A forum can take many shapes. The comments on a profile or photo are some sort of forums too.
The facebook wall where you can comment on items (and comments to comments) are forums too.
Yes, "forum" is a last year term. That's why strawberries said "forum/social interactions".
But it means a way for people to share their opinions on something, whatever that may be, and that will never disappear.

yea thats true a forum can take many shapes this why it called social network lol but again i meant normal forums like the options u put in POLL , look at facebook, tagged , zorpia , netlog , badoo, zoosk, fubar, cupidbay, jdate,  what else? i can tell u a lot of famous website that dont use it, i think its better to make poll asking people if they want forum in their website and ask them if it better than mods like who viewd me, photo rate , photo battle game, gift shop, blings, secret admires. online marriage, video chat, blah blah blah hthen u can ask them this question if u got a lot of users who want

im talking about the forum that in POLL facebook wall is not like these ones at all and personally i dont like facebook

whether you or I like facebook or not, is neither here nor there.  Whether we like it or not, every man and his dog are on facebook.  And facebook has raised the bar. 

social/group interaction is fundamental to any dating/social networking site.

a gift shop is not a key component.

I agree with Maverick here.

I have used most scripts available, both free and commercial, over the years, all have pro's and cons. I have also developed my own where the need wasn't fulfiled by existing apps.

It's really horses for courses. What do you want from your site. It's the first thing I ask a new client. Content management - Joomla, etc.; gift shop - Zen, etc.; blog - Wordpress, etc.; gallery, dating site, chatrooms and so on.

There are loads to choose from, all reasonably good at their intended function.

Etano can't be all things to all people.

I have to tell you, once I got it running, I was blown away by how smooth it is - last dating site I built I had to use eMeeting, if you've ever tried it, you'll know what I mean - a dog.

One of the reasons I was attracted to Etano  was the fact it was open source. I don't mind paying for apps and add-ons (I'm thinking of buying one of Mavericks templates!), but I also don't mind contributing code (I've started on a Western and Chinese Horoscope module), and helping out wherever I can be useful. That's the beauty of open source, Etano will reach a critical mass, then fly. People like Dan and Maverick and a few others are giving a lot right now; I hope I can help too.

So, I'm a *nix freak. Don't get me wrong, Windows and Apple have their place but for app availability (free) and common development, you can't beat Unix/Linux - ok, a bit subjective there!

Thing is, and I guess I'm not alone here, from my experiences elsewhere, the best thing that could happen is that Etano can develop to be a really (more!) excellent product, I mean focus on the core itself, all input going toward an ever improving version. Apps then, either free or commercial, depending on the developer and the user drive but the core must be sweet and solid, t/w documentation, installation and update routine.

Well, that was a bit of a ramble. The last question/wish. Can admin add some sub-forums? Like Installation, Getting started, App development, user submitted code, something like that? Also, could be good right now to get all the installation questions together into a sticky. While I was searching for help, almost all of the internal links I found on Mavericks very helpful posts, were dead - these need sorting.

I am prepared to volunteer time, as and when. I will add any code I write, help out in the forum or I could write an installation guide, or sweep the floor...!

Cheers!

Sounds like we're on the same wavelength Maverick.

I see the installation doc was last updated in 2007. Unless anyone else is volunteering, I'll make a start on that. Is there any kind of format control? Otherwise I'll use wiki markup, it can always be changed. I am out for the last three weeks of August, but I was looking for an Autumn project anyway!

Tonight I was playing around with a generic db field updater, then I got carried away and made the Zodiac update, it reads dob (f3), finds the right sign, and writes back to a new field in the user_profile table, then pops a graphic on the user profile page. Just need to think about where to trigger it from, maybe a check box on the profile page. I might add the Chinese one too. Something for the weekend!

Cheers!

Hey, nice to see some enthusiasm around here!
Let me know if you need access to the wiki or elsewhere.
I know for sure that I did a zodiac field once (maybe even for Maverick?)  but I can't find it now.
I will try and create those subforums you requested boss

@sezar, it was never about adding it as a core feature. Mods all the way.