RFC: new forum software specifications

[theymos]

Updated Oct. 19

I've been trying to think of all of the features the perfect forum software would have, and this is what I've come up with so far. I'll eventually use the donated forum funds to pay someone to implement this. Please post your thoughts. I focused mainly on moderation, since that's the main area that I see SMF lacking in.

(This will be the text of a future thread aimed at bidders.)

[The future bidding thread] is only for bids, questions from bidders about the specifications, and questions that I have for bidders. Other discussion about this process should go in a separate topic.

Bids should include at least this info:
- A description of the general architecture you plan
- A list of any of the optional features I mentioned that your software will have
- Additional features your software will have that I didn't mention
- Samples of your past code
- A price. If you want links or other "perks", include these as part of the price.

The forum has about 500 BTC on hand, but you can bid more than that. If your bid is the best, I'll just wait until the forum has collected the required amount of money.

SMF features

All of the popular SMF features should be supported by your software. For example:
- Ignore user
- Ignore board
- Email notifications
- Print pages
- Profile pages
- BBCode
- Polls
- Multi-level subsections
- PMs
- Context search, simple search, and advanced search
- "Unread posts since last visit" and "new replies to your post"
- Forum and user stats
- Avatars
- Various user settings
- Good Unicode support
- JavaScript quick edit

The extensive admin interface is not required, however.

Code

The software must be written in PHP or C++, as these are the only two languages I am very familiar with. The code must be extremely easy to modify. I want to be able to make even complex changes in behavior without much trouble.

I now have some experience with SMF, so I will consider software built on SMF to be more readable/modifiable than I would otherwise.

License

The software can be under any license as long as I have complete access to the code forever, I can modify the code, and I will not be required to publish private modifications I make to the code (no AGPL). It can be based on paid software if the cost of the license is reflected in your price.

Database

PostgreSQL must be used. Queries should be well-optimized. Do not use a database abstraction layer.

Database queries should wherever possible be done using prepared statements, something like pg_query_params, or some other method that doesn't require the programmer to manually escape things inline.

Security

Security is very important.

Use salted multi-iteration hashing for passwords using one of the SHA-2 algorithms. Passwords in the existing SHA-1 format need to be automatically upgraded once the user logs in again.

No user group should be able to run arbitrary PHP code.

All actions must be done by POSTing the server. GET requests must not have side-effects.

UI

The default theme should be minimalistic like the current theme. Nothing that looks "web 2.0": no speech bubbles, no significant space between posts, no significant hover effects, and few rounded corners. Use even fewer images than the current theme: no image buttons.

The default theme must work well with all functionality and a reasonable page layout on text browsers without JavaScript. It should also work perfectly on browsers with unusually small browser dimensions. It should be at least somewhat usable (though maybe not pretty) on ancient and broken browsers like IE6.

Same color scheme as we have now: light with some blue.

There should be functionality for allowing users to choose from among several UIs. You only need to provide the default one, though.

Admin settings that are not changed very often can be made changeable from files instead of from a web interface, though changing the settings from the files should be easy. The web interface must not allow admins to add/edit UIs, execute arbitrary code/SQL, or tamper with logging.

User classes

So that you know the sort of membergroup system that is needed, here are the currently-planned membergroups. All of these must be possible with your software. People can belong to more than one membergroup. These will certainly be tweaked a lot in the future, so don't hard-code the membergroup features/permissions.

- Admins, with all powers. Only group capable of seeing IP addresses. It must be possible for admins to make certain groups, certain posts, and certain topics immune to certain types of moderation.
- Global mods, capable of doing everything with posts and posters.
- Local mods, capable of doing everything with posts and posters in their sections. Posters banned by a local mod are only banned in the sections that the local mod has jurisdiction over.
- Jr. mods, who can only moderate posters that are not established.
- Established posters: all posters who have met some easily-configurable criteria. To start with, the criteria will be 8 weighted hours online (see below for info on weighted stats).
- Categorizers: Can move all topics
- Whitelisted: immune from proxy bans, and maybe other restrictions later
- VIP donator: capable of accessing the donator section, able to change his name, and able to assign himself a custom title
- Donator+: capable of accessing the donator section and able to change his name
- Donator: capable of accessing the donator section
- Scammer: Unable to delete or modify his own profile or messages. Has his posts and PMs marked specially.

There should also be "poster ranking" groups based on weighted stats.

These user groups will be hidden and not listed in a user's profile or next to his posts:
- Local mods (when outside of their sections)
- Jr. Mods
- Established posters
- Categorizers
- Whitelisted
- Donator

In addition to the pips ("stars") that most forums have, small image and text "badges" associated with some membergroups should be possible.

Certain groups (including some poster ranks) imply "whitelisted".

Weighted stats

There needs to be "weighted time online" and "weighted post count" in addition to the raw values. It should not be possible for a user to increase one of the weighted values by too much without increasing the other value. If you post 200 posts in 1 hour, your weighted post count should be 1. If you post 1 post in 200 hours, your weighted time online should 6 hours. These numbers should be configurable and should apply retroactively when changed (where possible).

Time online should not increase if you're simply refreshing a page, and it should increase more slowly if you seem to be a bot.

Limits

All actions that write to the database should have at least one associated configurable limit. Like "can post x topics per y seconds". There should also be a limit that prevents users from posting too soon after being stopped by another limit. It should also be easily possible for admins to ban certain regex expressions in posts, titles, and usernames (separate ban lists) from the web interface.

The limits may be modified based on membergroup. The actual limits may be relaxed, and the result of exceeding the limit may also change. Exceeding limits can do nothing, reject the action ("you may not post this topic because you just posted one 5 minutes ago!"), or automatically ban the user.

Registration

When a guest tries to post a reply, he will be asked for the necessary account creation info (username and password) on the same page where he can enter his reply.

Email addresses will not be required on registration. However, the board will not send email to the user until an email address is provided and verified.

A user's very first post must not be a new topic.

OpenID

It should be possible to use OpenID authentication instead of a password. The main login method should not be OpenID, though. Maybe entering an OpenID URL into the username or password field will trigger OpenID authentication.

OpenID URLs should not be used as real usernames.

