Major Additions - Discuss!! A Yahoo Answers Clone

Discuss!!
A Yahoo Answers Clone

by ChrisTERiS

Compatible with 4.2.0
but you must download the file Disucss_1_4_0.zip

1. Why we need a discussion mod

Maybe sounds crazy to have a powerfull forum and to install this AddOn. But this is not true. I do agree that vB has tons of features for any type of discussions. But from the other point Yahoo Answers (and dozens of similars sites) became famous, because they offer a simple way to users to get replies. Short questions, with a couple of replies. Why to go in a complicated system for this? And why to add dozens of extra categories, subcategories etc etc, just for this? This is the reason that you need it.

2.- How it works?

Very simple, so easy to use by novice users too. A member is posting a question in any of your categories (unlimited level are supporting) and then is waiting other members to post a reply. Reads the replies, chooses the best and that's all. There is no need for discussion here.





3.- Installation

1. Download, unzip and upload all files from the "upload" folder where your vb installation is (you can't install in different directory).
2. Goto you admincp and import the product-discuss.xml
3. That's all

4.- Configuration





Configuration is very easy and is like all other addons here. You need to follow the steps below, and soon you'll be ready:

1. First of all goto Usergroup permissions and set what each usergroup can do or not do.
2. Goto Discuss General setting, check the default values and change them if you want
3. PM Templates. I believe that the predefinied text is ok for most of you. But if you want you can change them. Please don't touce the variables (anything inside {}). The available variables are:
   1. {questiontitle} : Title with link
   2. {questiontitle_nolink} : As above but without link
   3. {category} : Category name with link
   4. {category_nolink} : Category without link
   5. {questionowner} : The author's username with link
   6. {questionowner_nolink} : As above, no link
   7. {description} : 200 chars from the question body
   8. {username} : This is the "To:" value. eg Dear {username},
   9. {postdate_short} : Post date in format that you've set as long dates
   10. {postdate_long} : Same as above in long date format
   11. {signature} : Anything that you've set in your settings
4. Last step is to set your categories.

5.- Copyright

In the footer of each page there is a link back to my site vBulletON.com. Even if it easy to remove it, please avoid doing it. Respect if you want to be respected. That's the only that I can say.

6.- PRO version

Currently there is no one. I don't use to build an addon, and then remove 90% of its features to make a free version. No. This is all that I've done. Sure there are dozens of more features that I can add. If I see that this mod becomes popular then I'll add them but as commercial version.

7.- Live Demo

http://www.christeris.com/testvb4/discuss.php

Login:
demouser1 / demopass1
demouser2 / demopass2
demouser3 / demopass3

Enjoy
Chris

[Christos Teriakis]

Originally Posted by Hareth

Thank you chris,
And when the question is hidden (can moderators see the question and answer it?)

Everybody can see it if the know the direct link. The problem is how to know the direct link. As Hide/Activate is an short time action (otherwise the use will delete it), I'm hidding it only from the listings. There is no usergroup permission check in listings. It can be, but only by modifying the code. In this case usergroup A can see only the active questions while usergroup B can see all.

Chris

[Da-Vinci]

For those with multiple styles, this is what you need to do.

1. First of all locate the file discuss.css from the files you have downloaded on here. It is located in discuss/css.

2. Next make a copy of the file and rename it to whatever you want, for the purpose of this tutorial I'm going to call it custom.css.

3. Now to edit the new CSS file.

I've made this image to get the novices started, however it's taken me a bit of time just to knock this demo up, so if you want to do all the pages your either going to have to work it out or ask for help with the CSS.



4. So, now you've edited your CSS file and are happy with it, upload it to root/discuss/css.

5. Next go to Admin CP-->Styles & Templates-->Style Manager, now select Edit Templates from the dropdown menu in the style you want to edit. Scroll down the list until you find discuss Templates, double click and look for discuss_main.

Now find discuss/css/discuss.css and change the path to point at your new CSS file, in this case it would be discuss/css/custom.css.

Hit save and you should be all done.

If you find that you need to make further edits, you can usually do this on the fly via your FTP Client.

If you need any help with this just ask.

Good luck.

[Taurus1]

For those with heavy edited styles, where some parts of the page are completely looking out of whack. Add this:

{vb:cssfile additional.css}

to the bottom of these discuss templates:

discuss_approve_questions
discuss_ask_question
discuss_edit_question
discuss_main
discuss_my_bookmarks
discuss_my_questions
discuss_search_results
discuss_view_questions

There might be more, but those are the ones I could find quickly.

[Taurus1]

Hi Chris, is the members who answered avatars suppose to show here? See screenshot.
I am just seeing the default at this stage. Thanks.

Attachment 137882

On the main discuss page too:

Attachment 137883

[Acido]

Can't find how to delete questions. Delete or admin questions are not a feature on this mod? Thanks.

[AURFSCAN]

questions and answers to show up in 'whats new' search... now that would be epic

[Christos Teriakis]

Originally Posted by Acido

Can't find how to delete questions. Delete or admin questions are not a feature on this mod? Thanks.

Goto My Questions and choose Delete from the droplist on the right

Chris

[Christos Teriakis]

Hello,

I just released ver.1.1.0. In this version you'll find:

1. Bug Fixes
   1. Missing values of questions, replies, won answers at "About Author" block.
   2. Missing avatars in most listings
   3. Missing ...listings in browse categories
2. New Features
   1. PM user for any new reply
   2. PM winner for the best answer
   3. Two new PM templates added in admincp-> Discuss-> PM Templates

How to upgrade:

1. Donwload and unzip version 1.1.0
2. Upload discuss.php at your installation folder
3. Import product-discuss.xml from your admincp, choosing "Overwrite".

Regards
Chris

[Taurus1]

Thank you for the quick update. Avatars are still not showing for me on the main page though. On the other places it does.

[Christos Teriakis]

Originally Posted by Taurus1

Thank you for the quick update. Avatars are still not showing for me on the main page though. On the other places it does.

Sorry, I forgot that there are avatars in the homepage too. Actually it was a typo in the variable name. Please upload this file.

Chris