OrangeFirefly
PARKED
User Power
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0% - New User
- Jun 5, 2011
- 11
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Hi guys,
This is my first post here, haven't posted an intro but there's not much to say in it either, like most new folks around here I want OUT, had a few "initiatives" in the past, mostly blogs, with one of them I even made more than $10 from some projectwonderful ads lol. I've been trying for some time now to get out, but in hindsight I was only half-hearted into it, didn't really give 100%, almost nobody does, that why so few manage to actually do it. I think at least 99% of people have it in them to succeed, if only they gave their 100%. After finding this forum (which I've been lurking for a while now) and reading MJ's book (which was a real eye opener thanks MJ btw) I got new motivation and I'm sure your (guys') enthusiasm and mentality rubs off on me. But enough of that already.
The idea I'm working on and I intend to "journal' here step by step is an old pet peeve of mine, and that's that "I hate" forums and their clumsy navigation systems. I can't be the only one. So I started working on something to change this. In my dreams, you guys will be reading this forum using my client in the not-so-distant future.
I'm creating this thread here for many purposes, one of which is also to test whether this "public accountability" thing works or not - yeah I know it's just an anonymous account on some internet forum but still it's a part of me. Another purpose is to get your feedback and advice on the project. Since you guys are potential users of the software, another reason is to market it. Another is to get beta testers. And another is that my intuition says so, and I'll own up to being a little our of my comfort zone here writing stuff, but settling in quite nicely lol
Right. So now with the intro and the idea and everything out of the way. Where am I now.
So far I've put about 10-30 hours into it, didn't really keep track. I started to build a proof of concept, to see if the thing stands or not. Goal is to build an outlook-like client for forums.
Coding in C# (for the programmers), parsing HTML from the forum sites. While prototyping I got hit by the idea that obviously the client cannot stand alone, because all forums use different platforms, different themes, so the HTML is different even for the same platform. I would have to manually write code to support each particular forum site out there, and then when that forum upgrades to a new version or changes the theme or whatever, the client would stop working. I had hoped that all platforms would have the same tags or whatever, something I could reuse, so I could only write a client for vBulletin and one for phpBB for example, but it didn't work out. The prototype works, but only with two sites that I wrote code for, and it doesn't work well either.
The client can't stand alone. It needs support on the server side too (this is both an inconvenient, and an opportunity - more on that later). What this means is that each forum admin who wants his forum supported by my client has to upload a piece of code ("the protocol") to his server. I don't have this piece of code.
Apart from the prototype, I've bought a domain and got a wordpress up and running on it, called the prototype "beta" and made it available for download. I won't give the site name just yet because it's the first post and I don't want an IP ban for spamming
but I'll share it later though it shouldn't be difficult to find even now for whoever is interested, if anyone.
I've (shyly) contacted about 3 forum admins to try and get them into a beta program, two said not interested, one said sounds interesting and then said nothing. Guess I need to first have all the pieces to show someone, before starting cold mailing around. I'm sure the soft brings value, good value, to many users, but it don't bring no value if it don't work, right?
The server side protocol is an inconvenient because I don't know my php that well, and I don't have much time to go through tutorials again click click install this install that configure that, also vBulletin seems to have its own API, another thing to learn. And having job + < 1 yo kid my time on the project is fragmented and little. It's an opportunity because forum admins will see potential value in it, they could (if I do the soft right) charge users for access through the client, or charge them for ad-free access or whatever. Yeah I'm losing on the Control side but I still think it's a worthwhile idea to pursue.
So as I was saying I'm at a stage now where I've figured out that before I "launch" I need to do this client (of which I have an ugly but working prototype) and to implement the server side of the protocol.
OK enough for the first post already, it got longer than I intended, thanks for reading this far. I intend to keep posting daily if I make and progress on that day, if not I'll post whenever there's progress. I hope some people will find this useful, and learn something, as I have learned from other progress threads here too.
Cheers!
O.F.