Mod profile view

Mods will see this stuff on the front page of every user's profile:
- A log of everything the user has done in the last few weeks. Entries like "Reported post x", "Posted reply x", "Posted topic x", "Got post x deleted by mod y", "Got banned", etc.
- The user's recent deleted posts.
- Their last few topics and posts (in different lists)
- Links that will immediately carry out mod actions after a JavaScript prompt: ban, IP ban, whitelist, elevate

Mod actions

Post actions:
- Delete topics/replies
- Split topics
- Merge topics (admin only)
- Clone reply/topic (admin only -- maybe other groups later)
- Create redirect topic
- Move topic
- Edit post
- Lock topic
- Sticky topic
- Announce topic -- put it at the top of every topic index page (admin only)

Automatic poster actions:
- Ban -- automatically permaban poster
- IP ban -- permaban poster and ban for an admin-configurable number of days all IPs the poster has used. Stats should be available to admins about how many times certain IPs and IP ranges are banned in this way.
- Whitelist/unwhitelist -- put the poster in the whitelisted group
- Elevate/unelevate -- Put the poster at the top of the report queue and make all mods do an extra confirm step for any action against this poster. Intended for things that need admin review. This feature is optional.
- Comment -- private mod comments about posters. This feature is optional.
- Nuke -- Deletes all posts.
- Remove reports on the poster

Admins should also be able to create user/IP bans that expire after different amounts of time.

No bans will prevent people from reading posts.

There needs to be something like SMF's "quick moderation" interface on topic pages and user post histories.

All of a poster's deleted posts should be available to them for at least a month.

It should be very easy for admins to undo any damage caused by mods. In particular, it should be very easy to undelete topics/posts and restore them to their original states.

Optional: make it possible to perfectly undo every action of a particular mod since a specified point in time.

Reports

People can send reports by clicking "report" links next to posts and optionally filling in a report reason. This increases the report score on the post and the poster by the reporter's "reliability score". The reliability score starts at 1. For each correct report, it increases by 0.1. For each incorrect report, it decreases by 0.02. The reliability score maxes at 5, and it can't go below 0.

Mods who view the report queue will only see users they can deal with. It should be arranged like this:
Poster 1 -- score: 5 -- details/handled/incorrect links
  post a -- score: 3 -- details/handled/incorrect links
  post b -- score: 2 -- details/handled/incorrect links
Poster 2 -- score: 1 -- details/handled/incorrect links
  post c -- score: 1 -- details/handled/incorrect links
 
The links work like this:
- Details: Lists the actual reports along with the reasons and sender of the reports
- Handled: Removes the reports and increases the reliability scores of all those who sent the reports
- Incorrect: Removes the reports and decreases the reliability scores of all those who sent the reports

Removed reports remain available to admins from a link on the sender and recipient profile pages forever.

Stock PMs

Whenever a mod action is taken against a user, they should receive a stock PM informing them of this. It should be easy for me to customize the text for each PM.

Ban appeals

People who have their user account banned (but not their IP) can use a special ban appeal feature. Each user can appeal once, and then they need to wait for the response.

The appeal queue will be available to admins. It will show the appeal and a link to the user's profile page. It'll have these action links: unban, reply, soft-deny (allow another ban appeal in 14 days), hard-deny (never allow future appeals for this user).

After any action is taken, the appeal is removed from the queue.

The banned user can reply once to each reply that an admin sends.

Proxy banning

There will exist a large list of proxies that are banned from posting except for whitelisted posters. The list should support IPs/hostnames with wildcards and ranges. Checking users against this list should be efficient. I will write code for automatically adding Tor exit nodes to this list, so it should be especially easy to add to this list.

When someone is prevented from posting something due to a proxy ban, the thing they tried to post should be added to a list visible to mods. Mods can then look through the list and whitelist people who tried to post something good.

Proxy-banned people should also be able to manually request whitelisting. The whitelist request queue should be visible to global mods, jr. mods, and admins.

Watchlist

There should be a feature like the current "Show new replies to your posts", but it should only apply to topics that the user has explicitly added to his watchlist by clicking an "add to watchlist" link in topics.

No embedded images

Due to problems with "cookie stuffing" and other attacks, let's just disallow embedded images all together. Transform old embedded images into links. Avatars will still be allowed, but they will always be hosted by the server.

Keep allowing img tags (transforming them into links), as they might be used later.

Optional: Web of trust

A trust system exactly like that of Freenet's FMS would be excellent. Bids including this will be greatly preferred.

Other required features

- Good SEO
- Combined mod action log
- Ability of admins to send PM/Email newsletters to different membergroups.
- A page listing all posts by non-established posters
- Post edit revisions visible to all users who can edit the post
- A way to view all of a user's topics
- For admins, creating boards and moving them around should be easy.
- The bidder needs to provide code or detailed instructions on how to move current database data to the new database.
- The software needs to be at least as fast and resource-light as SMF.
- I like how the SMF post composition page allows you to highlight text and then click a button to apply certain BBCode. This needs to be replicated.
- Post counts should not be shown on topic pages, but should be shown on profile pages.

Other optional features

- Optional CAPTCHA-protected email addresses listed on profiles
- Nofollow on links in posts and profiles of non-established users while they are non-established
- In addition to normal BBCode, allow Wiki-syntax for bold/italic: ''=italic, '''=bold
- In "Replies to your posts", highlight posts where you're quoted and include posts where you're quoted even if you haven't posted in those topics.
- The ability to completely ignore a thread.
- A "thanks" feature on posts. All people who have thanked a post (up to a limit) are listed in small text near the post. Readers can hide this list in their options.
- An option that expands [img] tags into embedded images. This must not be the default.
- In addition to the default way of viewing topics, allow people to view topics: by purely chronological ordering, unaffected by bumps; by number of recent replies; and by some "hotness" criteria affected by views and replies.
- Allow people to maintain a list of users who are "friends". Highlight topics/posts by friends, topics posted in by friends, and topics/posts thanked by friends.

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[error]

Some questions for clarification, or perhaps refinement:

Would a trust system almost exactly like eBay (before they removed negative feedback) work?

[wumpus]

When someone is prevented from posting something due to a proxy ban, the thing they tried to post should be added to a list visible to mods. Mods can then look through list list and whitelist people who tried to post something good.

+1

[Maged]

Past versions of an edited post being available to mod/admins (or maybe even just admins) with the ability to revert a post to a previous version would be extremely helpful. Also, the ability for a mod or admin to prevent someone with lower rank (including the original poster) from editing a specific post. This would mostly be used after a mod has to edit a post for some reason, and would likely be a checkbox on the edit page.

No embedded images

Due to problems with "cookie stuffing" and other attacks, let's just disallow embedded images all together. Transform old embedded images into links. Avatars will still be allowed, but they will be hosted by the server.

One thing I've started seeing custom forums do is have the server cache external images. We can charge for this image mirroring if we want or just give it to donators. This can even be outsourced to a different company.

