Dolphin is pure crap!! time is something not to be wasted

We spend Most of our time trying to fix simple problems with this platform hoping that after every update things will

really improve but it never does. and what's  really bugging  me is  i feel certain things are left out intentional so

boonex can create this market place where alot of these guys just want your money they dont stand behind their

product or their words,its like pay me and then f---u leave me alone. 

 If you are new to Boonex and dolphin be very careful with the time you invest. the money you can always get back or earn more but time is something not to be wasted  and like i said b/4 i feel like a dog chasing its tail 

On that note here is my simple problem. I created a Rss Feed from my admins classified Ads and I wanted to

add this feed on the profile page so basically only the Ads that the Admin creates will be shown, that part works find but the problem I'm having is when you click on the Ad Links it does not take you to the classified page it redirect you to the account.../...dashboard page  is this how it suppose to work or is it a bug 

In my opinion i think it should take you to the Ad/Classified page which make more sense but who knows 

Jac,

Just like anything in life, it takes time to learn.  Once you take the time to learn the platform everything will be easier as time goes on.

I think Dolphin is a great and easier platform to use then others out there. AND ITS FREE!

It's not free. Take it from someone who has been screwing with Dolphin for nearly 2 years now.

 Because you having one problem with rss feed yo going to talk like this about Dolphin

I thing you wrong

This can be fix

I never see some one here on boonex talking bad about Dolphin script only because the rss feed dont work right

Please go and take a look at something like SocialGo.... and when you hasve stopped laughing and picked yourself up off the floor take another look at Dolphin. We ALL complain about Dolphin, but the truth of the matter is I now have a site that does things other sites made on the other platforms can only dream about.

Dolphin is a pain on the ass... but that may because it is a bit more indepth than the other platforms, including Ning. Trying to get a site to do some of the things I have seen sites on here do would simply not be possible on another platform....

I wouldnt say the big problem is Dolphin (although it is a pain) but rather Boonex and their inabillity to controll the market and module development process to any degree.

I dont wish to grow enimies on here or pee off the boonex team but I belive that boonex and dolphin are exactly the same.

The script started out with good intentions, being a free script for all to love and cherish, then they started to charge to remove the rather oversized powered by stuff, But now it has got out of hand with STARTER ADVANCED and PREMIUM, they started out like Ebay did, and microsoft to help the masses, but  then they seen the money rolling in and got greedy, with absolutly no support from any of them.

Like most so call scripts out there, it is only the comunity with thier limited knowlege and thier own trial and error that actualy provide the support you pay for.

If i'm 90% truthful I dont blame them, the coders, designers, ect ect they are probaly not answering bug reports or so an and so forth because they are hard at it trying to undo the coding alredy causing problems.

People may say, well then why not sort all the bugs and problems instead of releasing further versions? The answer to that is,  we would all be the first to moan if a new version was not released for over 12 months.

However I do strongly belive that for paying customers like me, although only advanced. That

Customer service should thier Priority and should be be a priority in any business, afeter all it's those HAPPY PAYING customers that drive more custom your way.

Well dolphin is really pain in the ass but unfortunately there is NOT any real alternative. I would call dolphin as best of bad :--) Other similar scripts are much more tragic and buggy than dolphin - belive me I have spent exploring this kind of scripts for last 4 years and still dolphin is best u can get. I also agree its not really free - its a classy marketing turn as this doing alot of people - offeringsomething as free with adlinks but everybody who wants to use dolphin in real life have to buy tons of addons and common who will use d7 with boonex links on a pro site ? ANyway at least its good so you can test it for as long you want for free.

Dolphin is absolutely not for a begginer.Its good for advanced php programmer or for computer advanced savvy people with money toinvest but than prepare for lots of money and time u gonna invest into it...

 100%

Very well put!

I assure you the market is getting better, though at a slow pace. It's one of the things I'm always focusing on these days.

 It is getting better and we, at least I do, appreciate the time you've spent communicating our problems to them about it.

Still need's work before I will ever purchase there again.

Understood. I pulled some products due to a dispute, and after an investigation, a developer was permanently suspended for making another account that was also permanently suspended.

I have a policy of making sure disputes get resolved, and developers that choose to ignore disputes will find their products disappearing from the market rather quickly. I don't care if you think it's a waste of time, you still need to respond (and pissing off a moderator is a bad idea). I admit the older disputes that went unsettled are mostly a lost cause, except for lessons that have been learned (which have also lead to changes in the market that will benefit both customers and developers).

I'll be bringing up more problems tonight or tomorrow with the administrators, mostly concerning deceptive practices some developers have been pulling.

For the new members, they will not know the work done.

I've come to realize my problems are not worth the time chasing them.

I think the best thing was making the SuperModerators. Now the developers know something is being done about it.

I'M not new to dolphin I''ve been a member since 6 that's first and foremost. I spend countless hours and

dollars trying to improve on this platform. countless hours chasing my tail and try to understand why is this so complicated...

then it dawn on me that I'm a guinea pig a lab rat we all are our job is to find the problems

complain about them and help patch them  so we can help this platform grow, and i would be cool with that but dam it !!

throw us a bone back help us so we can be competitive we spend to much time fixing then marketing our sites  

there are no big or small problems in business..it is the frequencies in which these problem occur  and this has been an ongoing battle.

PS... to Boonex  Stop creating this platform and leaving holes for these

outside vendors to fill. Some of  their work is spotty ,inconstant  they

cause more problems then they fix. You are creating a den of thieves and

at the end your name and product will be associated with this 

Nathan I would recommend make a section Banned Developers section where you list developers who have been banned so people who already bought someproducts from them know they are not in market anymore and also reason for ´ban so we all know.

Biggest drawback of market I see is that commercial product dont support other good products so if you buy one product you have to pay developer to  fix it so it will be compatible with other commercial products.More than that some developers already have fixes for their product to be compatible with other best seller modules but they do not include it to their products not inform about it in product description - every other buyer than have to pay again and again developer custom work for something developer already did !!!!

