources:

Invision Power Board is a paid forum engine that is very popular on the Internet. You can find out the cost in Runet. It hosts many well-known forums. It has developed communities in the English-speaking and Russian-speaking Internet.

There are additional official applications for IPB (gallery, blog, file archive module). In addition, there is a visual message editor, a text version of the forum optimized for search robots, a tool for convenient backup of the forum database, a detailed log of administrators and moderators, as well as a log of search robots.

Useful sites on Invision Power Board:

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vBulletin is a great forum engine. It is paid, you can find out the cost. Along with IPB, vBulletin is the leader among paid engines.

Support for podcasting, automatic generation of forum RSS feed, ability to be created by visitors social groups and interest clubs on the forum, user photo galleries, tags are supported, the ability to add forum topics to social bookmarks by users themselves - these are the most interesting features of vBulletin, in my opinion.

punBB is a very light and simple forum. The forum control panel is convenient and intuitive. punBB has fewer features, but this is offset by the speed of its work and undemanding hosting resources.

The developers of punBB focus on lightness, speed and compactness.

Useful punBB resources:

YaBB is a free forum engine written in Perl. Unlike most other forum engines, YaBB uses files instead of a database to store data.

A convenient text editor for writing messages, ample opportunities for administrators and moderators, the ability to change settings and templates on the fly, the ability to convert a page into a "printable version" - these are not all the features of the YaBB forum engine.

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SMF is another fast and lightweight forum engine. It is undemanding to server resources and is actively gaining popularity.

OpenID support, user warning system, the ability to pre-moderate topics, messages and attachments if necessary, a WYSIWYG editor for messages - and that's not all that SMF allows!

Intellect Board is the original free engine. The idea of ​​the Intellect Board developers is to create a site based on the forum. The functionality of the Intellect Board is very wide - a collection of articles, a presentation, news, a file archive, a photo gallery, an IRC chat, an encyclopedia. In fact, Intellect Board is a complete content management system.

The main features of the Intellect Board - The ability to set rules for all sections, support for GD and GD2 graphic libraries to create small copies of pictures and photos, the ability to issue warnings and encouragement by moderators and administrators (moreover, warnings can be both perpetual and limited in time), rating topics, articles, files and photos/

ExBB (Exclusive Bulletin Board))

ExBB is a lightweight and free forum engine. It also, like YaBB, does not require a database and stores information in text files.

ExBB has the following advantages: pages are generated very quickly, server load is minimal, a high degree of resistance to hacking, the forum works on files, no databases are required, for its operation it is enough that the hosting has php support.

Vanilla is an original forum engine that is interesting for its modularity. A big plus of this forum CMS - most of the modules are installed in one click

Advantages of Vanilla: its own framework that allows you to write extensions, the ability to build communities (voting, tag clouds, blogs, chat, karma-like add-ons, etc.), ease of installing add-ons (in most cases, uploaded, pressed one button - and that's it!), extensibility of standard functionality (modularity) due to additions, of which about 450 are now written.

Another interesting feature of the Vanilla forum engine is the "Whisper" system - you can simply send a whisper message to someone without leaving the topic page or create a "whisper" topic that will be a visual history of correspondence.

Let "s not forget good old forum software. Geeks use them for tech support. Businesses use them for collaboration. Here"s our take on 70+ forum engines, hosts, and tools.

Forum Engines (Free Software)

Pocoo - Never heard of a Python-powered board? Neither did I until I found Pocoo. It's WSGI compatible, and has an advanced plugin system.

PunBB - With XHTML-compliant pages, simplicity, and speed, what"s not to like?

Quicksilver Forums (QSF) - Based on the now dead MercuryBoard, QSF has grown into a mature engine sporting features such as 3D permissions or skinning.

RForum - Strong forum with mailing list integration, powered by Ruby.

Simple Machines Forum (SMF) - Originally a fork of YaBB SE, SMF features WYSIWYG, powerful groups, and much more. Note: there is some dispute about whether SMF is free software or not, since you are not allowed to redistribute the forum/software itself without written permission.

Snitz - Basic ASP forum.

Tiny forum that stores its information in TXT files instead of a database.

Unclassified NewsBoard Forum (UNB) - Easy to use forum engine with Jabber notification.

UseBB - Lightweight, clear, and efficient board package.

