BBoard Admin for $topic

# admin-home.tcl,v 3.0 2000/02/06 03:32:46 ron Exp set_the_usual_form_variables # topic, topic_id set db [bboard_db_gethandle] if { $db == "" } { bboard_return_error_page return } if {[bboard_get_topic_info] == -1} { return } if {[bboard_admin_authorization] == -1} { return } # cookie checks out; user is authorized if [catch {set selection [ns_db 0or1row $db "select bt.*,u.email as maintainer_email, u.first_names || ' ' || u.last_name as maintainer_name, presentation_type from bboard_topics bt, users u where bt.topic_id=$topic_id and bt.primary_maintainer_id = u.user_id"]} errmsg] { [bboard_return_cannot_find_topic_page] return } # we found the data we needed set_variables_after_query set threads_checked "" set q_and_a_checked "" set ed_com_checked "" set usgeospatial_checked "" switch $presentation_type { threads { set threads_checked " CHECKED" } q_and_a { set q_and_a_checked " CHECKED" } ed_com { set ed_com_checked " CHECKED" } usgeospatial { set usgeospatial_checked " CHECKED" } } ReturnHeaders ns_write " BBoard Admin for $topic

Administration for \"$topic\"

a discussion group in [bboard_system_name]

Daily Tasks

visit the user-visible page: threads | Q&A/Editorial | US Geospatial
visit the administration page: threads | Q&A/Editorial | US Geospatial
look at expired threads (a Q&A only thing)" ns_write "

Community

This software can help you view, spam, count, or randomly select (for contests) the people who participate in your forum.

Pick out the readers who've posted at least

Bozo Filters

You can instruct this system to automatically reject postings that match certain patterns. For example, at photo.net we want to refuse postings that contain the string \"aperature\". Invariably, people who can't spell \"aperture\" turn out to be idiots. " # Branimir: bugfix: We need to save the result of the previous query # because we'll need it set selection_saved [ns_set copy $selection] set selection [ns_db select $db "select * from bboard_bozo_patterns where topic_id = $topic_id order by upper(the_regexp)"] set bozo_items "" while { [ns_db getrow $db $selection] } { set_variables_after_query append bozo_items "

$the_regexp\n" } if [empty_string_p $bozo_items] { set bozo_items "there aren't any bozo patterns associated with this forum right now" } ns_write "

add pattern

How this BBoard is presented to users

Remember that although this bboard runs from a purpose-built DB-backed Web server, it is designed to look like it is part of the original static Web service. The pages will be displayed with your email address at the bottom, and a link back to your static server. (If you want more customization, you'll just have to read Philip Greenspun's book on Web service design).

[export_form_vars topic topic_id]

The most important thing is the backlink URL, i.e., the URL for your server. This will be offered by my server as a link back to you. Make sure you have the full \"http://\" in front, e.g., \"http://gardenhosestoday.com\".

Backlink:

You probably don't want the Q&A forum page saying \"this is associated with http://complicated-domain.com/bunch-of-dirs/foobar.html\". So put in a title for the above URL, e.g., \"Garden Hose Magazine\".

Backlink Title:

Primary Maintainer: [database_to_tcl_string $db "select first_names || ' ' || last_name || ' ' || '(' || email || ')' from users where user_id = $primary_maintainer_id"] (update)
(note: messages from the above email address will be displayed first in a Q&A forum thread, even if the maintainer was not the first person to answer)

Presentation Type

You have to choose whether or not this is primarily a Q&A forum, a threads-based discussion group, or an editorial stlye. The user interfaces interoperate, i.e., a posting made a user in the Q&A interface will be seen in the threads interface and vice versa. But my software still needs to know whether this is primarily threads, Q&A or editorial. For example, if a user signs up for email alerts, this program will send out email saying \"come back to the forum at http://...\". The \"come back URL\" is different for Q&A and threads.

threads - classical USENET style
Q&A - questions and all answers appear on one page, use for discussion groups that tend to have short messages/responses
Editorial - question and answers appear on separate pages, answers are collasped by subject line as a default, use for discussion groups that tend to have longer messages/responses
US Geospatial

(note: I personally greatly prefer the Q&A interface; if people liked threads, they'd have stuck with USENET.)

How Threads are Presented

Whenever postings are displayed in a \"one line summary\" form, you can choose to have this server add email address, name, and/or posting date to each line in the summary.