I have good comparsion with joomla market where Im very lonmg and active buyer. 99% od bestselling product make developers 100% compatible with other best selling products and proudly announce that on their websites. THis behaviour is absolutely missing in boonex market - developers making their products only compatible with other products from themselves but not with others. I know ..its more work for developer but for products prices here which are like 200% more expensive than similar joomla extensions I wopuld expect it. If joomla developers can make their product compatible with other 3rd party commercial products why not dolphin developers ?

This is a fact - I now have more dolphin Mods purchased from the market that Do Not Work than ones that do. The financial cost of these mods that do not work and have had to be pulled from my site is staggering. It has left me with no advertisig budget. What is worse, is that some of them just do not work - period! How the hell does a module that does not work in Internet explorer get into the market, and why the hell is Boonex allowing this to happen? What am I supposed to do... Passte text into a block telling my members not to use a feature if they are on internet expolorer???

This is the sort of thing that needs addressing urgently. Mr Boon - If you can sort out the market - audit the Modules - beta test the modules - make then compatible and blend it with a dolphin with less holes and more instructions then you will have a world beating product that will stay at the forefront of its market.

It really doesnt matter how good Sundance is.... If the market that feeds life into it is contaminated then the product will be contaminated too.

@jacjig, I was not insinuating you were new, I'm speaking of the really new ones just finding this platform..

I agree with you.

@freakpower, "Nathan I would recommend make a section Banned Developers section where you list developers who have been banned so people who already bought someproducts from them know they are not in market anymore and also reason for ´ban so we all know."    EXCELLENT IDEA!

@DRauentbach, another very well put post! Thank goodness I've only made a few purchases, it's my poor unsuspecting clients that I see burned the most.

I believe in the end we will get our market where we want it,  I can deal with the buggy D because they are always working on it, that's not the same for the module developers who come and go.

I know it's not the solution you're looking for, but normally you can just remove those non-working items instantly within the admin section, either by uninstalling a feature that doesn't work, or by removing the menu items for the mod that won't work. That's exactly what I did with the Forum module because for the longest time Dolphin had one of the ugliest forums in the world ... nothing that I'd be caught with at my site.
Obviously people can't use something that doesn't exist in the first place and from a member's or visotor's point of view ... If I don't see it, it must not exist, so I have no reason to worry about "it" ... whatever it may be.

As far as Internet Explorer is concerned ... I'm a Linux user since the past 3 years but because Internet Explorer is still used by over 65% of the world, I won't run anything on my Dolphin site if it's not Explorer compatible. It's the first rule of webmastering, to create a site that's as "world compatible" as humanly possible, which will help to attract as much attention to others as humanly possible. I like Firefox and Chrome much more than Explorer, but designing a site around a lesser used browser would, at least in my opinion, be like shooting myself in the foot.
Just my thoughts on that ...

• mekoo
• Callateyescucha

I can only recall those two, and they ended up being the same person.

I don't know about providing a list of banned developers, but I'll try to keep track and think of something. Maybe a notification to customers when the developer is removed. It'll need to be automated.

People should never expect two mods to be compatible, as they both modify core files, and sometimes a mod will make changes to a file that another mod has already modified, thus breaking everything when you mindlessly overwrite it.

 That's the exact problem with the Facebook Ultimate module in question I have.. the module creator admitted his module will not work if I was using Deano's FB connect, but yet that's not stated in the market.. that's what's frustrating.

Jeez, I'm scared as hell now. I mean I haven't got any members yet and am still trying to get the site ready. getting ready to post another issues I've researched the hell out of and have to turn to the forum and prey for an answer. I'm freaking out because I know zilch about Dolphin or website building but have installed all but one of my mods myself. I roam about my site and try different things and they seem to work, but who really has time to open every browser type and go through each and every feature one by one. Oh Jesus, please don't let this nightmare begin...I can't handle this at this time. My friend and Family already think I spend way to much time in the basement on this thing. I figure it's just a learning process just like hardware building or configuring a server and writing a simple script. But if I launch my site and start taking on members and at the same time take a job with next week being the end of school and all hell breaks out like I'm hearing from everyone else....Oh man....this just will not stand. What scares me the most is knowing I've had that very same feeling in my gut about some of the things others are saying about being a guinea pig or even making a market for developers. I simply hate when I push those notions aside roll forward taking a positive approach and then suddenly feel that presence be hind and that grim voice say "Bend Over!"

I'm new to Dolphin, I like what I see in it, I have a friend leaving ning and going to WEBS and think "Man, their site will never do what I've built mine up to be and I haven't even launched yet." The idea is that once people do start joining and revenue does start coming in, that I will give my members more...I will be buying more mods for added features that continue to grow the popularity of the site. I want my members to know that someone gave a shit enough about them to build such a site. But if it means you have to use this browser for this and this browser for that? Are they really going to give a shit about the features? Are they really going to see past that kind of crap? Hell no they ain't. I'll be on their side in all of this, but will they see that? Hell no they wont...Not in this day and age. 

Nathan- I do appreciate you going forth on our behalf...

