Lou Sander

Yeah, but what do I do after it's installed? I one-click-installed phpMail, then spent days figuring it out and polishing / perfecting my installation. I used it three or four times before I discovered its shortcomings. I'll probably never use it again, though it remains installed and highly polished. It was fun climbing the learning curve, but it was hugely cost-ineffective. These CMS's seem a LOT more complicated than a simple mailing list program, and I need RESULTS, not the fun of climbing the learning curve.

It's a web site for a membership organization. We have a site at http://amr1.org, but there's stuff on there that we want to make available to "members only." We DO have an online forum, and we know that forums can be made "private," but at the moment we don't have the critical mass of computer-literate members to make the forum very meaningful. Our "members only" site or area would be mostly for one-way communication to members, including "members only" files to download. I maintain our web site using a very old WYSIWYG program called Cute Site Builder. It serves me well and I'm a power user of it, and not very interested in learning something new, though we can afford to spend a few hundred dollars on software if we need it. I've heard of Joomla(?) and a few of the others, but don't know much about that type of software. Do you have any words of wisdom for me about all this? (Should I look into content management systems? Which one? Etc.) I definitely want to avoid big learning curves -- I've climbed dozens of important ones since 1979, but I'm getting old and weary.

I need to set up a web site that requires a username and password to access. It doesn't need to be secure in a financial way, just accessible by people who have joined up. It needs to be invisible to Google and other searches. This HAS to be easy and/or widely available, but I don't know where to start looking.

I've just registered the new domain through TCH, but I don't have a clue about the other stuff you mentioned. I'm a technical person, but I deal with this stuff only once every couple of years. 1) How do I "point it to the same nameservers as the old one?" 2) What is "parked?" 3) I can probably figure out how to submit a ticket. I think I've done it before.

I have a web site hosted by TCH. It's not very big, but it has some stuff on it like a PHPMail system. For various reasons, I want to change the domain to something new. Is this something as simple as flipping a switch somewhere, or does it take massive movements of files, or what?

Thanks, guys! I was hoping there was a somewhat faster way, but given the price and service at TCH, I'm not complaining. I looked into DADA mail, but chose PHPList for reasons I don't really remember. Changing horses at this point looks like it might be far too complicated. Is there some sort of E-Z conversion method?

I hope this is the right place to post this. I've been using PHPList for quite a while, but I don't use it too often. A couple of months ago, I sent an email to a 600+ member list, and TCH objected due to too many emails being sent too quickly. Somebody at TCH was kind enough to change my PHPList settings to put it into "batch mode." That's nice but today I just sent something to that 600+ list, and the "batch mode" restricted them to being sent at a rate of one email every X seconds. That seems awfully slow, and it took several hours to send my emails. Is there a way to set the sending speed to something higher that won't choke or raise flags at TCH?

