Forum

@perrie
10 years ago
435 posts

I have been having a discussion with Paul about Ning's forum and how many people actually use and need it. I realize that my group might be unique in it's needs, so I was wondering how many other Ningsters use the forum and need it be be threaded (even a simple two tier threading) with WYSIWYG editor.

updated by @perrie: 02/23/15 05:03:12PM

@brian
10 years ago
10,149 posts

I haven't followed the email between you and Paul, but by "threaded" I assume you mean you have the ability to post a response to a follow up post instead of just to the topic post?

Thanks!

--
Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

@perrie
10 years ago
435 posts

Yes Brian.
Check out my present site :
thenewstalkers.com
I don't need 12 layers of threading, just one indent in for each thread.

@brian
10 years ago
10,149 posts

Yep - I know what you're looking for, and I think it is doable. I've just pushed out a large round of forum updates:

https://www.jamroom.net/the-jamroom-network/forum/announcements/21197/latest-forum-updates

So it's not something I can get to right away, but we've had a couple other requests for the same thing and it is on my todo list, so it's not far away.

Hope this helps!

--
Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

Strumelia
@strumelia
10 years ago
3,605 posts

If Brian says he's going to do it, you can put money on it Perrie. These JR guys take their "To Do" lists seriously!

--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

@perrie
10 years ago
435 posts

Strumelia:
If Brian says he's going to do it, you can put money on it Perrie. These JR guys take their "To Do" lists seriously!

Hi Strumelia,
Paul doesn't seem to be as sure, but I see how hard they are trying and I am very impressed. Nothing like Ning in a good way

For me the Forum is the heart and soul of my site, so I have to be sure that jamroom can pull off a Ning type forum. I would love to be done with trying to find a home for my group.

sekeri
@ilker
10 years ago
334 posts

Please let me extend this request a little bit more. I also would love to have it for comments section. In my opinion threaded comments is a must for a social community website. Additionally, users should be able to upvote/downvote for each comment. People really likes to see the reaction for their comments or forum posts.

@perrie
10 years ago
435 posts

sekeri:
Please let me extend this request a little bit more. I also would love to have it for comments section. In my opinion threaded comments is a must for a social community website. Additionally, users should be able to upvote/downvote for each comment. People really likes to see the reaction for their comments or forum posts.

+1 on voting up and down. Also a number and a number and a link for each comment.

@paul
10 years ago
4,335 posts

Once Brian has done this for forum posts I will see if it can be adapted for comments also.
For voting items up and down checkout the jrLike module. That provides like/dislike options so just change its language strings as appropriate
Hth

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

@perrie
10 years ago
435 posts

Thanks Paul! You have been so helpful and patient. I can't thank you enough.

John Bizley
@john-bizley
10 years ago
251 posts

+1 From me on the threaded options for forums and also commments :-)

@brian
10 years ago
10,149 posts

sekeri:
Additionally, users should be able to upvote/downvote for each comment.

This should be handled by the "like" module - it's perfect for this and shouldn't be hard to integrate, so we will check that out when doing the forum and comment updates.

Thanks!

--
Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

Developer Networks
@developer-networks
10 years ago
566 posts

perrie:
I have been having a discussion with Paul about Ning's forum and how many people actually use and need it. I realize that my group might be unique in it's needs, so I was wondering how many other Ningsters use the forum and need it be be threaded (even a simple two tier threading) with WYSIWYG editor.

Not sure if this will help you folks out but I have a Phpbb 3.0.12 bridge for Jamroom 5 available. Theres a ton of mods and skins available (free open source) https://www.phpbb.com/
It does require advanced install and a modification to one file inside your phpbb.(drag/drop in your ftp)

Once complete it then sits inside of your Jamroom file structure like yoursite.com/forum/ and ALL Jamroom accounts are then syncronized 100% to the phpbb forum. Just add the forum to your menu.

https://www.jamroom.net/b360/networkmarket/110/myphpbb-3012-jamroom-bridge

I hope this helps.

* Also to add it works even if you have 1000's of members already installed to an existing site / import so it can be added anytime and ALL accounts will sync.
updated by @developer-networks: 01/16/15 09:23:02AM

@brian
10 years ago
10,149 posts

I want to update this thread with the work I have been doing:

1) It's not likely we are going to implement threaded results here in the Profile Forum module - there's just too many variables in play with the existing categories, searching, pagination, etc. to get it in place and have it work correctly.

2) I've updated the User Comments module however to have threading available. So for all non-forum areas, you can have threaded comments

3) We are working on an update to the Ning Importer that will import non-grouped results to a "forum" group - for those of you that MUST have threaded comments in your Forum. Note that currently Ning does not really have a "forum" like we have here for Jamroom - instead Ning just has "pages with comments on them" as it's forum, so this solution will basically make the Jamroom Groups module work for the "site forum" (where the comments can then be threaded).

If anyone has any questions let me know. We're in testing right now on the new User Comments threading setup and will have that released as soon as it is ready.