Andrew Please, I long so much for my Dolphin Dream to be real. The issues of the past are the past, but there does need to be more answers for Dolphins. I enjoy what you say in your posts and I look so forward to D8, but I've spent a grand so far and I'm $500 deep in the hole over what I promised my wife I would spend. I know FREE doesn't always mean FREE, but listen man, people are not walking in to this thing thinking that there are going to be so many issues either. I'm still set in my mind on the fact that DOCUMENTATION/INSTRUCTION is critical. I can do anything with that. When my research effort are spent....MY TIME....TIME IS MONEY! I know your not out to screw us....I won't believe it! Too much I've seen to make sense in what you say in your post. At the same time these folks aren't bitching just to bitch. I have minor issues to iron out myself. Nickles and dimes add up quickly. There's still the unanswered question about what our so recent investments hold when D8 come out. Developers further optimizing on migration scares me. It's not like I don't want them to make money, I appreciate their work. It's simply the fact that money gets spent hand over fist preparing for something great and to find our hard earned resources tapped and not be able to move forward simply kills one's spirit. We're doing something for a community here. If everyone is out running around to insure our community is secure by researching and fixing issues, swallowing up our time and effort, and further having to turn to the forum where a brave few are taking on most of the issues, these guys are going to burn out. I've been in their shoes....It's hell on a person's spirit. I've felt their wrath on a tired day. I sympathize with them- (Yes Nathan, I sympathize with ya man). If we had good documentation and/or more developers chiming in things would have a chance to get better. My friends and family will always wonder why I'm such a nerd running to them- "Oh you wouldn't believe what we have to look forward for the website in D8!" But when they see me moping and perplexed trying to solve an issue, they know only one thing to say- "You need to come out of that basement, it's not worth it" NO! Dammit! It is! Others are doing it....Others are working it out! They think I'm obsessed. Their right. I am. I'm not doing this for me, others will feel the pain if I don't get this right. What if they spend money and they feel screwed? Who's going to sympathize with my efforts for them? The only one who can make a difference here is you my friend. Strong decisive action! My money spent is drops in the bucket to some, but the pain is the same regardless.

Surely Andrew something can be done. We need you swoop in and save the day here. we need some sort of guidance, a change that will take the load of unanswered questions that are so very burdensome. Dare I get real delusional and say - We need a hero? Dolphins need heroes. Someone looking out for them....to guide them away from the tuna net.

Please

NATHAN:  regarding banned devs I think everybody should know this info so why not reallymake sucha section ?

Regarding compatibility of commercial mods with each other.In dont mean 100% of modus have to be compatible. I mean bestseller mods .I know from Joomla this is possoble. There is about 220 very good and cest selling commercial and free mods and other developers keeping their mods to be compatible with them so this can be accomplished.If developers not come to this point where 3rd party mods will be not compatible and there will be not any keen of devs to cooperate between each other than dolphin stay a one bif deep pit for money with many pissed off customers. I think cooperation between main 3rd party developers (its about 7 people) is a core think which have to be settled but it certainly needs will of that devs to do so as nobody can force them ....

Some problems with incompatibilities can be dealt with, but the module developers need to be able to communicate with each other.

So i suggest a forum for developers only. Much like the forum that moderators have where only moderators have access. We the developers need a forum where we can discuss the mods and exchange information that would help us get the modules compatible.

Without a decent way to share needed info between developers this is not likely to happen.

Deano, this is another very good idea! I hope he (Andrew Boon) has read this topic.

Newton I would compare that to medicine and how if mixed sometimes it can make you sick of even kill you.  I can't even fathom how it would be possible to know how each will affect each other until there actually is a problem................I can't do the math on how many iterations there must be to be able to know that or what could be possible unless there are dry runs of mixing mods....and Deano is dead on to have a forum for developers to discuss issue's..........

 
I must have missed this post. I would be curious to find out if the facebook ultimate module is compatiable with the default boonex version of facebook connect. If it is, there is no reason why it should not work with mine.

However i cannot test it. His demo site specified in the market entry for the facebook ultimate module does not even have the boonex version of facebook connect setup and working.

 I'm going by what deartmedia/beckmedia Jens Beck sent in an email.. His exact words were that his FB module would  not function correctly if ANY other FB connect modules were being used.

I use Deanos connect on one site and have always been happy with his products.

I use the free RPX module on some sites with FB enabled and I have bought the original Janrain module from martinboi with FB enable.

The only site I have where the module works kinda ok is on an adult site that has no FB login feature..

[edit] found the message he sent..

"cannot work together!

Class FacebookApiException cannot work on same time! 

But we will relase new version of facebookmodule inkl facebook invite, then you can delte deanos one!

Kind Regards
derARTMEDIA"

I was told this and of course he never created a FB connect module to go along with the Ultimate FB Module

Thats just it. The last couple of versions of my module has renamed that exception class. They should no longer conflict with each other. That should not be a issue.

yeah and if there will be comprehensive developers section in forum where can programmers name their classess etc ...it can improve compatibility alot... as programmers will know how others works..

I made the ticket, relax.

I've been harassed by a lot of people this past week, so expect me to be equally harassing the administrators, and then taking all my built-up anger out on my cats.

NATHAN (sorry my keyboard is long time crippled ) I know yopu posted ticket  - thanks for that. I think also for everyproduct should be available

1) in requirements section also a section wich other mods are proven to be compatible and which was proven to be incompatible. Its very common developer know already that some product is proven not not work with known other components but dont publish this info anywhere ..

2) some similar section like market new courtesy checklist but for other developers so there will be points which help others to integrate component, also point where developer agree to provide source to other dev for integration (yes/no) and also point if dev even agree his product will be integrated (yes/no) list of used classes etc...and maybe file download if dev provide some notes which help others with integration etc.....

I've bought around 20 mods for my site, mostly backend functionality mods to improve the experience for the user. And I've inquired about probably 40 more mods that I've decided not to go with because of compatibility or functionality issues (or just a reality check that I can't buy a mod to fix every single issue I have with Dolphin, even if I wanted to - which I do not).

And I've had quite a few issues with mods, but I've had great luck with mod developers/designers. So a few tips that might help other people, too -> look at all the mods by the designer and see what their general rep is. I've mainly bought mods from a few guys (or gals, I don't really know) who are active and well-respected. And it's paid off. Because they answer questions about compatibility and functionality before I buy and the few times that it's been a problem after I've bought. I've even had a few mods not work out at all and I've had no problem at all with returning them or exchanging them for another mod if the original mod just isn't going to work out. I've had issues pop up that have needed the devs to go into my site and fix them - and they do. I've had issues that pop up that require me to pay extra for customizations because my expectations of what the mod would do exceeded what the advertised description was - and they do it, and for a reasonable price.

Researching the mod developer is going to tell you quite a bit about the quality of their work, the quality of their customer service and their personal investment in their reputation. The ones I've worked with have been mostly professional. I have always asked compatibility questions because of past experiences with Joomla and Moodle and vBulletin, all of which have add-on modules as well. All of which experience the same wide range of quality and compatibility. There's no way that I've seen to make everyone who designs modules for any program to take pride in their work - except to reward those people with your business and to not reward the others. And that takes a bit of time to research it.

