My Mods - Available For You To Take Over Active Development.

[karlbenson]

I've now posted a fresh topic with updated mods available. http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=260312.new#new


I'm desperately looking for some modders to take over active development of ANY/ALL of my mods. (Except Auto Embed Video Clips mods [Thats the only one I wish to retain]).

Keeping them all updated has taken its toll on me. I've got no interest or energy in developing/updating any of them any longer.
(I will not be updating any of the mods any further)

So I'm urgently seeking people to take over ACTIVE development of ANY of mods and release it under their name.

Conditions
The only conditions are that they are;
- released free of charge
- on the SMF Customize section
- and without watermarking/generating copyright/deeplinking

Please contact me via Pm with ones you'd like to take over.
I'll then put a line through and mark who is taking over each mod. (and I'll inform the SMF team I've given permission).

Signature Area BBCode Buttons - to be taken over by GamerShare
Favicon Mod - To be taken over by ccbtimewiz
Spiders Don't Increase Topic Views - to be taken over by ice2fire
Earn From Amazon Links - to be taken over by WDM2005
Anonymize Links - to be taken over by RichTea
YouTube BBCodeTopics Filter
Social Bookmarks - to be taken over by [nerve]
Fix: Message Empty Error For Embed Video Mods
Are You Human? (Anti-Bot Check)
Copy Topics - to be taken over by [nerve]
Anti-Bot Registration Puzzles
Anti-Bot Clock
More Spiders - to be taken over by ice2fire
[2.x Only]IgnoreTopics

Don't be shy.
For anyone thinking of getting into mods, taking over some of my simpler ones like the BBCode mods is a good way to get into SMF Modding. (And I've not been shy in giving a little support to those who take over my mods, to help them in the beginning).

And don't worry, I'm not disappearing entirely.


Edit: Thanks everyone who has taken over mods. Theres only a few left now.

[Jade Elizabeth]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
What if someone inexperienced takes them?!

* Alundra runs off crying

...are you gonna watch over the progress of them? Or check in on them?

[karlbenson]

I was inexperienced once.

I don't mind taking a look at mods and bug-reporting on them.
I do that for many mods at the moment.

[Fustrate]

I would absolutely love to work on the referrals mod... PM'ing you in a moment 

argh, put the pm subject in where the name should go... it's a (No Subject) PM, I guess, since it already sent it.

[karlbenson]

Ok Yoda, is taking over Referrals mod.

[forumnoob]

I would give a right arm (preferably someone else's ) for SMF to have a real plugin system other than this ridiculous rewriting of live code to do a "mod"

[karlbenson]

I doubt that sort of plugin is possible for php based software.

[forumnoob]

I doubt that sort of plugin is possible for php based software.

as a php developer of sorts yourself, YOU are absolutely the LAST person I would expect to hear say that!!

why wouldnt it be?

look at Joomla/Mambo, SMF's own integration hooks, the fact that PHP is a textfile based, interpreted language... why,  you could even have an admin module read module parameters and code from a database and rewrite a 'SSI_plugin.php' file (avoiding the need to do run time loading of code from the database)

you could even have caching of the output of these plugins, to prevent excessive database load or cpu utilization!

wow...I'm still shocked at you, Karl! lol

[karlbenson]

I thought you were referring to something different (like Firefox's plugin system).

But whilst nothing is impossible
doing that for all mods would be sluggish, slow and inefficient.

Personally I don't see anything wrong with re-writing live code.
But to make some mods technically feasible you need to add bits into queries or replace sections or otherwise which I can't forsee a simple way to do it.

[Eliana Tamerin]

Not unless SMF was built to accommodate every sort of mod possible.

Joomla also has a very different interface, which is built on blocks and modules, much like TP is. TP has the kind of "plugin" system in this manner, with block codes instead of live code rewriting (for the most part). SMF, on the other hand, is extremely cohesive and a lot of loosely coupled modules that Joomla is.

[forumnoob]

@karl I see what you are saying...also, we are diverging a little bit on what we are meaning (even though we are saying the same words)

I was referring to plug-ins, whereas you were referring to specifically (i think) to code modifications.

In my instance, the plug in would be NEW functionality, code specifically almost stand alone, but inserted into the SMF context, and thus able to use the SMF variables and wotnot.

whereas you 'mods' are more ad-hoc, can be anywhere - and thus a bit harder to pin down structurally.

