General site updates, TODO list and discussion

[novenary]

Yeah I still need to sort out my ethernet issues to hook up my server for the backup service.

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Is it because your ethernet port is broken? D: I had this happen on this computer I think, or maybe the ethernet card is dead. One day, for unexplained reasons, my wired connection stopped working entirely and I never could figure out how to connect this computer to a wired connection again. As a result, I am forced to use wifi.


EDIT: I also added a new sub-member group that is just a badge like the CW staff and DOmain name owner groups: Original 5, which defines the 5 people who founded this site. That way, even after retiring one day, they'll still keep their badge.

[Yuki]

UPDATE:

- The New bot on IRC should probably work I guess?

EDIT: Yep, it works. There's like 4 lines of code on SMF's side total (I should convert it to a mod, I have the diff if anyone wants it) and 17 lines of code as a plugin for EeeZorBot. If you're wondering, it's on EFNet because we needed ops there.

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Awesome! Keep in mind though that Omni used to have a similarly-working post notifier bot in 2011 or so and it caused many issues, so if possible you should give us instructions in the staff board on how to restart it.

Also what SMF file did you modify? Because modifying some source folder files will prevent future SMF upgrades. Converting it to a mod would definitively be a must (make sure it can uninstall fine).

EDIT: Bot doesn't work with Tapatalk D:



Btw a question: If someone's IP change, is there an easy way to add the new IP to our respective ZNC's and the new post bot for auto-ops? Otherwise that could become a problem in the future.

[Yuki]

I posted some instructions on the staff board please refer to it, including what to modify to make a mod. Also the bot is designed to run on 127.0.0.1 (the same server as the web server). And yeah I should probably look at how to make the post bot easily give ops and change its config.

[Dream of Omnimaga]

OK thanks. We need to keep SMF file modifiying to a minimum, to make it easy to upgrade. Currently, if SMF 2.0.10 came out tomorrow, then unless the package manager can workaround custom file code, then in order to upgrade, we would need to proceed as follow:

1) Manually revert the changes done to the site navigation bar (remove Downloads, the Forums sub-menu, About, Store and the extra options)
2) Remove the post notifier code
3) Upgrade via package manager
4) Re-add the post notifier code
5) Re-add the custom navigation

Regarding ops, we need a way to identify on boths and stuff, so if someone's IP change then ops are given automatically. I doubt it will happen on ZNCs tho.

As for site affiliation, as I said it will be limited to link exchanges when it comes to other sites. Right now, only BroniesQC (A Quebec-based MLP community) is affiliate and the first calc site to be is most likely gonna be Planète-Casio. Funny how all our affiliates use French.


Anyway here's the updated todo list for stuff that needs to be fixed before site opening (although Omnom lag is unlikely to get fixed by then, seeing the problem is more on Omnom side and Soru can't figure out)

-Fix massive lag issues caused by OmnomIRC (it's not as bad as it was before tonight since it doesn't affect the rest of the site, but Omnom text sending and loading still sometimes peak at 30 seconds)
-Setup regular automatic backups including a script letting me or someone else auto-download backups off-server, such as my own computer. (I currently backup stuff manually, which is effective, but not everyday since it's a little tedious)
-Finish configuring #codewalrus on Omninet and Freenode. Pimathbrainiac owns the Omninet chan so he might have to transfer its ownership to Street or Juju so that they can add other staff to the auto-ops list
-Split all ZNC/auto-oping bots accross three different connections for better EFnet security. Currently, they're all on CodeWalrus, so if CW goes down or server reboots then we're screwed.
-Disable MLOCK in the Omninet chan so it can be set -s (just +nt), since the channel is publicly available anyway. Same for Freenode if #KnightOS is also public, but not on EFnet due to spam


EDIT: forum theme collapse/expand icons were replaced.
I also moved affiliates out of the Like our site block, so that they are visible to guests.

[novenary]

Is it because your ethernet port is broken? D: I had this happen on this computer I think, or maybe the ethernet card is dead. One day, for unexplained reasons, my wired connection stopped working entirely and I never could figure out how to connect this computer to a wired connection again. As a result, I am forced to use wifi.

Nah it's just that I have two computers and a single 15M cable to hook up to the router so I need to hack some stuff up I guess (iirc ethernet only needs 2/4 pairs so I can probably split the cable).

Edit: indeed, two pairs are for power which is unused by 99% stuff (and PCs definitely don't use it) so I can sort this out when I go back to campus. If I need two comps there at all.

[Dream of Omnimaga]

On the member list, it is now possible to sort members by last post date:

http://codewalr.us/index.php?action=mlist;sort=last_post;start=0

It should also make it much easier to find out if someone has been active recently.

I would also like Karma to show up there, but the mod allowing such thing is SMF 1.1-only. D:

[Duke "Tape" Eiyeron]

Test failed?

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Ignore the post I deleted above (and check my previous one ). It was to check if post notifications worked in Tapatalk (and they do).

[Yuki]

Yay~

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Ok so now in addition to the last post date (and link to said post), the member list now shows when an user was last online.

You can now stalk your friends faster?

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Something that would be cool with the URL shortener is if it was possible to find a post in particular just by typing for example:

http://codewalr.us//1924
http://codewalr.us/0/1924
http://codewalr.us/*/1924

Or something like that. I don't know if it would be resource-intensive, though, but I guess when grabbing the post data it could check in which topic it's assigned to, if post data includes that.


Also the URL shortener now has an easter egg if you manage to find it (assuming you don't know yet).

[Duke "Tape" Eiyeron]

Hey, don't even try http://codewalr.us/42/1337 guys! :p

[Dream of Omnimaga]

Yeah, right, leaking it is magic.


Also I split urgent stuff in half since it's clear some will not be done before opening (such as fixing Omnom lag, which is out of our hands unless it's a server config issue). Some stuff was moved to the  new "must be done ASAP" section.


EDIT: Added post board select mod (when you start a new topic and realize you're not in the right section, then you just select the new board in a drop down rather than having to copy your post into clipboard then going back.)