Mambo Open Source

[Thunderace]

LOL .. errrm .. went to mambo to do a tad of SMF spamming.

They've changed to VBULLETIN! 

[Oldiesmann]

That doesn't make any sense... I see it, but I don't believe it. Why would a free open-source CMS site want a forum system that isn't free? See that "wishlist" section? Try starting a thread there saying that you'd like to see Mambo come with a forum system and then discretely mention that you've already got it working with SMF and will gladly show them how to do it if they lose vBulletin...

[Thunderace]

Well i've done it HERE

Albeit in my usual unsubtle fashion.

Tbh as a Mambo user I'm really very offended by it, so much so that it would sway me to leave Mambo for the "suggested" integrated portal.

[Oldiesmann]

Well i've done it HERE

Invalid Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the webmaster

Are you sure that's the correct URL?

Tbh as a Mambo user I'm really very offended by it, so much so that it would sway me to leave Mambo for the "suggested" integrated portal.

Tell them that.

[jorgen]

It worked 20 minutes ago.
Maybe it was killed......   

[Thunderace]

Thread was deleted.

[Oldiesmann]

What exactly did you say to them?

[Thunderace]

I spoke genuinley as a Mambo user voicing my true concerns.

I said I was dissapointed "as a Mambo user" at the use of a commercial forum "vbulletin" when there are superb opensource products like SMF (linked)

I mentioned that it had been integrated with Mambo with no problems and asked them to consider it.

[jorgen]

He was not offensive at all..
I'm baffled by such censorship.

[Oldiesmann]

Hmmm... Go use that "contact us" form and explain your situation. Throw in some stuff about abandoning the Mambo portal because of the way you were treated and that you'll gladly tell all your friends (and other Mambo users) how Mambo treats people. If they still refuse to own up to their rudeness, then you can go complain to everyone and tell people not to use Mambo.

[Thunderace]

Have done, this matter is resolved.

The action of the Moderators was harsh but they are currently trying to get things "straight and normal" after some recent actions.

[Oldiesmann]

Glad you got it taken care of.

[idigital]

Well, I was banned from the official forums without warning. A series of posts regarding licensing issues which went awry, despite my continued apologies and disclaimers, and then my dissappointment with the behaviour of the core developers gave the head of the project the impression I was trying to destroy his community. Not my words btw.

Apart from the rudeness towards 'noobs' regarding release dates, when the official forums changed to VBB things went pear shaped. The head core developer made the statement that if anyone didn't like their decisions they could "find another community". There's been no effort to apologise for this comment or any other inappropriate comments.

At the same time there were many other dramas going on with other core developers and prominent members of the community over who should code what and such. Since I've been banned everyone seems to have gotten that frustration out of their systems and it's back to normal like nothing happened.

I might add that before I was banned I posted a retraction of my last comment, which was then deleted. Very frustrating.

IMHO not the behaviour one would expect from a project that has the pretense of professionalism. Although the head dev did recently comment that he considered MOS "a hobby".

Anyway, just had to clarify things slightly as I noticed that the reasoning behind the rudeness of the core devs towards Thunderace was explained by their "trying to get things straight and normal after some recent actions".  It seems to me that the devoted community around the core devs always excuses any temperamental behaviour due to such things as personal pressures and such, without the need for any actual apology. I reckon if you run a big OS project, you should make sure you have the time and temperament for it from the beginning.

Good work integrating SMF btw, MOS needs more community oriented extensions!

[Oldiesmann]

Yeah... Things seem to be going crazy over there. I still don't understand why an open-source system would go with a commercial application like vBulletin - sure, they could probably find a way to integrate vB with Mambo, but that would cause all kinds of problems as well.

[idigital]

The wierdest thing about the change to VB was that the biggest community forums (Mambers.com) setup in april is also using VB. There has been some rivalry between the two and now they look exactly the same.

The other wierdness is, the core devs are adamant that Mambo is *not* a community management system - it is a content management system. Thus they feel no obligation to integrate community features, or even use an integrated forum for their official site.

I think this attitude could scare off a large number of potential users, after all most people interesting in open source cms are wanting to setup community based sites not commercial ones.

I've almost been scared away from MOS myself, but it really is a very versatile bit of s/w. Considering TextPattern, looks good. And it needs an integrated forum btw

[jack]

sure, they could probably find a way to integrate vB with Mambo, but that would cause all kinds of problems as well.

