I'm the author of DiscoBoard ... it's a clone-alike of IGN.com's message boards, written for PHP/MySQL.

- It doesn't do threads (they're a nightmare).
- You can set a watch on a thread (or a user)
- Messages are sorted. Also features sticky threads that are always at the top
- Users must register before posting (registration requires a working email address)
- Searches are there (not sure if I've exposed message text search actually, not hard to)
- It's free! :)

So, not a 100% match on the featureset, but I still like it ;)

You can see it running here: PCW Wrestling Forum, and there's a lot of users running modified versions around the 'net.

Email me if you'd like to use it, or try it out.
jason.m@globeintltd.com

Jason

My ISP offers an auto install of PHPbb--but it doesn't display in threads (like this forum). This allows me to visually (without using search) see who is responding down the line (important when the topic has a lot of responses).

Thanks for the info on DiscoBoard. I liked to ability to watch a discussion. I'm still looking for the Vegas-like threads though.

Any more suggestions with threads (like this forum?).

Jason - you probably know of many if you did some comparisons prior to coding?

Thanks for your help with this.

Ted

Actually, I set out to do a clone-a-like, so no not really.

Not many forums use threads. Slash, the free version of the code that runs Slashdot, does. I find threaded conversations difficult to follow these days though - they always go offtopic somewhere in the middle of a thread.

>> I find threaded conversations difficult to follow these days though - they always go offtopic somewhere in the middle of a thread.

Here you can select threaded or non-threaded view. I think a lot of people who post out of context are not aware of threads, or just lazy.

Of course, I have just taken this thread slightly off-topic, which will happen. Chanimal, forgive me if I started your thead veering in a new direction.

I have been frustrated, in the past, when a thread I started, looking for information, veered away and I never got an answer.

For me the important things are email alerts and active posts rising to the top. phpBB is great and free.

Thanks for all the tips. Especially in a "video" forum. Thank goodness for the "OT" posts. I think I'll pop over to wilsonweb.com to find out more about the web forums.

> Here you can select threaded or non-threaded view. I think a lot of people who post out of context are not aware of threads, or just lazy.

This forum doesn’t allow you to use both threaded and non-threaded views simultaneously like DMN does so anyone who uses the non-threaded view (like I do) as no idea who is responding to whom. That’s why I always quote the post I’m responding to. I prefer to simply read posts in a list rather than click back and forth 40 times to read 20 threads. If this forum’s non-threaded view would show the thread tree at the top of the posts it would go a long way to making it easier to keep things in context. This is the one thing I wish Sony would add.

~jr

For those that helped, after multimple evaluations and reviews, I elected to go with vBulletin. Not a free one like PHPBBS, but only $85/year to lease or $169 to purchase.

It is one of the few that has a) threads (like vegas - not the pure linear mode), b) sorts most recent on the top, plus it has a LOT of items Vegas is missing (i.e., automatic e-mail response (if you choose)), a place to put your detailed profile (Vegas dropped the ability to find e-mails and websites from the users), ability to rate a thread, it will classify users by administrative selections (by # of posts, # years in the forum, member ratings, etc.), it uses a standard MyPHP database, will send missing passwords automatically, etc., etc.

Very nice. Powerfull but easy to administer. Check it out at http://chanimal.com/forums/ (old one had thousands of responses, this new one needs to be re-booted to increase traffic).

Could be helpful as others start to branch off with separate video forums. Or if Sony ever loses interest in this one (they had us going for awhile while they transitioned from Sonic to Sony).

Thanks again for the folks that helped out.

Ted

I've been using Invision Power Board, pretty happy with it. Customized nicely though it was no easy task. Has all the features I wanted and allowed me to disable those I didn't. If ya haven't seen it yet you can check it here:

Underground Planet Boards

And while your looking sign up ! Doesn't hurt when potential customers look at my site and see that the board actually has members !!!

But back on topic, haven't had any issues to speak of, once everything was configured its run like a charm.