Real-world example:

Code:

[img]http://cdn101.iofferphoto.com/img2/item/131/025/265/5EQT.jpg[/img]

becomes:

Code:

<img src="http://imagecache.w00t.com?url=http://cdn101.iofferphoto.com/img2/item/131/025/265/5EQT.jpg" border="0">

which redirects to:

Code:

http://image.w00t.com/8EpApz69bXWXyvoZYgJZdnl7pd8_?Expires=1316794098&Signature=Vh0Rnvsy07zjvt8yDN45TDBWM5LCrXLeH6smkJh6-NlCObKpLrtesjtnht8~GD4QLU5jTmxRZBweXpDtO0hNuMSZub1AJwDLC8PViBJvHLq8MWCa6IuFVRdm2ZR5nK0tlA3SbHyRlNDMzyFVIcxq8bpEAsnpJMtW8oA7saHmVjI_&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIHX2P6GWWRFXYETQ

[theymos]

Would a trust system almost exactly like eBay (before they removed negative feedback) work?

I don't like any trust system that has a global trust rating. It disincentives people from posting controversial ideas.

Past versions of an edited post being available to mod/admins (or maybe even just admins) with the ability to revert a post to a previous version would be extremely helpful. Also, the ability for a mod or admin to prevent someone with lower rank (including the original poster) from editing a specific post. This would mostly be used after a mod has to edit a post for some reason, and would likely be a checkbox on the edit page.

Good ideas. I'll add that to the final version of the specification.

One thing I've started seeing custom forums do is have the server cache external images. We can charge for this image mirroring if we want or just give it to donators. This can even be outsourced to a different company.

I thought about that, but I don't really like embedded images, anyway. I can only think of a few cases where embedded images are actually useful.

[theymos]

Another feature that should exist in the forum software: OpenID as an alternative to normal username/password authentication.

[phelix]

Some questions for clarification, or perhaps refinement:

Would a trust system almost exactly like eBay (before they removed negative feedback) work?

+1 to a trust system

though I think positive only would be sufficient or even better

[deslok]

Modularity is good being able to update something like the security portion easily would be to it's benifit
If the forum is upgrading "seamless" although impossible should be strived for
User groups for someone such as vendors (cablesarus bitcoinwebhost jermeywest come to mind) would benifit from increased privelages such as more pm's an hour than the 10 currently allowed, Or some form of chat system (forum wide + invitable groups)
Autolocking of old threads should be considered a thread that's been inactive for a period (no new posts and less than x views in x days) that gets bumped for no real reason is irritating at best

[Maged]

Autolocking of old threads should be considered a thread that's been inactive for a period (no new posts and less than x views in x days) that gets bumped for no real reason is irritating at best

This forum is in the unique position where a great deal of old threads are still relevant today. Although, maybe this can bet done for every board other than dev. I don't know.

[deslok]

Autolocking of old threads should be considered a thread that's been inactive for a period (no new posts and less than x views in x days) that gets bumped for no real reason is irritating at best

This forum is in the unique position where a great deal of old threads are still relevant today. Although, maybe this can bet done for every board other than dev. I don't know.

Threads like this one : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=41058.0
are why i asked about that it was ignored for 20 days to be bumped without adding anything useful i don't mean threads should always be locked by age but if it gets 0 views for 2 weeks i can't see how relevant it would still be

[error]

Would a trust system almost exactly like eBay (before they removed negative feedback) work?

I don't like any trust system that has a global trust rating. It disincentives people from posting controversial ideas.

Ah, there's a misunderstanding here. I was referring specifically to buying and selling, not to forum reputation in general.

[theymos]

Ah, there's a misunderstanding here. I was referring specifically to buying and selling, not to forum reputation in general.

Maybe the forum could integrate with #bitcoin-otc for trade ratings.

[BkkCoins]

Feature request that some forums have:

Subscribe to thread - without having to make a post.
Unsubscribe - remove it from new posts/unread list so you can leave the thread behind when it's degenerated into bickering.

Both are very useful and missing from SMF.

[TiagoTiago]

The subscribe thing is already present, though it doesn't work exactly the same as posting in the thread (doesn't get added to the "Show new replies to your posts" list, but you still get emails)

Unsubscribe is also present; i've seen people complain it somtimes doesn't work though.

[theymos]

Feature request that some forums have:

Subscribe to thread - without having to make a post.
Unsubscribe - remove it from new posts/unread list so you can leave the thread behind when it's degenerated into bickering.

Both are very useful and missing from SMF.

This is already in the feature list. See "watchlist".

[nefanon]

Ah, there's a misunderstanding here. I was referring specifically to buying and selling, not to forum reputation in general.

Maybe the forum could integrate with #bitcoin-otc for trade ratings.

+1

Also please add a way to view all the threads a user started. This will make it a lot easier to find an old thread I started rather then having to search through all my posts.

[c_k]

With the extensive list of requirements in mind, does anything at all come close to satisfying them?

[theymos]

With the extensive list of requirements in mind, does anything at all come close to satisfying them?

Not any existing software, probably. The forum will be paying for someone to either modify existing software to support all of this or write new forum software from scratch.

[da2ce7]

One feature that I would love to see is a 'pgp fingerprint’ and 'pgp key' fields within the user profile.
If the user has supplied a pgp key, on submission of a new post or editing an old post, the forum provides well-formatted version of the raw post data for singing.  The user then can upload a .sig file as an attachment to the post.

This would be extremely useful for announcements; the forum software could even automatically verify that the submitted signature is valid.

[phelix]

With the extensive list of requirements in mind, does anything at all come close to satisfying them?

Not any existing software, probably. The forum will be paying for someone to either modify existing software to support all of this or write new forum software from scratch.

start from scratch? that really should not be necessary.

[Seraphim401]

Another feature that should exist in the forum software: OpenID as an alternative to normal username/password authentication.

+1

[Anonymous]

Built-in bounty and investment functions for projects and ventures would be nice; like meters that show the number of supporters and capital raised.

[Nagle]

Don't change anything. It's not worth the effort, and if you lose all the old posts or make people re-register, they will leave.

[phelix]

A "show new quotes" option would be nice.

[theymos]

A "show new quotes" option would be nice.

What would this do?

[phelix]

A "show new quotes" option would be nice.

What would this do?

show new posts that quote you. ok, something similar can be achieved by searching for the most recent posts with your name in it. still think it would be a nice feature

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Slashdot-like meta-moderation system would be neat. I think it is the best on the web.

They actually eleminated 99,9% of spam & trolling using it.

This could come in handly, as we currently have large trolling, spam and too-many-meaningless-posts problem. Slashdot moderation would probably eleminate them all, mostly at least.

[nefanon]

Slashdot-like meta-moderation system would be neat. I think it is the best on the web.

They actually eleminated 99,9% of spam & trolling using it.

This could come in handly, as we currently have large trolling, spam and too-many-meaningless-posts problem. Slashdot moderation would probably eleminate them all, mostly at least.

+1

[bosschair]

start from scratch? that really should not be necessary.

