[]censorship (for spam urls - not for badwords)
[]the current set of smilies (they are so cute), but ??? replaced with
[]nice code formatting
[]no annoying focus switching (the cursor jumps to the box were your mouse is over)
[]and uhm… some moderators (not me tho)
[]and of course the current color scheme - I’m really used to it
Looks like we should make a chart of how the various forum software stacks up against these criteria.
Should add:
[*]EMAIL notification that works.
Can someone post some URLs where we can see each of the suggestions in action… I’ve already posted http://Javadesktop.org for Jive. http://Puppygames.net uses phpBB. This place uses an old YaBB, where can we see the new one?
What about the others?
[quote]* censorship (for spam urls - not for badwords)
[/quote]
If I could figure that one out, I wouldn’t be here. I would be on my own island that I purchased by selling that solution to every hosting company on the planet 
Seriously, moderators are the only real way to address that issue.
[quote]*and uhm… some moderators (not me tho)
[/quote]
Well now, that’s no help! Seriously, we have a few moderators already and I want to give individuals moderation privs. for their own posts and overall moderators for each catagory.
-Chris
Nah… I mean a simple blacklist. Once posted blacklist it… we got for example ~5 of those ipod spams. Doing so works very well against those manual/dumbass pyramid scheme scams 
IP ban might well accomplish that.
I’d, er, like to offer my services as an administrator too, as the moderation is far to thinly spread, and I’m, hm, always about
Cas
I’d like to recommend that whatever is used, it has a reasonably fast search feature, that’s one of the things killing yabb (for this board), many forums handle full text searching very quickly which far larger number of posts than this board does, and I doubt that’s all hardware. It’s pretty hard to find stuff that was said before even knowing what was said, I’ve even had a hard time finding some posts I made once when I wanted to go double check them… basically the search functionality, speed, etc on this forum suck fiercly (it’d only be worse if the search was done like the old UBB boards where each forum required a new page to be sent hehe).
Chris & team - great move! ;D Thank you.
While I like phpBB as it’s open source, yadda yadda, I will probably have gray hair and a copy of Duke Nukem Forever by the time version 2.2 is released (it’s been years). Version 2.2 has so many nice features already implemented in the beta (e.g. Sub forums!) that it’s annoying to use 2.0 which while very good, doesn’t have those great features.
I’m voting for vBulliten. It just feels very professional to use (no, I don’t really like the latest look but it is very solid) and has many features of the unreleased phpBB 2.2.
Sub-Forums are very useful. They may not sound like much but think: You can have several forums in one WITHOUT cluttering up the front page. Xith3D for example could have say 4 extra forums dedicated to various different areas. Physics could have a dedicated Odejava forum. An example of sub forums put to good use is: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/index.php
The current problem with the JGO forums is that people object to adding new forums due to front page bloat but that means that some people miss out. Sub-forums can give us the best of both worlds.
Cheers,
Will.
Would anybody prefer an applet based forum? With realtime, threaded HTML formatted replies, arbitrary forum creation and moderation, etc?
Cas
Applets work fine on my homemachine. But from my university they crash badly or run super slow. Older browsers have lots of trouble with applets.
I would like simple HTML… no fany stuff requiring 1000 of plugins.
[quote]All,
Thanks for the feedback so far. To address a few concerns:
[]I would like to use a Java based forum package if it is functional, looks good, and is relatively easy to administer.
[] The best packages I have found so far are YaBB’s new version called Simple Machine, phpBB and vBulletin. Best meaning feature sets and “polish” Unfortunately, the Java forums I have found seem to be lacking a bit when compared to these.
[] If I am going to go throught the pain of migrating all of this data and getting a system set up for this community (yet again!) I want to make sure that it is set up so we don’t have to go through this excercise again That is why I am really trying to get a handle on what you want.
[] I will be reviewing jForum and Jive (again) and really would like to have a Java application here, but my primary concern is giving you what you want and need.
Keep the comments and suggestions coming!
