Geeklog Forums

Hi, I'm new to this site. I've spent the last 2 or 3 days reading everything possible here and it seems that GL may be just what I need. However, I am a bit "jaded" because I've thought that about several other systems like this that turned out to be unworkable for my needs. So I have a few questions if I could:1. I saw the performance hacks. Is GL generally slow? I'm on a slow dialup (28.8) and this site seems unbearably slow. Not complaining, just asking. 2. Over on OpenSourceCMS.com in their forums there is a post about GL and how great and secure it is. The site that the poster listed was defaced. I realize that the weakest link in security is normally the users but is GL considered secure if you follow the suggestions here for set up and configuration? 3. Is it possible and if so how hard would it be to change "story" in various places in GL to something else like "article"? 4. Many of my visitors turn Javascript off for security reasons. I have been browsing this site with JS turned off as well. Is there a hidden need in any of the basic functionality for Javascript that I'm missing? 5. I notice that the last release was several months ago. Again not complaining, just asking. Are bug fixes done in a timely manner in your experience? 6. Is GL considered stable enough for a business website? 7. What I need is for free members to see articles 1, 3, 5, and 10 for example. Paid members would see those plus all the other content. I see that GL has a user system that seems like it could easily handle this based on the login information. Is this user management system robust enough to handle this type thing without free members getting access to paid content? 8. I see that there is a mailing list add on that is still in beta testing. If I use an outside script or service how hard would it be to incorporate the newsletter sign up box on every page? Sorry for so many questions. Thanks in advance.

Okay, I'll try my best: 1) Geeklog's speed is not too bad, I think. The "created this page in x.xx seconds" on the bottom of the page should give you some idea. With themes that use lots of graphics, like the default XSilver theme, the site can still take a while to load, though. 2) We like to think that Geeklog is reasonably safe. We've had our share of security issues, like everybody else, but nothing that has caused any considerable harm to anybody, AFAIK (I would be interested in that defaced site, though - could you email me the URL?). The default setup of Geeklog is very secure, if you follow the installation instructions (and the reminders that we built into the default setup) carefully. 3) Geeklog uses language files, so all the texts used by Geeklog can be easily changed there. 4) Javascript is not required for any of the core functions. 5) Geeklog is still under active development. The new release (1.3.8) is taking a bit longer than expected (as usual in software development), but we hope to be able to present something in the not too distant future :-) 6) There are quite a few business sites around that seem to think so. 7) Geeklog's permission system is perfect for this. 8) Geeklog provides two types of blocks that you could use: "Normal" blocks that simply hold HTML (in this case, it could be the signup form for the service) and PHP blocks for when you need some lines of PHP to incorporate things. Hope that answers most of your questions. bye, Dirk

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to give it a try. I also emailed you the hacked site information. If you have any good info to share after checking it out I'm sure many will be greatful.

Thanks for bringing that to our attention.

I had a look at the site in question and it seems that there wasn't a Geeklog site running when the defacement happened. It looks like the owner took down the Geeklog site in February because he's away until June. Someone seems to have hacked the replacement site after that date.

At least that's my analysis at the moment. I've also posted a message in the thread over at opensourcecms.com and will try to contact the site's owner for further clarification (which may take some time, given his statement on the site that he's away until June).

bye, Dirk