Boonex Dolphin PHP script is SCAM! Beware!

[gamerelvis]

Why Boonex is a scam?

Boonex problem nr1. No coding standard

Boonex is writen by several people using different technologies. Its main base (Dolphin) is writen in pure php with its own template engine and forum (Orca) uses xlst. That has large negative impact to integration of forum in site and site in forum. When coding, please use single technology and template system.

Whats even worser, different parts of dolphins code itself is writen by completely different people, and very in the hurry. So everyone has its own imagination how to interact with different parts of the code. It is very tricky to modify code that way to suit site needs.

Boonex problem nr2. Template engine and separation of code/design/database

This problem in dolphin/boonex needs a point on its own. Boonex uses custom template system ( that should be called layout system). The blocks of generated html code are pased to specific places in the template. That creates a big headache for programers as they need to search through code for the place where some box is generated. It might be generated in template, or in specific function in one of numerous includes. And so on. Even pligg has better templating than this.

It is very tricky to rip boonex templating apart, as whole coding is based on such poor programming practice. They would be better off using existing template system like smarty or similar one.

This leads to problem nr3

Boonex problem nr3. Crapy use of Database

We saw serveral other competing sites launched on boonex, but we did not care much. Why? Becouse when they reach 500-1000 daily visitors they will break apart. The reason for it is very bad programming and use of database.

For example, boonex uses profile builder which assigns fields to profiles. So the output of profile uses more than one table and is quite inefficient.

Also, there is a nice 20-30 query overhead on each page display to fetch all the configuration values from table. Silly, isn’t it ? They would be FAR better of using a file for configuring sofware or caching it in php file like it is done in most of the systems.

Another simple problem. When boonex wants to display a profile being online it additionally check database for its status. But that data was pulled from database already. So 20 useless queries again.

Resume

I would not suggest using boonex if you want to keep your programmers sane. We have have changed the code almost completely for now, and you will need to do that too. Boonex is a scam. Try googling "boonex scam" first. http://www.google.com/search?q=boonex+scam or boonex dolphin scam

 

[Blue]

Looks to me like you have a personal axe to grind, far more so than legitimate issues with the software.

Not a lot of credibility I'm afraid.

They offer a free demo do they not?
If you don't like the software don't buy it.

Signing up to forums to actually call it a scam says far more about you than it does about the software.

 

[SwarmHost]

Actually, I rather like his emotional, and yet well thought out description of Boonex from a programming perspective. I had looked at the software a few times and contemplated using it for a website, but he raises some very legitimate reasons for not using the software free or not. I think whether it's free or not is irrelevant. All "free" software has to be modified to suit the needs of the project. So, the programming that is in place is very relevant and important information for anyone thinking about using that software. Thanks for the post.

 

[Kiplinz]

Seems that this software is just like, piece of code that might be changed. So if you want to use it you need to recode it on your own. In some point that is good, as you may change it as you like, but I`m afraid that kind of soft should be open-source and free to use. Not like this situation.

 

[Blue]

Actually, I rather like his emotional, and yet well thought out description of Boonex from a programming perspective. I had looked at the software a few times and contemplated using it for a website, but he raises some very legitimate reasons for not using the software free or not. I think whether it's free or not is irrelevant. All "free" software has to be modified to suit the needs of the project. So, the programming that is in place is very relevant and important information for anyone thinking about using that software. Thanks for the post.

Well thought out?
At what point does he explain where the "SCAM" is in regards to this software.Telling people there is a "scam" and to "beware" is reckless language and should not be tolerated without a far better explanation than what was offered.

 

[SwarmHost]

Well, that's a valid point. I was mainly trying to point out that his evaluation of the software could be very useful to anyone thinking about using it. I do agree that "SCAM" is overly harsh, and not accurate in this case. The word scam implies some sort of malicious intent. I assume it was more the case of laziness, inexperience, or having a bad project manager. "Beware" doesn't seem unreasonable, but maybe "use caution" would have been less reckless as you put it.

 

[Blue]

I agree.
Unfortunately the evaluation of the software loses some credibility, in my opinion, when the title of the thread is so far off base.

I probably would have had an entirely different reaction to the post had the OP simply stated that there are problems with the software.

 

[SenseiSteve]

I was looking for the connection to "SCAM" and never found one, so I have to agree with Blue. A different title would have given this thread so much more credibility.