Initial release of Artesian forum? / Current status / What needs testing ...a.k.a. "Are we there yet?"

Once I get going, the project page will be kept up to date just like I always do with my projects. There isn't any news, yet.

Michelle

Hmm... Actually, I may have been too hasty here. In the past, I haven't wanted to use an issue because I would be driven nuts by people "subscribing". Now that we have the follow... I'll keep it in mind. I might do this. Keeping the status as is for now but we'll see.

Michelle

Just keep in mind that, while this is a new project, I'm not a new contributor. I've been doing this for over 4 years and have my way of doing things. I'm open to suggestions, of course, but having someone come in and pre-emptively set something up like this just kinda bugged me. My first reaction was to say no but then I thought about it more and I'll probably do something similar once I get to a point where it will be useful.

Michelle

Hello, Michelle!
You posted this at brain forum issue.

Just as an FYI, Artesian has the normal forum overview page so that's always an alternate if you would prefer to keep Brain Forum to your client's specs.

Michelle

I think Artesian Forum will be a really great module in the future (I know your Advanced Forum ;) ), but it seems You need more time until it could be used productive...
Brain Forum is "released" (dev version which should work), but it doesn't feel or look like a forum.

At the moment I have to use Core/ Advanced Forum and waiting for you Artesian Forum module. Maybe I'll upgrade it from Advanced Forum to Artesian if it make sense to me.

A good module needs time, but I'm searching at the moment (or the near future) for a forum solution *g*

I think I'm missing your point... Not saying that to be snarky; I honestly don't know what the question is here. Are you asking me what you should do? If so, I recommend using AF until Artesian is ready but go easy on style changes as those won't be compatible.

Michelle

It was not really a question. Or could you tell me a release or useable dev release date for artesian? ;)
So I haven't asked that question :)

Ok. I guess I was just confused about why you posted. Just sharing, then? :)

No ETA, sorry. My work on Artesian is being done differently than Brain Forum. They needed a working forum quickly for a customer. I have no pressing deadline so I am focusing on making a strong foundation for a full featured and flexible forum. That means that it's taking me longer to get to "production ready" than they did. Artesian is farther along than Brain Forum in some ways but behind in others. We have different goals and so are taking different paths.

Advanced Forum works fine for 20K people. It's not without issues or I wouldn't have bothered with Artesian, but it is still quite capable. And there will be an upgrade path for data so it's not a dead end. Anyone needing a forum right now should just use AF and then evaluate Artesian for their needs when it is ready.

Michelle

I have no pressing deadline so I am focusing on making a strong foundation for a full featured and flexible forum

That's the point! I like your good work :)
So I think I'll start with AF, which is also great, and take a look at the next steps of artesian.

Sounds good. :)

Michelle

Hello,

Do the following issues impact any of the concepts considered for this module (if a version for Drupal 8 is being planned)

• Views in core
• Decouple comment.module from node (http://drupal.org/node/731724)

Any updates on a version for Drupal 7?

Thanks

Views in core is nice because Views is a dependency.

Comments and nodes have no impact as the module doesn't use them.

No progress report, I'm afraid. I've been focused on photography since last Spring and have barely touched Drupal. I'm starting to dig into it more, now, but my first priority is finishing some long overdue sites before I can work on this.

Michelle

Hello, Michelle.

Would some support ($) make you back to Artesian forum?

Best regards.

Not at this point, unfortunately. I wouldn't feel right even going down that road from where I am now as it would likely end badly.

Hi Michelle,

Looking forward to this for sure. I'm a front-end developer with extensive Views experience (without knowing what else AF depends on at this point) and would love to help if need be.

That said, we know the importance of not rushing something good. I hope nobody's getting impatient here.

Hi Michelle.

It's great to hear you're getting back into the Drupal groove again! Awesome news.
I'm definitely interested in this project after all this time!

Yeah, it's probably still going to be a bit. I'm horribly rusty after so long and my first priority is a very long over due client website. But I'm looking forward to digging into Artesian again. I didn't know if anyone would still be interested after all this time but I figured it was a good way to get my head in the game again either way. :)

Michelle

Definitely still keeping my eye on this, especially since my main project has been delayed. Plus it's a much-needed module in Drupal.

I'm with synth, it's much needed and it might help Drupal break into a different market.

From my feelings about it, I've used vBulletin and IPB, both as a user and as a site owner/admin. I feel really strongly that if Drupal had a really powerful forum module on the level of these (paid) alternatives, it might blow these two out of the water. It doesn't suffer from glass ceiling syndrome like these bits of software, and it's accessible to everyone, not just those with big bank balances.

