Contributors: A-Z Index

A

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Allen Ellis		Founder	Original designer for ocPortal Also conceived and coded the Theme Wizard and Point Store Son of one of the early inventors of Internet protocols (Usenet, aka Internet newsgroups) Token non-brit	View

C

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Chris Graham		Founder	Original developer of ocPortal, former lead developer of Composr CMS Masters degree in Computer Science from The University Of Sheffield Undertaken work for over 15 FTSE-100 companies, as well as many small and mid-sized organisations. Includes a number of banks and major brands.	View
Chris Warburton		developer for ocProducts	Made some key contributions to ocPortal	View

H

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Haydn Maidment		project manager for ocProducts	None available	View

J

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Jim Davidson		contributor	written many tutorials via Arvixe	View

P

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Patrick Schmalstig		Lead Developer	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.	View
Philip Withnall		Early Developer	Coded the chatroom, blogging support, the analytics system, and OcCLE (now Commandr) Masters Degree in Computer Science degree from The University Of Cambridge Other work has included helping out with Firefox, and ongoing work on GNOME	View

R

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Robert Goacher		Founder	Ran some of the early websites where ocPortal came from Technically the original developer of ocPortal, in that he wrote the first few lines of code Heavily involved in the feature design process Hosted some of our early meet-ups	View

S

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Steve Jarvis		project manager for ocProducts	Wrote many tutorials via Arvixe	View

Newest 10 Entries

Question	What is "pinging" and how does it work in Composr?
Answer	In blogging, "pinging" is an automatic notification sent to blog search engines and other services when you publish a new post. Composr can automatically ping services defined in Admin Zone > Setup > Configuration > Feature options. These services then index your new article, making it searchable. A default ping service (`http://pingomatic.com/ping/?title=title&blogurl=url&rssurl=rss`) is pre-configured to relay your ping to numerous other services. You can customize the ping URL with these placeholders: title: The article title url: The article URL rss: The URL of your news RSS feed Pinging only occurs for news categories accessible to the public (guests).

Question	How do I schedule a news post to be published at a specific time?
Answer	Once you have enabled the system scheduler (requires the Composr calendar and commandr addons), an advanced scheduling option will appear when adding or editing news posts. By setting a future date and time, your post will remain unvalidated until the chosen time, at which point it will be automatically validated and published.

Question	How can members edit their profiles and account settings?
Answer	Members can edit their profiles and account settings through the "Edit" tab on their profile page. They can change their password, update personal information, manage their avatar and signature, and adjust their privacy settings. Administrators have access to additional options for managing member accounts.

Question	What is the difference between member terms?
Answer	Visitor: Any one or device who visits the site but is not necessarily identified User: Any visitor who can be identified (e.g. has a session ID or tracked IP address) Guest: A user who is not logged in (in Conversr, they all share a special "Guest" ID / account) Member: A user who is logged in with a registered account on the website (they have a username and a member ID) Author: Specific to the authors addon, a profile of an entity (could be a member, individual, or even a company) who makes content for the site Subscriber: A user who receives newsletters from the site (they do not necessarily have to be a member) Submitter: A user who submitted content (usually a member, but could be a guest if the site is very open to submissions) Staff: A member who moderates any significant portion of the website Super-moderator: A staff member with global moderation capabilities Moderator: Same as super-moderator but does not have those capabilities globally; they may only be able to moderate certain sections or content Super-administrator: A staff member with literally undeniable access to everything on the site Administrator: Same as super-administrator but they might not have access to the most elevated of privileges such as accessing maintenance scripts It's important to understand these distinctions to properly manage permissions, track user activity, and personalize the website experience.

Question	What are Welcome Emails and how do they work?
Answer	Welcome Emails are a series of automated emails sent to new members on a predefined schedule. They can be used to introduce the website's features, encourage engagement, and provide helpful information. Website administrators can customize the content and schedule of these emails.

Question	How can I enhance or enforce the security of member passwords?
Answer	Composr offers several features to improve password security: Password Strength Setting: Administrators can set a minimum password strength requirement, forcing members to choose stronger passwords. Password strengths are calculated on a scale of 1-10 using algorithms that take into account letters (including case), numbers, symbols, repeat characters, use of dictionary words, and use of usernames / dates of birth / e-mail addresses. Forced Password Resets: Administrators can force specific members or all members to change their passwords upon next login, enhancing security in case of potential breaches. Expiring passwords: Administrators can require members to change their password after so many days. Encrypted CPFs: If the server has the OpenSSL PHP extension installed, specific CPFs (such as ones containing other passwords) can be encrypted to protect sensitive member data in case of a server compromise.

Question	Can I import or export member data?
Answer	Yes, Composr allows you to import and export member data using CSV spreadsheet files. This is useful for transferring member information between different systems, performing bulk updates, or creating backups. The export feature provides various filtering options, and the import feature supports adding new members and updating existing ones. Go to Admin Zone > Security > Members > Export members.

Question	What are usergroups and how do they work?
Answer	Usergroups are a way to categorize members and assign them specific permissions and privileges. Each member can belong to one or more usergroups, and the permissions granted by those usergroups determine what actions they can perform on the website. Website administrators can create and manage usergroups, define their permissions, and assign members to them. They can also assign leaders who then have permission to manage the members of that specific usergroup.

