#######################################################################
#							              # 
#                   News Publisher Comments Readme                    #
#		   	   Version 1.02                               #
# 	                                                              #
#                    Created by Grant Williams                        # 
#					                              #
# Created on:  1/23/98          Last Modified on:  8/16/99            #
# I can be reached at:          gcw07@ionet.net                       #
# Scripts Found at:             http://www.roosh.com/news_publisher/  #
#######################################################################
# Please use the forum at the site for support questions and not      #
# email them. The forum is checked often.	                      #
#######################################################################
# COPYRIGHT NOTICE:						      #
# 								      #
# Copyright 1999 Grant Williams    All Rights Reserved.               #
#								      #
# This program may be used and modified free of charge by anyone, as  #
# long as this copyright notice and the header above remain intact.   #  
# By using this program you agree to indemnify Grant Williams from    #
# any liability that might arise from it's use.                       #
#								      #
# Selling the code for this program without prior written consent is  #
# expressly forbidden. Obtain permission before redistributing this   #
# software over the Internet or in any other medium.  In all cases    #
# copyright and header must remain intact.                            #
#                                                                     #
#######################################################################

____________________________________________________________________________


You will also need to edit the comments.cgi file to install this script.
Below is a description of how to modify the necessary file. This script
is an add-on and is not required to run the news.cgi script.

_________________________________________________________________________

                      CONFIG.CGI COMMENTS CONFIGURATION
		     ==================================

This file must be placed in your server's cgi-bin, or if your server has 
.cgi extensions allowed, you can simply rename this file to config.cgi. This
file must be chmoded 755. Ask your system administrator for more information 
on either the cgi-bin or chmod command.

This file will be pretty easy to modify, if you already modified the 
config.cgi file for the news script. Below is a summary of how to configure 
all of the variables:

###########################################################################
# Define Variables

$CommentsScriptUrl = "http://your.host.xxx/cgi-bin/comments.cgi";
	This is the URL that points to comments.cgi. This will be used often
	in the comments.cgi file, so this must be correct. If you renamed 
	comments.cgi to comments.pl, be sure to change the $CommentsScriptUrl 
	to reflect this change.

$commentsdir = "$datadir/comments";
	This is the name of your comments data directory which will be 
	inside the $datadir.  All of the comments data will be 
	created and held in this directory. This directory should be 
	chmoded 777. If you want to have it else where, remove the
	$datadir variable from it and type in the absolute system path
	to the directory you want it placed in. It must be chmoded 777.

$mainpage = "http://your.host.xxx";
	This is the URL that points to your main page. It will be a link,
	on the individual comments pages.

$passwd = "password";
	This is the password that is used to post as admins. This is used to 
	post as an admin instead of a regular user. Information on posting
	as admins is below. This password is also used for deleting comments.

$admin_color = "red";
	This is the color of the posts made my admins. When using the password
	above, it will turn your posts into the color specified here instead of
	just the normal link color.

$title = "Comments";
	This is the title of the links to the individual comments. This will be
	in the news stories. It will create a link like this:
	      <a href="http://your.host.xxx/cgi-bin/comments.cgi?view=1">Comments (0)</a>
	The word Comments in the link will be whatever you call it in the $title variable
	above.

$noaccess = "$commentsdir/access.txt";
	This is the name of the file that will hold banned ip addresses
	for the comments system. You should place the file access.txt
	inside your comments directory. Or if you wish to have it else
	where, point this variable to that file. This file should be 
	chmoded 777. Information on how to ban people is below.

$email_rq = 1;
	You can make the script require an email address to post a comment.
	(1 = NO; 2 = YES;)

$colswidth = 35;
$rowswidth = 10;
	You may define the column and row width of the textarea box for
	replies to comments. There is no need to change these unless you
	really want the box size to be different.


   ############ CONTINUE IN THE OTHER CONFIGURATION PART ############

$pageheader = "/path/to/datadirectory/pageheader.txt";
	This is the HTML that you want before the comments results. So you
	can place any HTML in this file. All of it will show up above the
	comments results. NOTE: This variable is used in many of the add-on
	scripts.

$pagefooter = "/path/to/datadirectory/pagefooter.txt";
	This is the HTML that you want after the comments results. So you
	can place any HTML in this file. All of it will show up below the
	comments results. NOTE: This variable is used in many of the add-on
	scripts.

##########################################################################


The CGI is now ready to upload. Now onto the second part of configuration.
You must also configure the comments.cgi script, but it is very easy.

First make sure the perl location at the top is correct. Then scroll down to
this line:

require "config.cgi";
require "np-lib.cgi";

If you did not rename config.cgi to anything else you do not have to change
anything. If you did rename it change the name so that it points to the
config.cgi file. This file must be placed in your server's cgi-bin, like the
config.cgi script was. This file must be chmoded 755. Ask your system administrator 
for more information on either the cgi-bin or chmod command.

############################################################################

Your done with this. Upload the comments.cgi script and chmod it. Now onto how
to use the options.

_____________________________________________________________________________
			    EXTRA INFORMATION
_____________________________________________________________________________

There are a few things you need to know how to do to use the comments script totally.

			    #################

First, when creating a new story, if the comments option is set to yes, it will auto-
matically add the link to where you placed the <<comments>> variable in the story look.

			    #################

Next, to post as an admin instead of a normal poster, you will make your posts as follows
in the Name field:
	postname--password

postname - is whatever name you want to use to post as. So if you wanted to post as an admin
	admin named Fred, you would do it like this:
		Fred--password

password - is the admin password you set in the $passwd variable.

When you post a new comment with this, the name of the poster will be in the color specified in 
the $admin_color variable.

			    ######################

Next, if you wish to ban someone, you must edit the access.txt file and make sure it is in the
location to where you pointed it to in the $noaccess variable. To ban a person you must first 
get there IP address from the posters comment. It is in parenthesis next to the poster's name. 
Copy that IP address and place it into the access.txt file. If you have multiple IP addresses 
to ban, seperate them by a comma, like below:

	56.658.6.841,312.712.73.97

Once you have done that, save the file and upload the file to the correct location. 
(The correct location is whatever you specified it as.) Then once you uploaded it, 
chmod it 777. The posters should now be banned.

NOTE: If you ban an IP, it will ban all users from that server. There is no way around this.

                            ######################

To access the admin add a '?admin' to the end of the url of the comments script. So to get to
the admin page you would type in something like this:

         http://your.host.xxx/cgi-bin/comments.cgi?admin

This would take you to the admin page where you can delete comments. On this page are 
instructions on how to delete comments. Type in your password that you have entered into the
'$passwd' variable, into the password box on this page. Then follow the instructions to delete
the comments.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That should be everything you need to know. If I missed anything please let me know in 
the forum at my site. Thanks.