In order to give MOD Authors ideas on MODs to write as well as get some old MODs within the Development forum into the MOD Database, we, the MOD Team, came up with the idea of MODding's Most Wanted back in December 2005. We are now announcing the second round of MODding's Most Wanted with new projects.
Before anyone asks, yes, some of these MODs do exist elsewhere. However, none of these have been submitted to our MOD Database, and therefore, they have not been validated to work on phpBB, have not been checked for security, etc. We want to see these projects in our MOD Database as 100% validated MODs so that the community can use these MODs while being assured that they have been validated by us for security and reliability.
Unlike the last MODding's Most Wanted, which involved an application/assignment process, we are instead going to allow anyone to jump up and get started on any of these projects. We strongly ask that you post a development topic in the MOD Development forum so that users can track your progress. When you have a development topic posted, send a PM to wGEric indicating which project you are working on and a link to your development topic. We will try to keep a running list of development topic URLs here. We also encourage you to add a (MMW) suffix to the topic title of your dev topic, and to the name of your MOD when you submit your MOD to the MOD Database, which will allow us to track your project as it progresses.
MOD Authors are encouraged to follow the MOD Database Requirements and phpBB Coding Guidelines while developing their MOD. We also hope that authors will submit their MOD to the MOD Database upon completion of their MOD for a validation by the MOD Team.
We hope that if multiple authors want to work on the same project, they will be able to work together on the project. However, if multiple authors want to work on the same project separately, we will allow this (and list both dev topics in our list here). Note, however, that we will not accept both MODs to the MOD Database unless they are somewhat different from each other in code and/or functionality (basically creating a "winner takes all" scenario).
Key:
Not Under Active development - MOD currently has no active developers (that we know of)
In the MODDB - MOD is in the MOD Database
Here is the list of projects you may choose to work on:
Forgot Username
MOD by DeViAnThans3, MOD by kkroo
A standard phpBB installation provides a way for a user to reset their password if they have forgotten what it is. It requires the user to enter their username and their email address, then sends them a new password. This is all fine as long as the user remembers their username. Sometimes they forget.
This MOD should add a function that allows a user to retrieve a forgotten username. It could present a form that requires the user to enter their email address (which is the only thing they may know at this point) and request a Username Reminder email. The email should only be sent to the email address specified, and only if the user account is currently valid and active.
The MOD could include an optional "Flood Control" that limits how many reminder emails can be sent to a specific email address, or even from the board in general. This would be done to prevent someone from bogging down the server by requesting a username reminder for the same user over and over, or by requesting a username reminder for every single user on the board.
Topic Ratings
MOD by drathbun
This MOD would allow users to rate topics. Users could rate on a thumbs up/thumbs down basis (similar to the system that digg uses) or by rating on up to X stars (with the max number of stars being set by the admin). The MOD could pick one of these methods, or (preferred) allow the admin to pick either method.
The MOD should tap into phpBB's authentication system to allow topic ratings to be enabled on a per-forum basis and to allow the admin to specify which groups are allowed to rate. It would also be a good idea to allow ratings to be moderated (able to be removed by moderators and/or admins) to deal with users that enter bogus ratings. Again, the ability to moderate should tap into phpBB's authentication system.
The MOD should also look into ways to promote highly-rated topics. For example, high-rated topics could be given a special post icon, users could receive a rating based on the average of the ratings of their topics, etc. The sky is the limit. Of course, these should all be accommodated with configuration options for the admin.
Syndication
MOD by Lord Le Brand
A MOD that forms an API to syndicating parts of phpBB to pages outside phpBB.
This should be capable of syndicating various parts through the API including:
- Recently posted topics
- Top posting users
- Recent replies
- Display a topic
- Display a post
- Other useful information
All configuration should be toggled through the admin panel, apart from interfacing with the API which is the job of the programmer. Examples of common uses should be included with the MOD, and have an installation level of Advanced.
Friend/Foe Lists
MOD by paul999
This is an idea that comes from one of the features upcoming in Olympus. This would allow users to maintain a list of other users on the board which are buddies (the Friend list) and a list of other users on the board which the user wants to ignore (the Foe list).
The Friend list identifies users that are good friends with the user, so a number of options in a user's profile could receive "Friends Only" options. For example, the "Always show my e-mail address" option could be set to Friends Only, so that only users who are on that user's Friend list would see that user's e-mail address. There are also a number of other things that could be done with the Friend list.
Users on the Foe list would be essentially ignored by that user, meaning any posts that are made by users on the Foe list would not be displayed. Of course, moderators and administrators would not be allowed to appear on this list, because they can not be ignored.
There should also be configuration options for the admin. Friend lists and foe lists can be enabled/disabled separately en masse by the administrator, and can also be enabled/disabled separately on a user-by-user basis. Certain forums (through phpBB's authentication system) can be set so that no posts in that forum are ignored, regardless of the contents of a user's Foe list.
This MOD should also be sure to maintain a 3.0 upgrade path.
I would highly recommend that the authors in this project install phpBB 3.0 beta and evaluate its implementation of Friend/Foe lists. Additionally, Ptirhiik's Profile Control Panel MOD includes a similar implementation.
