Dolphin 7 Needs a Better Orca

I've been playing around a bit with Dolphin alpha, and I'm disappointed to find out that some desperately needed features will not be present. Unless this changes, I will have no choice but to integrate a third party forum. I was hoping that this would not be the case. Just adding a few simple features, can make Orca work for me, and I expect, many others.

At the very top of the list: Sub-groups

This is absolutely necessary if Orca is going to be a contender as a forum solution. Without this bare minum feature, Dolphin 7 users will again be using PHPbb. We need this to organize forums. Every other forum script provides this feature, so why not Orca. I could also make an argument for sub-forums, but Groups/Categories are much more important. Two levels of sub-groups should suffice for 99% of forum implementations.

Next on the list: Forum Display Options

When creating groups/sub-groups in admin, I'd like to be able to set the default sort order to alphabetical according to Group name. For threads, being able to sort by Thread title, Last post time, Thread start time, Number of replies, Number of views, Thread rating, or Thread starter..... then by ascending or descending.

I would not even mind if I had to give up all the AJAX features to get these things. I could even wait for subsequent releases of D7 to get all the bells and whistles.

What I Can't wait on, is the sub-groups feature. Without it, I will immediately need to use a third party forum/integration. I would rather not have to do that.

Thread/Forum Subscriptions

As pointed out by DeeEmm below, thread and forum subscriptions with notifications via email/PM is a feature present in all major forum scripts. THis is another must-have.

Moderation of Forums

As pointed out by Mydatery, and followed up by Tyke, this topic deserves a lot of attention. I won't spend a lot of time going over specifics... everyone, including Boonex, knows what forum moderation controls are.

mickyb(positive)

130 days ago


	Hey Huston, I know you are using Alpha, but my understanding is that it's not a full functioning script, maybe these issue will be resolved on the final release...

houstonlively

130 days ago


	I sure hope so. I'd really like to use D7 as-is without having to add a forum integration. I don't want to start creating a future upgrade nightmare from the start.

DeeEmm

129 days ago


	I generally don't mind orca, but like Mr Lively have been waiting for D7 to address some issues. Top of my list is email notification - what's the point of a forum if you never know that someone has posted a reply to your question / post / rant / rave or to a thread that you wish to watch? DM

tyke	129 days ago


	ive never been too sure about orca myself, while it does its job, it just doesnt do it well enough. Im a big fan of MYBB forums and run a few built with that and i have found myself wishing i could integrate that into my dolphin, and my future project. I really do hope the orca works out in the future,as it does seem a bit of a weak link at the moment and ive sometimes wondered if it was me that was missing something or some grand future design that orca had,because it really doesnt seem to match the quality of the rest of the dolphin package. although it does look at lot nicer now since the upgrade. Regards Tyke

LightWolf

129 days ago


	How is it that this blog can have 3 negative votes yet says no users when you click on the negative votes link?? I smell a rat..lol

houstonlively

129 days ago


	That's the voting system bug. Looks like Technotard is up to his/her/it's usual pathetic tricks.

mydatery

128 days ago


	Houston, you forgot even more important items that force Orca out and 3rd party forum scripts such as phpBB3 in, that is the ability to moderate/control the forums. Orca simply has almost no moderation controls and there are no mods we can install as of yet to give it those moderation controls. I hate to say it, but I won't be running D7 unless Orca becomes a full service type forum software as it's just not worth it to me with all the customized work I already have if I'm not getting something pretty major out of it.

tyke	127 days ago


	mydatery is right, the problem with not being able to easily moderate the forum is a real problem, so much i am having to be very careful about who i let join my site. If you get one spammer on the forum who floods the site, you might as well close it down. Ive seen spammers completely close down sites if they target them, and thats with moderation so they would have a field day on orca if they ever got in. It is one of the important issues that needs attention for orca. Im really surprised it hasn't been sorted in D7, Hopefully it will be. Regards Tyke

houstonlively

127 days ago


	I don't expect D7 Beta release to be put on hold, if these basic core features will not be present, But I would like to see Boonex make a commitment to address these deficiencies asap. An acceptable alternative would be for Boonex to design third party forum integrations directly into the Dolphin script, and let Dolphin users decide which forum solution to use. Yes..... I know.... you don't need to remind me that there are, and will be, mods available for purchase that will accomplish this. I also, DON'T want to be told to go hire a coder to integrate a third party forum. The advantages of these integrations being designed directly into the Dolphin script should be quite obvious.

houstonlively

125 days ago


	I'm going to take phpBB 3.0.5 off the list of acceptable third party forums. I installed it this weekend for evaluation. What a piece of crap. It's full of bugs. I'll give SMF a try.

houstonlively

125 days ago


	Forget SMF .... no sub-categories. That sucks. So far, a major bug in phpBB 3.0.5 and no sub-categories in SMF. I should have known better than to try something other than vBulletin or Invision.

houstonlively

125 days ago


	I had never tried it before, but I installed MyBB 1.4.8. So far, I really like it.

houstonlively

125 days ago


	MyBB has no built in wysiwyg editor.... I don't like MyBB anymore. Orca not having the necessary features sure is annoying.

houstonlively

124 days ago


	What?? No open source forum has a built in wysiwyg editor? I wasn't aware of that until today. I guess that shows how much I've used open source forums. SMF promises a wysiwyg editor, but it's not there yet, and the development of SMF is way too slow. This rules out me using any type of third party open source forum. The vast majority of internet users, probably have never had to create a forum post with BB Code cluttering the page, and I have no intention of introducing my site members to this archaic concept. At least Orca has this advantage over third party open source forums. So..... if i want categories and subcategories, moderation tools, and a wysiwyg editor, the choices are pretty narrow. 1. vBulletin 2. Invision Power Board 3. Orca, contingent upon the expanded functionality mentioned in this blog. Anybody want to bid on a Dolphin 7 - IPB integration? I listed this in the Jobs section once, but I didn't get a lot of responses. I also thought that it sucked that I couldn't post a comment in my own damn job listing. What genius came with that system?

CALTRADE

122 days ago


	Personally, I wish Boonex would dump Orca all together, and concentrate on integration with other open source forums. Most people seem to like vBulletin, but I wouldn't dismiss PHPbb so quickly - it has some faults, but also has a huge (and helpful!) support community. My main wish list for the forums includes the ability to "follow" a thread with email alerts - it really helps build a community, and is especially important for smaller or low volume sites (as they all are when they start).

kaution(positive)

59 days ago


	I've played around with forums scripts and would love to intagrate smf. smf does have subcatagories, they are called child boards. Plus the mods intall is a simple automatic package intallation. I never really like phpbb. play around with smf a little more.:)

Dolphin 7 Needs a Better Orca

At the very top of the list: Sub-groups

Next on the list: Forum Display Options

Thread/Forum Subscriptions

Moderation of Forums

Comments

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