My wordy 2 cents worth. Ignore it completely if you want, it's just advice I would have loved to have gotten about 8 yrs ago!!

My experience is parallel with ggsinc- (working with devs) I can't speak to experience with platforms, but I have had to just recently exchange a module, and that as expected is working out fine. Expected- because my research on the dev has paid-off and find that if a dev can sort through my wordy crap and find the power to respond- They give a crap about their clientele. I wish other areas where better here, but I guess I can't have a perfect world either. It would just be pleasant to see a huge movement to address issues that have gotten so far out of hand for people.

I think Dolphin is very good.

Does take a long time to learn to setup properly though and it will take investment time and money.

Then again, I dont know much that doesnt these days!

At least with dolphin, you can scale your investment according to how elaborate your setup is... rather than buying the whole script, then being limited as with some others.

Great suggestion by Deano, re developers forum though..

I have a problem at the moment where something wont display right on one of my sites.

Its a 3rd party mod, on a 3rd party template.

The mod writer says its the templates fault,

The template writer says its the mods fault!...

Will come down to customer support on this one for who I buy further work from!

I don't think that Dolphin per śe is crap.

But I do believe that Boonex support, in order to resolve problems is the worst support that I've seen in my entire life. I've been online since the 90s and I use tons of applications professionally for both, Windows as well as Linux. So I can "claim" with some degree of certainty, also based on experiences here, that the support is the worst of the worst.

About 18 months ago I requested support that I'd be willing to pay for, a paying customer looking for help - and that post was actually deleted by some as*hole. Can you believe it?

A few months ago I actually paid $5 and opened a one-time support ticket ... without ever receiving as much as a response. This is for a .org domain without income, no banners,and no ads. Why offer support tickets if there's nobody there to monitor them?

A few days ago I posted another support request, stating right in the subject line that I'd be willing to pay for some help ... still no resolution and a very serious lack of response.
My post has detailed screenshots, so there's no confusion about the problems.

Asking for help in the forum is about 20/80 (20% in your favor) of resulting in something productive that you can actually use. The people who know Dolphin inside and out, and there are quite a few of them, respond rarely if ever. Boonex development members hardly ever respond either. As a matter of fact, the lack of support for Dolphin is so profound that if you google Dolphin  7 support, you'll find a lot of sites where others have tried to create helpful pages, more than likely due to the lack of support right here.

Beware of members with literally THOUSANDS of responses to their name who, when you check out their responses, almost never have anything truly constructive and helpful to say. That's all that some people here do, responding with mindless crap that helps nobody while endlessly padding their numbers, thereby suggesting that you're dealing with someone who actually knows something.

Dolphin could be the greatest community software in the World. But in terms of software "greatness" support goes hand in hand with the software quality itself and if the only good support for a "free product" is available by shelling out tons of money for fixes and corrections, then the software is obviously not so great after all.

You shouldn't be "peddling free products to the masses" if you're not willing to stand behind them. So from that point of view Dolphin could be great ... but ends up being less than mediocre instead since hardly anyone is there to offer viable help at all times.

Even if only one person was assigned on rotation at 6 hours in a 24 hour cycle, multiplied by 7 days out of the week ... that's only 28 developers who'd have to participate *ONCE* per week to really provide some well needed, knowledegable support. One stinking day out of the week !!!

Shame on Boonex, and shame on Andrew for permitting this !!!
The lack of real & affordable help here, is nothing short of profound !!!
At the moment my licensed site is literally useless and I can't get productive responses !!!

.

in contrast and comparison here.

if you purchase a nuclear plant, and the reactor starts melting down, would you complain for your lack of knowledge. 

first rule of thumb, never ever bite off more than you can chew. that seems to be the most applicable subject here at times. 

dolphin unpacked and left alone will work, start stabbing in all of these unknown bells and whistles, and KaBLOOOHEY, the bitch blows up. not dolphins fault,  your fault.

dolphin is running fine, you move dolphin without server knowledge or experience, KABLOOHOEY the bitch blows up, not dolphins fault, your fault. 

you purchase a mod that dont work, the jack-leg developer takes off with your ten dollars, not dolphins fault, your fault.

just as is the case if you were to purchase a nuclear plant, if the bitch blows up, not dolphins fault, your fault

LOL

this was humor. 

That's exactly why I always paid for the dolphin installations ... why I've paid a server admin to move things ... and why I only run modz from Rayz who's very reliable with upgrades to his mods and to Dolphin.
So in this particular case "Kablooey, the bitch blowing up is your fault" doesn't exactly apply.

That's actually part of the problem in my "humble" opinion. Dolphin is promoted to the masses so much so as something awesome, cool, mind boggling, better than the rest ... without ever adding enough (if any) info. anywhere that Dolphin may be highly complex to move, more complex to maintain over the long term, very costly with additional desired options, etc. etc. etc.
In other words, there's far too much focus on getting that powerplant built & sold ...
And not nearly enough focus on safeguards, precautions, proper maintenance suggestions, etc.

But yeah, I get your humor. The joke's on me, right?

Humor, except for the fact that Boonex markets itself as infinitely customizable and with oodles of modules to make it do just what you want. When I was looking at all of my various software options, no where did I read: "Works straight out of the box, but if you change anything it's going to go kablooey." I think I would have remembered that disclaimer! LOL

I'm going to quote the Boonex sales page, even though reading it makes me have ragey, stabby thoughts:

"provide full control, freedom and flexibility. Launch your site, customize it and watch it grow!"

"We hate limits. With Dolphin you get unencrypted PHP source code, making it possible to add or integrate custom designs and features. Dolphin is hosted on your own server, where you have complete control over your community site members and content. Nobody can tell you what to do with your site." (that last line carries some irony since those of us seeking help here can sometimes feel like this means that "nobody can tell you what to do with your site to make it work 100% right.")

"You're backed by a choice of hundreds of extensions and a community of over 100,000 webmasters."