Absolutely necessary?  Maybe not.  A good way to get the features you want?  Definitely.  If you have hard and very specific requirements, no off-the-shelf software is going to meet them all.  Custom development is the way to go, and there are plenty of people here who have the skill to implement a simple message board system, as well as plenty of people here willing to donate to the cause.

To that end, I have set up this donation address for some of the project costs: 1H43Z8YHwn7bX67T5eNzwbGRcFATExr7am.  If you support this effort, please give whatever you can.  My first order of business will be to commission a logo.  Does anyone want to throw their hat in the ring for CEO?

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

start from scratch? that really should not be necessary.

Absolutely necessary?  Maybe not.  A good way to get the features you want?  Definitely.  

Trust me, advanced board systems such as PHPBB, vBulletin or IPBB offer sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many features that you are never, ever going to catch up with them. Also, it can be really difficult to avoid security holes, unless there are many very very experienced people working on it.

The best idea is to take one of the existing popular ones, add some basic plugins and build on top of them.
Also, they can be optimized to be blazingly fast with advanced caching systems using memcache & ramdisks.

[bosschair]

Trust me, advanced board systems such as PHPBB, vBulletin or IPBB offer sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many features that you are never, ever going to catch up with them.

The point is not to catch up with them, but to implement the specific features you want.  Those systems are behemoths with all manner of silly features and plugins.

Also, it can be really difficult to avoid security holes, unless there are many very very experienced people working on it.

We have many very very experienced people here, as you can see by looking at the development forum.

Also, they can be optimized to be blazingly fast with advanced caching systems using memcache & ramdisks.

If you read the spec in the OP, it explicitly says "well-optimized", so I think that's covered.  And adding memcache to a site for additional performance is trivial.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Trust me, advanced board systems such as PHPBB, vBulletin or IPBB offer sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many features that you are never, ever going to catch up with them.

The point is not to catch up with them, but to implement the specific features you want.  Those systems are behemoths with all manner of silly features and plugins.

1. I am not sure If you comprehend just how many totally BASIC (no ponies & gadgets, just the basics) features modern forum systems (such as PHPBB) have. It is year of work at minimum for 3 experienced people to implement PHPBB's engine in a secure, performant way. And I am not even talking about the plugins - that's different story.

1a. I know it LOOKS easy. But it totally isn't. Building a good piece of discussion software is a tough job, and other teams (PHPBB, MyBB, IPBB, vBulletin) had years and years and years to perfect their engines. You are simply **NOT** going to produce anything better in a short time (unless you are genius or something). Period.

2. Another point is that people coming to the forum will expect certain set of features they encountered on other forums. If we don't have them, the forum will simply suck donkey arse from the point of view of users.

[phelix]

Trust me, advanced board systems such as PHPBB, vBulletin or IPBB offer sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many features that you are never, ever going to catch up with them.

The point is not to catch up with them, but to implement the specific features you want.  Those systems are behemoths with all manner of silly features and plugins.

1. I am not sure If you comprehend just how many totally BASIC (no ponies & gadgets, just the basics) features modern forum systems (such as PHPBB) have. It is year of work at minimum for 3 experienced people to implement PHPBB's engine in a secure, performant way. And I am not even talking about the plugins - that's different story.

1a. I know it LOOKS easy. But it totally isn't. Building a good piece of discussion software is a tough job, and other teams (PHPBB, MyBB, IPBB, vBulletin) had years and years and years to perfect their engines. You are simply **NOT** going to produce anything better in a short time (unless you are genius or something). Period.

2. Another point is that people coming to the forum will expect certain set of features they encountered on other forums. If we don't have them, the forum will simply suck donkey arse from the point of view of users.

+1!

[bosschair]

1. I am not sure If you comprehend just how many totally BASIC (no ponies & gadgets, just the basics) features modern forum systems (such as PHPBB) have. It is year of work at minimum for 3 experienced people to implement PHPBB's engine in a secure, performant way. And I am not even talking about the plugins - that's different story.

1a. I know it LOOKS easy. But it totally isn't. Building a good piece of discussion software is a tough job, and other teams (PHPBB, MyBB, IPBB, vBulletin) had years and years and years to perfect their engines. You are simply **NOT** going to produce anything better in a short time (unless you are genius or something). Period.

No, of course it's not easy.  But this community is made of highly competent people, many of whom are developers, some of which already have experience hacking on forum software.  So I think we have a leg up there.  Nobody said we're going to make something better than vBulletin in a short amount of time.  We'll make something more targeted to the features we want, instead of compromising by using off-the-shelf stuff that lacks certain things (why do you think this thread was started?  because there exists no forum software that has it all).  You start small, with a core set of features, and you make changes incrementally.  You write the code in a way that is extremely easy to modify, just as specified in the OP, so that you can make complex changes without much trouble.

2. Another point is that people coming to the forum will expect certain set of features they encountered on other forums. If we don't have them, the forum will simply suck donkey arse from the point of view of users.

So we should implement those features.

[theymos]

Some more things that I'll add to the final specification:
- The bidder needs to provide code or detailed instructions on how to move current database data to the new database.
- The software needs to be at least as fast and resource-light as SMF.
- I like how the SMF post composition page allows you to highlight text and then click a button to apply certain BBCode. This needs to be replicated.
- I mentioned this a bit in the OP, but to be more clear: There needs to be "weighted time online" and "weighted post count" in addition to the raw values. It should not be possible for a user to increase one of the weighted values by too much without increasing the other value. If you post 200 posts in 1 hour, your weighted post count should be 1. If you post 1 post in 200 hours, your weighted time online should 6 hours. These numbers should be configurable and should apply retroactively when changed (where possible).
- Time online should not increase if you're simply refreshing a page.
- Post counts should not be shown on topic pages, but should be shown on profile pages.

Another point is that people coming to the forum will expect certain set of features they encountered on other forums. If we don't have them, the forum will simply suck donkey arse from the point of view of users.

As I mentioned in the OP, the new software must support all of the popular user-facing SMF features.

I don't care much whether the software will be written from scratch or based on some already-existing software, though the base must be written very cleanly so I can easily modify it.

[error]

This has feature-crept a bit too far for my taste, theymos. Have you considered separating out some of these feature sets into separate projects?

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

So we should implement those features.

No. You just still do not comprehend how many features that is.
Creating your own forum system is a complete waste of time.

Unless you want to spend few years creating it, perfecting it, fixing bugs & cooperating with community (the same as you do with Bitcoin), then forget it.

[Anonymous]

First off, images are very useful. If a company wants to display a screenshot or image of their bitcoin product, how can we do this. What if want to show screen grabs of bitcoin debit, or what if you want to put screen grabs of the block explorer. Images are very useful, but those faces (I think they are called smiles)  are not necessary or useful to anyone. They are just clutter.

