I'm getting tired of punching in a Username and my e-mail address everytime I come back here. Any way you can set up the board to remember users would be really helpful.

Ok, I just looked and it says to e-mail the moderator for a user account. Is that really how it works? There has to be a way to switch on user registration somehow...

The way to switch on user registration is for us to pay $99 to Discus. In the meantime, email me. :)

ROFL... you'll just have to switch to Ultraboard then. :D

I think I still have the old install files hanging around if you're interested. It's FREE FREE FREE!

Heh -- what I meant was I can register you since I'm the admin, but you can't register yourself. Email me a user name and password and I'll register you, which will then let you use the "New Messages" option.

What's the URL for a page about Ultraboard? I'll look into it. I'm not really unhappy with Discus though. It seems pretty fast, which is what I like in web boards.

http://www.ub2k.com is the link. Apparently they only have the "pay" version anymore, though it's only $39.95. They used to have one free version that anyone could download and use. I may still have the zip for that on my PC at work. I'll check that out tomorrow.

The thing I liked about UB2K was the easy setup and more importantly it resembles Ultimate Bulletin Board which seems to be the de facto standard for web boards. Hell, even Evil Avatar had his ASP powered board visually resemble UBB. But a UBB license is ridiculously expensive.

Anyway, have a look at UltraBoard and I'll e-mail you a username and password too. :)

Looks nice. Does it do something that this Discus software can't do? I don't mind looking non-standard.

It'll give you out of the zip usage of usernames and passwords with user profiles. No extra configuration other than checking a box to enable it. You also have the option of locking out anonymous users if you're so inclined.

It tracks IPs, users, hits and can e-mail users when a thread they have posted to gets a reply. It also will e-mail the admin when someone sets up an account if you'd like. Color schemes are all configurable and the speed is good. You also won't see an ADMINISTRATION link that morons can try to hack through when you bring up the board.

I looked at Discus when I set up OGV and the biggest thing I didn't like was its setup. It looks cluttered to me, but that's just an opinion.

UBB is the best option but it can be slow and it hogs processor time. Ultraboard was a great compromise.

If you want to see more of the inner workings, send me an e-mail and I can set you up with admin access at OGV on the Reader's Voice board. I'm going to wipe it and start over soon anyway.

Well, here's what the commercial upgrade to Discus can do.

Private reading topics (password required to read discussions)

User self-registration (automatic, queued, or e-mail verified)

Automatic archiving and pruning by conversation length

Manual archiving and pruning by date

IP options (IP banning, IP-based authentication)

Message editing (users edit own messages within 30 minutes)

Message queueing (messages approved by moderators)

Backup and restore built in (reads and writes unix tar format)

Attachment uploading (documents, text files, binaries)

Cookie-based login (optional; selectable by users)

E-mail notification enhancements (selectable by subtopic or replies)

Enhanced user profiles (picture, personal information)

Log analysis tools (posting log and NCSA format server log)

Preferences of users stored to control board options

Export to other file formats (new in 3.10)

You can also make Discus look different. Here are a couple of links to boards that have been modified.

http://www.rebelpilots.com/discus/

http://www.asinglesecond.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard//ikonboard.cgi?bypass=true

http://www.coeliac.com/discus/

I've had a quick look through the help files, but can't find out if this is possible.

Is there any way to set it so that when registered, you can just see any new messages?

I realise you can go the "last day" approach, but that only works if you've been here within the last 24 hours. If you haven't been for say 28, you seem to be out of luck.

Westyx, I added you. You can now use the new messages option.