Question	What are Custom Profile Fields (CPFs) and how are they used?
Answer	CPFs allow website administrators to collect additional information from members beyond the basic profile fields. These fields can be customized to fit the specific needs of the website, such as collecting job roles, hobbies, or interests. CPFs can be used to: Enforce specific requirements for membership (e.g., job role in a company forum). Categorize members based on their interests or affiliations (e.g., football players in a school forum). Display additional information on member profiles and forum posts.

Question	How do new members join a Conversr website?
Answer	Members can join your Composr site in a few ways: Regular Registration: Users can click on "join" links, agree to your rules, and fill out a registration form. They will then receive an activation email to confirm their email address (if enabled). Invites: You can restrict joining to invite-only. Existing members can send invites, and only those who receive an invite can register. Manual Addition: Administrators can manually create member accounts through the Admin Zone. This is useful for pre-joining members or handling issues with the regular registration process. Other Methods: Composr also supports automatic member joining through LDAP and HTTP authentication.

Top 10 Entries

Question	How do I restore my Composr website from a backup?
Answer	Composr backups come as .tar or .tar.gz files. Extract the archive using an extraction program like 7-zip or your web hosting control panel. To restore a full backup: Upload the extracted files to your webserver, overwriting the existing files. Run the included restore.php script in your browser. This script will restore the database from the restore_data.php file. To restore incremental backups: Restore the initial full backup. Sequentially extract and overwrite files from each incremental backup over the restored full backup. The last extracted restore_data.php will contain the latest database state. Run restore.php to restore the final database version.

Question	What alternative backup strategies are available?
Answer	Many web hosting control panels include built-in backup features that operate at the system level, often offering higher reliability than web-based scripts. Ensure you back up both files and the database. For database backups, you can use tools like phpMyAdmin, which allows you to export your database as a .sql file.

Question	How do I create a backup of my Composr website?
Answer	Composr offers a built-in backup addon accessible from Admin Zone > Tools > Backups. You can choose between full, incremental, and database-only backups. Full backup: Backs up all files and folders within the Composr installation directory, including the database. Incremental backup: Backs up only new or changed files since the last backup, resulting in smaller backup files. Database backup only: Backs up only the database. The addon allows scheduled backups or manual backup generation. It is recommended to download backups to a location outside your web server for better security. Note: The Composr backup addon is limited by server-side PHP capabilities and might not always be reliable. Consider using alternative backup strategies offered by your web hosting control panel for increased reliability.

Question	Why are backups necessary for my Composr website?
Answer	Disasters like hard disk failures, data corruption, and unexpected errors can happen at any time. A good backup strategy helps you recover your website and its data in case of such events. Backups can also help you roll back to a previous state if needed, such as after a failed upgrade or accidental changes.

Question	How can I control the privacy of member profile fields?
Answer	You can control the privacy of member profile fields through the "Member privacy controls" configuration option. If you enable the "Extended privacy option control", you can fine-tune visibility settings for each field. Otherwise, you can set simple access levels (e.g., not at all, to members, to friends, to everyone) for each field.

Question	What is the difference between a Composr member and an author?
Answer	A member is someone who has created an account on your Composr website and can log in. They have a unique member ID and username, and can interact with the site's features. An author is someone who creates content for the site. They may or may not be a member. For example, you might have an author who submits articles via email but never actually visits or joins the website.

Question	What advanced techniques are available for dealing with persistent spammers who repeatedly create new accounts?
Answer	Composr's advanced banning features target sophisticated human spammers. Automatic bans can be configured to block users based on specific strings in their posts, while reasoned bans display customized messages to banned users, potentially deterring them. These measures, coupled with the ability to investigate users via IP address analysis, offer robust tools for managing persistent threats. You can configure advanced banning under Admin Zone > Security > Configure advanced banning.

Question	How does Composr handle user banning and what options are available?
Answer	Composr offers various banning mechanisms. You can ban members by editing their accounts (ban member tick box), preventing logins while still allowing guest access. IP address banning blocks access from specific IP addresses or ranges (Admin Zone > Security > Members > Investigate user to see their IP addresses and flag certain ones for banning). You can also restrict member submissions, or you can effectively "suspend" users by assigning them to a usergroup with minimal privileges (e.g. probation).

Question	What is the "Warn Member" form and how can I use it to handle rule violations?
Answer	The "Warn Member" form provides a centralized interface for addressing user misconduct. You can issue formal or off-the-book warnings, apply punitive actions like IP bans, usergroup changes, or probation, and even delete content or charge points. This form allows you to document reasons for actions, improving transparency and consistency in moderation. This tool can be accessed on a member's profile as staff, under Audit > Warn member. You can also review their warnings history on their "Standing" tab.

Question	How does Composr track user activity?
Answer	Composr logs IP addresses for various actions like guest posting, page views, and content submissions. This data helps identify potential spammers and track user behavior. The "Investigate user" module provides tools to analyze IP addresses and gather additional information about suspicious activity.

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