[Anonymous]

Also, You should make this code open source.

[payb.tc]

currently we have:

Show unread posts since last visit.
Show new replies to your posts.

i would like to see a combination called:

Show new replies to your posts since last visit.

so basically when you first click on it, it shows you all the new replies to your posts, but then it also CLEARS that list regardless of which ones you view on that visit.

i don't really need to see List of honest traders every single time i visit the forum, but i'm stuck with it being in my 'new replies' list.

[theymos]

This has feature-crept a bit too far for my taste, theymos. Have you considered separating out some of these feature sets into separate projects?

The first version of the code will be the best-written code because the programmer will be thinking about all of the required features. Everything after the first version will be messier and less stable. So I want to get as much done as possible in the first version.

The forum will be paying 500 BTC or more for the completion of the project, which I think is reasonable for the number of features.

First off, images are very useful. If a company wants to display a screenshot or image of their bitcoin product, how can we do this.

They'll just post direct links to images and people will click on them. Maybe later there will be an option for readers that will expand all direct image links.

[TiagoTiago]

currently we have:

Show unread posts since last visit.
Show new replies to your posts.

i would like to see a combination called:

Show new replies to your posts since last visit.

so basically when you first click on it, it shows you all the new replies to your posts, but then it also CLEARS that list regardless of which ones you view on that visit.

i don't really need to see List of honest traders every single time i visit the forum, but i'm stuck with it being in my 'new replies' list.

If you don't wanna watch a thread anymore you can unsubscribe. Also, i don't always visit all the threads i have there in one go, i would hate not being able to come back and still see the stuff i haven't read yet.

And the separated list of unread threads for the whole forum is quite helpful, somtimes i wanna see what is new but i don't feel like checking each subforum one by one, that list is of great help.

[payb.tc]

currently we have:

Show unread posts since last visit.
Show new replies to your posts.

i would like to see a combination called:

Show new replies to your posts since last visit.

so basically when you first click on it, it shows you all the new replies to your posts, but then it also CLEARS that list regardless of which ones you view on that visit.

i don't really need to see List of honest traders every single time i visit the forum, but i'm stuck with it being in my 'new replies' list.

If you don't wanna watch a thread anymore you can unsubscribe.

i wonder how... i thought unsubscribe was directly related to 'notify', which i have never clicked.

[TiagoTiago]

If you disable notifications it doesn't remove the thread from the list? What if you edit a post and modify the subscription options?

[payb.tc]

If you disable notifications it doesn't remove the thread from the list? What if you edit a post and modify the subscription options?

in the 'additional options' it has 'notify me of replies' unchecked.

but notify is all about getting an email to your inbox, isn't it?

nothing to do with Show new replies to your posts.

[TiagoTiago]

What about the thing inside your control panel? "Notifications and email" i think

[theymos]

There's no way to remove a topic from "show new replies to your post". The watchlist functionality in the new software will take care of this.

[payb.tc]

almost forgot... an 'ignore thread' option would be good.

...to further kull the list under Show unread posts since last visit.

[NothinG]

Has anyone suggested a forum software?

[terrytibbs]

One feature that I would love to see is a 'pgp fingerprint’ and 'pgp key' fields within the user profile.
If the user has supplied a pgp key, on submission of a new post or editing an old post, the forum provides well-formatted version of the raw post data for singing.  The user then can upload a .sig file as an attachment to the post.

This would be extremely useful for announcements; the forum software could even automatically verify that the submitted signature is valid.

I approve this message.

Twice.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

One feature that I would love to see is a 'pgp fingerprint’ and 'pgp key' fields within the user profile.
If the user has supplied a pgp key, on submission of a new post or editing an old post, the forum provides well-formatted version of the raw post data for singing.  The user then can upload a .sig file as an attachment to the post.

This would be extremely useful for announcements; the forum software could even automatically verify that the submitted signature is valid.

I approve this message.

Twice.

There is a high condensation of cryptogeeks on this forum, such a feature is an obvious obviousness.

Also,

[theymos]

I like the idea of PGP integration, but I don't think it's necessary to include that as a requirement in the first version. It'll probably be pretty easy to add that later.

[JeffK]

This has feature-crept a bit too far for my taste, theymos. Have you considered separating out some of these feature sets into separate projects?

The first version of the code will be the best-written code because the programmer will be thinking about all of the required features. Everything after the first version will be messier and less stable. So I want to get as much done as possible in the first version.

I don't want to sound like an ass when I say this, but this is like the anti-rule of software development.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

This has feature-crept a bit too far for my taste, theymos. Have you considered separating out some of these feature sets into separate projects?

The first version of the code will be the best-written code because the programmer will be thinking about all of the required features. Everything after the first version will be messier and less stable. So I want to get as much done as possible in the first version.

I don't want to sound like an ass when I say this, but this is like the anti-rule of software development.

Actually you are quite right, it's the opposite.

After 14 years in software development I can be quite sure that the first version is practically never the best. Sorry, theymos.

[deslok]

This has feature-crept a bit too far for my taste, theymos. Have you considered separating out some of these feature sets into separate projects?

The first version of the code will be the best-written code because the programmer will be thinking about all of the required features. Everything after the first version will be messier and less stable. So I want to get as much done as possible in the first version.

I don't want to sound like an ass when I say this, but this is like the anti-rule of software development.

Actually you are quite right, it's the opposite.

After 14 years in software development I can be quite sure that the first version is practically never the best. Sorry, theymos.

I once heard a motto , release early release often ...
A forum software writen as discrete modules that could be easily replaced would probably be the best approach

[Coinbuck @ BTCLot]

Don't change anything. It's not worth the effort, and if you lose all the old posts or make people re-register, they will leave.

Actually he can 'port' all the old accounts and posts and it's not that hard.

Well I would recommend to stick with SMF, it's not that bad. But it could have a decent template.

[TyGrr]

I just thought of this today to help out being buying and selling goods. Can we get a ranking system of trusted traders. After a trade a person will be able to give a + or a - showing that the trade worked or not. This way it will be easy to see good sellers from new sellers or scammers. We could have the total of the + and the - near the Name or Rank of the person. We would need to make rules that you can only get one vote per account even you if sell to them many times. Also we would need to make it so that a person who does vote had something like 50 hours logged in and 20 posts or something. How does this feature sound? Thanks.

[TiagoTiago]

What about the OTC?

[Gabi]

I'm with ShadowOfHarbringer

Seriously guys, are you really trying to make a new forum from scratch??

