Gossamer Forum
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News Site Plugin Idea
I was thinking (again) about using GForum to build a newssite like Slashdot. It really wouldn't be so difficult, there are only a few things that would need to be added/changed through a plugin:

  • Root post of a thread is the newsitem, replies are user comments.

  • Set all the forum permissions to "can reply but can't post" for most users. Obviously admin and a selected user group would need to be able to post

  • Different display for root posts (news) and non root posts (comments)

  • Different categories/forum would correspond to different news categories

  • New page/template that lists the last 10 or so news items (root posts)

  • Users can submit stories (similar to posting a comment). Submitted stories are stored in different table until they are validated/deleted

  • Submitted story validate/delete page for admin

  • user profile: submitted stories

  • etc etc



Anyone interested in this? Toghether with Paul's Karma plugin, this could be just like slashdot or php-nuke or things like that.

More ideas are welcome!

Ivan
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Iyengar Yoga Resources / GT Plugins
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Re: [yogi] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
Wouldn't you just be better of writing something from scratch? Or hack slashcode? It would probably make more of a logical sense as GForum's initial setup isn't designed for this, even though it is very flexible?

- wil
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Re: [Wil] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
No, I don't think it would be better to write that from scratch, since everything is already there, just a few things need to be added/changed.

But you might be right, nobody is waiting for this, and there are packages available that do just the same thing.

On the other hand, you could set it up in such a way that you reserve a certain part of your forum for these news item posts. And then you would be able to use the same software for different things, you wouldn't have to install yet another unknown piece of software...

Ivan
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Iyengar Yoga Resources / GT Plugins
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Re: [yogi] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
Hi,

Most of this can be done as is:

- Different display for root posts: Just wrap a <%if parent_id == 0%> around the post display.
- Create new page - would just be a new template with a global to select the 10 newest threads.
- User Profile, just a search where username = their username, and root id = 0.

The only tough part would be the validation, and of course wrapping it all together. =)

Cheers,

Alex
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Gossamer Threads Inc.
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Re: [yogi] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
Are you thinking of XML news feed or admin generated news items?

Could what you envision be deployed with an existing installation of Gforum? The news side being viewed from a different location I guess?

Interesting idea.

Last edited by:

HeavyBombers: May 17, 2002, 10:21 AM
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Re: [HeavyBombers] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
I'm going to be using GF with actual news stories (since I help run a news site). We're currently using Web Crossing and the way we integrate the two is with a stripped down template that just displays the 20 most recent subject lines, which is then stuck at the bottom of the article with an SSI (the ability to have multiple templates is one of the things that attracted me to GF). The SSI does have to be put into the story by hand, which can be a pain, but it also means we don't wind up with large numbers of empty forums - only stories that generate enough interest get them.
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Re: [HeavyBombers] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
On a side note, I have also suggested Alex et al to put together some XML-feed stuff for GF. Thought it would be simple to do as have been done for Links SQL (just add &xml_feed=1 to seach strings).

John
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Re: [agaffin] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
I have personally chosen to use Links SQL as a new engine, but I also have slightly different requirements. Using GF as a new engine is not a bad idea, though. First of all, you would have the wysiwyg-editor at hand, which you haven't in Links SQL.

I'd be happy to discuss this in further details.
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Re: [gotze] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
On the XML, I mixed up the two plugins, I have suggested Alex. I meant of course an RSS importer. Such would be great Crazy
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Re: [HeavyBombers] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
Thanks for all the feedback.

Heavybombers, I was thinking of admin generated news, not third-party news feeds. And yes, it could be used with an existing installation of GForum. A portion of your forum would be reserved for news (let's say you specify a category, and everything below this category is news, not normal forum).

Alex, thanks for the details on howto implement it. As for the validation: submitted stories would go into a separate table (maybe one could allow everyone post access on the news forums, but then intercept new posts - i.e. not replies - and then send them to a submission table instead of the Post table, only moderators posts would be actually posted).

I will start working on it as soon as I find the time. In the meantime, I am open for suggestions.

Ivan
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Iyengar Yoga Resources / GT Plugins
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Re: [gotze] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
Hi John,

Quote:
Thought it would be simple to do as have been done for Links SQL (just add &xml_feed=1 to seach strings).


Exporting is simple, importing is much more difficult. =)

Cheers,

Alex
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Gossamer Threads Inc.
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Re: [Alex] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
In Reply To:

Exporting is simple, importing is much more difficult. =)


Hey, you did it with the MailArchive, so surely it can be done Tongue

Hmmm. It just occurs to me that one could hack Links SQL to send a new submission via email to a MailArchive-enabled forum, and there you have your gossamerslash Cool
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Re: [yogi] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
This plug in will allow to display the newest threads (Announcemts of the forum for exapmle) on main page? wich is out of the forum pages???

Antoine
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Re: [yogi] News Site Plugin Idea In reply to
I thought about this as well for my site - however I decided to go with Links instead. I can see a lot of advantages using the forum as a news site - but I am way too far down the Links road now.. Unsure

Klaus

http://www.ameinfo.com