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jchunn
Starting Member
USA
3 Posts |
 Posted - 30 June 2002 : 16:52:16
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If someone will put together a list of requirements, along with the priority of each requirement, I will start to work on this mod in my spare time. I have already worked out the technical issues with POP3, so the hard part is done.
I have VERY LITTLE spare time, so if the requirements are clear it will allow me to work much more productively and I can get the mod done faster. I have never built a mod for snitz before, so any advice or help will be appreciated. Also, since this topic seems to be moving very slowly, you might want to email me directly after posting here so I can be reminded to check back. My email address is jchunn@standardio.com.
Keep in mind that whatever I build will require the .Net framework, so if that doesn't work for you, you should keep looking for someone to build the mod.
"It is better to open your mouth and remove all doubt that you are stupid than to keep it shut and be hit by a truck."
Jesse Chunn |
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Jeepaholic
Average Member
USA
697 Posts |
Posted - 30 June 2002 : 21:12:41
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Hey Jesse. Glad to see my post is still getting some interest after all this time! Interested to see how you got some of the POP3 things worked out with .NET. I messed with it a couple months ago and got close, but never was able to correctly parse the messages and got busy again...so I had to drop it. Will you be writing in C# or VB?
Here are my thoughts on what it needs to be able to do (some of this is reiteration and gathering of other peoples posts):
Features I feel HAVE to be included:
1) After creating a user account on-line, one can be forwarded to a special on-line subscription page that lists the categories and forums that allow email subscription. The user will select checkboxes (or something) and click submit. That account will then recieve emails of all posts in selected forums.
2) Ability to edit and modify subscriptions using a similar interface (if not the same one) as #1
3) When an email is sent to a user, the previous X (5?) posts will be copied below it in reverse chronological order.
4) All messages are sent in plain text...linked images are shown as links only (I think this will be much simpler than messing with HTML, but that's just me)
5) When a user replies to a post, the reply will have to have a very particular email address that is parsed by the server, which determines where the post needs to go (category, forum, topic, etc). It could simply include the database numbers of these items ###-###-###@domain.com or something to that effect.
6) When the server receives the message it seems that we will always have to quote the previous message (or X characters of it to keep them small) so that people know what particular message the user is replying to. I don't see many other ways around this...but needs discussion none-the-less.
7) The server needs to listen on a port specified by the owner of the server, as they may have other mail servers listening. For example, on mine, I believe I would simply have to forward emails of a particular domain to this forum-mail server. Or, possibly, it could be configured to be the first listener, and will forward everything it doesn't recognize as forum-mail to the other mail server. I prefer the prior, myself.
8) Ability to put ALL posts receiption on hold, and reinstate receipt of them via email.
9) New posts will have to be sent to the appropriate forum and category (email address). I think a possible solution would be for the user to send a message to post@domain.com, have the system queue the message in a side-database, send back a list of categories and forums (with descriptions) and LINKS to the poster. All the user would have to do is click on the link they want it posted to, a browser window would pop up, accept the query string, and post the queued message to the appropriate place. One extra step, but considering the complexity of forums and categories, etc...I don't see it as a major issue.
10) All users will receive their own emails. People like that verification that it went through.
11) I don't feel forum code should be allowed here if we are not sending HTML emails. The users could be sending terribly coded messages that mess up the forum, but would not know the difference because we're only sending them back plain text.
12) Forum code needs to be stripped from emails. Links and such may remain.
Features that would be nice, or could be v2 releases:
1) Ability to create a Snitz user account via email
2) Ability to acquire a list of all categories and forums via email, with the ability to subscribe to various ones via email.
3) Unsubscription to categories, forums, etc via email.
4) I see digests working in the following manner...each topic gets one digest message. If you lump them all into one, you'll have no idea who the user is replying to. So, each topic gets it's own email. This will still substantially reduce the inbox level. All replies to the forum will post without any quoting. Digests would read oldest to newest (chronologically)
I'm probably forgetting some things, but I think this is a good start... 
Al Bsharah
Jeepaholics Anonymous |
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tminor
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 30 June 2002 : 23:19:15
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Al
Just a reminder. I exchanged emails with Jesse this morning, regarding the listserve feature and he told me that he is using a dotNet to develop it. So Snitz users do not even have access to SQL, much less support for dotNet.
While this may pose a problem for some, an increasing number of hosting services are beginning to offer ASP.NET at reasonable rates. Does your web hosting service support ASP.NET?
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Jeepaholic
Average Member
USA
697 Posts |
Posted - 01 July 2002 : 00:52:14
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I host my own servers and program in .NET for a living, so I'm totally cool with it. I realize it isn't beneficial to a majority of the community, but...if Jesse's coding, it's his call. Odds are this is going to be more of a "Windows application" as opposed to a "web application" anyway, so one will have to have full access to the servers anyway. I doubt most web hosting companies will allow a user to install an executable anywhere...DotNET or not...
Al Bsharah
Jeepaholics Anonymous |
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tminor
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 02 July 2002 : 05:19:19
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I'm impressed. Unfortunately, I'm not so skilled. marketing and content are my specialties, but I like to pretend I am a programmer. unfortunately, reality keeps getting in my way.
I have found some hosts that will allow you to install executables after the tech staff reviews it. I have not tested them yet. i guess i will find out soon if when Jesse comes through.
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blackinwhite
Average Member
Turkey
657 Posts |
Posted - 02 July 2002 : 06:37:21
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huuh, woow this is really impressive.
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joemesda
Starting Member
USA
17 Posts |
Posted - 24 July 2002 : 17:27:26
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Glad to see some new activity - Hey Jesse - Thanks!
Is there any way to preserve forum code in the messages with this add-on?
joemesda |
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