Why re-invent the wheel?
For whatever reason, a self contained D6 forum module was never allowed to be included in the official modules but I've worked with this module quite a bit and I believe it is SERIOUSLY worth looking at, even if for just a basis or starting point or maybe even, if nothing else, a proof of concept. It can be found here: http://www.richardpeacock.com/blog/2010/10/rp-forum-drupal-6-module
It has most (if not all) the features all the "big" forums have such as:
Features (included without additional modules!)
Ability to ban users based on IP and IP ranges
How best to use Views for threads or is it even needed?
I originally intended to use EFQ to list the posts in a single thread because I didn't see any advantage in using Views for this list. But at DrupalCon, I spoke with fubhy and he recommended going with Views. I'm a little fuzzy on the arguments (it was late night after Friday's sprint :) ) but one that stands out is being able to add and re-arrange the various fields on a post.
I decided to go that route but, when I actually went to implement it, I ended up unsure how best to proceed.
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Read moreArtesian: Forum permissions and access
The core Drupal permission system is nice for simple permissions but not up to the detailed level of permissions that a good forum needs. We need not only global permissions but also forum-specific ones. For example:
create threads
create threads in foo
create threads in bar
create foothreads [a subtype of thread]
create foothreads in foo
create foothreads in bar
etc...
In addition, we need to be able to hook into OG's permission system for group forums.
Trying to handle all that in hook_permission() is insanity.
Read moreArtesian: Roadmap
Update Jan 6: I simplified the roadmap for now. While working on phase 1, I realized that I'm not ready to make even a tentative roadmap of anything beyond getting the core done, yet. While I know all the stuff that will be added, it's too hard to say even roughly what order they will be added. I thought the style system would be after the core but I think that may get worked on in Phase 1 instead. So, for now, keeping this simple. During / after Phase 2, I will write a more detailed roadmap.
Update Feb 10: Still getting messy. :) I keep working on it and it gets more and more polished in some areas but there's still a lot of rough stuff and I still find myself changing data structures and making other massive changes frequently enough that I'm not ready to leave the comfort of the sandbox, yet. I think (hope?), though, that I'm nearing the end of the tornado changes and getting closer to having something basically usable.
Read moreArtesian: Feature set
This is an initial stab at a feature list that I wrote a couple of months ago. It's mostly a brain dump and needs to be gone over, improved, and worked into a proper roadmap.
FORUMS
Forums can be categories (containers), normal forums, or link forums with the ability to add new forum types. Forums are entities and fieldable.
Categories and forums can be nested with post information from all subforums aggregated and shown on the front page.
One thread type included but more can be added.
Artesian: Initial brainstorming
This document is from my first start on Artesian last May, moved over here from the Forum Improvements group. I ended up having to put Artesian on hiatus all summer due to illness and another project with a deadline. I'll be starting back in on it, soon, and will be writing more documents to plan out each bit. I've moved this over here for reference of my initial thoughts.
Entities
Forum entity
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