I've used FreeFind on my site for about three years, and it's been a great solution for us. People can search easily, and I get weekly and monthly reports of the number of searches, popular search terms, etc. We don't get many searches, so the ads are not a problem. They aren't very obtrusive, anyway. Check it out HERE. (Try searching for my name, Sander, or Guantanamo) Here's a typical weekly search report: Daily Search Activity --------------------- From: Sun Feb 18 00:00:00 PST 2007 To: Sun Feb 25 00:00:00 PST 2007 Day Date Queries --- ------ ------- Mon Feb 19 3 Tue Feb 20 2 Wed Feb 21 2 Thu Feb 22 2 Fri Feb 23 1 Sat Feb 24 1 Total for week: 11 _______________________________________________________________ Top 15 Keywords --------------- From: Sun Feb 18 00:00:00 PST 2007 To: Sun Feb 25 00:00:00 PST 2007 (Not including common words such as "the") Count Keyword ----- ------- 2 lci 1 volino 1 gregg 1 Krieg 1 zander 1 Alan 1 walter 1 anthony 1 rupp 1 harold 1 hopkins 1 mcdole 1 kitts 1 Orr 1 manila ______________________________________________________________ Most Recent Queries ------------------- Day Time of Query Query --- -------------------- --------------- Sun Feb 25 14:58:14 2007 Ray stell Sat Feb 24 08:51:42 2007 walter zander Fri Feb 23 20:48:12 2007 Alan W.Krieg Thu Feb 22 08:40:13 2007 lci Thu Feb 22 08:09:28 2007 lci Wed Feb 21 11:06:01 2007 kitts Wed Feb 21 10:35:48 2007 mcdole Tue Feb 20 17:44:37 2007 harold rupp Tue Feb 20 16:48:57 2007 anthony volino Mon Feb 19 22:19:41 2007 gregg Mon Feb 19 17:06:04 2007 S N Orr Mon Feb 19 08:51:34 2007 p. w. hopkins manila Fri Feb 16 21:46:24 2007 glennie dingle Fri Feb 16 14:12:40 2007 berninger Thu Feb 15 14:11:32 2007 Captain Jerry T. Becker Thu Feb 15 14:11:28 2007 Captain Jerry T. Becker Thu Feb 15 14:11:05 2007 Captain Jerry T. Becker Thu Feb 15 10:34:27 2007 The Higguns Boats Thu Feb 15 10:32:18 2007 The Higgins boats Thu Feb 15 10:32:07 2007 The Huggins boats Thu Feb 15 10:05:18 2007 The Higgins Boats Thu Feb 15 09:56:12 2007 (harold barrer) AND (harold barrer) Thu Feb 15 09:55:14 2007 harold barrer Thu Feb 15 09:52:45 2007 harold s barrer Thu Feb 15 07:00:06 2007 Walter Hagedorn Wed Feb 14 13:08:37 2007 corsa Mon Feb 12 21:03:20 2007 crowder Mon Feb 12 18:37:30 2007 mckee Mon Feb 12 17:57:03 2007 heckman Mon Feb 12 17:17:12 2007 u.s.s.Pickenpaugh Mon Feb 12 16:48:27 2007 u.s.s.pickaway Mon Feb 12 16:48:17 2007 u.s.s.pickaway Mon Feb 12 16:47:50 2007 u.s.s.pickawayAPA222 Sun Feb 11 16:56:58 2007 cdr eugene krewson Fri Feb 09 12:26:46 2007 What does COX stand for in naval ranking Fri Feb 09 12:26:17 2007 What does COX stand for Thu Feb 08 14:16:00 2007 USS Hepburn 1055 Wed Feb 07 18:43:26 2007 luis cabatit Wed Feb 07 18:34:16 2007 luis cabatit Tue Feb 06 15:21:44 2007 David Landreth- Smith Mon Feb 05 18:25:50 2007 kroeplin Mon Feb 05 10:16:35 2007 Gonave.pp Mon Feb 05 10:16:20 2007 gonavy.pps Mon Feb 05 10:15:45 2007 gonavy.pps Sun Feb 04 12:00:07 2007 dominican republic Sun Feb 04 11:59:36 2007 dominican republic Sat Feb 03 09:34:48 2007 uss arneb Fri Feb 02 16:29:46 2007 eod tech Fri Feb 02 16:00:35 2007 eod chief Fri Feb 02 10:44:34 2007 klug

This is a truly outstanding script, once you get it figured out. It is basically a one-way mailing list program, with abundant features for sending emails, subscribing, unsubscribing, etc. I looked for something like this for six months, but nothing came along. Somebody suggested I try phplist, but I was reluctant to climb a learning curve. But I was desperate for an email list program, so I went ahead. I used Fantastico to install phplist, then spent several days learning how to get it to work properly, tweaking it to my needs, etc. It's now up and running with a base of about 80 live users. I've tested it extensively with my own email addresses, and so far I'm VERY pleased. (I've written up what I did to get it working. If you want a copy, just ask.) You can see phplist in action by visiting www.aclacomments.org/lists/ and signing up for one of the lists. The stuff that goes out on them is carefully screened by multiple people, and it's really VERY good. If you don't like it, or even if you do, you can unsubscribe and see how phplist handles the operation.

That's like tellin' a recovering alcoholic to just go down to his local bar and enjoy the taste of a New Miller Genuine Draft. (He'd do it, and so will I, but the consequences might be grim.) ;-) I'm REALLY trying to avoid learning too much new computer stuff.

I know about Fantastico, but I never used it. As I look around, I keep seeing stuff about phpmail that says it's a nice thing, but maybe a nightmare to get started with. The forum looks good, but doesn't calm my fears about biting off more than I want to chew. I'm tryin' to find somebody who's familiar with phpmail, and willing to help if the nightmare scenario is true.

We will accept free help, but we don't mind paying.

