Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with phpbb

Forum software

crapmatic — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:01:20 -0800

Forum software questions. (1) As a user, which type of forum software (vBulletin, phpBB, SMF, other) do you like best from in terms of usability? (2) If you're an admin, which forum software do you like best, having tried at least a few types? (3) Which forum software is considered to be most/least resistant to spambots and spammers? Insight and anecdotes are appreciated, as are links to resources on choosing between forum packages and perhaps new forum packages outside the vBulletin-phpBB-SMF triad. Feel free to mention any mod kits that tighten a forum against spammers.

My own general experiences:

- Vbulletin is awesome, flexible, and is resistant to spam without mod kits, but it's expensive and puts you on an annual payment treadmill to get upgrades, even if you want to buy it outright. This is why I only operate a couple of forums with vBulletin. I also suspect from past experience that it may be CPU intensive and may not work well on shared hosting.

- phpBB3 seems to attract more spammers than other forum packages, and the out-of-the-box configuration has poor or kludgy spam tools; my experience is that phpBB3 should never be deployed without mod kits or it will get overrun with spam.

- SMF is small and elegant; I like it and am using it for one new forum, but I haven't used it long enough to know if I'm going to have spam problems.

How can I migrate PHPBB3 to BBPress?

neilkod — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:36:50 -0800

How can I migrate PHPBB3 to BBPress? I have extensive database skills but not a whole lot of experience in the mysql space. A friend is asking my help in converting a very small PHPBB3 installation to BBPress. No more than a dozen or so users and maybe 50 threads across a few topics.

The closest Google gets me is downgrading phpbb3 to phpbb2 and then to BBPress. Can the hive do better?

How to get a blog attached to my phpBB?

vraxoin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:20:44 -0800

I have a phpBB forum. I want to add a multi-user blog on the same sate as this forum. The catch is that I want the comments on the blog posts to instead become forum topics automagically. In other words, rather than commenting on the blog itself, they'd be commenting on an auto-created forum post. I've been looking for some way to do this for a little while, but I've not been able to find a simple solution. I'd hate to code it myself if somebody's already done the legwork, and I can't imagine that I'm the only one who's ever wanted it. Alternately, if there was some way to have a particular phpBB forum automagically become a blog-like entity, that would work too.

How can I track changes to a phpBB forum?

wireless — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:35:20 -0800

How can I track changes to a phpBB forum? Hello,

For good reasons, I would like to track all changes to a particular phpBB forum -- new posts, edits, and deletions, essentially like what Wikipedia has. I'm running into a bit of a roadblock about how to do this. In principle it is simple. I found the following tool: WebSite-Watcher, which does some things like this. However, there remain a few complicating factors, mainly that there are certain changes I don't care about and don't want to show up in my version control.

For example, if user Joe writes a new post, the line "Posts: 12" changes to "Posts: 13" next to Joe's name on every thread that Joe has posted on. I don't want this kind of change to be listed.

My goal is to be able to archive this website regularly, and navigate through time to see which changes were made when.

I know how to program, but hope someone can think of a way to do this without creating a big programming ordeal. Is there a relatively simple way of implementing this?

phpBB 2 killfile script

ludwig_van — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:19:17 -0800

Can you help me find and install a script that will hide posts from certain users on a phpBB 2 forum? I'm running Win XP and FF 2.0.0.6. I just installed Greasemonkey, but I have no previous experience with it. Googling keeps bringing me here, but the "you can get it here" link there doesn't do anything when I click it. I've found a couple of others that seem to install correctly but then don't produce any noticeable effects. What am I missing?

Best CMS for a closed but transparent bid for services website?

Dreama — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 03:33:06 -0800

Best CMS for a closed but transparent bid for services website? Some of you may recall the website for which I'm inquiring, which provided technical and design services to bloggers on a barter, rather than cash basis. We are looking to reopen our site and we're hoping to find a better way of managing things than the combination of blogging software (for news and static info pages) and phpBB setup that we were using prior to shuttering the site (allegedly temporarily) in 2005.

