jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Are the forum options TCH offers free? (Do I need to add anything to my hosting account bandwidth, additional payments, etc.) What are the best (preferably free) options? (I noticed cpanel’s fantastico offers SMF; I also read a thread about Invision Power Board.) And can you switch between versions? (I may want to start with SMF, but then upgrade to vBulletin later, and still retain all information, like registered members, post counts, etc.) Can you “test” forums? (Similar to my “Theme Testing” Wordpress Thread, I may want to play around with the design, features, available, etc.) How do you choose moderators? (Do they usually have: previous moderating experience, good internet reputation, etc.?) And how can you put trust them, if you choose them over the net? (Do you ask for some proof of who they are, or interview them somehow, similar to job applicants?) Thanks, and if think of anything else, I might add some more questions later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pendragon Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 (edited) I installed SMF ( http://www.pen411.com/board/ ) and so far I like it. I also like vbulletin (but it's not free, SMF is). vbulletin offers an import option, though I don't know if it imports from SMF, you could check vbulletins website to find out. Moderators are usually chosen from the group of members, after they have been members for a good while and have shown they can behave themselves. You don't just pick say, the 5th person to join, and make them a moderator. Until your board gets busy, you should be able to handle any moderation tasks on your own. Edited August 13, 2007 by Pendragon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 Thanks for info Now I'm having login problems, here's what happened: I downloaded SMF forum on my "dummy site" and everything was working fine. Then I deleted those forums and downloaded a new one for my main site. However, now it will not let me log in to my admin panel (when fantastico asked me for my login info, I typed in the same info into SMF login panel, which worked fine for my dummy site.) I get the error: "You should fill in a username." But it doesn't work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pendragon Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 My suggestion would be to log in to cpanel, go to the databases and delete them. Then let the forum recreate them. It sounds like it's confused about which database is which. That's just a guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 Delete ALL the databases? Wouldn't that mess up all my other info, like for my main site? (Because my forum is an extension of my main site) Also, I deleted the db the forum was using, but then it just gives server errors whenever I try to connect to it, and with no option to have the forum "rebuild the database". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 No, you should NOT delete the db for the main site or any databases that are not giving you problems. I don´t understand one thing, in a few posts above you write: Then I deleted those forums and downloaded a new one for my main site. When you installed that, did you install it through fantastico or something else? If through fantastico, I would do the same as I told you here unless you have done much with the forum yet. Also, I deleted the db the forum was using, but then it just gives server errors whenever I try to connect to it If the forum script have no database to connect to, it will give you errors. and with no option to have the forum "rebuild the database" If the database is deleted, it can not be rebuilt unless you have a backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 Yes, it was through fantastico. I have also tried to retrieve a password through email, but whenever I click "send" (secret password or not), I get a new error "An Error Has Occurred!: Your session timed out while posting. Please go back and try again." PS: I noticed that at the bottom of my forum page (Where the stats are), it says the one registered member is “admin”, but I never created a user with that name, I just used my regular forum username (jamestl2), when creating the database. PPS: I do have 3 databases (One is my primary site db, two more are called {username}_wrdp1 and {username}_wrdp2). I'm unsure what those are related to, as I created them awhile back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Bruce Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 When you install anything through Fantastico it sends an email with the admin/password to the email address you entered. What did you do with that email? Ok, maybe it doesn't automatically send it but there is an option there to have it sent. I recommend that you do that from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 (edited) I never received any email, when I created my subdomain "dummy forums", I wasn't concerned about my email address (It was my original one I never use ({username}@toptenlisted.com). But for my "primary forums" I entered the email address I use the most, and never received anything. Also, when I downloaded a new forum, fantastico never asked me for an option of receiving email, it just asked me for my "admin email", to use for the account. Edited August 13, 2007 by jamestl2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Bruce is correct, it does not send you any details automatically, but there is an option to have it emailed to you. Save that email and you can just copy/paste the login info in the future. Or a better option if you have a printer available is to have it both email you the info and you can print out the details page directly when you install anything through fantastico. If you lose the email you have the paper copy and vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Just to be sure that I was not wrong I just made a test installation of SMF through fantastico, and on page 3 in the installation you will see the email field (in the red outlined area). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 (edited) Yes, I noticed the "email field" on the third page, and requested a copy I also received an email from "nobody" concerning SMF: There has been a problem with the database! MySQL reported: Access denied for user '{username}_smf1'@'localhost' to database '{username}_smf1' This is a notice email to let you know that SMF could not connect to the database, contact your host if this continues. I don't know why my access has been denied. Edited August 13, 2007 by jamestl2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Why don´t you just drop this test forum and set up a new one and see if it works better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 I did drop the test forum, it doesn't exist anymore (like I said, I deleted it before trying to download a new one) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 I am a bit confused now, so please bare with me now. You have installed and uninstalled a SMF forum back and forth, deleted databases and now you have a installed forum which you can not access for various reasons. No matter it is a test forum or a forum you will go live with in the future, as I understand it, it is now inaccessible. As I see it, you have only 2 options... 