Just take vbulletin or phpbb or something like that and you will be fine, this is just a forum, not the Stargate Command. You will spend much much much much less and you will have a much much better system with years of development and much safer

Safety is the real issue here, that forum got hacked already once, and if bitcoin become more important, you can expect more hacks, so using a SAFE forum is of the upmost importance

[cruikshank]

theymos, other than the plug-ins and addons that are being used right now that wouldn't work with the update, is there any reason why the board hasn't been updated to the newest release? It has been out for over 3 weeks now and would at least be a hold over until a new system is made/chosen.

[theymos]

theymos, other than the plug-ins and addons that are being used right now that wouldn't work with the update, is there any reason why the board hasn't been updated to the newest release? It has been out for over 3 weeks now and would at least be a hold over until a new system is made/chosen.

This version is still supported. 2.x is not more secure, so moving to it would be a waste of time.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

theymos, other than the plug-ins and addons that are being used right now that wouldn't work with the update, is there any reason why the board hasn't been updated to the newest release? It has been out for over 3 weeks now and would at least be a hold over until a new system is made/chosen.

This version is still supported. 2.x is not more secure, so moving to it would be a waste of time.

Theymos, I say stay with the SMF 1.x, hire a PHP security expert to harden it properly, and build on top of it. That maybe the fastest & most effective solution to current situation.

Of course, PHPBB, vBulletin and IPB are much more powerful and have many more plugins avaiable, but this one is not that bad, if you fix all the security problems. Talking perfomance, using dedicated well-written caching you can probably achieve similiar speed in any of the forum systems.

[talpan]

theymos, other than the plug-ins and addons that are being used right now that wouldn't work with the update, is there any reason why the board hasn't been updated to the newest release? It has been out for over 3 weeks now and would at least be a hold over until a new system is made/chosen.

This version is still supported. 2.x is not more secure, so moving to it would be a waste of time.

Theymos, I say stay with the SMF 1.x, hire a PHP security expert to harden it properly, and build on top of it. That maybe the fastest & most effective solution to current situation.

Of course, PHPBB, vBulletin and IPB are much more powerful and have many more plugins avaiable, but this one is not that bad, if you fix all the security problems. Talking perfomance, using dedicated well-written caching you can probably achieve similiar speed in any of the forum systems.

+1

In general speaking: the latest SMF is the most secure forum in existens.
I really don't want to know how many zero-day exploits are out there for other forums.

SMF itself is well written, has a lot of good features, not to much like other software.
And it's very easy to extend it via SSI.php.

I see no reason to switch to another forum.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

theymos, other than the plug-ins and addons that are being used right now that wouldn't work with the update, is there any reason why the board hasn't been updated to the newest release? It has been out for over 3 weeks now and would at least be a hold over until a new system is made/chosen.

This version is still supported. 2.x is not more secure, so moving to it would be a waste of time.

Theymos, I say stay with the SMF 1.x, hire a PHP security expert to harden it properly, and build on top of it. That maybe the fastest & most effective solution to current situation.

Of course, PHPBB, vBulletin and IPB are much more powerful and have many more plugins avaiable, but this one is not that bad, if you fix all the security problems. Talking perfomance, using dedicated well-written caching you can probably achieve similiar speed in any of the forum systems.

+1

In general speaking: the latest SMF is the most secure forum in existens.
I really don't want to know how many zero-day exploits are out there for other forums.

Of course you are not aware that Bitcoin Forums has been quite recently hacked, and it was SMF's fault ?

I wouldn't say that SMF is any more secure than other forums. I have had default PHPBB 2.x & 3.x installations on my sites for years, and guess what - no hacks at all.

So be careful when you post such bold claims next time.

[Gerken]

He said the latest version, the forum hadn't been updated when the compromise happened.

[error]

He said the latest version, the forum hadn't been updated when the compromise happened.

You realize that SMF put out an update fixing the vulnerability, only AFTER the hack?

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

He said the latest version, the forum hadn't been updated when the compromise happened.

You are wrong, SMF 1.x is still supported, so it was the latest version.

[TiagoTiago]

How often do zeroday exploits get used to attack other forum backends and how fast are their developers at providing a fix after that?

[bosschair]

So we should add this to the spec for the new forum software:

• No zero-day exploits and/or architecture which makes it easy and fast to patch such exploits

[cruikshank]

You are wrong, SMF 1.x is still supported, so it was the latest version.

Um, just because something is still supported, doesn't make it the latest version. That would be like calling XP the latest version of Windows.

[TiagoTiago]

So we should add this to the spec for the new forum software:

• No zero-day exploits and/or architecture which makes it easy and fast to patch such exploits

Didn't they fix the forum in not much more than a day or so?

Anyway, you can never know whether you don't have a zero-day or if you just haven't found it yet.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

You are wrong, SMF 1.x is still supported, so it was the latest version.

Um, just because something is still supported, doesn't make it the latest version. That would be like calling XP the latest version of Windows.

To be precise, if something is supported, then that means all security vulnerabilities should be fixed.
So it is the latest, in the terms of being most patched, version from 1.x branch.

And Microsoft is a very bad example of how to fix security vulnerabilities, that company is fucked up beyond compare.

[cruikshank]

The example didn't have anything at all do at all with MS's vulnerabilities.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

The example didn't have anything at all do at all with MS's vulnerabilities.

Yes it has, because you gave WinXp as an example.
WinXP is not a good example of how to call something "supported" or not.

Microsofty-supported != generally-supported.

[TiagoTiago]

Just the other day i received like more than 10 security updates on my WinXP install...

[BadBear]

Just the other day i received like more than 10 security updates on my WinXP install...

How many times did you have to restart?   

[Raoul Duke]

This thread is pure lulz... 500BTC/$2000(at current prices) to develop a full fledged forum software...

yeah, right... 

Or you get someone to do it and it will be utter crap.

Why do people around here want to reinvent the wheel is something i always wondered.

On the other hand, if what you want is end up with something like http://bitcoinweekly.com/ ok, code it from scratch...

[bosschair]

On the other hand, if what you want is end up with something like http://bitcoinweekly.com/ ok, code it from scratch...

What's wrong with bitcoinweekly.com?  Not enough bells and whistles for you?  The only difference between that site and one you'd think was fabulously web-2.0 is a bit of CSS.

[talpan]

Why do people around here want to reinvent the wheel is something i always wondered.

[Raoul Duke]

On the other hand, if what you want is end up with something like http://bitcoinweekly.com/ ok, code it from scratch...

What's wrong with bitcoinweekly.com?  Not enough bells and whistles for you?  The only difference between that site and one you'd think was fabulously web-2.0 is a bit of CSS.

No, I was talking in the sense of re-inventing the wheel... And don't say it's only CSS that's missing. For someone who tries to be a weekly "magazine" of some sort I'm sure that there are a lot of features missing in the backend and frontend.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Just the other day i received like more than 10 security updates on my WinXP install...

But you forgot that you had to wait few weeks or months for each of them (including 0-days).