Subject Line Suffix:
(legal values are blank, \"name\", \"email\", \"date\", separated by spaces)

Q&A threads are presented as a list. You can choose either

" if { $q_and_a_sort_order == "asc" } { ns_write " Oldest on top Newest on top "} else { ns_write " Oldest on top Newest on top " } ns_write "

Categorization

After a Q&A forum has collected a few thousand messages, it becomes tough for users to find archived threads, even when the software is running on a server with a full-text search engine. Categorization lets you support browsing as well as searching. As the administrator, you are always able to recategorize messages and define new categories. If you want less work and don't mind a little chaos, then you can allow users to categorize their own questions (they get a select menu when they post a new question). If you don't mind a lot of chaos, you can allow users to define new categories.

" set raw_form_vars "Present Categorized? Yes No

Ask User to Categorize? Yes No

Allow Users to Add New Categories? Yes No

Remember that new questions will always be presented on top for however many days you specify, even if they are categorized. After the \"days considered new\" period has lapsed, a question will show up underneath a category heading.

Days Considered New:

If your forum becomes extremely popular, you might want to trim down the top-level page so that it shows only the subject lines for new messages. For older messages, all you see are the category names and a count of how many messages are in that category.

Show only the categories (and a count) on the top level page? Yes No " # (Branimir: bugfix: we have to use selection_saved as bozo filters # query has overwritten the original selection) set merged_form [bt_mergepiece $raw_form_vars $selection_saved] ns_write "$merged_form

Note: all the categorization stuff is ignored in the threads (frames) interface.

Once you've set up categorization, you can add categories in the Q&A admin pages (while looking at threads), or you can take an overall look in the edit categories page.

Interest Level

After a Q&A forum has collected a few tens of thousands of messages, it becomes tough for users to find interesting threads, even when you have categorization turned on. For example, in my photo.net forum someone asked what the \"QC\" meant in a Nikon 135 QC lens, which was manufactured in the early 1970s. I don't want to delete it, because someone three years from now might search for \"Nikon QC\" and find it useful. But I don't want it cluttering up my Nikon category where the majority of readers are using modern equipment. So I enabled my interest level system. As the administrator, you can rate things on a scale from 0 to 10. Anything 3 or below is deemed \"uninteresting\" and separated from the other threads in a category. In the long run, I'll probably add an option for users to see the threads that the administrator has specifically marked interesting (8 or higher?). Remember that you don't have to mark each thread. Threads without a number are still considered \"interesting\".

Use Interest Level System? " if { $q_and_a_use_interest_level_p == "t" } { ns_write " Yes No" } else { ns_write " Yes No" } ns_write "

Policy

If you choose, you can explain to users what this forum is supposed to be for. An \"About\" link will be added to the top level page. For example, if you're using this software for tech support, you could say \"You can expect a response within 24 hours from one of the following people:\". If you're running a contest (see below) then you could use this message to explain how frequently winners are chosen and what are the possible prizes.

$policy_statement

Discouraging Users from Posting

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. When your site is young, you'll be eager for all kinds of posts (at least I was). But after 100,000 messages, you'll get sick of repeats. So you can put in a little canned message encouraging users to check your site's static content and/or a search engine before posting a question. Note that if this system is running on a machine with a full-text search engine installed as part of the RDBMS then a \"search the forum\" link is offered by default to everyone.

$pre_post_caveat

Notification

If your forum is inactive, you'll probably want this system to send you email every time someone adds a posting of any kind (new top-level question or reply). If you're getting 50 new postings/day then you'll probably want to disable this feature

Notify me of all new postings? " if { $notify_of_new_postings_p == "t" } { ns_write " Yes No " } else { ns_write " Yes No " } ns_write "

Note that users can use the alerts feature to get instant notification of all postings themselves. The From: header in this case is set to that of the person who contributed the new posting. If users who've added alerts lose their email account, then this can generate a lot of bounced email. In this case, as the administrator, you'll want to view all the alerts and disable the ones you think are causing bounces.

Things that you can't do (well, not from here)

you cannot change the topic name because it is used as a database key in the bboard messages table.
you can't delete a topic. That's too great a security risk. You have to send email to [bboard_system_owner] if you want to kill a topic.

Weird stuff

This is a section of parameters for people who are using my software in unintended ways (i.e., not really as a forum at all). For example, someone wanted to put up a service with a fixed set of threads, e.g., one for each U.S. state. Users would be free to add any message they wanted underneath any of the threads set up by the administrator (oh yes, this works by removing the Ask a Question link from the top level page).

" if [ad_parameter FileUploadingEnabledP bboard 0] { ns_write "

File/Image Uploading

The server is configured to permit user uploads of images and other files. Essentially a user can attach an arbitrary file to a message or, in the case of an image, have it displayed in-line with the message. " } ns_write " [bboard_footer] "