"Dolphin takes the idea of "effortless modification" to the next level"

"Choose a lean, streamlined feature-set or go crazy and launch all the modules to please your site members. You are the creator and you decide what's going to work on your community website. Just turn things on and off and see what works best."

 Amen

It is free!  I have had to spend time tweaking here and there.  Have also messaged Dolphin crew which I must say answered rather quickly with valuable information to fix the problem I was having.

I deal with a lot of open source software etc., etc.  Dolphin and Joomla are by far the easier to work with.  When I first started with Dolphin I spent a lot of time getting to know the software just as I have will others.  It pays off cuz you find all the tweaks that are capable.

I am sure for those of you that are having real difficulty with  Dolphin, they would be glad to install and tweak your site for you, but it comes with a cost.

Either way, learn it for yourself or pay a developer, you have to pay somehow.

Like I have already mentiond... Dolphin for all its failings had given me a site i could not have on any other platform. My members love it and it is growing even though it is not launched yet. I have spent in total... well... you dont want to know (you will cry) but to have it custom made here in the us would have cost me in excess of £100000 easily.

This has been a team effort. I could not have done this without the help, I would have drowned within days.

I am howeaver, still wainting for Mr Boone to show up in this debate as there is much here that he needs to listen to if he wishes dolphin to be the product it should be.

I have a real problem with the title of this post. If you read even further this person has no right to even say such a thing. I guess it is an attempt to garner attention to trivial issues. I guess the fact that the platform is free really demands that it also be perfect? Hmmmm Really anyone who has aspired to build something so monumental in scale would really be challenged by the comments themselves. I guess the effort that is needed to drive something like this is really a full time job and requires discipline some are not willing to do. The throwing of rocks at the developers and have nothing but a vision of conspiracy is so short sided. It is your own path that you choose to take that is either your success or demise with this product. All I can say is thank you for the opportunity to bring a better site to the Internet. I guess I understand that if I want to make something perfect it will take efforts that I am willing to give.

 SkyForum

 Well yeah!  Its not free if want a real fancy website! But if you want a real simple site it doesn't cost much for add-ons and mods. Of course its not going to be a 100% free, nothing is these days.  lol!  Out of the box and the platform itself is FREE!

Very well said! I agree with you 100%. Thumbs up to you buddy!  

 oh i agree 100% boonex's video can be misrepresenting without a doubt. the one that gets me is that you would have 100K + webmasters. 100K, now that might get some answers. i think we have maybe 5 on here who know 1/2 of what is going on, and the other 1/2 is left to chance. 

 free, no dolphin is not free. unless you consider your time of no value whatsoever. time consumption just like resource consumption are the parity of dolphin. FREE it is not, under any measure. 

dolphin is a good foundation, its not the answer, you wont take over facebook or twitter with this application. its a start, you have to have a plan, and understand that with your plan, you either have to have a certain set of skills or a dedicated budget.

FREE it is NOT

OH CRAP!!!! Reality sets in.

This is wrong

This post has in fact been Hijacked by frustrations.

Sorry it is true.

Dolphin is not pure crap. The post is in fact not properly labeled, and we fell for for it. The last paragraph in the original post lays out properly stated issues and thoughts on resolution. The beginning of the post lays out the emotional angst that many latched onto and used to vent. Ive done it before myself and now see that the two really don't fit well together at all. My main concern is getting to the resolution on this forum. I invite people to vent and that resolution may be days away.

This does in fact take me to the "best practices" of forum posts that I recently read to help me better understand how to interact here. There is a place for everything but I think maybe this isn't the best place for some of what has been said here. I'm sorry I don't know where at the moment where that place is. Note's perhaps? Sorry I don't know.

The question is? Is this Original post a resolution? Or A Query?

Looking back at it I am mixed up as to which one it truly is.

I mean no offense. I am new and have my frustrations.

Where does one go and separate the need to express their emotions when questions go unanswered and precious time is wasted?

Does this make sense?

Should I know the answer to this question?

ALl I know is, there is also an issue with a help forum being flooded with information that must be parsed to get to a resolution.

Moderators- that too means you shouldn't vent on people just because your having a bad day. A forum just isn't any good for that.

I'm not trying to trow stones- I am as guilty as anyone else here. Somehow there needs to be a way to fix these frustrations.

Noobs need answers.

Forum leaders need validation.

There really is no reward in answering questions day in and day out if there is no validation for those efforts.

Burn-out sets in and questions don't get answered. This is such a complex mess it makes my head spin.

Action.

Decisive action is needed.

What? A noob like me can't answer that.

But without doubt, I catch myself following this thread to see what is going to unfold, and I see no end in site.

That in itself is time wasted.

You know what? Screw this!

I posted a simple question in this forum that I know for a fact could be answered.

I stated it properly and clearly.

No answer.

This forum has no integrity left I'm afraid.

I hate to say it, but perhaps this Forum needs to be given a proper burial.

Sad to say,

IT'S DEAD.

Reply to  csampson1

I didn't simple create this post to draw attention to my issues. This post was created through shear frustration I've come to terms that i will not always get the answers i need on this forum 

My biggest problem is we need better control over the Market place and the products which are being brought to market.  

When a ten dollar mod causes your site to crash then you can talk to me

but the worst part is,sometime it is a feature/function that is so basic and simple that it  leaves you wondering why didn't

the developers of dolphin add this to the platform Here we are on 7.6 and we still have some of the same

problems from 7.2

and i'm not going to sit here and pretend everything is good i am going to criticize dolphin

hoping it will force them  to look at the issues and address them.. I had a few people call my site crap and yes

it hurts but its also served as  a wake up call and  this Should be a wake up call to Boonex  lol.....