1) Submit a ticket and see if they can help you. The support does not generally give support for script problems, but if you ask nicely, they might do it. 2) Remove this installation through fantastico and redo it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 (edited) Alright here are the details of what happened: Last night I decided to try some forums out to see if I liked them or not, so I downloaded them to my "dummy site" (test.toptenlisted.com/forums), and everything here was working fine, including login info. Then I uninstalled these forums because I decided I wanted to put them onto my main site (www.toptenlisted.com/forums), which I then did. Next, I began to receive all the admin logging in error problems as I mentioned earlier. I didn't mess with any of the databases or other installations (until much later (this afternoon) when pendragon recommended I try deleting them, here I deleted the {username}_smf1 database I had installed) Just recently now, I also deleted my test subdomain and test wordpress I had on it, and also deleted and reinstalled the forums I wanted to get on my main site a few times, which didn't seem to make much difference. Edited August 13, 2007 by jamestl2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Ok. Just to be sure, the forum located at, toptenlisted.com/forums, can you access that with your admin log in details or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 (edited) No I don't have access, those are the ones I've been trying to access with admin info. Edited August 13, 2007 by jamestl2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Addition... I just visited toptenlisted.com/forums and tried to register and no see the problem. I do not think unfortunately, that you will solve this without removing this forum and resinstall it. When reinstalled, if it gives you the same error again, please submit a ticket and ask the techs to look in to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 When you delete the forums you are using fantastico to delete them right? Because it will delete the folder and database. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 @Thomas = I'll give that a try to see if they can find the problem @Don = Yes, I have been deleting them through fantastico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Bruce Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Did you get any errors when deleting? I would still open a ticket with the help desk and ask them to take a look. Something is definitely not right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 No problems or errors when deleting the forums, I'm also working on the ticket right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Please let us know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 It's working now, although I don't know what the error was (they said it was something with my user account), the ticket staff just recreated my profile with admin capabilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-James Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 James, I actually didn't see any issues with the user account aside from the login issue. I was able to create a second account and flag it as an admin through the database, but your account was stubborn. There were no error messages in the backend, so I think something may have happened during the account creation. Deleting and recreating the user account seemed to be the logical next step. Hopefully you'll have an issue free forum from now on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 (edited) Everything's working great so far, but had a few more regular questions, I'm integrating my forum with my wordpress blog, and I'm giving every blog account a forum account. So now I have my forum administrator account, jamestl2 (the account Jesse created for my forum), and I have my wordpress administrator account, and I was wondering if I could somehow combine the two, or give the privileges to the wp-admin user? (Don't want to risk messing with my admin settings after all that happened earlier) And, if there is some sort of email option (with wordpress or SMF) so I can let all my members know about the changes I'm making, giving them display options, etc. Also, I'm creating database backups, and I wanted to make sure I'm doing it correctly, I went to "backups" in cpanel, clicked on the different databases (under the "Download a MySQL Database Backup" section), and downloaded them to my computer as gz files (which only took like two seconds to download). Thanks again Edited August 13, 2007 by jamestl2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Bruce Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 The two pieces of software are using separate databases and they are not integrated in any way to allow you to combine them. There is no mailing list function in Wordpress that I am aware of but you could just create a post on your blog to let your users know with a link. They two will have to register with the forum and will have to log in twice (one for your Wordpress and another for the forum). Yes, that is how to download a backup of your database. You can also automate the process by running dbsender with a cron job for each database. Search the forums for "dbsender" and you will find many posts about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 Alright, thanks for the info Bruce, Actually, all my blog members are already a part of my forum through the WP & SMF plugin I found here which makes it easier to integrate between the two: http://www.earthorbit.com/opensource/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamestl2 Posted August 14, 2007 Author Share Posted August 14, 2007 This may sound completely stupid, but I think that plugin I mentioned, was the cause of not being able to login, and I didn't think of it as a problem, and I was using the wrong username (as the plugin integrated all wordpress users with the forums). And I was able to get in fine using my wp login info. So, I'll delete that custom user made for me (and I don't think there will be any more login problems). Sorry for the trouble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 I´m glad it´s working now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Bruce Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 That plugin information would have been helpful at diagnosing your issues. Glad it's sorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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