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Newest 10 Entries
Question | What is post history and why is it important? |
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Answer | Post history tracks changes made to forum posts, including edits and deletions. This feature helps monitor for inappropriate edits or attempts to cover up spam or rule violations. Staff can review the history, restore deleted content, or even permanently erase it. |
Question | Can I moderate content in Composr forums? |
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Answer | Yes, Composr provides various moderation tools for managing forum content. Moderators can edit or delete posts and topics, move topics between forums, close or open discussions, and validate content submitted by users who require approval. These are done in an actions dropdown on a topic, or through buttons on individual posts. |
Question | What is the "black hole" technique and how does it work? |
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Answer | The "black hole" technique involves adding hidden fields to forms. While invisible to human users, bots often detect and fill these fields, revealing their nature. Composr uses this information to flag and block suspected spam submissions. |
Question | How can I report spam in Composr? |
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Answer | You can report spam using the "report this" link or "report" (forum post button) feature. This alerts staff to the issue, allowing them to investigate and take appropriate action, such as deleting the spam, warning the user, or banning them. It also creates a Support Ticket between the reporter and staff in case the staff need further information. |
Question | What are Remote Block Lists (RBLs)? |
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Answer | RBLs are third-party lists that track IP addresses associated with spamming activity. Composr can be configured to consult these lists and block or flag requests from suspicious IPs. However, relying solely on RBLs may lead to false positives, as some lists are overly broad. |
Question | What are CAPTCHAs and how do they work? |
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Answer | CAPTCHAs are tests designed to differentiate between human users and bots. Composr's unique CAPTCHA method uses CSS and JavaScript to generate images or audio challenges that are difficult for bots to solve. While effective, some spammers use human workers to bypass CAPTCHAs, leading to the need for additional anti-spam measures. |
Question | How does Composr prevent spam? |
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Answer | Composr offers several tools and techniques to combat spam, including:
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Question | What is the "Sitemap" in Composr, and how is it used? |
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Answer | The Sitemap is a hierarchical representation of your website's content, including zones, pages, categories, and entries. Composr generates the Sitemap dynamically and uses it for various purposes:
You can edit the sitemap under Admin Zone > Structure > Sitemap editor. |
Question | Can I change the URL scheme after my website is already live? |
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Answer | Yes, you can enable or change a URL scheme on an existing website. Old URLs will redirect to the new format, ensuring that your SEO isn't negatively impacted. The canonical URL will also be specified in your website's HTML, further protecting your search rankings. |
Question | How do URL schemes work, and what are the benefits of using them? |
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Answer | URL schemes allow you to control the structure of your website's URLs. Composr offers several schemes that create shorter, more user-friendly URLs:
Benefits of using URL schemes include:
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Top 10 Entries
Title | Installation |
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Icon | ![]() |
Description | Quick installer: Our self-extractor allows faster uploads and will automatically set permissions. Wizard-based installation Auto-scans for compatibility problems: Be informed of problems before installing Get your site up and running in just a few minutes Keep your site closed to regular visitors until you're happy to open it Configures server: Automatically generates an htaccess file for you (for Apache). Auto-detection of forum settings for easy integration Install test content |
Title | Web Pages |
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Icon | ![]() |
Description | Add virtually unlimited pages to your site WYSIWYG editor (powered by CKEditor) Convenient edit links: Staff see “edit this” links at the bottom of every page. PHP support: Upload your PHP scripts and run them inside Composr (may require adjustments to the script code). Hierarchical page structure: Supports parent and child pages Periodic content reviews: Helping you ensure ongoing accuracy of your content. Add Comcode pages (the default) or static HTML pages Supports revisions and revision control systems (such as git); add new pages as files, and Composr will automatically register them in its system. |
Title | Downloads |
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Icon | ![]() |