You're right about the discipline and the drive that it takes ... but where is that even vaguely hinted at in all of the promos? People don't realize that until they're already into it, and that's wrong! On the other hand, I think most of your above comment is totally out of line here. I get really sick & tired of those who so readily holler at others about their complaints for something that's free. I have news for you ... many people have valid licenses for which a lot of money has been paid, many of them complain too, or didn't you know? Some people take on a project like a Dolphin site in addition to existing sites that they're managing, never expecting the level of commitment that Dolphin requires. Again, something that's never even hinted at in all of the "glorious" promos. Here's another bit of news, I'm a member of 4 different computer related forums and I browse frequently through forums for all sorts of topics such as swimming pools, site scripting, network management, and countless others here and there ... all of which seem to have better support and participation than this Boonex forum. I've been online since the 90s so when I make a comment like that, I'm not just blowing smoke ... the comment is based on many years of forum experiences. Last but not least, like it or not, with distribution to the masses also comes responsibility. Just take a look at all of the viable Linux distributions that have been around for years ... that's free software too, even more comprehensive than Dolphin, yet nearly all of those forums have decent support.

I believe that most people who gripe here are not just griping for the sake of it because they have nothing better to do, but because they're trying to work with something to which they're not receiving answers when help is needed. Wouldn't you complain, especially if you paid for something that didn't work or had ongoing issues? Give me a break, either you're the most passive person in the world or you seriously lack the ability to relate to human nature and other people's plight ....
There are always two or more valid perspectives to every issue!

.

Well Put !!! meinecommunity  very good 

OK.... So if you had a product that you new was not going to be straight forward for anyone but the better php programers and web geniuses, and you knew that if would be worth £millions if you could get some developers to support and grow its market so long as you didn't supress them too much - would you put put in the promotional material - For advanced web savvy programers only? - May require a year to learn? - Will require unprovided support? - Many modules are not compatible?

I don't think so....... Don't get me wrong... I love what dolphin can do... I just can't do it, I have to hire people at great expense to get the results I want. But, Boonex do need be more upfront in their advertising or controll the market before someone on here gets really pissed and brings a trade dsicrimination case. I know for a fact - This woukd not happen in the uk without people doing somthing about it.

 That's a valid point. In fact I have to go out of my way to explain to others my reasoning for going outside the borders, and buying from people who are halfway across the world in other countries to build my website. It's a risk that many Americans wont take because they know, should they do so and get screwed, people are straight going to give them the ole- "See, you should of bought American-made man!" This type of thinking is not cool to me what so ever. There's no chance of overcoming this ingrained thinking until creative people do go outside the borders and come back and show- "See now? I have done great things with great products, doing great business with great people around the world." It simply isn't going to happen when I come back and say- "See now? I have done great things with a great product, though it wasn't near as easy as it looked it would be and there weren't any real instructions that came with it, and I cried many nights, and had to force myself to push forward and protect my investment, but some of the folks have been great, most of the folks I chose to work with have played me straight, yet others have been screwed sideways with little they could do about it, BUT I DID IT! I OVERCAME!"

People are going to say to me- GOOD FOR YOU! I'll be passin' on that.

No the idea is that I report back and say- "It is as anywhere else around here, there's good there's bad, but there's structure and means to deal with issues, and they work. Everything was straight forward as advertised, and I made a choice knowing full well what I was getting into, because the product is supported."

It's very difficult for me to sell my pleasant experience working with others around the world- TRUE GLOBAL NETWORKING. I need things to go smoothly. Not everyone is in the screwed-up situation that I'm in which allows me to keep the hours I do, giving me more hours in my product maker's day, to work through issues.

And just a note- There are plenty of business that try to conceal things with less than upfront advertising around here. My college is one of them, and they are the laughing stalk of colleges. It became very clear to us that fell for the advertising that they prefer to spend money hand over fist overcoming the residual effects rather than holding themselves accountable in taking swift and decisive action overcoming things, choosing to cut deals here and there with people. They have the luxury of passing the buck to the American tax-payer, where as Boonex doesn't. Special interest grows from this and destroys a perfectly good product. I too insist that Dolphin is in fact a great product. It's the total package that is in question here. I say to myself all the time- "How great it would be to come back and say IN YOUR FACE! Things ARE changing!"

"For advanced web savvy programers only? - May require a year to learn? - Will require unprovided support? - Many modules are not compatible?"

This is why I HATE Dolphin.  The hypocrasy of offering a product to the masses FREE when they know this is a factor in their product.  Nobody has money to spend fixing a free product by playing "mod developer roulette".  Any product offered to the masses it's inherent that the consumer has some reasonable expectation that the product will be supported. FREE OR NOT.  Adobe FlashPlayer/Reader are FREE products and never once have I even had to even visit their website to fix a problem. Ning offered their product COMPLETELY FREE up until recently.  I have had more than one Ning site and had NO PROBLEM getting answers to my questions, sure they may have been delay or wait period involved but the questions were ANSWERED.  To scoff at Ning is laughable because the way I see it, it does the job and know many Ning creators with thriving communities under the Ning platform.  You can get started in minutes and NEVER have to subject yourself to a mean-spirited forum to get the core product to work.  You don't tons of mods to make it work right and it is VERY user friendly which means your members get involved and active right away.  On my Dolphin site every member I have asked why they don't post anything it always comes back to they don't know how to use it.  I didn't have to create tutorials on how to navigate Ning in order for the members to start using it.  The ONLY problem I had with Ning is their policy on adult content and not having an option to run the script on your own domain.  For the basic purpose of building a social community Ning DOES THE JOB and DOES IT WELL!  Who cares if Dolphin can do things Ning (or any other script dream of) when the average person CAN'T DO IT?!!!!

Just like meinecommunity I have been privy to numerous forums since the late 80's to now.  I have NEVER had the experience I get here with a bunch of forum posters with a bully mentality coming down hard on people with valid and legitmate complaints about Dolphin.   I don't care what bells or whistles Dolphin developers can brag about as far as what it can do it, bottom line it's a piece of crap if the tish is unuseable unless u know a programmer or u play guessing games on mods with strangers who you cannot even be sure will stick around to support their mods. 

That is ridiculous!

I reiterate time is something not to be wasted, FREE OR NOT!  You can get a Ning site up and running in one day and there is virtually no learning curve.  That alone makes it a SUPERIOR product even it it doesn't have ALL the features Dolphin does.  Who want's to fiddle with a product that it takes on average a year to learn and manuever unless ur a programmer?

