[Web4lib] phpBB Alternative

[Tim Spalding]

Much the same conversation is going on at Readerville, the tiny but
fanatical book lovers' community. Readerville has a super-minimalist
forum system—no threading, no signatures, no boxes or lines. (It's
even more stripped down than LibraryThing's!) Unfortunately it runs
off this proprietary early-internet forum system that costs hundreds
of dollars a month, and the cost is now unsupportable. They're casting
around for an alternative, and finding everything is over-engineered
and over-graphical.

Tim

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 7:56 AM, K.G. Schneider <kgs at bluehighways.com> wrote:
> I too appreciate this idea as I recently installed phpBB to see if it
>  would work as an internal bb and had the same "meh" experience. There
>  may be a way to set it up that is not confusing for users but I'll be
>  darned if I can figure out what it is--a question I also have for
>  Sharepoint. Any web bb suggestions (or phpbb or Sharepoint configuration
>  models) would be *greatly* appreciated.
>
>  K.G. Schneider
>
>
>
>  On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:13:51 -0400, "Rick Mason"
>  <rcmason at rsproductions.net> said:
>  > One site that can be helpful is Open Source CMS, which lets you try out
>  > a variety of freshly-installed programs (re-installed every two hours)
>  > so that you can see how the design and admin controls work without
>  > having to install each yourself.  They currently have about 20 forums on
>  > their site.  I am not sure how many fit your requirement #1, but I
>  > suspect most will.
>  >
>  > http://www.opensourcecms.com/
>  >
>  > Hope this helps!
>  >
>  > Rick
>  >
>  > Cloutman, David wrote:
>  > > Hi Everyone,
>  > >
>  > > I have a need to set up a forum for my Library's summer reading. We are
>  > > hosting it internally on our Library's application server. I have
>  > > installed phpBB, which seems to be the most popular tool for this. My
>  > > problem is that I don't think phpBB is all that great. The more I use
>  > > it, the more I hate it. I find the interface confusing, and I think our
>  > > users may have problems with it as well. I'm particularly concerned
>  > > about the Librarians who will have to moderate the posts. I don't want
>  > > to have to do a formal training session on what really needs to be a
>  > > quick and dirty solution.
>  > >
>  > > I am looking for a forum tool that:
>  > >
>  > > 1. Runs on PHP / MySQL OR JSP / MySQL / Tomcat and is easy to install.
>  > > 2. Has a really simple interface.
>  > > 3. Has a obvious mechanism for changing the branding of the masthead.
>  > > 4. Has enough granularity in the security sytem to allow for registered
>  > > users / moderators / administrators.
>  > > 5. Permits the administrator to require approval of posts.
>  > > 6. Has a really simple interface. (Yes, I said that twice.)
>  > >
>  > > Any recommendations or library success stories would be much
>  > > appreciated.
>  > >
>  > > Thanks,
>  > >
>  > > - David
>  > > ---
>  > > David Cloutman <dcloutman at co.marin.ca.us>
>  > > Electronic Services Librarian
>  > > Marin County Free Library
>  > >
>  > > Email Disclaimer: http://www.co.marin.ca.us/nav/misc/EmailDisclaimer.cfm
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>  Web4lib mailing list
>  Web4lib at webjunction.org
>  http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>
>



-- 
Check out my library at http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding