how many blondes does it take to set up a phpBB forum?

[Dale]

I'm hoping the answer is "Just one, if she has several patient friends"

I've started learning about this-- looking online, and searching the archives here. But I was wondering if anyone could point me to a how-to website that's a good place for a complete n00b.

I checked Amazon.com for "phpBB for Dummies" but it hasn't been written yet.

The reason I want to do this is that I think it would be a great way to build community among my group of Disorganized Homeschool Moms. That way even if they're too disorganized to make it to the meetings, they could still benefit from each other's support and encouragement.

Let's say there was a forum for the moms (possible name "Calming the Chaos") and a subforum for their kids ("Children of Chaos" ).

Would it be possible to make it so that the moms could read the kids' posts, but the kids could not read the moms' posts? Or would that require two separate forums?

Congrats, I love TEH BOARD...but have never liked the emoticons over there....they just aren't emotional enough for me. Is it possible to set things up with Enhanced Emoticons?

I host a number of websites at dreamhost.com and installation of phpBB forums is a "one-click install." It's not really one-click, of course, but it's not hard to do. If you don't have a hosting service, consider getting one with them and then you can set up the forums. I'd be happy to help (even though I work in public k-12 education!)

Dale

Dale

[Denny]

zactly....inna much of a challenge if the dark haired lass helps out, now is it?

Hey, I said I would help, and I'm a dark haired lass!!

but dear, you didn't know anything


as for Dale, one must suppose that once he did have hair...

[Caroluna]

I think by "forum" you are meaning setting up an entirely separate phBB? ...
A "forum" is actually a . . . forum . . . like "The Chiff and Fipple Poststructural Pub" is a forum.

Yup, I'm fuzzy on the terminology. So it's like this?

Bulletin board => Forums => threads => posts

It's all in a database-- who wrote what, in what thread, when, etc.
The database "lives" somewhere
In some situations you pay "rent" for it to be hosted there, or some places it can be hosted for free
??? the php language is what makes the database information look pretty, in the form that I'm used to seeing it

Also, you want to control registrations to prevent nasty spamming. Your existence will be discovered almost instantly by nasty-bots.

Thanks for the heads-up. That hadn't even occurred to me.

And, yes, you can have all the emoticons you want, Caroluna.

Oooh! Goody!

On C&F, the Evil Ones limit us to the mundane assortment, depriving us of the fullness of our expression.

:roll:

You'd have a single forum (the whole thing) with subforums, and you could make one subforum restricted to people with a certain access level, and then you give all the moms that access level. Then the moms can read the entire forum and the kids can read everything except the mom subforum.

Excellent!
Then each mom could use the search function and see what her little darling(s) posted that day, and each mom could be in charge of moderating her own kid(s).
Might be nice to have that same "filter" that C & F has, where f a r t shows up as f*rt.

I host a number of websites at dreamhost.com and installation of phpBB forums is a "one-click install." It's not really one-click, of course, but it's not hard to do.

Thanks all, very encouraging!
And thank you for the offers of help. I'll see how far I can get on my own and then will probably be back with more questions.....

[MagicSailor]

Excellent!
Then each mom could use the search function and see what her little darling(s) posted that day, and each mom could be in charge of moderating her own kid(s).

.... Big brother is watching .... or is that big Mother...?

Might be nice to have that same "filter" that C & F has, where f a r t shows up as f*rt.

Those filters are an abomination. They should be outlawed! I once felt inclined to use the word "b u l l s h i t", and the filter "corrected" it to "sh*t", changing the meaning of what I was saying. To the reader it looked like I had said "s h i t" which would be much more offensive than "b u l l s h i t" in that particular context. And what about little Richard, know to his friends as "Dick". Will he be censored too?

On a different forum, I tried to tell a joke about a certain medication normally used by elderly men. The filters, which were set up by someone attempting to stop spam for the same drug blocked my message.

There should be no need for automatic moderation on a forum that is moderated by parents. The moderators would have several possibilities for disciplining kids who did not follow the rules of the forum, including blocking access for a period.

P.S. I do have an interest in home schooling as that is what I would have done if I had kids.

Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht Magic
Anchored in the lagoon, St Maarten

My new blog.
Click here for my latest reported position. (Use the satellite view.)

[Denny]

I'll see how far I can get on my own and then will probably be back with more questions.....

that is so not the "blond" way....

[izzarina]

I'll see how far I can get on my own and then will probably be back with more questions.....

that is so not the "blond" way....

Oh good grief, Denny. You know nothing of the "Blonde Way". It's actually quite intricate, and people like you would never understand.

And hey....how come blonde is spelled with or without an "e"? Mine doesn't come up on my spell check. Is that kind of like Caribbean...only having to do with spelling instead of pronunciation?

I've taken yet another thread off track again, haven't I? I really should resolve not to do that anymore...

[Caroluna]

Those filters are an abomination. They should be outlawed! I once felt inclined to use the word "b u l l s h i t", and the filter "corrected" it to "sh*t", changing the meaning of what I was saying. ....
There should be no need for automatic moderation on a forum that is moderated by parents. The moderators would have several possibilities for disciplining kids who did not follow the rules of the forum, including blocking access for a period.

Good point!

My son participates in an online game called Runescape, which also has an automatic filter. A lot of the kids sidestep the filter by using acronyms like Oh, my goodness! What in the world?. And Kevin (whose spelling is atrocious) says many of his words get bleeped out with asterisks because he didn't spell them correctly and the filter thought they were naughty words. Then the game players nearby all say "Oh, my goodness! What in the world??!"

[Caroluna]

I'll see how far I can get on my own and then will probably be back with more questions.....

that is so not the "blond" way....

must be time to touch up my roots

[Denny]

might want to PM sbfluter about lessons in eye battin' too...

[Nanohedron]

And hey....how come blonde is spelled with or without an "e"?

A throwback to the French, I believe. Properly, a man was blond, and a woman blonde. I used to see that differentiation in English years back. Not that anyone much hews to the difference these days, so far as I can tell.

[Denny]

personally, I just can not spell....I knew it looked wrong

thanks Cliff! I've always wondered what it would be like to be able to remember things....

[Nanohedron]

"Cliff"......I'll give you "Cliff".

Although it's pretty funny to read that post and imagine ol' Cliff Claven saying it.

[Caroluna]

OK I signed up at dreamhost.com just fine, but when I tried to do the "one-click install" of phpBB, I got stuck



I'm going to take a break and come back to it later.
Denny, expect a note from me later today....

[Lambchop]

I'm sooo glad someone else handles the installation and maintenance for me!

This is almost inspiring me to go do some housekeeping on my board!

Almost.

[Caroluna]

When the alarm went off this morning I was dreaming about databases