-Chris
[/quote]
I dug around for some other open source Java based forums. The more promising ones I found are:
http://www.mvnforum.com/mvnforumweb/index.jsp
I haven’t tested any of them though. At work, I’ve been doing similar things for some CMS software - talk about tedious…
The ironic thing is that I helped a friend work on a Java based forum:
http://www.aceshardware.com/forum/
I did most of the optimisations 
However, it’s pretty light on options…
[quote]I’d like to recommend that whatever is used, it has a reasonably fast search feature, that’s one of the things killing yabb (for this board), many forums handle full text searching very quickly which far larger number of posts than this board does, and I doubt that’s all hardware. It’s pretty hard to find stuff that was said before even knowing what was said, I’ve even had a hard time finding some posts I made once when I wanted to go double check them… basically the search functionality, speed, etc on this forum suck fiercly (it’d only be worse if the search was done like the old UBB boards where each forum required a new page to be sent hehe).
[/quote]
Agreed. YaBB is easy to administer but is a resource hog and is flat file. The new forum will be database driven and MUCH faster.
[quote] Sub-Forums are very useful. They may not sound like much but think: You can have several forums in one WITHOUT cluttering up the front page. Xith3D for example could have say 4 extra forums dedicated to various different areas. Physics could have a dedicated Odejava forum. An example of sub forums put to good use is: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/index.php
The current problem with the JGO forums is that people object to adding new forums due to front page bloat but that means that some people miss out. Sub-forums can give us the best of both worlds.
[/quote]
I think they are very useful as well! This will allow for discussion around particular issues, games, projects, etc. to occurr and stay on topic.
[quote]Would anybody prefer an applet based forum? With realtime, threaded HTML formatted replies, arbitrary forum creation and moderation, etc?
[/quote]
The goal from my side subscribes to the KISS method I need to maintain something that is flexable, provides most of what most here need and is EASY to administer, as my time is already compressed as is.
Thanks to all who responded!
-Chris
Whatever forum software you choose, please pick one with the ability to read and post via NNTP and open up that port.
I prefer to read discusions in my newsreader, where I have a nice and usable interface and a good editor instead of this clunky browser based interface.
I posted this in the suggestions topic yesterday, do any of the listed forums support RSS feeds?
Or as the previous post suggests, on that works with NNTP would also be cool.
I don’t like the idea of applets, and I have no real need for a real-time chat feature (I live in Sydney so I’m always in bed when you lot are on here).
Ideally the forum would be written using JSPs (eating our own dogfood etc), but choosing one that does the job should ultimately be chosen.
Oh and new posts since you were last here would be nice, and that shouldn’t be based on some cookie on my PC, since I browse theese forums from 2 places (work and home), so it should be a server side flag.
Keep up the good work.
Andy.
Anyone read the latest JavaLobby email?
[quote]The Pain and Joy of Upgrading
At the end of last week, Jive Software finally released version 4 of their excellent forum software (which powers Javalobby). I?ve been eagerly awaiting this new version for some months now and it couldn?t have come at a better time. We?re smack in the middle of our redesign and fortunately we saved the forum skin for the end. This new version is loaded with new features including polls, private messaging, batch emails for watches, sticky announcements, and the ability to expose forums as NNTP newsgroups. In addition, they have an Expert Edition that lets users have statuses similar to other message boards and deeper integration into the Knowledge Base. …
[/quote]
[quote]Anyone read the latest JavaLobby email?
[/quote]
Jive can’t be that bad. Also the official Java forum is powered by “Jive Forums”. (At least there’s such a button on the bottom): http://forum.java.sun.com/
So when do we get to see the results of the poll? Maybe we can get an end to the floods of iPod spam…
I see results right now…
I know
I just hadn’t time to make a real page, but know we have a good looking one, as you guys can see at http://www.jforum.net/index.htm
JForum could not have yet all features needed by some users, but it works fine and it’s very very fast. Also, we from jforum.net are open to any new suggestions.
Right now I’m finishing the new RSS support, and after fixing a couple of bugs, I plan to relese the first non RC version of jforum ( eg, the “final” version ).
The phpbb database import was done without any problems at all, and I would be very happy helping to migrate other system. It is good for you, and good for me.
Rafael Steil
http://www.jforum.net
How things are going? Maybe with the author’s support the JForum is the best choice? I’m making some tests with it and didn’t have any problem yet.
All,
Movement to the new forum and server is going well. Also, we are looking to provide some LIMITED hosting space for games from the “Your Games Here” board as well. Still working out the kinks and there are lots of other things happening as well.
Thanks all!
-Chris