Guest Post Plus: Start new discussions and comment as guest

marikka

I couldn't believe I can't start new discussions as guest, so I created this extension.
This extension to Lussumo Vanilla enables you to post new discussion topics and comments to existing topics.

It's an evenings worth of work, so it's probably buggy and it has some known issues, but for me it works on a fresh Vanilla 1.1.2 install.

I'd love to improve on this and do things "right", but as I just started developing on Vanilla, I'm not sure which is the most elegant way to do things. Please test this and tell me what you think about it. If someone else confirms it's working I'll post it in the addons repository.

If you don't feel up to testing this on your own installation, you can check out my work in progress at: http://www.yomaa.org/vanilla


For this to work, you need to:
0. Download http://www.yomaa.org/files/guest_post_plus_01.zip
1. Create a new Guest user
2. Create a new Guest role
3. install both the guest_post_plus extension and theme.
4. Copy People.Class.GuestAuthenticator.php to library/People/
5. Add the following lines in conf/settings.php
$Configuration['AUTHENTICATION_MODULE'] = 'People/People.Class.GuestAuthenticator.php';
$Configuration['GUEST_USER_ID'] = ; //Set the id of your guest user here


Known issues:
-Account options links are shown in the panel, although you can't get to those options. What is the best way to get rid of those?
-Manual steps are involved. Is there a way to avoid manually copying the new authenticator and manually setting conf lines and creating the guest user and roles? Can the extensions run an install script to create the needed database objects?
-The name is terrible, please help me come up with a better one

Download url: http://www.yomaa.org/files/guest_post_plus_01.zip

Wanderer

I have not checked this out mate, I have no use for it and neither will you once you get hit by all the SPAM bots!

Be prepared!

Posted: Friday, 6 July 2007 at 9:50AM

marikka

@Wanderer

Of course SPAM countermeasures will be included once the core functionality is finished.

sstawarz

Has there been any update to this?

Wanderer

Guests should not be allowed to start new discusions period!

That is the definition of "guest" when it comes to forums (fora actually).

Then again people will learn through the grief that will surely follow such an implementation.

Fyorl

Oh well... if people want the option, they are entitled to it I suppose.

fysicsluvr

and you could incorporate the captcha extension if it's installed, for added "spam maintenance"

Wanderer

Good luck getting captcha to work, too many hoops to jump through.

sstawarz

Wanderer, I understand your opinion. I guess if you define guest and forums. Then, I don't want that.

Here's my ultimate goal:
I want to streamline or minimize the barrier to activity on the forum. What has more barrier to activity?

First you must Join, Then you can create a discussion.

-or-

Create a discussion as a "partaker" (or guest).

Obviously the second.
===

Let's look at some forum participation, what happens? You get interested in some thing. You visit a forum, there are some active users who visit and participate, you have lurkers. Then, you have some people who just have one question. They post their question and they are done, they will never come back after the question is answered. Why should that person have to Join and Why would I want that person to Join? Wouldn't it be easier and better if that person could just post their discussion?

===
Some ideal options:
*Using unobtrusive captcha such as css or javascript honeypots to prevent bots from attacking the forum.
*Maybe have all guest new discussions be moderated before they become active?
*Maybe have the join now forum integrated directly into a Start New Discussion Form.

Another metaphor: Some e-commerce stores, allow you to save your information to make it easier to buy next time, but you don't have to save.

You can enter your info each time you want to buy something.

Let's take that metaphor to a forum. As a "partaker" (or guest), If I want to "buy" a new discussion, I have to enter my info every single time.

So in theory, A guest hits Start Discussion, then, right in-line with the new discussion forms, the fields required for guest discussions could be there.
(email address and name and optionally captcha).

Obviously, that's not what this extension does, I was just seeing if this extension was active and adapt it to my needs. So far, every idea or thing I have needed, an extension has already been created. Why recreate the wheel.