Who started the whole SMF thing, like who came up with the idea, was it an individual or group, and who owns the site/has acsess to the server. Just wondering because I know its a team but I want to know who came up with the idea first
http://www.simplemachines.org/about/ (http://www.simplemachines.org/about/)
See: Who made SMF? (http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=472)
Also See: The current team list (http://www.simplemachines.org/about/team.php)
I know there are members and stuff but who was the first person to think up this idea, It doesent say that in the About page , I checked before I made this post
I always thought it was Zef Hamel (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=profile;u=11) original idea to make a php version of yabb (perl) many many years ago called yabbSE. (SMF evolved from yabbse) As yabbse progressed it needed improvements and began to have issues. Therefore a developer named [Unknown] (http://simplemachines.orgindex.php?action=profile;u=2) began working on a "secret project" which eventually involved into SMF. You can say a few individuals pitched in to help make SMF what it is today but it was more of a team effort.
Edit: See Compuart's post :P
The original planning of SMF was a group effort as well.
The brief version: The project used to be known as YabbSE, and the group decision was made to make "Unknown's secret project", the new YabbSE project, into SMF.
I have real Answers.
Heil Zef Hemmel :P
After the decision was made to go with [Unknown]'s direction (which basically meant separating templates and code, using YaBB SE as basis) a brain storm was started at an off-site hosted forum (to make sure nothing would leak ;)). On that forum, the team members of YaBB SE discussed many of the concepts that are currently applied at Simple Machines. Its name, the Charter Member system, the site navigation, the license, the core values etc.
Some of the people active in the transition would be (I forget a few or even more than that): Jeff Lewis, Joseph Fung, David Recordon for the project management, [Unknown] and me for the development, Ben_s, Andrea, Mediman for support, Jack.R.Abbit, Spaceman-Spiff for modifications. As said, I must've forgotten some names, but these are the ones I remember to be active during the transition.
Anyway, those were really great times. We knew what we wanted and were very driven towards that goal with great enthusiasm.
ok
Quote from: Compuart on January 26, 2009, 06:10:56 PM
Anyway, those were really great times. We knew what we wanted and were very driven towards that goal with great enthusiasm.
And it shows in your great work :)
Quote from: Matthew-me on January 27, 2009, 01:50:03 AM
Quote from: Compuart on January 26, 2009, 06:10:56 PM
Anyway, those were really great times. We knew what we wanted and were very driven towards that goal with great enthusiasm.
And it shows in your great work :)
Amazing Job,
Really you guys could charge for SMF, but you dont.
SMF could charge and people would pay for it I am sure. Truth is though that from the start it was agreed by everyone that it would be free for everyone.
It remains free today as it did then and I never expect to see this change. But it is volunteer run so one thing I did when I started here is become a Charter Member.
I think becoming a Charter Member is the perfect way to say thank you if you ask me.
Charter Membership (http://www.simplemachines.org/charter/)
Yes, Unfortunately, I have no money in my wallet.
Do you know who [Unknown] is. I am not wanting to know who he is but just wondering if he is actually [Unknown] or are you just protecting his real identity :D
Anyway I agree on the charter membership this is why I went for it as well. I know that a lot of the members here maybe are not able to afford it so that is also ok as far as I am concerned ;D
A few people know who [Unknown] is. The rest of us respected the desire to remain anonymous.
Quote from: Thantos on January 28, 2009, 01:31:35 PM
A few people know who [Unknown] is. The rest of us respected the desire to remain anonymous.
I think this is very commendable and I respect this, I was just not sure if he was in fact [Unknown] to all ;D
Just to be clear: I wasn't saying you weren't respecting it. I meant more that none of us really asked or pressed the issue.
If you want to see the general forum information about the archivers: creator/company, license/price etc, check out this Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Internet_forum_software (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Internet_forum_software)
Or better yet, check out this one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Machines_Forum it's about us specifically :P
So [Uknown] started smf with Zef Hemmel? Wow one guy we know and the other we dont.
Quote from: clapter on January 29, 2009, 06:31:36 AM
So [Uknown] started smf with Zef Hemmel? Wow one guy we know and the other we dont.