- Ray

www.undergroundplanet.com

vBulletin is used by corps with large forums, I like the pictures that canbe posted with users. works close to this forum, but more features.

Can I ask a dumb question here? What is meant by "threaded" and "non-threaded?"

For example, my Vegas presentation here has a main page which shows numerous topics, with the most recently active ones on the top. Clicking on one of those topics shows a list of conversations on that topic, with the original posting on the top and the most recent one at the bottom.

Okay, so I'm assuming that this means "threaded" in that all the postings carry a common "thread." So then how does a non-threaded board work? Does it just show ALL responses to ALL topics, with the sole ranking being the time of response? Or is it that the topic is shown, with all responses listed below in indented fashion (and not opened)?

Sorry if I seem a bit thick-headed this morning. Haven't had my caffeine yet.

Think of a threaded conversation as an inverted tree. It starts out at a single point (the original post), and then every reply from there generates a new branch. Posts are connected to the post they're made in response to (this one would connect to your post).

Once users start replying to each other within the conversation, your tree gets quite complicated (and difficult to follow), quite fast. This is "threaded" conversation, because you can follow specific threads within the chatter.

The "flat" display you use (original post at top, most recent at bottom) is called the "non-threaded" view because you can't see which users is replying to which post. I also use flat mode, as it's just plain easier for me to find the most recent posts and I don't have to click hundreds of links just to read one conversation.

Thanks for that lucid explanation. I've seen some "threaded" boards, but always thought they were a pain to follow.

riredale,

"This" forum is threaded (i.e., you can see the different responses below each previous post). A non-threaded one is considered "linear." Take all of the post for this thread, put them all on one page (separated by lines), forcing you to start at the top and go all the way to the bottom in one large page. The advantage, is you can see all the post at one time (as JasonMurray suggested). The disadvantage is you can't just jump to a user.

Sometimes I click on a link from the previous main view page since it has 20 or so responses to it. If I see anyone of the long-time (2 years plus) folks I know (VicMilt, Graci, Chien, BillyBoy, Spot, etc.) I might jump to their comments. If not, I may pass and go on. In a linear mode you can't see this information without going through the entire page (some responses (mine in particular) can be over a screen long)) and it is tiresome.

Plus, with the threaded view you can see which threads you've already visited since the color has changed since the last time you visited (in fact, JohnnyRoy has posted since I started and I see I haven't read his response)--otherwise you actually have to read down the thread to see anything new.

This is why I wanted this feature. The forum software I selected (vBulletin) allows threaded, linear and a mix. I selected threaded as the user default, but an individual can override this and go with linear if they choose. Nice option for those that prefer linear.

One feature I would really appreciate from this forum, is the option to receive an e-mail if there is a response to a thread you are tracking (especially if it is a support questions you are seeking and don't want to keep coming back to this forum and searching for your original post to see if there was a response (this forum moves so fast it could have been responded to 15 minutes prior and already moved 20 posts down).

Plus - WHEN is Sony going to reinstigate allowing us to see the user profiles (i.e., Websites and e-mails as previously removed). The post looking for VicMilt was a perfect example (and his reply, wondering who it was who was asking)).

"This" forum is threaded (i.e., you can see the different responses below each previous post).

"This" forum is ALSO non-threaded. It's an option in your "Edit Account" preferences.

"This" forum is threaded (i.e., you can see the different responses below each previous post).

"This" forum is ALSO non-threaded. It's an option in your "Edit Account" preferences.


Right--
Riredale, if you change this setting temporarily, you will see exactly what threaded view is.

If I see anyone of the long-time (2 years plus) folks I know (VicMilt, Graci, Chien, BillyBoy, Spot, etc.) I might jump to their comments. If not, I may pass and go on. In a linear mode you can't see this information without going through the entire page (some responses (mine in particular) can be over a screen long)) and it is tiresome.

That's why Discoboard allows you to "watch" specific users :)