fora
====

[fora][1] (yes, it's all lowercase letters) is discussion forum software,
done *differently*.

  [1]: <http://fora.yreality.net/> (fora homepage)

Philosophy
----------

* No categories, completely dynamic via tags and tag sets instead of topics
* No registration - every visitor is automatically assigned an account, and
they are automatically logged in to the correct account when visiting again
* No community authentication - every user is assumed to be trustworthy (no
passwords to log in, can edit anybody elses' posts, like a wiki - although
versions are kept)
* Member trust built on self-sufficient ratings, not mere membership

With fora, we hope to counter some of the basic anthropological problems
associated with the limitations of normal 'discussion-board', or forum
software. Such limitations and the said problems are discussed in more
depth [here][2].

  [2]: <http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/shiichan> (Discussion and comparision
of forum software vs. 2ch-type software)

Getting
-------

The authoratative source for this project is available at
<http://github.com/elliottcable/fora>. You can clone your own copy with the
following command:

> `git clone git://github.com/elliottcable/fora.git`

If you want to make changes to the codebase, you need to fork your own github
repository for said changes. Send a pullrequest to [elliottcable][3]
when you've got something ready for the master that you think should be
integrated into the root source.

  [3]: <http://github.com/elliottcable> (elliottcable's github account)

Requirements
------------

To run fora, you need the following gems:

* merb-core
* merb-more (may not be necessary)
* datamapper (and associated do_postgres, do_mysql, etc)
* merb_datamapper (from merb-plugins)

To develop and contribute to fora, you also need:

* merb_rspec (from merb-plugins)
* rspec
* rake