No I think I was wrong. [Unknown] was the original creator of SMF which rewrite from yabbSE. Zef was involved with something at yabbSE. :P
Interview - Jeff Lewis of YaBB SE http://www.sitepoint.com/article/interview-jeff-lewis-yabb-se/2/ (http://www.sitepoint.com/article/interview-jeff-lewis-yabb-se/2/)
Interesting bit of reading
As I've heard it, Zef Hemel was the person who started YaBB, which was written in Perl using flat-file databases. Jeff Lewis and Joseph Fung translated it to PHP all at once, and called it YaBB SE (Splinter Edition). [Unknown] didn't like how hard you had to work to create a theme, so he started working his secret project of a templating system (the one we still use now) and when he showed it to some of the YaBB SE team, they decided that it would be best as a totally new, fresh forum software... and that's where SMF came from.
/me probably got stuff wrong
Zef Hemel was the programmer of YaBB, the perl version. YaBB SE was a concoction of Joseph Fung and Jeff Lewis of Lewis Media. SMF was a continuance of YaBB SE organized by Joseph, Jeff, and David Recordon, along with [Unknown], Compuart, and much of the original SMF team.
SMF was thrown down to earth attached to a lightning bolt from the hand of Zeus himself.
An easy way of putting it is that a bunch of stuff happened then SMF came into being. :P
Quote from: Gazmanafc on January 29, 2009, 03:12:40 PM
An easy way of putting it is that a bunch of stuff happened then SMF came into being. :P
Thats a good way to put it. LOL
So that is why it says in the SMF source files etc
* SMF: Simple Machines Forum *
* Open-Source Project
Inspired by Zef Hemel (
[email protected])
Well whoever Zef is Zef is a beast name and he pwns
Quote from: clapter on February 03, 2009, 09:21:07 PM
Well whoever Zef is Zef is a beast name and he pwns
Hello :)
^^ I think he was trying to tell you that you pwn :P
How's it going, Zef? :)
Hey Zef, havent seen you before, yeah i was trying to tell you that you pwn :P
Hello Zef, long time no see around here!
i think it was Heil Zef Hemmel
Zef is Dutch, not German.
And your comment was totally *NOT* funny.
It's even sad.
Quote from: CoreISP on February 07, 2009, 03:35:19 PM
And your comment was totally *NOT* funny.
It's even sad.
Yes it is, but now we sail Heil has evolved into Hail.
DEFINITION OF HEIL
Nazi salute: a Nazi salute usually accompanied by the right arm raised with the palm facing downward
All the jewish people in the community are punching at you through your computer screen
Take this back on topic, or it'll be locked.
Quote from: Motoko-chan on February 09, 2009, 10:36:01 AM
Take this back on topic, or it'll be locked.
Sorry, just felt a need to explain more.
So
did Zef Make YABB or did he push for YaBBSE and actually make that?
I believe Zef was involved with YaBB. IIRC, it was Jeff Lewis and Joseph Fung which ported YaBB to PHP Originally.
This is all so in depth and complicated, it keeps spammers away:P
yeah.. i agree with you dude
:) now too many spammers in the forum..
we need to be more straight ;)
First you say that spamming is bad, then you link spam (which I removed) The ironing is delicious.
The act of removing wrinkles from clothes with a hot metal object and some water is delicious?
Oh the irony...
It's one of my many lines that I stole from the Simpsons. :P
I said spamming was bad and then posted a spam link?
kekuda posted after you, and it says their post was edited by Gazmanafc
Well I for one am very satisified with how great of a forum program SMF is. Since I started my forum/website a couple years ago I have used many different softwares from vBulletin to phpbb. That is including many inbetween. While I do in a small way miss vBulletin just because of some of the modifications they had on there. SMF just offers so much more security, being userfriendly, and just a all out plesant community all around. Since I've started using SMF I have told many of my friends about it that are wanting to have their own forum to use SMF.
It is really awesome how one persons idea will turn into a full team organization and have many happy users of this software. Plus the other great thing about it is like with vBulletin you pay $180USD and you don't get nearly as much as you get with this software.
I want to thank the SMF team and all users of this software for keeping it a good friendly community and awesome software. Trust me as soon as I have the money for it I'm going to get a charter membership. This team deserves as much donations for all the hard work they do.
Now, especially after I have started using 2.0 RC1, I am 100% there is no competition for SMf IMHO