There's no reason why both shouldnt be possible? that way, direct modification of code is a very last resort?

anyway, if SMF goes to classes full time (which means finally abandoning that bloody PHP4) then all you have to do is subclass the object and override the function you want to supplant or enhance.

SMF needs, I think, to be really serious in the API part of its design, that is the only way for it to grow and for proper applications/modules to be designed for it.

right now, just about every major enhancement to SMF is a (@@!king joke, codewise, and I am totally annoyed, when installed mods cry for the "default theme" or some other bull******.

a little (read: LOT) more separation between template display and code needs to take place.

maybe there will have to evolve some kind of SMF compiler /make routine?

where the componennts are either statically linked/embedded (similar to what we have now where code is written when the package is installed, and no further action needs to take place) or a dynamic include at runtime, totally divorced from the visual display template as much as possible?

the whole security process will have to be reevaluated, obviously and sure, it would probably invalidate tons of previous templates and mods ,  but eh!

Cant make an omelette w/o breaking code, can we? 


@Elaina -well, SMF needs that  I think (blocks/modules etc)

many mods are of the blocks/modules type, and unnecessarily make direct edits to source code when they need not.
This whole code writing package bit may have been 'state of the art' some 10 years ago, but its a 'state of chaos' now.

No doubt it's responsible for the sluggish progress of SMF 2.0

I suggest they totally thrash the codebase and leapfrog ahead to CMF ( Complex Machines,lol) maybe incorporate something like CakePHP ...... I dunno... I just feel that SMF at this point, at this stage should be better than the AIDS Quilt, a well meaning stitching together of cheerful  code bits, but rather a powerful forum engine which functions quite powerfully stand-alone, but is geared to be the hub of a unique environment...

(climbs drunkenly off of soapbox)

[Fustrate]

I know it sometimes gets annoying to hear... but SMF 2.0 will fix some of what you don't like (specifically the 'default theme' message, as the Package Manager now tries to install on ALL themes).

Another thing to look at is SSI... it's pretty powerful, and by some simple parsing, you can use it in almost any other language. I'll expand on that at a later date... it's a little too much to explain here.

[forumnoob]

I know it sometimes gets annoying to hear... but SMF 2.0 will fix some of what you don't like (specifically the 'default theme' message, as the Package Manager now tries to install on ALL themes).

Another thing to look at is SSI... it's pretty powerful, and by some simple parsing, you can use it in almost any other language. I'll expand on that at a later date... it's a little too much to explain here.

well, trying to install on 'all themes' is going a far way, but I feel, going in the WRONG DIRECTION.

This is part of the idea of  "no good deed goes unpunished".
A fairly good idea (though limited in scope) is being used to provide functionality which it really cannot support and is no way to implement a proper application development environment.
that it works 'as good as it has' is probably its more damming feature, as it almost works, almost good enough, just enough to avoid being tossed.

its like that creaky car leaking coolant, just good enough to get you to work and back, but not reliable enough for you to consider that better paying job 10 miles extra each way. so you putter and sputter on, with a couple cans of Penzoil in the backseat, and your AAA Auto Club phone number tattooed to the back of your wrist.

The hooks are probably the best approach, though poorly documented and seem almost like the SMF bastard PHP stepchild.


SSI is fairly good, though again, the documentation is sparse.

The biggest failing is, a forum is not the vehicle for documentation, I've rarely seen the search function implemented where it works..
That SMF is way up in the top three (and leads in some categories) speaks volumes about the  paucity of quality forum designs that balance functionality vs simplicity.

The problem with using SSI for pages is that the queries tend to be far from optimal (when you combine them on a page) and you run a real risk (especially on shared hosting) of overwhelming your limited mySQL allotment.

[[SiNaN]]

Hi Karl. I would like to take over Admins Can Post As Alternative User mod. Pm is sent.

[karlbenson]

Thankyou again [SiNaN] for taking over that mod.

I'm still open to anymore

[Spaceman-Spiff]

Wow, many mods, you wrote. 

[karlbenson]

yes indeed.
Too many for one person to keep updating.

So I'm still looking for people to take over some mods.

[[кѕ]ваηε-σ]

I sent a PM.

[karlbenson]

Ok, updated/removed the 2 taken over today by Quake101 (attachments positioning and Lightbox).

I've removed ones i've officially handed over. But left ones marked for those who have indicated they'd like to take it over, but haven't submitted the mod or had it approved yet.

So i'm still looking for people. Plenty of mods left on the list

[LiamTheDuck]

I still wish i knew how to update em etc...
dont no how to make a simple mod / theme!