The process, thus far, has been like this:

Clients post a new thread, outlining the work that they're looking for, as an RFP.
Staff respond to the request with bids for the work.
- Staff may choose to take on entire project or only a portion, based upon their availability and skillset.
Client accepts bid(s)
Process then moves mainly to private communication (e-mail, private message via website, IM, phone) between client and staffer(s) working on the project as project is completed.
Staffer(s) post updates on the progress of the project on the public site as a means of maintaining accountability.
At project completion, staffers(s) and client post regarding their satisfaction with work.
Staffer(s) report to administrators when payment for the work is received.
Administrators publicly deem project closed and complete at this time.

The phpBB system worked, but it wasn't as clear as it may have been. Some clients chose to use an "Agent" to negotiate their projects for them because the process (and their needs) were too complex for them to manage on their own. This ended up being a problem because the agent was rarely appropriately compensated for their work on the client's behalf.

The perfect CMS for this probably doesn't exist, but there may be better ideas than what we've got, and that's what I'm asking about. Anybody have any suggestions for applications that may work for us? We've talked about Xoops with some combination of modules, but there are concerns about the need to take a client case from module to module to module (post your request here, talk about it here, etc.). Is anybody aware of anything that might help us to get back to business without the process serving as a stumbling block, especially for net newbies who are turning to us specifically because they need simplicity?

Help ! Spammers have found my PHPBB forum !

Baud — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:19:47 -0800

I'm running a PhPBB forum. Spammers have found it. Mysterious strangers selling vigorous blue pills popped up from nowhere. Now I need to build something that will prevent spammers from polluting it. Is there a silver bullet that prevents all spammers from ever posting on PHPBB forums ? (I know, but I'm an eternal optimistic). Any antispam mods that has been successfullyt tested someone would like to recommend ? Thanks in adavance.

Blocking access based on referrer...?

poweredbybeard — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 12:16:44 -0800

Is it possible to restrict access to a web page (or whole site) based on the referrer? I noticed that a site I manage (which includes a phpbb forum) has been getting traffic off of the google search "inurl posting.php?mode=newtopic". I'm pretty sure this is one of the ways spammers and/or spambots are finding the forum.

Specific to my problem, is there any way to restrict access to visits coming from that search? Through scripting? .htaccess? etc?

And out of general interest, is there a way to block access based on referrers?

Resource problems on a web forum

hodyoaten — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 12:28:44 -0800

I need pointers to Web forum packages (phpBB, SMF, vBulletin, etc) that go easy on CPU/mysql resources. I have shared hosting on Dreamhost and poor performance (2-3 minute pageloads, for example) are starting to become a serious issue. Basically I'm wondering if anyone here runs stuff like phpBB, IPB, vBulletin, etc, and has suggestions on how the different board packages stack up.

1) What packages are hard on CPU/mysql, and what packages go easy?

2) Any advice on cutting down resource consumption would be great. I notice Invision has an admin panel for CPU resources but I don't see anything noteworthy in there besides the ability to make the board refuse connects when it gets too busy.

Currently I am using Invision Power Board, running on their ellipsis server. Quick overview of where I'm sitting at... I average 45 CPU minutes per day, database 400 MB (three years worth of messages), average day 1000 connects and 10,000 queries, 0.3 Mcn.

I've lodged a support request with Dreamhost but am not expecting much since this problem is hard to quantify. I would look at other forums for this information but what's out there seems to cater only to each individual software package.

phpBB help needed! Deleted admin account.

RoseovSharon — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:23:21 -0800

I accidentally deleted my phpBB admin account while attempting to delete myself as a user, now I can't admin my own forum! What now? I've already asked for help on the official forum for this program (my thread is here), two people offered suggestions, neither of which I've been able to make work... and now no one else on there is responding to my pleas for help. Can anyone here possible tell me what to do in order to get access to my admin panel?