Thanks!

--
Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net
updated by @brian: 01/16/15 10:34:07AM

@paul
10 years ago
4,335 posts

Just to add that the updated jrNingImport module, when I get it done hopefully over the next few days, will have the option to either import non-grouped discussions to the forum module, as it does now, or to an especially created 'forum group', as described above.
The choice is yours :-)

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

@brian
10 years ago
10,149 posts

b360:
Not sure if this will help you folks out but I have a Phpbb 3.0.12 bridge for Jamroom 5 available.

Just to add that I think this is a great solution for anyone looking for a more "featured filled" forum than the Profile Forum module. phpBB3 has a ton of features to it that are way more involved than what you'll ever find in the Profile Forum module, as our main goal with the forum module is to make it more streamlined and easy to use versus feature packed.

Nice module @b360

--
Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net
updated by @brian: 01/16/15 12:57:29PM

Strumelia
@strumelia
10 years ago
3,605 posts

Boy I hope i will understand the whole 'profile forums'/'forums on profiles' thing before I have to decide on this option and go live... I find it to be the most confusing aspect to wrap my head around, and still not really 'getting' how it works right now.

Will keep reading and maybe a light bulb will turn on at some point.

Good news though, is that I'm getting a little better at making site changes in my templates, and finding my way around to do it...

Whoever made the recent improvements to the template compare/edit interface....THANK YOU!- it is SOOOOO much easier now!!

--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

@michael
10 years ago
7,823 posts

Strumelia:
Boy I hope i will understand the whole 'profile forums'/'forums on profiles' thing before I have to decide on this option and go live...

The debate is between "Do I have one profile for the whole site where users contribute to" vs "Does each profile have their own forum."

An example would be right now we are typing on the forum on the profile for "the-jamroom-network" on jamroom.net. Its a Profile forum because it resides on a specific profile.

VS PhpBB which would be on the top level of the site, not on any one persons profile.

At jamroom.net we use the forum on the-jamroom-network's profile to handle the general site business, then other developers also have their own forums to handle their business.

You can say "Hi" to SteveX of UltraJam over on his forum here:
https://www.jamroom.net/ultrajam/forum

Each profile has a forum. Hence "Profile Forums". If you compare that to the old way we used to do it with jamroom 4
http://archive.jamroom.net/phpBB2/index.php

You can see the section for "Jamroom Solution Providers" at the bottom. That was a single forum for the site with sections for each of the developers.

So is "each profile gets its own forum" vs "one forum with separate sections for xxxxxx"

Strumelia:....Whoever made the recent improvements to the template compare/edit interface....THANK YOU!- it is SOOOOO much easier now!!....

Glad you like it, we do.

In case anyone hasn't found it yet, Strumelia is talking about this:

"Using the Compare tool to keep cloned skins up to date"
https://www.jamroom.net/the-jamroom-network/documentation/development/2394/using-the-compare-tool-to-keep-cloned-skins-up-to-date

Developer Networks
@developer-networks
10 years ago
566 posts

brian:
Nice module @b360

Thank you. I hope to make a few more modules here soon. The new updates and modules ALL you guys have made to the system are all simply amazing. I'm loving everything that's going on!

Strumelia
@strumelia
10 years ago
3,605 posts

Ah, I think I am getting the concept Brian. (nice to see your face!)

I have to think and learn more about the two froum choices. I'm liking how the profile_forum appears and looks integrated. But I just dont want my members having their own profile page forums. And I dont want MY (or MY as the "forums" profile) personal profile info and radio buttons showing on every forum thread that was started by others and has nothing to do with me as you see here:

--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 01/17/15 12:02:26PM

SteveX
@ultrajam
10 years ago
2,589 posts

Strumelia:nice to see your face!

I agree!

--
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Education, learning resources, TEL, AR/VR/MR, CC licensed content, panoramas, interactive narrative, sectional modules (like jrDocs), lunch at Uni of Bristol. Get in touch if you share my current interests or can suggest better :)

@perrie
10 years ago
435 posts

brian:
I want to update this thread with the work I have been doing:

1) It's not likely we are going to implement threaded results here in the Profile Forum module - there's just too many variables in play with the existing categories, searching, pagination, etc. to get it in place and have it work correctly.

2) I've updated the User Comments module however to have threading available. So for all non-forum areas, you can have threaded comments

Sorry Brian for not replying sooner! I have been out of town.
I think we are talking about apples and oranges. So first, what I need is a central forum, not a member one. If this isn't possible then a discussion about threaded or not, is irrelevant. A central forum is what many Ning refugees have on their site. Now if that is possible, maybe the threading wouldn't be as hard (that I am not sure of, since I am not a programmer).
I realize that the Jamroom platform has been member centered until us Ningsters came along, but I would say the bulk of us don't have member centered sites, but rather group centered. Does that make sense?
updated by @perrie: 01/21/15 11:20:14PM

@paul
10 years ago
4,335 posts

Hi Perrie - It does make sense and is achievable with Jamroom.