Here is my 2 cents... I am perfectly happy with Dolphin AND Boonex.  Just because you have to spend a few bucks to get a mod... I have found that if you talk directly to the developer, you will usually get some sort of a discount on the mod price or help with installation.  The fact that Dolphin is free and can be modified just makes me jump for joy... I couldn't do it myself ...yet,  just starting to figure out php.   When I have a problem, I post it in the boonex forums and within a couple of hours, I have a good response in language I can understand.  As far as the list for banned mod builders, that is a pretty good idea.   I am happy with the products I have chosen.

hello, a site needs a lot of money and time Dolphin is free you do not pay for the script!! even a ferari may fail or have a bug. do not let dolphin must support the project.

http://www.people.com/people/gallery/0,,1149643_1003651,00.html

 What? Why are you linking to people.com

 It's a story about Britney Spears Ferrari breaking down. Not sure that analogy is apt, this one might be better.

http://www.osborneink.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1895_2.jpg

I kid, I kid...

I've only been working with this for a week now after 15 years of working with 'free scripts' of every ilk ... I will fess that the video they use for marketing, which by the way excited the hell out of my client, is a bit over the top with how 'easy' this all can be, but, that's marketing.

That video grabbed my client and her friends. Reviewing these forums pre-sale convinced me it was doable.

These forums have got me through each snag thus far. In some cases, I copied and pasted straight from forum to my hosting tech support and they liked that. Fixed the mbstring thing in a few hours thanks to a post found here.

Other CMSs that I've tried worked better out of box but I never expect a cakewalk.

Am here this morning looking for the latest/bestis info for the Facebook connect mod and did not intend to join in just yet but for any noobie coming along or person considering this software, I wanted them to find my 2 cents worth.

I'm thinking of doing a psychic community using Dolphin. I installed the free version, noting the peculiar, menacing, expression of the dolphin in the logo. Why make a dolphin look crafty and sinister like that?

The first step was of course to disable the Boonex news feed on the front page. This wasn't straightforward but thanks to this forum I managed it. The next step was to upload my own logo. Despite being installed via Softaculous, this failed with an "already sent headers" message and something about the image missing.

Not an auspicious start and still unresolved.

Guys, since posting here in September last year, has the product and its support improved please?

Best

Dude

I thought the dude abides?

why this thread always jump at the top...:(

and you can't learn dolphin without lots of error and some crying. We all had problems with dolphin in the beginning but its a very good system. If you don't believe go try or ask someone who is new to joomla. They all will cry like hell to understand it.

Can anyone point me to a busy free dolphin site please that they've developed ? I would like to try it out and see what impace the advertising has.

Best

Dude

Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man

there are many. look here

http://www.boonex.com/websites

Well i loved ETANO But there is almost no templates whats so ever :()

but the platform i okidoki verry simple to use but cant get templates , that would be great

so im   stuck with Dolphin and i all noob on stuff like this , would be great to if it would be easyer to use for newcomers in this kind of platforms , well i like it but the user REALY needs to know about code in scripting and that is far from what normal pepps know about

well free or not , was this Dolphin not ment to bee for all web builders?

well i feel its not

but if u been working on scripts and stuff for like years then its way great mabye ,but i dont wanna spend 499 USD on something wiht so manny prblems as this webbuilder , dam its anoying ,problems with something all the time, and like i said if you are a pro its no problems , i dont know why webhoster even offer this to normal users, i feel lured , i think its goor that there is great pluggs to buy for good price ,but still you have to know about scripting , i would like to have pluggs and atuff that i just click install and then it works, like you said spending like all me spare time just to build it up and to make it work everry day ;(

how can i creat a pro website when i could just spend that time and monnye it will cost me here ,to build a static website and then get free php script/js and other free stuff , oh well i just feldt like getting this off my chest

spending atleas 150 hours on it now just to get the site up ,the only things im interested in is the things like uploading and automatic stuff thats works good, could i use this together wiht my static webpage ,well i dont think so , but that would be the best couse building a pro looking static website takes me about 10 hours and the it  is exactly the design and all thins included, but im not a programmer/scripter person im just a ordinary man who wanted to make a dating site and im desipointe,

sorry for my grama but im only a native speaker :)

I agree with many things stated this thread.  Dolphin is far from 'free' and many add-on's do require opening core files and making code changes... then praying that you've not done something that will mess up the site in some unanticipated way (then or in the future).  I've learned to backup the site often when making changes and keep notes on all changes.

My biggest compliant by far is that about a 1/3 of the developers I've purchased modules from (17 so far) do NOT, in my opinion, provide reasonable support for their modules.  And what do I think is reasonable support?  I'd have to say the key components are: responding within 48 hours to a support request, fixing critical bugs within 24hrs and non-critical within 72hrs, providing help with install (if the mod states it), and seriously considering reasonable requests for updates to improve their module.  Plus, reasonable support should also include providing all features that have been clearly stated (by the developer) in emails or in the module's description.

While I've found the majority of developers are good at providing all of the above, and several are GREAT at it, I've also had to deal with a few developers that, to put it mildly, just don't appear to care much about offering reasonable support for or improving their module(s).   That said, I fully understand that a custom upgrade should bring the developer a reasonable compensation... that's fair, expected and appropriate.   I also understand that many developers work on their own and, having other responsibilities, cannot always focus on support requests as quick as we'd like them too.  Unless it's a critical bug, I'm fine with waiting a few days... after I've been informed there'll be a slight delay.  Where I get truly frustrated is with those that are blatantly SLOW or outright UNRESPONSIVE to requests to support their modules.  

I humbly suggest that BoonEx and/or the forum Super-Moderators find some reasonable way for module buyers to rate a developers ongoing SUPPORT skills so all buyers have a way to research and make informed decisions before making their purchases.  If you're uncomfortable with allowing buyers to make critical reviews then at least allow them to make positive reviews so buyers can better see which developers are [ okay | good | very good | great ] at supporting their modules. 

awesome idea add a star rating for support in the market. Atleast people will know that a particular developer is  not providing good support.

