Miscellaneous Hacks - SocialForums 1.4

SocialForums for vBulletin 3.7
Created by Marius Czyz aka Phalynx.

This mod will work *ONLY* with vBulletin 3.7 or higher. It will not run on vBulletin 3.6.x due to non existent feature of "social groups".

Support will be only given for people who clicked Mark as INSTALLED.

Description
Not satisfied with vBulletin social groups messaging function? With SocialForums your social group leaders can create a standard forum for their group.
A group leader can only create a forum if the group has at least 5 members - this can be changed via settings. Optionally the group leader can be a moderator of such a social forum.

Permissions
Since 1.3 there are advanced permissions active (Forum and Archive). This includes read/write public and private (moderated/invite only) socialforums and creation of forum. As this needs two additional queries on every page you can disable this.

Demo
None, see screenshots

Installation
This product is fully phrased and uses template hooks. No file changes or manual template edits needed.
1. Upload bitfield_socialforums.xml to existing folder /includes/xml/
2. Upload functions_socialforums.php to existing folder /includes/
3. Fresh Installation: Just import the product. Upgrade: Import the product, allow overwrite. No forums get lost!
4. Check settings, especially for parent forum. Don't forget to set permissions via usergroups!

Troubleshooting
Q: I don't see a link to create a forum. Why?
A: Check permissions for the usergroup, espacially if the user is allowed to create forum.
A: Check if the usergroup meet min users requirement, see AdminCP/Settings/SocialForums.

Q: My users see the forums, but they shouldn't!
A: Check permissions for the usergroup, if the users usergroup is set to "can see".
A: Did you disabled the restriction mode? Enable it.

Todo
- By deleting a group the forum should also be deleted/archived. Currently this has to be done manually.

Known Issues
- On big boards with hundreds of social groups this mod can really impact the performance because of the mass of new created forums. If you still want to use this mod use the "Minimum Members" feature with a higher value. Using the permission check there are additional two queries on every page.

History
1.4.6, 6th October 2008
- Permissions are now also active in Archive

1.4.2, 27th May 2008
- Added: If a group has a linked forum the grouplisting has the last post date and count of postings (with permission check).
- Added: Recent threads in linked forum on group home
- Added: Private groups: Link to forum only shown to members of group
- Changed: Enabled permissions for unregistered usergroup. Unregistered Users are not more explicit denied without a check of it's usergroup

1.3.1, 23th May 2008
- Fixed: Not existing array

1.3.0, 23th May 2008
- Added: Permissions are now active. This includes read/write public and private (moderated/invite only) socialforums and creation of forum. Please check permissions for every usergroup! As this needs two additional queries on every page you can disable this.
- Added: Checks for permission before the creation link will be displayed
- Changed: Default View Age set to "Show all Threads"

1.2.1 8th April 2008:
- Added: Group messaging can be disabled via options (previously: always disabled)

1.2.0 4th April 2008:
- Added: Groupleader can now be moderator of group forum
- Added: Minimum Members that are required for own forum
- Added: Group messaging will be automatically hide for group that has own forum
- Added: Forums are created with more allowances
- Added: By deleting a forum the linked socialgroup get's updated
- Added: Forum's description contains link back to social group
- Added: By changing group's name it synchronize it with the forum's name

1.0/1.1 1st April 2008:
- Initial releases

[Farcaster]

I experienced no damage to the forums. It just doesn't have the link from or to the social group. Nor does it have the option to create a group any more.

[akonze]

Yesterday I deinstalled this addon. Somehow it deleted a bunch of topics created by group members.

As stated a few posts above I furthermore had many problems with ppl not able to create their group forums.

Therefore I can only recommend not to use this addon!

[Phalynx]

akonze, please don't spread such a nonsense. This mod does not even a single function to delete a post. "Somehow" it is technically NOT possible.

Please check your Moderator logs who has deleted the posts.

As for your problem not be able to create a forum - check permissions.

[MrEyes]

Well today I decided that I should look at 3.8 and start the process of working out my upgrade plan.

Everything seems to be fairly simple, however the 3.8 implementation of the Social Group messaging system is utterly dire, half hearted and should have taken some lessons from this mod, so I need to work out what to do.

So the question is what do you lot plan to do?

Use the mod and the new messaging system side by side?
Remove the mod and only use the new messaging system (using the migration tool mentioned in this thread)?
Disable group messages and use this mod?
Something else?

Phalynx, do you intend to make any changes to this brilliant mod for 3.8?

[Phalynx]

This really depends on how many users want this. Currently I'm thinking about it.

[MrEyes]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

This really depends on how many users want this. Currently I'm thinking about it.

Well I would certainly be up for it, I would suggest a slightly different approach though...

This mod is fantastic but it has one problem that is not of its own making. The problem is vbulletins half hearted attempts at social group discussions, you only have a basic forum (or "mini forum" as they call it) and users expect to have the "bells & whistles".

I imagine that over the next year VB are going to twiddle and tweak and eventually get to the point where their default offering is a "bells & whistles" forum within the social group, with stickies, attachments, polls, announcements and a proper postbit etc.

Considering this and the glacial and somewhat blinkered pace that VB are developing SG forums I believe that continuing with the idea of this mod creating actual forums will always cause problems with upgrades and compatibility between whatever VB offers.

So all this being said, I would suggest creating a mod that adds the missing functionality to the default vBulletin social group messaging system. This means that as an when VB do decide to do something useful with SG messaging the mod can easily be changed and we get the benefit of useful messaging features.

[Varsh]

To be honest I'll be turning off the SG Board and use this mod simply because it benefits me a lot more (for particular reasons), creating a mod purely for the mini SG boards may be an idea but it's more beneficial (I feel) to have them directly on the main forum. One of the reasons for this, for me that is, is because for some SG's they're needing to have their own projects that only they will be able to see, this can't be done in a mini SG board.

[YabbaDabba]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

This really depends on how many users want this. Currently I'm thinking about it.

I'm dedicated to this plug-in as it is essential to address missing vB functionality.

Are you considering bailing on the whole mod? Or whether its worth addressing SG messaging functionality?

[Bluefin221]

Originally Posted by Phalynx

This really depends on how many users want this. Currently I'm thinking about it.

This has been downloaded over 500 times on this site, I would suggest that makes it popular and wanted, when I installed it I believe I said it was the best vBulletin addon I had come across, I have literally hundreds of my own users using social forums, they would not use it (social groups) if it was not for the social forums part and the integration it offers.

I really do hope you consider making it work for 3.8 as I will also be waiting to upgrade depending on what happens with social forums.

[subnet_rx]

I agree, my social group usage would drop significantly if this addon was dropped. I have 3.8 and my social forums are still working fine, is there some problem with this and 3.8 that I haven't seen yet?