Will we luddites who only read on computer (my smart phone...isn't allowed to be) have the option to keep the present look? I'll bet that's way too much trouble, huh?

Maybe the left-sidebar can appear if the browser window gets wide enough.

Getting ready for another update tomorrow. No UI adjustments yet as I've been working on the guts.

I think it's ready for contributions. Let me know if you want to add some code (please use branches rather than committing directly to master). It's all done with PHP, HTML templates, and CSS. It's hosted on gitlab so you need a gitlab account (which is free) to work on the project. There's enough code there now that you can see the patterns for how things work. Templates are used for views and PHP is used for controllers and utility functions. URL routing is all handled in the index.php file. PHP code and HTML are never mixed.

If you are interested in testing it out, let me know what userid you are going to use and I'll give you an invite code to register.

There is almost no functionality yet. There's registration (not how it will work for the real version), there's login and logout, you can view the one active thread, and you can post to the one active thread. And that's pretty much it.

The database is subject to getting wiped pretty often so everything will be pretty ephemeral.

The updated version is up at www.buffistas.me

Please give me an invite code so I can register and fake post stuff.

sent via e-mail

Invite codes will stay good even if the database is wiped. But a database wipe does mean you'll have to register again. On the plus side registering again will get you a new automatically generated tagline if you don't like the one you get before.

The beta site has been updated again. I preserved the current users, but all the threads got wiped. This update adds the start of an admin portal (only visible to admins). Right now it lets you add new threads and lists the current threads (it has buttons for doing stuff, but they aren't hooked up.) This update also adds the infrastructure for guarding routes unless the user has the right permissions.

Next step: tracking a user's current position in threads.

Check it out at www.buffistas.me

If you want a login, let me know and I will give you an invite code. If you are currently an admin, let me know so I can give you the correct permissions.

As a related note, passwords on the beta site are much more secure than this site so nobody can see the password that you use on the beta site, not even me.

I actually never use 'Show New', so is the idea that pressing 'Show New' will bring up a thread with new messages from the threads you've subscribed to?

Yes, correct.