Knowledge Base
MOD by MarkTheDaemon
A Knowledge Base MOD has been a very highly requested MOD, however it has never found its way into our MOD Database. This MOD would essentially establish a Knowledge Base which would be integrated into phpBB. The users of a board would be able to browse, post, etc. in the Knowledge Base using their same account on phpBB.
The Knowledge Base should be fully configurable from within the Admin Control panel. An admin would be able to set up categories for articles to be posted in (subcategories could be an available feature at MOD author's discretion). Permissions for the Knowledge Base should be able to be set on a per-category basis, similar to phpBB's Forum Permissions panel (with the same ALL/REG/PRIVATE/MOD/ADMIN groups). Permissions should be able to be set for any action that can be taken in the Knowledge Base, such as posting articles, commenting on articles, editing, deleting, etc. Users and/or groups can be assigned to moderate categories. The Knowledge Base should also integrate other phpBB technologies where appropriate, for example, BBCode for posting articles/comments.
Multiple PM Recipients
MOD by hmartin
This MOD would allow private messages to be sent to multiple users at once. This basically would allow such things as Mass PMing.
The MOD will need to implement a method for setting permissions for multiple PMs, after all, some admins probably wouldn't want to allow registered users to send messages to multiple users (possibility of spam). There are a couple of methods that could be explored here: one could be a plain enable/disable for different user statuses (registered users, group moderators, admins), another idea could be a setting for a maximum number of recipients that can be sent for the different user statuses, or an imitation of phpBB's authentication system could be done, etc. However this is handled, the emphasis should be on flexibility and effectiveness.
This MOD will also need to maintain a 3.0 upgrade path.
Logs
MOD by eviL<3, MOD by Brainy
This MOD is also a feature upcoming in Olympus: the ability to log actions on a board. Although there is already a logging MOD in the MOD Database, it only covers basic moderation actions and hasn't been updated since 2003. This project has two parts: creating an effective system for logging actions, displaying the logs, and managing the logs; and allowing various actions in a default phpBB installation to be logged.
There should be four logs: an Admin Log, a Moderation Log, a User Log, and an Error Log. The Admin Log will cover actions taken in the Admin Control Panel. The Moderation Log will cover moderation actions taken (edit topic, delete, move, lock, etc.). The User Log will cover general actions that users take (editing profile, new topic, posted reply, send PM, etc.). The Error Log will cover any GENERAL_ERROR or CRITICAL_ERROR errors that were displayed with message_die(). Logs will need to include information (where appropriate) such as the time the action was logged, the user that triggered the action, the IP address at the time the action was logged, and links to the topic or page.
The actions should be loggable by calling a basic function and passing information to it. This will also allow other MODs to add loggable actions through the basic function call. For example:
Code: Select all
if (function_exists('add_log'))
{
add_log(USER_LOG, $time, $user_ip);
}This MOD will also need to maintain a 3.0 upgrade path.
I would highly recommend that the authors in this project install phpBB 3.0 beta and evaluate its implementation of logs.
Warnings/Ban Manager
MOD by paul999, MOD by Frogger.cod
Although there are some MODs like this (one by GUI, one by Wooly Spud, and one by neils), these date back to 2003, and this is another highly requested feature for our database.
This MOD should provide a way to send users a warning--basically a "you better stop that" message for when they're doing something wrong. This should be accessible by moderators and administrators. When a warning is issued, there should be a place for the moderators to leave (or not leave) a message regarding why the warning was issued--this can be PM'ed (or e-mailed) to the user if the moderator so chooses to notify them. These warnings should have a time when they will expire--and after x warnings, a certain ban-related action should take place.
The MOD should also provide a location to manage a list of banned users, including the ability to set timed bans (bans will timeout after a certain length of time has passed, or at a certain timepoint), and be able to list a reason for the ban that will be displayed to the user, and a private reason for it that will only be displayed to the administrators.
This MOD should have an EXTENSIVE Admin Settings interface, as well as maintain a 3.0 upgrade path. The admin settings should mostly deal with what to do when a warning is issued, after how many warnings to set bans, and what kind of ban to automatically set, etc. Basically, put as many configuration options as possible here.
See also the abandoned MMW round 1 project topic.
Advertisement Manager
MOD by -SV-
This MOD will add a new admin page that lets you easily add, change, and remove advertisements from different places on your board. Some places where advertisements could be placed are, the header, sidebar, footer, within posts (customizable on how often and where the ads are shown in viewtopic.php), etc. You should also be able to choose who views the advertisements (only guests, everyone, only registered users, etc).
Resources:
http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article.php?article_id=342
http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article.php?article_id=18
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=306680
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=201500
Custom Profile Fields
MOD by Noobarmy or MOD by Prince of phpbb
This MOD will let an admin create custom profile fields. The field types should include textareas, text input boxes, radio buttons, and checkboxes. You should be able to edit these profile fields from the edit profile page as well as be able to see what users have put in these fields on the view profile page. Admins should also be able to edit what users have put in these fields from the ACP.
Other things you may want to consider when applying for this MOD is how others could hook into the code (simplified function calls / API to add/remove profile fields), and an upgrade path to 3.0
Resources:
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=153754
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=150925
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=320065
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=86960
See also the abandoned MMW round 1 project topic.
Happy MODding!
The phpBB MOD Team