Star rating could be a good idea.... but... there is an inherant danger in this too...

There are times, such as now, when all the best developers on here are very, very busy. For example, i have outstanding custom work from 2 developers ayt the moment, and the work is way overdue... but I know that I need to be patient.

Someone not patient would hit the 74 hour mark and then give a bad rating even thought the developer writes fantstic code and does all he can to help when he has adequate time.

At this point my initial concern is whether enough of the module buyers agree that a *reasonable* Support Rating system should be put in place on the BoonEx Market to praise those that provide reasonable module support.  

I suspect another rating system should be put in place for those developers doing custom upgrades.  I only have two cases where I've paid a developer to create a custom upgrade to their module.  Both have been a learning experience.  Despite some occasional misunderstood and/or slow communications, the work that I've seen so far has been exceptionally good.

Yet another rating system could be added for complete custom modules.  I have *no* experience with contracting a developer to create a completely custom module... but that's on my requirements list to do soon and I would very much like to have some reasonable way of researching which developers are very good at coding and communicating with their clients.  I gather you (DRautenbach) have some experience with custom modules... it would be great if a rating system was in place allowing you to share your opinions... even if it's restricted to only offering praise to those you've found good at their work.

I've tried dozens of scripts. Last year I worked on a huge WordPress project and found what I took for granted in Dolphin was in nowheresville with WordPress. However, in working with WP, it is apparent, it has the superior blog -- and as it should.

There are other products and I say go out and try them. Try them all. Use what works for what you want to ultimately do. In some cases WPMU may be the best solution and I say stick with that. However, to date, you will never find a product quite like Dolphin. It's always missing something.

Just by using Dolphin, you've already saved tens and thousands of dollars in initial development costs. When I worked as a studio manager dealing with dozens of programmers, the costs for this stuff makes the cost for modules look like candy money. Development is expensive. I write custom modules that are not sold in the market, average time spent on a module is anywhere from 50 to 100 hours.

As for mods not working with one another, modules are suppose to take care of that. Modules are suppose to encapsulate the whole code in one neat bundle. I am perplexed how classes would conflict.

The market is definitely much better than in the days of Expertzzz and I know there is a current initiative being discussed to make the market better for everyone. I trust there will be some major changes in the next couple of months.

Overall, a very good thread and with some good suggestions.

i myself love dolphin!! i know alot of you people see me here in the forums begging for help atleast once a week and this place is wonderful people like prashank and deano and dosdawg are always there and very helpfull!.. plus with dolphin it cause me to most of the time get off my lazy butt and polish up on php when i have a really big problem or something, point is, DOLPHIN MAKES ME SMARTER!... oh plus my site is growing in leaps and bounds and is almost just where i want it to be, come see for yourself http://www.thegettogether.net/  we run on boonex pride!

jacjig...

I started using Dolphin about 2 years ago. I once felt the same way as you . However, after time, I have started learning the ways of the Jedi, Er... Dolphin, and have been slowly working on my site.

Just relax and take your time. Your questions will eventually get answered and your problems will eventually be solved. I literally stressed myself out over the use of Dolphin once before and Ive come to realize that its not that serious!

As a newcomer, my experience with Dolphin so far has been dismal.

Having installed the software, my inbox is bombarded by one email a minute insisting that safe mode is on. It is not switched on, either locally or in the server-wide php.ini.

I do not know how to stop these emails other than to uninstall Dolphin, which seems the best idea at the moment.

Best
Dude

Sorry to hear about your install issues. This stuff can get frustrating sometimes but it is possible to have a successful Dolphin install. Thousands have been able to do it.

I've done hundreds of Dolphin installs since Dolphin 6.x.x came out. Check your php.ini. It will clearly show what's going on with your server.

Who are you hosted with?

And how do you know that safe mode is off? What diagnostics have you done?

Are you on a shared server?

Are you on a dedicated server?

What is your experience with server installs? Are you familiar with SSH?

I find a majority of the issues people initially have with Dolphin is because of a misconfigured server or they just don't have the knowledge or experience to do the install. All this stuff can be learned and after a while it does get easier.

If a phpinfo() was run, it will give you more info.

Well i been thinking of trying out phpmotion

annyone try that?

mabye same this with scripting? need to know alot !!

well i will sure try it , i tell u later if its easyer or not

About installing Dolphin, moste webhost servers got this on the server , its just click install :)

well i did that but thats supose to make the install okej right?

 Of all that I looked at, only 2 or 3 were worth a look. Most were unfinished, lacked content and completion, or were downright crappy sites (design & function, I mean).

Does it take a rocket scientist in PHP to create a GOOD dolphin site?

PLEASE let me know before I waste months of time and a ton of money on the aforementioned crappy mods, and still come up with the results I have seen so far!!!

 It's all relative. I think Criagslist looks like a 7 year old designed it but it's pretty darn popular. If you take a really great idea and put time and effort into it you'll succeed regardless of what platform you use. On the other hand if you take a half baked idea, with no time or effort it won't matter if you use the best platform in the world you'll probably fail.

Yes i have had my far share of problems with Dolphin but atleast 95% of the problems i had was because of somthing stupid i have done infect i have only ever had one or two problems which has been easily sorted by the help of the community here.

All you have to do is learn the software it's pretty easy, I now getting good and can sort out simple problems now.

But i have looked a altertives and to be honest compared to many other platforms Dolphin is an angel in the sky as other software has seemed hell to me, buggy nothing working, not many features and much more.

So i just don't know what you are coming at i am sure if you post in these forums your problem will be sorted just like all mine has been.

 Totally agreed.

Many of us feel the software should be so automated that we need to pay the $99 and go to sleep, wake up in the morning go to the bank and deposit our money. Once deposited we can go and to our news conference where a slew high profile reporters wish to find out  how we built our incredible Social Site.

Ain't happening without effort and some money.

THERE IS ALWAYS NING!!  LOLLLLLLLL

You've surpassed the moth joke.