I'm not saying that's the reason I'm looking forward to Artesian, but I feel this could lead to big things in the future if this module has the degree of success I'm absolutely sure it will.

(These opinions are mine and mine only.)

Very well said, krisDOTco!

Well, I'm glad to know there's still interest. :) I've been away from Drupal so long I worried that no one even cared about a native forum anymore.

Michelle

I completely agree with krisDotco. I just finished developing a Drupal based community website at http://www.fraggingrights.com. Throughout the development of the site, it became glaringly obvious that even with Advanced Forum, Drupal's current forum system falls well short of what both site owners and users have come to expect in regards to a forum.

While I am by no means a proficient php programmer, I was able to combine a number of contrib modules in a way that came close to replicating features of major forum web softwares. Below is a list of things that I think might be worth talking about in the discussion of bringing a serious forum module to life for Drupal.

Administration and Moderation Tools

• Admin/Mod Dashboards
• Ability to temporarily ban users.
• Manage forum topics (move/merge/lock/etc).
• User control tools such as ignore lists and report posts/topics.
• Sectional permissions such for both moderating powers and user access.
• Bot/Spam tools to help recognize duplicate/spam/bot accounts.
• Voting/flagging system that makes recognizing and dealing with poor posters/trolls more easily.

Forum Structure / Layout

• Forums, sub-forums, announcements (threads atop the forum home page).
• User information per post (join date, posts, online status, etc).
• Quote, multi-quote, and quick reply.
• User level pagination control (posts per page)

Usability and Features

• Social Media integration (User fields for twitter, facebook, etc).
• In-thread polling.
• Ability to mention user (@UserName).
• Better wysiwyg allowing for easy media/image embeds.
• Notification system (users are notified when they are quoted, replied to, mentioned, private messaged, etc).
• Private messaging system.
• Better rules integration.

These are just the first things that come to my mind when I consider my last project and the things that the Drupal forum/advanced forum modules lacked.

Cool site Jake, let me know if you need a hand with anything. I've been on reddit for a couple of years now but I'm not into the competitive gaming scene. I've been building Drupal sites since late-2010 though, so hit me up if you need it.

And thanks for the good feedback guys. I worked with vBulletin since v3.0.9 a long time ago (mid 2005), and I feel that recently it's tried to break into the 'social community platform' side of things. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Drupal and WordPress do it a lot better for a lot less money. If the forum side of things became something in the middle (between them and what Drupal can do right now), I don't think we'd need vBulletin or IPB.

That's just my feeling on things - communities are so much more than discussion boards now. They're the idea that you can get together on niche subjects with people that share the same interests and learn more about it together. That's sharing videos and pictures, and aggregation of data from other places. That's groups, that sort of thing. It's all about Facebook now, not Yahoo Groups.

Jake, that site is nothing short of amazing. Is your admin panel as well-built as the front-end?

Thanks kris and synth3tk! We did put a fair amount of time into the administrative areas as well. I built a moderator dashboard using views and quicktabs, that allowed mods to see a few different things (currently banned users, reported posts and topics, and unpublished media from our media section). For site level admins though, we just use the Seven theme as the administration theme.

kris is definitely spot on when it comes to user expectations and what it means to be an online community these days. I just had a lengthy discussion with a friend of mine the other day in the same vein. While user's expect a number of ways to interact and contribute to a site, in my experience, some of the best content that comes out of a community website is still through forum discussion. I still think linear threaded discussion still has a place in today's web, and the good news is that forums have been around so long, their base features and functions are well established, meaning that both users and moderators know what to expect when they are using a forum. That being said, the Drupal community has yet to really put together a good forum module that covers those expectations. While I have no idea of the intended scope for this project, the description sounds to be on the right track for developing a solid forum module that provides the experience user's have come to expect, and I think if it accomplishes that, it opens up a world of opportunity for Drupal and community developers alike.

Nice looking site. :)

I have a pretty good handle on what the forum needs. Just need to finish up the barriers in the way of getting back into it. :)

Michelle

Michelle, if you will need any PHP help, please let me know.

Thanks for the offer. I'll let you know if I do. :)

Michelle

Has any progress been made in the past few weeks?

Also following this eagerly. I'm in the process of starting a theming service for Drupal - I may wait until something happens on this first.

Has any progress been made in the past few weeks?

Not yet in Michelle's sandbox (Mud), but it seems she's hinting about likely coming back, when she have the time.