Vanilla - Terrific AJAXified forum with a really nice look you won't find anywhere else.

Vikingboard - Minimalistic board engine for high performance.

Viscacha - Board with integrated CMS and conversion from CuteCast, Vision Board, phpBB, and WBB.

YaBB - Easy to install and easy to use, YaBB is more than yet another bulletin board.

Yazd - Basic forum engine under the Apache license.

Forum Engines (Commercial)

AspNetForum - Clean and powerful ASP.NET forum engine. $85-$169.

Burning Board - Easy to set up board that will import existing Invision Power Board, MyBB, phpBB, PunBB, Simple Machines Forum, or vBulletin forums. $139.99-$269.99.

FuseTalk - Powerful forum software used by big-names such as Adobe, Boeing, NASA, NBC, US Airforce, McAfee and Lonely Planet. But the names will cost you. $649-$4599.

FusionBB - Calendar, photo gallery, PayPal, article templates, and much more are available with this great piece of software. $425 flat fee or $149 flat fee and $39/year.

Ideal BB - ASP/COM board with a nice revision feature. $299-$2099.

Invision Power Board (IPB) - One of the most popular commercial boards of all time. $149.99-$299.99.

Jive Forums - Powerful board used by companies such as EA and ESPN. Unfortunately, very expensive. $14950 flat fee, $1950/1000 users, $4950/5000 users, or $9950/20000 users.

MyProBB - Powerful anti-spam features makes this one a keeper. It's cheap, too. $25/year.

UBB.threads - $725 flat fee or $229 flat fee and $125/year.

vBulletin - Extremely popular board with tons of features. $160 flat fee or $85/year.

WowBB - WYSIWYG, internationalization, and much more available with this PHP board. $99 flat fee or $55/year.

Forum Hosts

Blursoft MetaForum - Has a ton of AJAX features, but manages to stay search friendly. And yes, the back button does work. Free.

Conforums - Unlimited categories, boards, and posts with HTML and JavaScript customization. Free.

CuteCast - Basic forum hosting. Free.

GoBoardz - Nice forum with photo sharing and a nice interface. Free.

Hyperboards - A big hosting provider with global login (one Hyperboards account logs you into every Hyperboards forum), skins, pages, and unlimited posts and boards. Free.

Invision Power Board (IPB) - One of the most popular commercial boards of all time. $10-$75/month.

ProBoards - A well known host powered by YaBB. Free.

Sudden Launch - Forum host with unlimited posts, replies, and boards. Free.

WowBB - WYSIWYG, internationalization, and much more available with this PHP board. $99 flat fee and $3.95/month or $7.95/month.

Forum Integration

bbPress and Wordpress integration - Official howto on integrating the two sister projects.

Joomla component that adds a powerful forum.

Integrating Vanilla and Wordpress - Official guide to integrating the two popular CMSs.

IpbWiki - Connects Invision Power Boards and MediaWiki.

Joomla! Vanilla - Bridge between the Joomla CMS and Vanilla.

Forum Tools

BBCodeXtra Firefox Extension - Context menu to insert BBCode or (X)HTML. freeware.

By selecting a specific topic to view, users are taken to a page with a list of posts in that topic.

Each individual message usually looks like this:

Usually, a small menu is displayed along the top and bottom of each page, containing (depending on the forum settings) the following buttons:

• Answer- The most popular button with which users can leave new messages in the topic.
• Notify- Subscribe to receive notifications of new posts in this topic.
• Mark unread- You can mark the current topic as unread.
• Submit this topic- You can send a link to the current topic to your friend/acquaintance by specifying his e-mail.
• Seal- Create a printed version of the page with the content of the current topic, for review before printing.

As a rule, the list of messages in a topic is displayed in vertical order: old messages at the top, new ones at the bottom. But each user can set a different, horizontal order in his profile. Then new messages will be placed at the top. Each message in the list is divided into two sections. The left section contains brief information about the author of the message, while the right section contains the message itself.