I've looked high and low for something that will handle my mailing list needs, and phpmail seems to be it. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time to climb the learning curve for installing it and getting it going (various forums suggest that this learning curve may be a big one). Phpmail's sponsors in the UK will install it for a fee. I'm willing to pay a fee, but I'd rather deal with somebody in the U.S., and somebody familiar with TCH, if possible. Can anybody over here help me out?

It's working fine now. The final problem had to do with cookies, and a guy on the phpbb forum gave me the fix. Thanks a million for your help, fellows. What on EARTH would we do without forums??? Now one final thing... I'm trying to get this forum, the TCH one, to automatically log me in when I come here. So far it's not doing it. I've got a check in the box that seems to be the place to set it. Any ideas?

Success! But not FULL success. I can now get to my forum at www.aclacomments.org/forum/, but when I try to log in, I get logged in to the forum on my old site. I'll look for other config-type files to fix, but will also be waiting for more input from you gurus.

I did the MySQL stuff per instructions in posts above. I probably did it correctly. I don't understand the stuff about "Then to connect to the database in a script." I don't know much about scripts, and I'm accustomed to accessing my bb just by going to www.ussrankin.org/forum/ Also, the warnings in the config.php file scare me a bit, as does the long, strange password. EDIT: In the meantime, I've posted a question on the phpbb forum re: how do I duplicate my bb on another host.

Yep. I found a config file with the userid in it. It's got some warnings not to change anything, though, including a password. I think it's time to go over to the phpbb forum and ask how to install this thing from scratch. My problem is that I made some serious modifications after installing it on the other host site.

The TCH tech says he has done his thing. But I still get the same error message when I try to access the forum on TCH. I'm guessing that the first warning has something to do with a userid and password. I don't have any guesses about warnings 2 & 3. Any suggestions? (I'm thinking maybe I should set up a user ussranki with password YES, and hope to get past the first warning. I don't want to do it until at least one knowledgeable person endorses the idea, though) Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Access denied for user 'ussranki_phpbb1'@'localhost' (using password: YES) in /home/empefsgf/public_html/forum/db/mysql4.php on line 48 Warning: mysql_error(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/empefsgf/public_html/forum/db/mysql4.php on line 330 Warning: mysql_errno(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/empefsgf/public_html/forum/db/mysql4.php on line 331 phpBB : Critical Error Could not connect to the database

Thanks, guys! The folks over at the CuteSite Builder forum are enthusiastic about TCH, in part because of these forums here. I have to say that there's nothing like it at my other web hosting company, and it makes a BIG differenct to have it.

I've done as you suggested. (Thanks for the link to the movie.) Now I'm waiting for the help desk techs to do whatever they do. How will I know when it's finished? (I assume they'll send me an email or something.)

...upload the backup to your web space. You will also need to create a database to use on your testing site. Create a user for the database as well and add it to the database. The whole SQL thing is a mystery to me, and I don't know where stuff resides or how to get it there. I don't know how to upload the backup that is now on my desktop as a zipped file. I don't know how to create a database on my testing site. I don't know how to create a user. (Other than that, I'm OK.)

Got it! I used CPanel to find my database, and it's now on my desktop as phpbb1.gz. What next?

I need some help in finding the database to back up. I looked around the other site and didn't find anything that looked like a database, but of course I don't really know what I'm looking for. What should it look like? Should it be in public_html, or elsewhere?

If the database is in the forum folder, I copied it. If not, I didn't. (Sorry, I don't know enough about this stuff even to know where the database resides.) The error message I get when I try to connect to the forum is: Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Access denied for user 'ussranki_phpbb1'@'localhost' (using password: YES) in /home/empefsgf/public_html/forum/db/mysql4.php on line 48 Warning: mysql_error(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/empefsgf/public_html/forum/db/mysql4.php on line 330 Warning: mysql_errno(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/empefsgf/public_html/forum/db/mysql4.php on line 331 phpBB : Critical Error Could not connect to the database (ussranki is my username on the other forum)

I'm a computer technical person, but not very knowledgeable in web hosting matters. I have a phpbb forum on another web site, hosted by another company, that I want to duplicate on my TCH web site HERE. The purpose is to allow a consultant to make changes to the forum, without letting him have access to my other web site. (I can tolerate outsiders, possible spam, etc. here, but not there.) I've copied the Forum directory and subdirectories from the other site to this one, but when I try to access it, I get some error messages having to do with SQL, access, etc. What do I need to do to install my forum on my TCH web site?