Static forums

[Jimmy]

I have been looking at vb for a couple of days. I see a lot of features that I do not have with UBB. What I need most is a static forum or a way to have the forum remain static meaning have the messages remain in the same order day in and day out. We really need the FAQ and Updates on the BB. I use the forums as a helpdesk to support our user group and mailing list for Becky Internet Email. Our UBB is at http://www.morelerbe.com/cgi-bin/ubb-cgi/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro I'd appreciate it someone could tell me if this is possible. We just purchased a new license for UBB 2 months ago but it seems their focus is on OT. We are member supported and the members want and need this feature.

[eva2000]

yeah the only thing close is in the announcement function....

i also would like to see static post or a post fixed at the top of the forum which allows members to make replies to them

[JimF]

Wouldn't that be similar to a threaded board - but without the replies visible from the listing page. I mean, it's the same theory.

[Jimmy]

Originally posted by JimF
Wouldn't that be similar to a threaded board - but without the replies visible from the listing page. I mean, it's the same theory.

Not really I should have explained the request better. We run what is essentially a help site. We have every type of information about the program on the web site. What we were trying to do when we installed UBB 2 years ago was cut do on the private messages we have to answer, create a forum and community. We are now using links which do not work very well, we still get 20 private messages a day.

What is needed is a linear format with the questions and answers static. If It shows new posts then it is not what we need because we do not want posts to the forum. We can lock the forum easily. What can not do is keep the FAQ static so that any time a user comes to the site all the FAQ questions and answers are visible without a search or changing the number of days visible. Basically we will integrate the entire site into the BB. No more PGP, FAQ and no more Getting Started. With Mysql and PHP we should have the ability to do it. It may take a hack but it should be possible.

We are very adamant about making a change from UBB, it is just a matter of finding out how the vb works then getting down to work. We have to do something, it is difficult for 3 people to spend 3 years on a non profit project without any relief. Yes we are member supported which menas Brian and I get to pay all the bills and the other 300 people get to complain.
Jimmy

[Susan]

I may be totally off here in what I'm thinking you're looking for is the announcements feature. You can set up a graphic that says FAQ at the top of every forum and use html in the announcement to make targets on that announcement page to different questions/answers and set the announcement to appear for 10 years. It'll stay on top and always be viewable. But if you don't ever want to allow posting on the forum, you can set that up with usergroups, set up the board default to show all topics and feed in the faq post by post.

Hope this helps,

Susan

[Jimmy]

Originally posted by Susan
I may be totally off here in what I'm thinking you're looking for is the announcements feature. You can set up a graphic that says FAQ at the top of every forum and use html in the announcement to make targets on that announcement page to different questions/answers and set the announcement to appear for 10 years. It'll stay on top and always be viewable. But if you don't ever want to allow posting on the forum, you can set that up with usergroups, set up the board default to show all topics and feed in the faq post by post.

Hope this helps,

Susan

We want to put the questions in the subject and the answers in the message body. We only want to use this format for 2 or 3 forums. All the other forums will be used normally by the members.

[Susan]

Easily done....set the forum permissions for those forums so that only admins can post in them and the rest can only view/search. Set your board up so that by default all posts are shown (most users don't mess with those settings at first anyway). Post the questions as the subjects and the answers as the posts and voila...you're set. :)

Hope this helps,

Susan

[Jimmy]

Thanks we should be looking at a license some time next week. I hope it works out, at any rate I think this is the best way for us to proceed. I'll lurk for awhiile between new beta releases of our software and plugins. Hopefully we will not need any help but when we start a few suggestions may be helpful. Thanks to everyone again.
Jimmy