• Author information
  • Post Author- Nickname of the user (or guest) who left this message.
  • Signature above the avatar- Depending on the forum settings, users may have pre-made inscriptions above the avatars or may set them themselves. Typically, this signature is used to individually "mark" users.
  • Main group- Most often, all users are in the group Regular users, the name of which is not displayed. If the group is any other, its name will be displayed in this place. If the author of the post is a guest, this will also be flagged here.
  • Group based on number of messages- Depending on the number of messages left, users are divided into different groups (Newbie, Guest, etc.). The name of this group may not be displayed if the user is a member of a special group or its display is disabled in the settings of the current theme.
  • Emblem- Usually the number of images in the logo is set depending on the rank of the group (for example, beginners have 1 star, advanced users have three, veterans have five), or they use different images for different groups.
  • Number of messages- Display the current number of messages of a particular user.
  • Icons for contacting the author- Display of a variety of icons that help in one way or another to contact the author of the message: link to the profile, link to the site, ICQ number, e-mail, sending a personal message.
• message block
  • Message icon- An individual icon chosen by the author when creating/sending a message.
  • Message subject- The title of the message usually coincides with the title of the topic, however, at the request of the author of the message, it can be changed to any other.
  • Button bar- At the top of each message, in the right corner, a number of buttons are displayed that allow you to perform certain quick actions on the text of the message: quote, change, delete, etc. (depending on the settings and installed mods). Most often, the "Quote" button is displayed, all other buttons are available only to the author of a particular message, as well as moderators and administrators.
  • date and time- The date and time the post was posted is displayed directly below the subject. A warning about the subsequent editing of the message will be displayed under its content and above the signature of the author.
  • Text- The content of the message (if there are no messages, then why the forum?)
  • Signature- If the user has indicated his signature in the profile, it will be displayed here, under the text of the message.
  • Report to moderator- Each specific message can be quickly reported to the moderators (for example, complain if the message uses a mat).
  • Recorded by- A flag indicating that the IP address of the computer used by the user or guest when sending the message is saved in the logs (in the database). For administrators (and for those who are allowed), the IP itself is displayed next to this mark.

While these are the most common message items when browsing topics, users can hide some of them by editing their profiles.

Browse to the board where you wish to post and click the new topic button (positioned by default at both the top and the bottom of the board, as shown in the ), which should take you to the Start new topic screen. While this presents a number of options, the two most important are the subject field and main message field (not labeled as such, but obvious by its size). So enter your subject and start to type (or paste) your message into the main text area, noting that a message missing either a subject or a body will not be accepted for posting until it has both. If you"re happy with your plain text message, you can then post it by clicking the Post button and/or preview it first by clicking the preview button, but there are many further available to make things that little bit more interesting.

• Some forums show the navigation tree at the top in a space-saving horizontal mode.
• Some forums may be configured to offer an additional Spell Check button alongside the Post and preview options.

Starting a New Poll

A poll is basically a topic with an added question and voting options, started by clicking New Poll instead of new topic. To post a poll it is necessary to fill out the Question field and at least two of the Option fields in addition to the subject and message fields required by a standard topic. Further options to configure how many choices the user may vote for, how long the poll should run, whether users can change their votes and what conditions must be fulfilled for the results to be displayed should be self-explanatory.

To offer more than five choices in a poll, simply click Add Option as many times as necessary.

Note that it may also be possible for some users in some forums to add a poll to an existing topic.

Posting an Event to the Calendar

Where this option has been configured (it's not standard "out of the box"), you can post an event by selecting Calendar from the followed by Post Event from the calendar screen. What do you see now is a Start new topic screen with supplementary fields for the event title, date and target board, which simply add your event to the calendar and create a link back to your post in that board.

Replying to a Topic or Poll

Replying to a topic or poll is basically same as, but it "s not necessary to enter anything in the subject field unless you wish to change what"s already there. To vote in a poll, you simply have to select your chosen option(s) and click Submit Vote.

If "Quick Reply" has been enabled, a simple reply field will also appear after the post(s) on a page, but you"ll have to type yours and manually if you choose to use it.

Quoting a Post

To reply to a post by quoting it, you can either click the Quote button for the relevant post and add your own message to the quoted text or click the Reply button followed by Insert Quote from the relevant post in the "Topic Summary" below, but note that:

• Both these options add a link to the original post showing the name of the poster and the date and time of the post, whereas the quote tag simply quotes the relevant post without this additional information.
• You can also retain or add the "author" attribute independently of the full Quote function, as demonstrated in the below.

Modifying or Deleting a Post

To modify a post, click the Modify button and make your changes. Note that most forums are likely to be configured to show the date and time of the last edit, but the administrator(s) may also allow a short period to elapse before this happens.

