FAQ and anticipated questions

[TerraFrost]

So, you've found a hack (of mine) that doesn't work? If you're unsure of what to do, the following questions and answers (based off of questions that have been asked of me) should (hopefully) eliminate any questions you might have.

1. Why doesn't hack X work?
2. What can be done to fix it?
3. What does x.x.x (or x.xx) mean, in your mod changelogs?
4. Can you tell me anything about any hack in particular, off hand?
5. On phpbb.com, yawnmoth is listed as the author. Why?
6. Where have your mods been featured?
7. What other php-related projects are you working on?

[TerraFrost]

Most likely, because your server / phpBB board is configured differently than mine. Try as I may to account for every other possible configuration, there is, quite simply, no way I am going to account for them all.

[TerraFrost]

I would first recommend posting your problem in this forum. The reason for this is two fold. First, you'll be able to get feedback from others who might have overcome the problem. Second, posting publically will make it easier for others, having the same problem, to find information on that problem.

Depending on the nature of the problem, I may ask that you create a temporary FTP account for me on the server hosting the phpBB board in question (and tell me over PM), so that I may debug the script, myself. The alternative - debugging by proxy - is quite burdensome to all parties involved. As an example, say that I was debugging a hack, and only stumbled upon the right idea after trying nineteen other things. If each of these things took me 3 minutes to try, debugging that hack might take me around an hour. If I were to debug via proxy, and if you only visited the board once every three days, then it would take me three days to try each problem (assuming no clarification was needed). If I were to come up with the right solution on the twentieth attempt, that would be almost two months! Do you really want to wait that long? I sure wouldn't want to.

[TerraFrost]

This is my way of saying what features I would like to add, in the future. x.x.x (and x.xx) is supposed to represented an undetermined version that's later than the current one.

[TerraFrost]

(in no particular order)

first, make sure you're using the latest version of ea. hack (you can click on the green colored text to get the latest versions)

Block DNSBL Blacklisted Registrants v1.0.0
Block Open Proxy Registrants v1.0.7

1. does not work on servers that don't have networking functions (such as fsockopen) enabled.
2. be sure that when you are testing it, the IP address you are using is indeed a proxy.
3. won't detect really slow proxies, ones on non-standard ports, or on cgi / socks proxies.

phpBB Back Up v1.11

1. when using this hack to ease the transfer of the board from one server to another, a few instructions are going to be added, at some point.
2. The automatic backup feature requires that the same networking functions that the Block Open Proxy Registrants hack uses be enabled.
3. Did you remember to chmod 757 the backup dir?

Force Word Wrapping v1.0.17

1. won't work with characters that are larger than normal, or characters that are indented in (by blockquote, for example). i can't even begin to comment on the feasability of the later, as i have no idea how to do it, but i can say that the former is just not worth the effort it would take to get it working. i'd have to first detect the size of the font, by the font tag, and then i'd have to determine how wide that makes the fonts. since most fonts use variable width characters, the only way i can see doing that involves using the gd php library, or something, which, all in all, is a bit overkill.

Shared Registration v1.0.1

1. won't work if the other boards have a diff. database type than the orig. board.

Secure Login v1.0.0

1. won't work if the client doesn't have javascript enabled

Hide Zero Posters v2.0.0
Copy Users v2.0.7

1. people copying over lots and lots of users (well in excess of 4,000) will run into difficulties. errors stating that the sql query is too large or that the database has timed out may pop up. further, lots of RAM may be consumed. the only real solution to this (which would also require an almost complete rewrite) is to not load all the users into an array and to check whether or not the emails / usernames already exist through sql queries. the only problem with this, though, is that it would take a lot of sql queries, which could take up a lot of CPU resources, and could be a hinderance to people running on hosts that limit the number of sql queries that can be run.

Save Admin Userlist Sort Order v1.0.0
Deter Comment Spam v1.0.1
Highlight Google Keywords v1.0.0
Fix Caret Bug v1.0.1
Fix Session Error v1.0.1
Categories Hierarchy Moderator Fix v1.0.0

(the mods that are incompatable with windows can be fixed if anyone expresses any interest in having them fixed and if they provide me temp. access to a windows server such that i may test 'em out on it)

[TerraFrost]

yawnmoth is the handle I used on all message boards until mid-2002, during which time, I changed my name on a single message board to TerraFrost (the reasons behind this name change are unrelated to the question). It wasn't until mid-2003 that I started using the name TerraFrost on all boards (that I wasn't already signed up on). Because I registered for both phpbb.com and phpbbhacks.com in late-2002, the name I used was yawnmoth. This is, incidently, when this board was installed. IIRC, in mid-2003, I started working on my first phpBB related script (and indeed - my first php script) - Copy Users.

So that's why hacks released by me on phpbb.com are released under the name yawnmoth. I'd change my name to TerraFrost if I could, but alas - I don't think I can. Also, in heindsight, I probably should have just created a new account with the name TerraFrost to submit my hacks under that account, but ya know what they say - heindsight is 20/20.

[TerraFrost]

as part of phpbb-host.com's paid hosting package:
Force Word Wrapping

as part of phpNet:
Fix Caret Bug
Fix Session Error

on pitcher.no:
Force Word Wrapping

on phpbb2.de:
Force Word Wrapping

on phpbb.com:
Block Open Proxy Registrants
Fix Caret Bug
Fix Session Errror
Force Word Wrapping
Deter Comment Spam
Hide Zero Posters
Save Admin Userlist Sort Order
Log IP Address on Registration

on phpbbhacks.com:
Block Open Proxy Registrants
Copy Users
Fix Caret Bug
Fix Session Error
Force Word Wrapping
Hide Zero Posters
phpBB Back Up
Secure Login
Shared Registration
Deter Comment Spam
Block DNSBL Blacklisted Registrants
Highlight Google Keywords

in misc. premodded phpBB distro's:
phpBB vb/ps (Force Word Wrapping)

Translations
Force Word Wrapping German

http://www.billy2423.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=138

[TerraFrost]

although i've undertaken a number of other php related projects, the only one that i consider to be in a releaseable state is this one:

Frost Jedi Graemlin Creator
Frost Jedi Open Proxy Detector