v3 Articles 1.0.1 - [vB 3.0.1]

v3 Articles 1.0.1

By John Warwick, Web Development Freelancer (john@eovieinteractive.com)
Fully tested and working on vBulletin 3.0.1.
Part of www.v3arcade.com

Important Security Fix - Please download v3 Articles 1.0.2.zip
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If you are upgrading, please read Security Fix Upgrade.txt
If you are installing for the first time, read Instructions.txt

INTRODUCTION
v3 Articles was originally written for the fine people at www.DodgeTalk.com, for use with their vBulletin forum. The purpose of this add-on is to provide a place in vBulletin for articles (e.g. news, reviews, editorials) similar to that of the thread interface - but with a more content-oriented approach.

Features:
- Usergroup based permissions
- Full editing/deletion/moderation system
- Article attachments
- Article ratings
- Comments system
- "Featured Article" system, give great articles top exposure
- Introduction and category description text
- Smilies and icons
- Full BBCODE/WYSIWYG support
- Attachment captions
- Full page navigation for articles and comments
- Comment dupe checking
- Status icons
- View users' ratings in their comments

Alternatively, check the screenshots!

I've tried to make the installation as quick and painless as possible. Enjoy!


WORKING DEMO
You can see a working demo of v3 Articles at www.v3articles.com. (Part of the v3 Arcade website.)


MANY THANKS
- Ron Wilson, of DodgeTalk.com
- Everyone on v3Arcade.com who donated to keep the server running


SUPPORT
Support can be found in the v3 Articles thread on vBulletin.org, and shortly on v3arcade.com. (I'll set up a priority support system.) As always, I'll happily give support for real problems. However, a lot of the time people ask questions about things which have already been answered hundreds of times. If you have a problem caused by not reading through the instructions or checking through the support thread, I can't guarantee a response.


DONATIONS
v3 Articles is free, but my server isn't! Any donations are hugely appreciated in order to help me keep my v3 sites running. (PayPal: john@eovie.com). Many thanks to those who donate!
If you're looking for someone to install v3 Articles for you, email me at john@eovieinteractive.com.


PLEASE CLICK INSTALL
Needless to say, if you install this please click the "Install" button. Thanks.

[JamesFrost]

I've been running this for months on one of my sites with no issues at all, and I didn't need to make any changes to the code. Thanks John for the FREE hack, and I look forward to future updates.

Oh, and Happy New Year as well.

[John]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Well you lot will certainly encourage him to produce more with your attitude.

Yes, there were many problems with this in it's original form, but most are fixable (as I have done with our sites version) - and at the end of the day, it was all free.

Thanks Paul & others. Sometimes I can't believe I'm having conversations with these people, having to defend myself for these free addons I've released. There may have been a few bugs (which have all been fixed by some great contributors to the community), if these were paid products it would have been unacceptable. But they're not.

Regs -

History shows that you are only interested in your site when either someone wants to release addons and enhancements to your free hacks or you need money. And then you disappear again all the while people help run/moderate your site.

Perhaps you should take a look at the selection of addons for the arcade. That one addon someone developed for v3 Articles did come at a bad time, because I intended to release an update shortly. Due to personal problems, I was unable to (and being away from any source of internet access at that time, I couldn't explain my situation).

Secondly, I've only ever received 2 or 3 donations for the articles system. Most have been for the Arcade, and the only time they were ever solicited was when there was a danger of losing the server and the v3arcade.com site. Not because I needed help, if the site went down it wouldn't bother me - the members of the site wanted to keep it running, so they helped out with the costs. I've been very clear on this matter.

You had no problem accepting donations for your free hacks.

Why shouldn't I?

And if I recall correctly, the pitch for helping you sort out your money problems included a bit about releasing the Pro version of the arcade. You even posted a poll asking people how much they would be willing to pay.

That wasn't a "pitch", it was research. And where did I ever say anything about the donations being directly linked with Pro?

I also fail to see where you came back here to offer support? All I see is you showing something to people and saying "see this? you can't have it" - that's not support. That's being an arse.

When I did come back to offer support, all I saw were people like you complaining. So I left.

Why did I post the screenshots of the new system? Well, mainly it was to prove that I haven't been talking out of my arse, and that the update was done. Heck, I wouldn't have a problem with releasing it, but I don't have the time to support it - and as with this version, releasing a free addon without support brings nothing but trouble.

[SVTOA]

Originally Posted by JamesFrost

I've been running this for months on one of my sites with no issues at all, and I didn't need to make any changes to the code.

Well, you really should install Paul's security updates or else you might find all your artilces changed in embarrassing fashion by someone who wanders to your site and knows the leaks that are apparent. It's all gone now, but FYI somebody defaced the articles over on John's site.

[SVTOA]

John, thank you also for your hard work and best wishes in 2005.

[Dean C]

John has kindly released this modification for all at vBulletin.org for free. It's clearly marked out as unsupported so you install at your own risk, with bugs or not. People do have lives outside of the computer so please understand that not everyone can spend all their time offering support. Note there are 55! pages in this thread, where most are asking for support. For one person to go through all of this is a pretty mammoth task. I hope you can understand that this is free work which John provided for all to use. Please try and keep polite and keep any personal indifferences, criticisms to PM.

Thanks

[John]

Originally Posted by SVTOA

Well, you really should install Paul's security updates or else you might find all your artilces changed in embarrassing fashion by someone who wanders to your site and knows the leaks that are apparent. It's all gone now, but FYI somebody defaced the articles over on John's site.

lol, indeed. James, you should update you installation. (Instructions in the first post)

Many thanks to Paul M for coding the changes in my absense.

[ResaleBroker]

I installed this last night and it was a breeze. Thanks John!

I do have a question... I have the Article Moderation "On." However, articles awaiting moderation are showing up in the "Latest Article" section on the Main "Article Categories" page.

Is there a setting for that? [NO FIX FOUND]

Thanks Again! I appreciate your efforts!

[Regs]

Sorry but I don't use this hack here. I am just pointing out that the author of this hack is not the saint that some think he is.

Encouragement? I gave that over a 6 month period and then just gave up when it was apparent the author in question didn't care.

When you are in a bad personal situation and ask users at your site for help and they come through in spades, you do not then just abandon the site and don't post for weeks/months. At that point, you owe your members a bit more in gratitude - full stop. It doesn't take much to show you care.

Free stuff is great obviously and I agree that there are those who push the boundaries in demanding stuff. However, it is wrong to paint everyone with the same brush. Nothing wrong with not supporting a hack but don't expect it to sit well with people when you goad them with posts and screenshots like you did.

As for some of the vB.org staff poking their heads into this thread: please be a little more careful on how you appear to choose sides when this stuff comes up. Over the years I have pointed out and warned members here about Corey W, Inside The Pixel, and the vBtrader author. In every instance, staff here were quick to defend the hackers as if I had not done my homework and were just posting for the sake of posting. Research my posts here, I'm not a demanding ingrate.

I call them as I see them after a period of time and will continue to do so as long as I still work with vB software.

Cheers,

~Regs.

[John]

Originally Posted by Regs

Sorry but I don't use this hack here. I am just pointing out that the author of this hack is not the saint that some think he is.

I'm sorry, but if you think I regard myself as a "saint", I'm not going to waste my time responding to these attacks. You obviously have some sort of personal issue with me that has nothing to do with these hacks, in which case this isn't the place for it.

Send over a list of the contributions you've made to this community, then we'll talk.

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by Regs

Sorry but I don't use this hack here

Why are you in this thread then ?