Would you consider what you are looking at now a 'central forum'? If so, take a look at the URL above. This is actually the profile forum of 'the-jamroom-network' (the whole of jamroom.net is a regular Jamroom site!!). When importing the Ning archive you get the option of importing Ning forum discussions to a specific profile, so if that profile was named 'Forums', say, for all intents and purposes it would be a general forum, as this one is.

Another option that will be in the next release of the NingImport module will be to import Ning Forums to a specified Group instead of the Jamroom Forum module. Groups are comment based so by doing this, threaded comments would be inherent.
Hope That Helps

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

gary.moncrieff
@garymoncrieff
10 years ago
865 posts

I have set up a profile called Community, this houses my issue tracker, site documentation, site documents and forum and it will also house a site store to purchase things which I decide.

It takes a lot of tweaking of templates and Jamroom can be quite confusing in the profile area, as it uses a number of different templates to make up a profile, depending on what area you are looking at. Not for the faint hearted really.

@paul
10 years ago
4,335 posts

Quote: It takes a lot of tweaking of templates and Jamroom can be quite confusing in the profile area, as it uses a number of different templates to make up a profile, depending on what area you are looking at. Not for the faint hearted really.

Possibly for 'regular' Jamroom skins, but the Ningja skin has been designed specifically for Ning migrants so will do the forum thing 'out of the box', as well as working, as far as possible, in a way familiar to Ning users.

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist
updated by @paul: 01/22/15 04:47:28AM

Strumelia
@strumelia
10 years ago
3,605 posts

Perrie i currently have (as was previously recommended as an option) created a profile under my own user role, named the new member "Forums" and I copied the profile page url for "Forums" and pasted it as the location for where to import all my ning (non-group) main forum categories and threads. All ning forum threads and categ's were imported into that "Forums" member's forum area. In effect, the member "forums" becomes a robot member who hosts all my site's general forums. By default, in JR you can turn 'on' the ability for a member to have their own complete unlimited Forum (with categories) on thier personal profile. I then (with Paul's help) turned OFF member profiles page forums for all regular members- but "Forums" still has that function, as do Admins. Thus, my ning forums all reside within the member called "Forums" profile...but it's not too noticeable that "Forums" is actually a member. I only describe this so you can understand that setup.

But if you want threaded, then Paul's thoughts on importing your ning forums into a Group sounds like it might work for you particularly well. I am intrigued by it as well, as it sounds logical to me.

--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

@perrie
10 years ago
435 posts

Strumelia,
I think I understand what you are doing. In effect, you are creating a dummy account to use as your forum. Then you have threading. But here is my next question. I have moderators. Can you set moderators on this dummy account?

Open Question:

The group thing might be an alternative for me, but then the issue becomes that I do have a lot of active groups on my site. How do you distinguish between the group that you set up as your main forum group from all the other groups?

@michael
10 years ago
7,823 posts

gary.moncrieff:...I have set up a profile called Community...

That's a good idea. Setup one profile in a quota of its own to act as the central profile.

This is a good bit of documentation to help grasp the concepts Perrie:

"Concepts the admin user needs to know."
https://www.jamroom.net/the-jamroom-network/documentation/getting-started/2167/concepts-the-admin-user-needs-to-know

sekeri
@ilker
10 years ago
334 posts

If we could hide the left side(profile information part) on profile level then it would solve this problem. Actually what I mean is what you do at the moment for the-jamroom-network profile.

@paul
10 years ago
4,335 posts

The Ningja skin is configured not to show the profile info sidebar.

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

gary.moncrieff
@garymoncrieff
10 years ago
865 posts

sekeri:
If we could hide the left side(profile information part) on profile level then it would solve this problem. Actually what I mean is what you do at the moment for the-jamroom-network profile.

@sekeri, you can do this now with any skin, just have to be careful with what I said above, see the jrNingja skin to see how it's done.

jrNingja has the sidebar in a separate template but it is still possible to do with other skins just not as easy.

gary.moncrieff
@garymoncrieff
10 years ago
865 posts

michael:

gary.moncrieff:...I have set up a profile called Community...

That's a good idea. Setup one profile in a quota of its own to act as the central profile.

Thanks Michael, it was the best solution I could come up with when I was brainstorming this some time ago. Maybe adding the concept of the Community profile to the default package would help resolve these sort of queries in the future?

sekeri
@ilker
10 years ago
334 posts

gary.moncrieff:
@sekeri, you can do this now with any skin, just have to be careful with what I said above, see the jrNingja skin to see how it's done.

Do you mean there is a config parameter for it in any skin? I am sure it can be done with updating the template file but this is not what I like to do. By the way, I don't plan to use the Ningja skin.

@paul
10 years ago
4,335 posts

The default Group detail template has {jrProfile_disable_sidebar} in it so that doesn't show the sidebar anyway. You could use that call in other profile template as well if needed.

--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

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