[terrytibbs]

Just the other day i received like more than 10 security updates on my WinXP install...

But you forgot that you had to wait few weeks or months for each of them (including 0-days).

Your point being...?

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Just the other day i received like more than 10 security updates on my WinXP install...

But you forgot that you had to wait few weeks or months for each of them (including 0-days).

Your point being...?

That Microsoft != Security.
Using "Microsoft" or "Windows" with "Security" in one sentence is generally not a good idea, unless it describes a failure.

BTW, you seem to be a scammer.

[terrytibbs]

Just the other day i received like more than 10 security updates on my WinXP install...

But you forgot that you had to wait few weeks or months for each of them (including 0-days).

Your point being...?

That Microsoft != Security.
Using "Microsoft" or "Windows" with "Security" in one sentence is generally not a good idea, unless it describes a failure.

BTW, you seem to be a scammer.

Zero-days get patched on Linux on day -1?

BTW, thank you for your excellent observation. I am very well aware of that.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Just the other day i received like more than 10 security updates on my WinXP install...

But you forgot that you had to wait few weeks or months for each of them (including 0-days).

Your point being...?

That Microsoft != Security.
Using "Microsoft" or "Windows" with "Security" in one sentence is generally not a good idea, unless it describes a failure.

BTW, you seem to be a scammer.

Zero-days get patched on Linux on day -1?

Zero-days usually get patched on Linux within 24-48 hours, with unofficial patches avaiable within few hours (if we are talking Linux kernel). On Microsoft Windows, it may take weeks, months, or not get patched at all (i think there maybe currently at least one critical thing that has been unpatched for years, but i'm not 100% on that).

Whether all the sysadmins in the world really follow & install the latest patches is another story.

BTW, you seem to be a scammer.

BTW, thank you for your excellent observation. I am very well aware of that.

And that doesn't seem to stop your posting on the forum ? I am amazed.

[eldentyrell_old]

NNTP Support.

NNTP Support.

NNTP Support.

PLEASE.  I read about five or six sites using forum software like this and it is a huge headache for me to have to keep switching UIs.  PLEASE give your users the option of "bring your own" UI.  This is exactly what the NNTP protocol does.


I hear there is a third-party NNTP plugin for SMF, but I'm not sure how good/maintained/reliable it is.  Hopefully you find some software that has NNTP "out of the box".

RSS/ATOM are nice, but they're only "one-way" (you can use them to read, but not to post) whereas NNTP is two-way.

[theymos]

NNTP support is definitely an idea I like, but I don't think it's important enough of a feature to require in the first version. There are probably only dozens of people who would use it.

[eldentyrell_old]

NNTP support is definitely an idea I like, but I don't think it's important enough of a feature to require in the first version.

Well, keep it in mind.

There are probably only dozens of people who would use it.

I think you might be underestimating the number of people driven away by the web-only UI.  Or the number of users you would gain if following the site were as simple as adding it to the aggregator they already check every day/few hours.

Speaking of aggregators, I would like to say that the SMF support for RSS totally sucks.  Not only do you have to hand-craft URLs (the UI does not mention it ANYWHERE), but it is flaky as heck and seems to merge various sub-boards into a single feed in randomly-chosen ways.  Bleh.

[Gyom]

1) Something similar to Facebook's Like / Google+ +1 / Reddit's Upvote / etc...

2) Comments on comments (basically like Reddit),.

People are doing +1ing stuff all the time anyway, I think it would be great to be able to sort comments on a thread by date or rating...

[theymos]

I updated the OP, incorporating some of the suggestions and adding some more things I thought of.

Probably I'll start accepting bids in about a week.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

1) Something similar to Facebook's Like / Google+ +1 / Reddit's Upvote / etc...

Not necessary.

Slashdot-like meta-moderation system is waaaaaaay better.
It allows users gaining reputation, stops 99+% of spam, hides 95% of useless posts and can work similarly to FB/Google's +1.

[BadBear]

1) Something similar to Facebook's Like / Google+ +1 / Reddit's Upvote / etc...

Not necessary.

Slashdot-like meta-moderation system is waaaaaaay better.
It allows users gaining reputation, stops 99+% of spam, hides 95% of useless posts and can work similarly to FB/Google's +1.

No.  I've seen how people react around here to anything that could be construed as even slightly negative about bitcoin.  I'd like to see a forum that encourages discussion and alternate ideas, not a circle jerk of nerds all congratulating themselves on being awesome. 

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

1) Something similar to Facebook's Like / Google+ +1 / Reddit's Upvote / etc...

Not necessary.

Slashdot-like meta-moderation system is waaaaaaay better.
It allows users gaining reputation, stops 99+% of spam, hides 95% of useless posts and can work similarly to FB/Google's +1.

No.  I've seen how people react around here to anything that could be construed as even slightly negative about bitcoin.  I'd like to see a forum that encourages discussion and alternate ideas, not a circle jerk of nerds all congratulating themselves on being awesome.  

1. You don't even know how the system works, and yet you speak.
2. Also, moderation depends on what majority thinks, and on this forum majority is noobs. So there won't be any kind of "circle" of self-adoration.
3. Normal mods would still have greater power than rest of the people
4. To some degree, sooner or later every forum becomes a circle of people-with-similiar-mindsets who adore themselves and reject incompatibile mindsets, so your point is invalid.

[BadBear]

1) Something similar to Facebook's Like / Google+ +1 / Reddit's Upvote / etc...

Not necessary.

Slashdot-like meta-moderation system is waaaaaaay better.
It allows users gaining reputation, stops 99+% of spam, hides 95% of useless posts and can work similarly to FB/Google's +1.

No.  I've seen how people react around here to anything that could be construed as even slightly negative about bitcoin.  I'd like to see a forum that encourages discussion and alternate ideas, not a circle jerk of nerds all congratulating themselves on being awesome.  

1. You don't even know how the system works, and yet you speak.
2. Also, moderation depends on what majority thinks, and on this forum majority is noobs. So there won't be any kind of "circle" of self-adoration.
3. Normal mods would still have greater power than rest of the people
4. To some degree, sooner or later every forum becomes a circle of people-with-similiar-mindsets who adore themselves and reject incompatibile mindsets, so your point is invalid.

So you think being able to downvote and hide posts is a good idea?

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

1) Something similar to Facebook's Like / Google+ +1 / Reddit's Upvote / etc...

Not necessary.

Slashdot-like meta-moderation system is waaaaaaay better.
It allows users gaining reputation, stops 99+% of spam, hides 95% of useless posts and can work similarly to FB/Google's +1.

No.  I've seen how people react around here to anything that could be construed as even slightly negative about bitcoin.  I'd like to see a forum that encourages discussion and alternate ideas, not a circle jerk of nerds all congratulating themselves on being awesome.  