This is my first post here, haven't posted an intro but there's not much to say in it either, like most new folks around here I want OUT, had a few "initiatives" in the past, mostly blogs, with one of them I even made more than $10 from some projectwonderful ads lol. I've been trying for some time now to get out, but in hindsight I was only half-hearted into it, didn't really give 100%, almost nobody does, that why so few manage to actually do it. I think at least 99% of people have it in them to succeed, if only they gave their 100%. After finding this forum (which I've been lurking for a while now) and reading MJ's book (which was a real eye opener thanks MJ btw) I got new motivation and I'm sure your (guys') enthusiasm and mentality rubs off on me. But enough of that already.
The idea I'm working on and I intend to "journal' here step by step is an old pet peeve of mine, and that's that "I hate" forums and their clumsy navigation systems. I can't be the only one. So I started working on something to change this. In my dreams, you guys will be reading this forum using my client in the not-so-distant future.
I'm creating this thread here for many purposes, one of which is also to test whether this "public accountability" thing works or not - yeah I know it's just an anonymous account on some internet forum but still it's a part of me. Another purpose is to get your feedback and advice on the project. Since you guys are potential users of the software, another reason is to market it. Another is to get beta testers. And another is that my intuition says so, and I'll own up to being a little our of my comfort zone here writing stuff, but settling in quite nicely lol
Right. So now with the intro and the idea and everything out of the way. Where am I now.
So far I've put about 10-30 hours into it, didn't really keep track. I started to build a proof of concept, to see if the thing stands or not. Goal is to build an outlook-like client for forums.
Coding in C# (for the programmers), parsing HTML from the forum sites. While prototyping I got hit by the idea that obviously the client cannot stand alone, because all forums use different platforms, different themes, so the HTML is different even for the same platform. I would have to manually write code to support each particular forum site out there, and then when that forum upgrades to a new version or changes the theme or whatever, the client would stop working. I had hoped that all platforms would have the same tags or whatever, something I could reuse, so I could only write a client for vBulletin and one for phpBB for example, but it didn't work out. The prototype works, but only with two sites that I wrote code for, and it doesn't work well either.
The client can't stand alone. It needs support on the server side too (this is both an inconvenient, and an opportunity - more on that later). What this means is that each forum admin who wants his forum supported by my client has to upload a piece of code ("the protocol") to his server. I don't have this piece of code.
Apart from the prototype, I've bought a domain and got a wordpress up and running on it, called the prototype "beta" and made it available for download. I won't give the site name just yet because it's the first post and I don't want an IP ban for spamming
but I'll share it later though it shouldn't be difficult to find even now for whoever is interested, if anyone.I've (shyly) contacted about 3 forum admins to try and get them into a beta program, two said not interested, one said sounds interesting and then said nothing. Guess I need to first have all the pieces to show someone, before starting cold mailing around. I'm sure the soft brings value, good value, to many users, but it don't bring no value if it don't work, right?
The server side protocol is an inconvenient because I don't know my php that well, and I don't have much time to go through tutorials again click click install this install that configure that, also vBulletin seems to have its own API, another thing to learn. And having job + < 1 yo kid my time on the project is fragmented and little. It's an opportunity because forum admins will see potential value in it, they could (if I do the soft right) charge users for access through the client, or charge them for ad-free access or whatever. Yeah I'm losing on the Control side but I still think it's a worthwhile idea to pursue.
So as I was saying I'm at a stage now where I've figured out that before I "launch" I need to do this client (of which I have an ugly but working prototype) and to implement the server side of the protocol.
OK enough for the first post already, it got longer than I intended, thanks for reading this far. I intend to keep posting daily if I make and progress on that day, if not I'll post whenever there's progress. I hope some people will find this useful, and learn something, as I have learned from other progress threads here too.
Cheers!
O.F.
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Plus it sounds ethical. Makes me get ideas right now: "automatic cold mailing sofware - reach millions with one press of a button")
(and if you do let me know cause that would be really freaking cool).
issed:
