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

[Chadi]

Thanks, that worked 99%. The only thing is trying to replicate the rounded corner cat strips on the mods sideblock. I'll see if I can figure this out.

Thank you so much for your awesome mod and great support!

[Chadi]

I realize I won't figure this out on my own sorry

This is a sample code for default tagcloud sideblock. How can I replicate the look to your mods sideblock? Thanks in advance.

<li>
<div class="block smaller">
<div class="vbcat"><div class="vbcat_left"><div class="vbcat_right">
<div class="blocksubhead">
<a class="collapse" id="collapse_block_tagcloud_{vb:raw blockinfo.blockid}" href="{vb:raw relpath}#top"><img alt="" src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_button}/collapse_40b.png" id="collapseimg_tagcloud_{vb:raw blockinfo.blockid}"/></a>
<span class="blocktitle">{vb:raw blockinfo.title}</span>
</div>
</div></div></div>
<div class="widget_content blockbody floatcontainer">
<div id="block_tagcloud_{vb:raw blockinfo.blockid}" class="blockrow">
{vb:raw tagcloud}
</div>
</div>
<div class="vbcat_bottom"><div class="vbcat_bottom_left"><div class="vbcat_bottom_right">&nbsp;</div></div></div>
</div>
<div class="underblock"></div>
</li>

[kameraderie]

This is an awesome Mod! I just recently installed it, workiing fine but the avatars are not showing up.

the discuss page is here: http://tsikot.com/forums/discuss.php

The image file link seems to be off... it is

http://tsikot.com/forums/forums/cust...atar1092_2.gif

when it should be: http://tsikot.com/forums/customavatars/avatar1092_2.gif

which template/file should i edit to remove the additional /forums? i guess this is the only bug that i am seeing so far. Thank you in advance!

[Christos Teriakis]

Originally Posted by kameraderie

which template/file should i edit to remove the additional /forums? i guess this is the only bug that i am seeing so far. Thank you in advance!

I also seen that double "forum" in the link, but its not something wrong from my side (code or template). I'm using the correct coding to get the useravatar and the correct call to the forum directory. That's why it works in my site. Check your vB settings for Forum URL and in Avatars section for the link to your avatar folder.

Chris

[kameraderie]

Thanks Chris! problem solved. The URL to avatars (Relative to your forums home page) setting in the User Picture Storage Type was wrong.

Originally Posted by ChrisTERiS

I also seen that double "forum" in the link, but its not something wrong from my side (code or template). I'm using the correct coding to get the useravatar and the correct call to the forum directory. That's why it works in my site. Check your vB settings for Forum URL and in Avatars section for the link to your avatar folder.

Chris

[skizzerz]

Expanded moderation tools would be a huge boon here, ideally I'd like to see everything that the main forum product allows one to do (edit, soft delete, hard delete, infract, close, and report questions/answers), but I'd currently be happy just for the ability to delete. The forum I help moderate is testing this mod for a crowdsourced support desk of sorts, and the lack of policing ability is currently a huge turn-off point. While I'm sure it'd be mostly trivial for me to modify the code to allow this sort of thing, I have better uses of my time plus I'm sure many other users would desire this feature as well.

[Christos Teriakis]

Originally Posted by skizzerz

Expanded moderation tools would be a huge boon here, ideally I'd like to see everything that the main forum product allows one to do (edit, soft delete, hard delete, infract, close, and report questions/answers), but I'd currently be happy just for the ability to delete. The forum I help moderate is testing this mod for a crowdsourced support desk of sorts, and the lack of policing ability is currently a huge turn-off point. While I'm sure it'd be mostly trivial for me to modify the code to allow this sort of thing, I have better uses of my time plus I'm sure many other users would desire this feature as well.

Some of them will be in the PRO version. Actually by mistake I published version 1.4.0 which was to be the 1st PRO release.
I believe that current features are more than enought for the majority of users.

Chris

[username12]

PM settings would be nice. I would think getting 1 per answer would get a bit annoying.

[Budget101]

I see that there is a place in the usergroup permissions to choose whether or not to moderate posts, but I do not see of an area to moderate comments.

Is there a way to enable moderation of comments as well to prevent potential spam?

[apokphp]

Before someone posts a question, they have to read and agree to the Terms of Use.

Is there a way to disable the requirement for someone to agree to the ToS? Currently, they are forced to check the box before the "Submit" button appears. It may be nice to disable this feature altogether.