TFN FanFilms forum application

Hi all. I'm in the planning stages of developing a cross platform (Windows 2000/XP, OS X) TFN Fanfilms forum browsing application.

The purpose of this application is to add to the customizability when you browse the forum, as well as some improvements in other areas. An advanced boolean search feature, the ability to sort posts using a variety of criteria, give hierarchical preference to flagged posts, ignore posts by certain users, automatic markup, PM cc'ing, and many more features are planned.

So why make this post now, instead of when the program is complete, or nearly so? I'm going to need a little help, and am looking for the following:

Java/Swing programmer(s):

I am experienced with Java, and have limited experience with Swing. Though I'd be leading the project, I could certainly use the help of any reasonably experienced Java and Swing programmers. (For those who have the instinctive urge to shout, "But Java is...SLOW!" I assure you this client will be anything but that. Swing applications have been proven to compete with native c++ and obj c applications when programmed efficiently.) As of now, we'll be using J2SE 1.4.1.

Beta testers:

Not much explanation needed here - everyone knows what beta testers are and why they are so valuable. Experienced beta testers preferred, but anyone with a good systematic and analytical mind are encouraged to help.

Other:

Feature suggestions, criticisms, and questions can be addressed to me via PM.

 

While your project sounds good, I'm not so sure about : ignore posts by certain users...

This could take away the community feel, AND even make a discussion a lot less intelligible. Say I want to ignore your posts, I add your name to my ignored users list, and what happens next ? You post something interesting but I don't get to see it ?

That, and it would, I think, give an opportunity to easy flaming ('oh, HIM ? I dunno, I just ignore his messages.... literally.')

I think this particular feature is useless.

 

Just for that, I'm putting you on my ignored users list. j/k

Seriously though, thanks for the input! If such a feature is deemed to do more harm than good by a lot of people, then there'd be no need to include it.

Another possibility, and one you may object less to, is the ability to ignore certain threads. When browsing through the forum, I often come across threads that have no interest to me, and which I never browse the individual posts. Therefore threads that have a topic that interest me will be more likely to stay on my front page.

 

Well, once we have a good search engine, we'll need to find something else to hate.

 

I'm down with that beta testing gig. Just let me know how I can be of service.

Actually, that ignore user idea sounds interesting... It does kind of kill that "we're all one big family" feel, but I selectively use the manual ignore method already.

 

Just wondering, why start from scratch when there are plenty of boards out there that offer source code and all.

E.g. the ASP.Net forums source is freely available to anyone and already has many of the features that you listed, thought I'm not sure if it has all of them, they could be added with a little coding time.

Guess I'm partial to .Net because that's what I use, but the boards are pretty nice as boards go.

 

I'm in agreement with JBK on this one...

Sage H.

 

I thought my point was rather valid. Hmmph.


Anyway, I'd say go for it.

 

I'm not sure I understand.

Either you are writing a wrapper that will parse the boards HTML output and provider a nifty interface, or

You are an admin and have the power to change that board software TFN is using, or

I don't know what else.

In the first case, good luck! You are gonna need it!

In the second case use PHPBB2. Already packaged completely customizable and has all the features you mentioned, and its open source and free. (free as beer and free as in speech).


Sauja

 

I have no godly admin powers, unfortunately. I asked Azeem and he said it's likely that IGNBoards will be used for the forseeable future, so a change to another bboard system appears unlikely.

Therefore, I'm doing the first option. However, I wouldn't really call it a wrapper, though in concept it would be somewhat similar. Yes, it will parse HTML output from the boards (similar to the RSS parsing script I already wrote), and yes, it will provide a lot of useful features and a nifty interface.

The logic behind all the coding and how to parse and store the data does not worry me in the least. However, since I'm essentially a newbie with Swing, developing a good UI will be the hard part. Fortunately, Sun has excellent docuementation on Swing and on the Java API in general.

 

I'm all for beta testing this.

I think you have my e-mail address, but if not, gimme a shout at draenen_87@hotmail.com.

-Cheers and blessed be!

 

Do you have any use for including my Markup Generator in the interface?

It would require little modification on my part to simply add a Submit button and send that variables.

 

I haven't used it yet, but from what I understand, we could integrate that into the program. It would be nice to have the ability to simply type a URL and have the program automatically create the formatting for you, as well as creating links for people who forgot to use markup. We can talk about this more once the project gets up and running.

 

I'd be interested in beta testing, I'm a developer myself (PHP) so I have quite a lot of experiance in bug testing/hunting.
email: grandadmirale@yahoo.com

 

PM me. We'll talk...
I can either help with implementing the code, or I can just supply you the source and let you handle it.

If your submission page is going to be a standard HTML page (or the like), it's super easy to integrate it.

In any case, my program is finished. It's ready to go whenever you are.

 

Although I'm not entirely sure, this may also be a good topic for the Communications forum.

Not positive, though. I know nothing about Comms.

 

Iinteresting. I think Id' stick with this interface, but I'm willing to at least try this.

Also: Ignore user= bad. You wouldn't know if the next day you'd find them all of a sudden being less annoying. Remember KNick? He spammed the Social Thread like nothing else when V2 came out, but now I hardly hear from him, and he does have good input.

 

Thanks for reminding me why I hate these boards

I know a lot of the boards could not handle the load but there must be something better out htere.

 

Keep in mind that the "ignore user" will be optional... If you don't like it, don't use it.

For what it's worth, I probably won't use it either. But, I can see why some would like it.

 

i would be very interested in this. are we talking an application or just another board system?.. either way i'd be interested in beta testing. i'm on a broadband connection too. jmoore92@triad.rr.com is my e-mail.

 

It would be an application rather than a new board system. One of the big planning hurdles I'm dealing with right now is the MASSIVE data set I'll be working with. There are over 6400 threads, and close to 120,000 posts. That's a lot of data to parse!


*Edit: I've created a few forums for this. Those interested in beta testing should join, though of course it will be a bit before I actually have something to test. Keep an eye on the forums if you want to follow the development.

Forums