Description | Clear organisation: Uses a tree structure for unlimited categorisation. Anti-leech protection: download links contain a session ID Community-centred: Allow users to comment upon and rate downloads Many ways to add new files: Upload files. Link-to existing files. Copy existing files using a live URL. Batch import links from existing file stores. Author support: Assign your downloads to authors, so users can find other downloads by the same author. Set licences: Make users agree to a licence before downloading. Images: Show images along with your downloads (e.g. screen-shots) (this implicitly uses galleries). Basic file versioning support Control monthly bandwidth use site-wide |
Title | Wiki+ |
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Icon | ![]() |
Description | Think “structured wikis”. Create an encyclopaedic database for your website Use a tree-structure or traditional cross-linking Supports revisions: Track changes Display the tree structure of your entire Wiki+ Allow users to jump in at random pages Make your pages either wiki-style or topic-style Allow members to contribute to Wiki+ pages by adding Wiki+ posts |
Title | Quizzes and Surveys |
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Icon | ![]() |
Description | Run a competition: Choose winners randomly from those who passed the quiz. Surveys: Gather data and find trends. Tests: Test members' knowledge on a variety of topics. Cheat prevention: Settings to prevent cheating, such as time limits, question / answer shuffling, and re-testing rules. Integration with points: Charge points to enter a competition, or award points for winning. |
Title | News and Blogs |
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Icon | ![]() |
Description | Member blogs: Allow members to have their own blogs on their profile RSS and Atom support: Export and import feeds. Trackback support: Send and receive trackbacks. Scheduled publishing Ping support and RSS Cloud support Multiple news categories and filtering Multiple ways to integrate news into your website Import from RSS feeds Supports geotargeting Members can rate and comment on news articles and blog posts Send out a news article as a newsletter |
Title | Calendar |
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Icon | ![]() |
Description | Day/week/month/year views Advanced “recurring event” settings Event subscriptions: Receive reminders and notifications by event or event type Warnings about conflicting events Microformats support Integrate a calendar month view, or an upcoming events view, onto your design Supports categories: Have multiple event types Multiple time zones: Have different events in different time zones with configurable conversion settings. Priority flagging: Choose between 5 priorities Programmers can even use the calendar to schedule custom tasks (Commandr) to be run RSS and Atom support: Export support, but also support for overlaying news feeds onto the calendar. Supports geotargeting Feedback: Allow members to comment and rate events. Segregate feedback on recurring events by date. |
Title | Galleries |
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Icon | ![]() |
Description | Multimedia: Supports images, videos, audio, and more. Personal galleries: Allow your members to create their own galleries which show up on their profile. Support for embedding YouTube videos: Save on bandwidth. Auto-detection of video length and resolution (most file formats) Full tree-structure support: Have galleries within galleries within galleries. Multiple display modes View entries as a slideshow Automatic thumbnail generation Mass import: Also supports importing metadata Optional watermarking: To guard against thieving swines
Geotargeting Adjustments: Automatic size and orientation adjustments according to metadata. |
Title | Catalogues |
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Icon | ![]() |
Description | Think “databases on my website”. Flexible data control: Set up multiple catalogues, each with its own set of fields. There are many types of fields, such as short text fields, upload fields, and date fields. Multiple display modes: Display the contents of categories using tables, boxes, or lists. Powerful structure: Each catalogue contains categories which contain entries. Catalogues can have a tree structure of categories and/or work from an index. Configurable searching: Choose which fields are shown on categories, and which can be used to perform searches (template searches). Compliance with data protection legislation: Specify which fields may contain sensitive data. These fields will be anonymised as appropriate when members download or purge their data. Entirely customisable: Full support for customising catalogues, categories, and entries, exactly as you want them- field by field. You can even make custom page templates per-catalogue. Classified ads: Entries can automatically expire and get archived. You can also send out view reports. Community interaction: You can allow users to comment upon and rate entries. Import data from CSV files Periodic content reviews: Helping you ensure ongoing accuracy of your data. |
Name | Patrick Schmalstig |
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Photograph | ![]() |
Title / Role | Lead Developer |
Contributions / Notes | Joined Chris Graham behind the scenes in the development of Composr CMS in 2016. Took on the lead developer role in 2023 when Chris Graham stepped back to attend to his new lifestyle changes. Spearheaded the development of Composr CMS v11 and the new website, Composr.app. Formed the company PDStig, LLC to take on professional support and development for Composr CMS users especially after the discontinuation of ocProducts, Ltd. |
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