1. You don't even know how the system works, and yet you speak.
2. Also, moderation depends on what majority thinks, and on this forum majority is noobs. So there won't be any kind of "circle" of self-adoration.
3. Normal mods would still have greater power than rest of the people
4. To some degree, sooner or later every forum becomes a circle of people-with-similiar-mindsets who adore themselves and reject incompatibile mindsets, so your point is invalid.

So you think being able to downvote and hide posts is a good idea?

I have accounts on multiple forums, and the ones that have reputation system are the least messy & spammed.

This system can be tweaked, so only posts of people with the worst reputation can be hidden, and only if they are seriously downvoted.
System can be tuned so that only obvious trolls are removed from discussion.

[BadBear]

If they are that obvious they get deleted anyway, the moderation team here does a pretty good job.  Also if there is such an obvious troll you can just hit ignore, and you will never see that persons posts again.  Or are you wanting to control what other people see/read as well?  I would rather read all peoples opinions on a topic and consider for myself the worth of the content, not what the majority on a forum deem useful.  

[TiagoTiago]

In sites that hide comments/posts when they've been too downvoted, i tend to always unhide them, and often i disagree with the "decision" to have them hidden after reading the contents myself; i don't trust the masses with censoring stuff for me.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

In sites that hide comments/posts when they've been too downvoted, i tend to always unhide them, and often i disagree with the "decision" to have them hidden after reading the contents myself; i don't trust the masses with censoring stuff for me.

You certainly have a valid point.

However, it will be impossible to keep any order and forums will be a permanent mess with scammers, spammers and such. People will get scammed every day, and BTC reputation will suffer.

Which is exactly what is happening now BTW.

[theymos]

Last chance to suggest features for the first version. I'll start a bidding thread this weekend.

[phungus]

http://slashcode.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb-index.cgi

Slashcode is still available... It definitely doesn't support all the features you're looking for though. It's also written in perl and judging by my near inability to find anyone else who can write perl and who also is familiar with Bitcoin, I would say it's probably not a wise choice. I do dig the perls though. :-)


I am liking some of the new features vBulletin 4 offers over the older versions. It's a few $'s, but you say you have much more than that amount available in BTC at least. Perhaps it would be more wise to develop a priority list of all the features you want, then add a development cost to each line item. Perhaps much more can be done for the funds that you do have available through writing modules. In addition, you may find more willing volunteer help if it's only writing or extending modules and not the whole complicated mess. Not everything has to be bought and paid for.


You only have around $1300 in funds anyway. That is not enough for a ground-up software development project. Focus on your key issues, knock out all you can with pre-built modules, then custom develop anything remaining.


Great ideas, BTW. I'm working on creating a new forum for my local community and your idea list gives me food for thought. :-)

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Last chance to suggest features for the first version. I'll start a bidding thread this weekend.

So you are actually serious about writing the software completely from scratch ?
This way it will take YEARS to achieve the number of features of the current forum, unless it is based on one of existing forum systems. And you have *completely no guarantee* that it will be in any way faster or more secure than ANY of the existing systems.

This is madness.

[theymos]

So you are actually serious about writing the software completely from scratch ?

As I've said several times before: I don't care how the software is built. It would be fine to make a bunch of modifications to SMF or any other software.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

So you are actually serious about writing the software completely from scratch ?

As I've said several times before: I don't care how the software is built. It would be fine to make a bunch of modifications to SMF or any other software.

OK sorry, misunderstood.

[Bind]

https://www.vbulletin.com/

why reinvent the wheel

pry open your donation/advertising wallet

[eldentyrell]

Please include an API of some kind (REST, SOAP, JSON-RPC, whatever) that is capable of at least:

  1. Getting a list of forums/topics/threads

  2. Retrieving messages from a forum/topic/thread

  3. Posting to a forum/topic/thread (provided proper authentication, of course)

I'm sure lots of people would find this useful for lots of things.

I will happily write and operate an NNTP gateway for bitcointalk.org if such an API is available.

In terms of features-gained-per-hour-of-development-effort you really can't beat the return on providing a nice simple API.  It lets other people do the stuff you don't have time for.

[theymos]

I'll put an API in the "other optional features" category.

[Request]

Hello,

Our company has experienced and motivated team to build forum software as you specified. Also we have our own ideas which implementations you can rule. We have virtual working environment for project management. We keep all our promises and will deliver high quality in schedule. Data migration service and support also after implementation will be included.

If needed, my company can also offer hosting for forum or for other server software with SLA without any cost.

Our customers are organizations from the private and public sector. You can ask portfolio from me. Please contact via PM so I can offer contact details.

Thank you for this opportunity,

Request

Edit: Just wanted to make sure that we will deliver the service for 500 BTC (we can always discuss about the final price). We are registered company and we will offer very fair service contract. As a owner of this company I can offer the service for very low contribution margin as kind of donation (I don't need any promotion, there's no "tiny print", I just want to support the Bitcoin community the way I can).

Edit 2: One more word about our team. One of our team members has worked as professional system administrator in ESET (http://www.eset.com/). He will confirm all the security aspects of the service.

[Vod]

Hello,

Our company has experienced and motivated team to build forum software as you specified. Also we have our own ideas which implementations you can rule. We have virtual working environment for project management. We keep all our promises and will deliver high quality in schedule. Data migration service and support also after implementation will be included.

If needed, my company can also offer hosting for forum or for other server software with SLA without any cost.

Our customers are organizations from the private and public sector. You can ask portfolio from me. Please contact via PM so I can offer contact details.

Thank you for this opportunity,

Request

Edit: Just wanted to make sure that we will deliver the service for 500 BTC. We are registered company and we will offer very fair service contract. As a owner of this company I can offer the service for very low contribution margin as kind of donation (I don't need any promotion, there's no "tiny print", I just want to support the Bitcoin community the way I can).

Wow - that's some pretty powerful software for $1500USD. 

[Request]

Wow - that's some pretty powerful software for $1500USD.  

Thanks for your comment. I didn't know exactly what was the exchange rate of BTC at the moment but as you know it is a very variable. I can always discuss about the price.

[bosschair]

Last chance to suggest features for the first version. I'll start a bidding thread this weekend.

Did this thread ever get started?  I can't find it (btw, a way to search for threads started by a particular author would be useful in the new software )

[cruikshank]

I think it has been suggested before to show the threads someone started in their profile, similar to posts.

[theymos]

Here's the bidding topic:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50617.0

[Gyrsur]

Here's the bidding topic:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50617.0

[AppliedOptimal]

I would love to see an escrow service, and it should be decentralized. This will definitely help towards bitcoin adoption and increase market activity for the forum.
Adding youtube videos to posts should be possible as well.