Feedback or requests for help with the site.
Jun 3rd, 2006, 2:26 pm
What about making a group of beta-testers for our releases? I already have close to 100 apps on my ppc and I really don't want to test/install everything that is requested. Of course I remove apps I don't want/use but still files remain that slow down the system.

Also I can't properly test any releases for 2002, 2003.

It could be a way for members that don't contribute by making releases to contribute in another way. The only problem would be that they would have to check in often, otherwise the release process would get really slow.

What do you all think?
Jun 3rd, 2006, 2:26 pm
Jun 3rd, 2006, 2:34 pm
Actually I think its a great idea, to have testers for releases. The users will have to get some sort of WRZ$ reward for their testing then and this will limit bad releases by alot, the problem is they have to actually check...
Jun 3rd, 2006, 2:34 pm
Jun 3rd, 2006, 7:29 pm
Would it be possible to add RSS to the forums here?

We could add a new section for beta-testing, and if it had an RSS feed it would be easy for everyone to see what is new without having to come to the site. I think it would be easier than sending PMs to everyone too when we would need some testers.
Jun 3rd, 2006, 7:29 pm
Jun 3rd, 2006, 9:30 pm
HAL 9000 wrote:Would it be possible to add RSS to the forums here?

We could add a new section for beta-testing, and if it had an RSS feed it would be easy for everyone to see what is new without having to come to the site. I think it would be easier than sending PMs to everyone too when we would need some testers.

I dont know much about RSS feeds and how to make them. But if you do and would be willing to help me out, I think its a great idea. The problem is we will have to give out some sort of reward for Release testers, but how can we make sure that they actually checked that the release is a working one? I guess we will have to just trust them...
Jun 3rd, 2006, 9:30 pm
Jun 3rd, 2006, 10:02 pm
I could probably make some RSS feeds, but they would not be integrated into the forums. I would just supply a URL for the subscription. I'll check into it. I think usually the forum host offers this service to subscribers. Not sure if it is free though.

I thought the group could be open only to members, or maybe only select members- a locked forum. I think one danger of this being public is that people will dl and then if it works not post anything. And yeah, hopefully they would really test it.
Jun 3rd, 2006, 10:02 pm
Jun 4th, 2006, 2:28 am
HAL 9000 wrote:I could probably make some RSS feeds, but they would not be integrated into the forums. I would just supply a URL for the subscription. I'll check into it. I think usually the forum host offers this service to subscribers. Not sure if it is free though.

I'll see what can I do, maybe I'll try making an RSS feed myself or just integrate what you already made into this site.

HAL 9000 wrote:I thought the group could be open only to members, or maybe only select members- a locked forum. I think one danger of this being public is that people will dl and then if it works not post anything. And yeah, hopefully they would really test it.

The group will obviously only be open to members and they will have to submit a request to join the UserGroup which I can accept or not accept if I dont trust that user well enough just yet. Sadly, I cant make people post a thankyou note or "this works" after they download something, and from the downloads numbers I know that most people are downloading without posting anything afterwards. If I add a reward for being a Release tester it might encourage users to post if someting works or not but will attract users who are looking for a cheap way to boost their WRZ$. I still need some way to find out if a user actually downloaded and checked if something works or not.
Jun 4th, 2006, 2:28 am
Jun 4th, 2006, 3:18 am
I spent some time putting a feed together for the homepage... and then my browser crashed. :evil: Oh well, I'll work on it again soon.

I was having some troubles with the links to the full posts- everything looked fine in the first preview, but then they all ended up pointing to a russian singles site (I guess one of the adverts on the homepage). I'll have to go through the code more closely next time...

If anyone wants to contribute a few themselves: feed43.com
Jun 4th, 2006, 3:18 am
Jun 4th, 2006, 12:27 pm
The Russian singles site is what is displayed if there is an error 404- when nothing is found at that address.
Jun 4th, 2006, 12:27 pm
Jun 4th, 2006, 2:36 pm
tell me more bout RSS ...i'll help anyway i can
Jun 4th, 2006, 2:36 pm

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Jun 6th, 2006, 8:17 am
I think I've figured out the best way to get RSS going. Instead of making a lot of separate feeds, it could be integrated with the entire site by installing a mod to this forum.

I found some interesting mods here:
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=254606
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=349668&highlight=rss&sid=d8f2c0 ... 09d9ef419d
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=144548&highlight=xml

Then users could subscribe to a section, or even individual threads.
Jun 6th, 2006, 8:17 am
Jun 6th, 2006, 12:04 pm
I dont understand much about RSS HAL 9000, so which of those three mods do you think is the best featurewise?
Jun 6th, 2006, 12:04 pm
Jun 6th, 2006, 2:40 pm
We're using v2+ of phpbb right?

Unfortunately they all have good and bad features. I just found this table which is quite helpful:
http://www.outshine.com/phpbb_rss_mods.php

I would go with RSS feed 2.2.x because it supports "latest posts from a specific forum"- which is what I wanted it to do and got this whole RSS thing started in the first place. It also has many other advantages over the other two. The only potential negative is its reported 'bare-bones' autodiscovery.. hopefully if this is a problem we can find a fix. The forum thread on the mod is basically 24 pages of script modifications. I didn't want to go through it all, but there is probably a fix in there for any problems that we might have.

But I have no idea how to install this into phpbb. You would definately be on your own there.
Jun 6th, 2006, 2:40 pm
Jun 6th, 2006, 5:04 pm
Dont worry about that, I'll install it into the phpBB, thats no problem. I just wanted to know which one you think is the best.
Jun 6th, 2006, 5:04 pm
Jun 6th, 2006, 9:33 pm
I was sure you could- just wanted to let you know I will be useless if it doesn't go well.

Looking forward to RSS syndication for the site 8)
Jun 6th, 2006, 9:33 pm
Jun 6th, 2006, 9:56 pm
I'll work on it over the weekend.
Jun 6th, 2006, 9:56 pm