Here is what was already suggested, and the problems I've had with each:

- One person told me to download his "Admin Toolkit" (link seems to be down at the moment but it was working last night), which is supposed to let me set up a password by which I can login to admin panel. I installed it as instructed, but now there is a cookie issue which I can't figure out, and so I still can't log in. When try to log in it tells me that I need to allow cookies to be accepted. Cookies are already allowed to be accepted but I still keep getting that error message, both in Firefox and IE. Have tried clearing all stored cookies, made sure settings are allowing all cookies, still... I get the cookie error and can't go any further. Tried askin that guy for help, no reply.

- Another person told me to do this: "Register a new user. Go into phpMyAdmin and browse the phpbb_users in the board's database. Find the user that you created and edit the user_rank to 1." I did all of the above. The rank for that user is now set to 1. When I log in as that user, they are not showing up as the admin and the link to access the admin panel is still not available. When I manually enter the url for the admin panel and try to get in, it tells me that this user is not authorized to do so.

So now I'm totally stumped and don't know what to do or try next. I'm a newbie at all this so I'm not well versed at all in php, phpMyAdmin or MySql. This is a big active forum and I must get in as the admin to do admin stuff ASAP! If anyone could help me out here I would be most grateful. Please be gentle and thorough with any instructions... please tell me each and every step so I can get it right the first time. Thanks in advance!

Customising user confirmation emails in phpBB?

By The Grace of God — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 06:31:51 -0800

Is there a phpBB mod that allows the admin to customise the content of the email users get upon signing up?

phpBB or SMF

chef_boyardee — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 10:13:48 -0800

phpBB or SMF for a new forum? Or something else? I'm not trying to stir up a Windows vs. Unix type debate but am interested in your thoughts and experiences, either as an administrator or user.

Personally, I have run some phpBB boards, and overall have been ok with them, but found that (1) the board is not very flexible in regard to moderator or superuser privileges, and (2) phpBB's that aren't upgraded in step with the patches seem to attract vandals (don't even get me started on phpNuke).

I'm trying SMF and like the flexibility, but I seem to get random 415 "Server Temporarily Unavailable" messages accessing the board from certain computers but not others; I'm thinking it's related to one computer having a login cookie and not another. Still, though, SMF triggering an Apache error like that is bad bad bad.

phpBB and MT using the same DB?

mikel — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 07:28:31 -0800

I want to install phpBB on my website, but I have a basic question to which I haven't been able to find the answer yet. If I am using a MySQL database behind MT for my weblog, can I install phpBB on the same database and assume it will just build additional tables in MySQL? Or does it require a completely separate database that would be addressed differently? Also if you could distinguish between "could do" and "should do" (or should not do) I would appreciate it.

what to do about a hacker?

mcsweetie — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 21:09:37 -0800

I've found the IP address of someone who's hacked my phpBB. now what? earlier tonight, I found that every post and forum on my phpBB had been erased and I wasn't able to login. I had a fellow admin reset my password, and it was then that I noticed a strange IP address logged in as me. and for a time after that, every post or forum I created vanished until I banned said address at the server level. so I'm reasonably certain that that's the guy.

but now, I'm not sure what recourse I have. is there a law enforcement agency I can report the address to? should I report the address to the offender's ISP? I have access to the server logs but I'm not sure what to look for in order to offer proof. any ideas?

XMB -> phpBB

dhartung — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 22:07:07 -0800

XMB -> phpBB. A forum I'm on is trying to convert, but the available converter scripts aren't up to date. Anybody do this? Anybody know anyone who has? The version of XMB is 1.9.1, but the two converters out there are for 1.5 (abandonware) and 1.6 (under the "unified converter system", but not updated since '03). We'd really, really like to salvage the board content. The guys I'm working with on this don't really have skills in this area, and mine are rusty when not rudimentary. I'm hoping someone knows somebody kind and generous and brilliant, but I'll take anything at this point.

Lightweight, uncluttered forum systems?

oissubke — Fri, 19 Dec 2003 12:58:05 -0800

phpBB, Invision, etc., are all great forum systems. The main drawback, for me, is that they all seem so bloated and cluttered. Statistics, rankings, avatars, signatures, etc., all seem to get in the way of actual content. Are there any good, robust, flexible, but more lightweight message board systems out there?