To delete a post, click the Delete button followed by OK from the Remove this message? box that appears. Some forums may also allow you to remove topics or polls that you start, but the buttons for these are usually at the bottom of the page.

Standard Posting Options

Notify me of replies

Check this to subscribe to email notification for the topic.

Return to this topic

Check this to return to the topic (instead of the message index) after posting (NB you can also set this behavior as a preference in your profile).

Don't use smileys

Check this to prevent certain in your post from being parsed and rendered as smileys.

attachments

If enabled, this feature allows you to attach files to your posts in much the same way as most email clients, so you simply have to browse to the relevant file(s) on your computer before clicking Post. You can delete your attachment(s) or add more by , but please note that:

• The permitted file types and sizes are set by the forum administrator(s).
• Although most forums are likely to be configured to display attached images as part of the post, it"s not possible to preview attachments so you should always browse to and attach your files just before you finally post your message.

References

SMF Bulletin Board Code

The buttons shown belong to the SMF default theme and may differ from forum to forum.

Tag name	button	Code	Output	Comments
Bold		[b]bold	bold	*
			*
			*
			*
Glow		glow		The three attributes (eg red, 2, 50) in the "glow" tag are color, strength and width respectively.
			The two attributes (eg red, left) in the "shadow" tag are color and direction respectively.
	move	move	Not valid XHTML, but can also be used for images!
	Simple Machines Forum	Simple Machine Forum	Preserves critical text formatting, rendered in a monospace font.
	left align		*
	centered		*
	right align		*
Right-to-Left	*	right to left!		Typical usage would be to post Arabic or Hebrew in an English document.
left-to-right	*	left to right!		Typical usage would be to post English in an Arabic or Hebrew document.
			*
	font size		*
	font face		Only fonts installed on the user's computer will be displayed, so use with caution!
font color	Change Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon Lime Green	red	red	Select the color from the drop-down.
	http://somesite/somefile.swf	http://somesite/somefile.swf	Please note that, if embedded Flash has been disabled by the forum administrator(s), the Flash file will appear as a straight hyperlink as shown here. The two attributes in the "flash" tag (where relevant) are width and height respectively.
		http://somesite/image.gif		Type the width and height attributes to resize the image.
		http://somesite/image.gif
		http://somesite/	http://somesite/	NB the "url" tag opens in a new window, but you can type "iurl" tags to open in the same window.
		descriptive link	descriptive link
	[email protected]	[email protected]	*
		ftp://somesite/somefile	ftp://somesite/somefile	*
		descriptive link	descriptive link
		*	No meaningful output from the "table" tags alone.
		*	No meaningful output from the "table" and "tr" tags alone.
		content	content	Note the correct nesting of the tags, so the "table" tags contain the "tr" tags, which each contain an equal number of "td" tags!
		SMF Bulletin Board Code	SMF Bulletin Board Code
	superscript		*
	subscript		*
	teletype		Monospace font.
		[O]circle	:(
shocked		:o
Cool		8)
Huh		???
Roll Eyes		::)
tone		:P
Embarrassed		:-[
Lips Sealed		:-X
undecided		:-\
Kiss		:-*
Cry		:"(

Please note that not all of the smiley codes will be correctly parsed and converted to images unless their opening spaces are present.

Let's start right away with the main script code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

# which-forum.pl script
# (c) 2010 Alexandr A Alexeev, http://website/

use strict;

# commented lines - for strictness
# if the task is to collect engine statistics, leave it as is
# if you make a list of forums - uncomment

my $data ;
$data .= $_ while (<> ) ;

# check how many were Powered by phpBB without footer link
print "phpbb \n"
if ($data =~ /]+href="[^"]*http:\/\/(?:www\.)?phpbb\.com\/?"[^>]*>phpBB/i or
# $data =~ /viewforum\.php\?[^""]*f=\d+/i or
$data =~ /phpBB\-SEO/i or
$data =~ /) ;
print "ipb \n"
if ($data =~ /]+href="[^"]*http:\/\/(?:www\.)?invision(?:board|power)\.com\/?[^"]*"[^>]*> [^<]*IP\.Board/i or
$data =~ /]+href="[^"]*http:\/\/(?:www\.)?invisionboard\.com\/?"[^>]*>Invision Power Board/i or
$data =~ /