Too true, we're experiencing that at Coppermine too - Invision and VBulletin are commercial products (and IPB has their own integrated gallery) ... there's little or no chance of the dev team actually being able to activley support either.

The amount of in-fighting at MOS seriously put me off it when I was looking for a CMS a few eeks back. It also seemed to lack the flexibility I needed, I've since plubped for Typo3 - time will tell if my insticts were right.

[Brat]

I too was shocked and deeply disappointed by the choice of vBulletin to power the forums for an OPEN SOURCE project. The most obvious problem, of course, is with issues of licensing and such. You simply CANNOT alter or otherwise customize vBulletin (and expect to distribute said alterations) without the express permission of the program creators - which, btw, they can rescend at a moment's notice.

But, even worse, is the obvious "slap in the face" this presents to outstanding OS forums (particularly YABBSE now SMF) which have been around for a LONG period of time, are proven quantities, and have outstanding programming teams who have the OS spirit and would be far easier to collaborate with.

The infighting with Mambo is NOT new, sadly. I've seen these sort of antics before with other products. Just hang around the OS community long enough - some crap is GUARANTEED to go down at some point.  Anyone remember some of the livelier 'Nuke discussions?

That said, I love Mambo for what it is - an outstanding, powerful, easily customizable CMS that allows me as a webmaster to spend more time improving and working on my site than fighting the software that's supposed to drive it. I WILL NOT allow the missteps of certain individuals to dissuade me from using it. Just gimme the code and let me do my thing, that's all I ask. If you find the official user community too daunting or unfriendly... there are others you can go to and find the same (or better) help.

Please do not let the idiotic actions of a handful of people turn you off to a fantastic product. Said individuals most probably do not represent the views of most of the community - trust me, more than the posters here were peeved about the choice of forum software.

You know how I get revenge? By using this forum software, by touting it to all who listen (I have four direct converts under my belt.  ), and by using SMF Mambo - which, BTW, is an absolutely FANTASTIC mod and my members and I are LOVING LIFE. I ran YABBSE for YEARS (starting with Version 1.4.0) and it NEVER died or corrupted data. Take THAT IPB!!! 

(Sorry... had to get THAT dig in)

I love Mambo. I loved YABBSE and am developing a wonderful relationship with SMF. I have them both working together. I fully and completely show my love of Open Source by supporting it however and wherever I can.

Viva OS!

Regards,
Brat.

[idigital]

Those were exactly my thoughts, although I made the mistake of voicing them in the official forum and then not letting a certain comment drop. I've recovered from that now, I was deeply shocked due to my own dedication to the Mambo software and my emotional investment in it as an Open Source project.

I've been out of touch with the web for a while, Mambo is the first Open Source project I've been involved with. I spent months investigating the various CMS projects out there, and learned about the infighting that seems to happen more to CMS projects than any other.  I almost chose e107 before the scriptkiddie drama over there and then chose Mambo for it's versatility and simplicity and also for it's apparent lack of drama.

This was at the end of March. Any mambers out there will remember the incredible drama that happened with Arthur Konze and another member of the community, resulting in the largest Mambo site vanishing overnight. Then it blew over and Arthur and several other members of the community setup a community forum named Mambers. Then much more drama ensued and all the moderators left. Then tension leading up to the release and then non-release of 4.6 exploding into the recent debacle.

I've heard since then that this is actually a common pattern, and similar eruptions have happened in the past.

So as far as I can see this is the result of a really good product attracting very creative people. Creative people can be very temperamental and even a bit crazy

I continue to develop for Mambo Open Source because it is great software and an ambitious project, I still love it. It would be nice if it incorporated community features, although the core developers have made it clear that MOS is a business-oriented content management system.

So any community features, usually a core part of any CMS, have to be developed by 3rd parties and installed independently.

SMF is a great candidate for a standard Mambo forum, I think it could quite easily become an essential add-on.

I'll be supporting this project and plan to develop modules etc. (called 'elements' in 4.6) for SMF/Mambo. It's a lot easier than phpBB as well 

[[Unknown]]

Well, you might be glad to hear that while there has been drama here too.... I hate it and try to avoid it .

If there's anything you think should be changed to make integration more plausable or flexible, please say so....

-[Unknown]

[idigital]

Good stuff, I'll be starting my research into this development today. I'm very interested in MOS as a community platform, the most important part of which is the forum. SMF looks like the best way to go

Cheers,

Damian