mySQL backend?

How are you handling new authors/blogs? Manually? Or have you written a signup form that automates the addition into the database?

> How are you handling new authors/blogs?
> Manually? Or have you written a signup form
> that automates the addition into the database?

I had a couple of choices here. One was to take some time to look at procedures to bypass MT completely and add users and blogs directly to the database. I thought I had done this using four of the tables–I kept good notes so that I could script the process and add front-end. But when all was said and done, there were some strange templating issues. Namely, the “new comment” form was bare: not even a save button. This was easily fixed manually, of course, but I need to track down where it is in the database. There was also some funkiness with some “Null” values being loaded as the string “NULL”. Neither of these problems is insurmountable, and I think I’ll need to write a script (form, but either email authorized to a buffalo domain email or held for administrator OK) if it scales.

In short, I ran out of time and ended up doing it manually. Adding users and permissions is pretty straightforward. Creating a new blogs script will need a free weekend.

(If you wanted to be sneaky, you could even set up htaccess to redirect requests from a certain IP address to a static version of your page, making it look like you haven’t been updating your blog… not that you could tell. ;)

If you need something with more coverage, but still not too onerous to set up, you can use .htaccess to protect a directory. In your case, you could simply put an .htaccess file that requires authentication on your “archives” directory. That way, anyone who wants to view comments or add to them would require a password, but everyone could see your main page. This would be pretty easy, but you would have to provide that username and password via email to those you wanted to have access (a “whitelist”). You can also do this in javascript, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

The most complex solution involves allowing anyone to see comments, but only some people to add to them. This would probably mean rolling up your sleeves and altering the code a little bit to check for a new form input. It wouldn’t be very hard, as long as you weren’t looking for Brinx like protection, but it would be a bit time-consuming.

LiveJournals has a membership system built in, but it’s… LiveJournal. If you’d like to experiment with an MT installation, email me and I’ll set up an account for you on UBlogs.

Finally, I don’t know what the nature of the postings were, but in extreme cases you should be aware that New York has a cyberstalking provision. In a public forum, the line between stalking and trolling can be thin, but continued harassment, whether on the computer or in person, is a crime in many states.