I created this list of links and resources after researching some cgi programs for Web Discussion Boards or Guest books.
The GLC weighing Guest books vs. Discussion boards. A board is more interactive and allows users to answer questions and maybe start adding their own content. In addition, PR's preliminary research suggested that a discussion board allowed greater flexibility in editing, organizing and responding. The GLC's hosting service, Hway.net provides free access to Matt's WWWBoard (below), one of the most popular on the Net. Unfortunately, it requires external scripts to customize and is not easy to manage.
9/24/97. Text bases. Here's an issue to think about: we'll be creating a textual database of Q&A, discussion and possibly other things as well. How is it managed? MIT computer scientist and controversialist Philip Greenspun (see his How to be a Web Whore like Me, with provocative points on managing Server Logs (http://photo.net/wtr/thebook/suck.html) and very interesting points on databased sites (passim). See especially his model for a Q&A forum, which has a database model (rather than the thread-based models cited below). He has a discussion in the old "Virtual CD-ROM" as well as ":free versions" at his Web Tools Review or especially his piece "Adding Collaboration to a Web Site". Particularly useful are his "Loquacious Comment Server" which allows comments for each page on a site, or his "LUSENET" Bboard Q&A server. Quite impressive. http://webtools.com/ -- or, look at his at the same site.
Pretty comprehensive.
http://www.perl.com/. Programmer-oriented links and information about programming in Perl.
http://www.extropia.com/Scripts/
Has an old and crude BBS script. An interesting CGI-Java "bridge." Also flatfile
database, other links under "Scripts" and "Offsite Goodies."
http://snowwhite.it.brighton.ac.uk/~mas/mas/courses/html/html.html
http://www.netexpress.net/~mkruse/www/scripts/index.html
Matt Kruse tutorial on Server Side IncludesDescribed as "a (personal) attempt to index Perl programs, and libraries, related to the World Wide Web." http://www.oac.uci.edu/indiv/ehood/perlWWW/
http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/
Specific script: http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/wwwboard.shtml
Free. Best known. Has free and commercial add-ons and modifications, best from DBasics Software Company a.k.a. "Getscript", see http://www.getscript.com/scripts/wwwboard/. Also, WhiPPPer automated reader (works for Win95). Matt's WWWBoard creates a text-based threaded hierarchial structure.
Also has add-ons scripts or modifications. Don't necessarily need to know how to program, but should know base directories and keep backups.
http://www.duke-net.com/ OR direct at O'Reilly: http://webboard.oreilly.com/
Windows only? $59.95 with CD/Book. Probably overkill. One of the most comprehensive commercial products.
Freeware conferencing using frames
http://mulliken.chem.hope.edu/discus/home/
Free. Impressive package of scripts developed at Hope College for teacher-student interaction. Geared towards class discussion; looks easy to customize; sort of large (400K). Uses left and right frame to navigate discussion, FAQ and instructions.
Guide: http://www.lilikoi.com/instruct.html
For a nice customized (non-academic) implementation, see Jaded Pub Gamers Forum http://jadedspub.com/discus/ )
Problems or Issues:
unclear how much you can edit/delete messages; seems to allow form-based administration;
the left sidebar can be confusing for directing users: it's a command list of options and
instructions: only one line gives access to the BBS [and it needs to be more prominent])
administrative links are too prominent for system security; large executables; security
worries; no -email notification (needs monitoring) and can't block problem people. posters
set their own message expiration messages compiled into a single text/html file so-called
"smart" html?
There aren't many discussion programs to compare to the sophistication of this program. Only a couple downsides: 1. need to make the BBS link very prominent to get people to start there; 2. Administrative links are too prominent for system security; 3. large executables; 4. Wonder about security generally.
http://www.lilikoi.com/index.html
Very impressive program of scripts but hard to figure out; auto expire; formatting
supported; various types of access; no auto cgi for foul language but can have many
editors; can also set certain authors to read-only (thus creating bulletin areas); various
types of authentication; tends to compile for specific platforms)
(Cost: free for single threaded setup [like guestbook]; $99 for educational or similar
use; o/w $199)
http://technotrade.com/board/index.html
(Blech! All put into a single text file!)
Requires Windows. The Jazz music implementation is impressive, but not easy to
navigate.
Counter-intuitive for what most people do with their browsers)
- other problems: threading is general, not specific
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http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/hypernews.html
Combines hypertext and listing. (feels like SGML bibliography)
Revised: 12/30/97
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