This thread explains how to have search engine friendly URLs for your forum ...

In the new Blah.pl there is the following two lines:

Code $scriptname = 'Blah.pl'; $modrewrite = '?'; # mod_rewrite: on = ''; off = '?'

Change these lines to:

Code $scriptname = '/forum/'; $modrewrite = ''; # mod_rewrite: on = ''; off = '?'

Notice that I used /forum/ for modrewrite. ?This is because I use a new directory called /forum/ which Apache uses to get /cgi-bin/bb/Blah.pl (nice, I know).

Here's the .htaccess file that is placed in the /forum/ directory:

Code Options All Indexes IndexOptions FancyIndexing RewriteEngine On RewriteBase /forum RewriteRule ^(.*) /cgi-bin/bb/Blah.pl?$1

On my server (which uses cPanel) I had to enable indexing for the /forum/ directory (which is doesn't matter as ANYTHING in this directory will be tagged onto Blah.pl).

The way it works is /forum is the base and then in the RewriteRule (.*) is anything after /forum/ (ie: b=cc), that is in turn tagged into Blah.pl (/cgi-bin/bb/Blah.pl?b=cc).

I hope this is all clear.  P9.3 isn't set to release for quite some time.  But this *better* help search engine results for E-Blah and other forums.  

Someone with a busy forum -- PLEASE try this mod (ask me for the source code!)

Did this mod get tested out? I note the url changes in my new 9.3 install, but have a few errors I think because my 'Blah.pl?' part of the url is still there?

Message Forum catagory doesnt always show when the board index is loaded. Press refresh and it all comes right again! Strange eh!

http://www.pigeonbasics.com/forum/blah/Blah.pl

Have you edited your .htaccess to include

Code Options All IndexesIndex Options FancyIndexing RewriteEngine On RewriteBase /forumRewriteRule ^(.*) /cgi-bin/bb/Blah.pl?$1

I hadnt, but I've now tried and cant seem to get the right folder to put it into. Tried both forum/, blah/, but only comes up with 500 errors. Any ideas?

Some servers are very trivial with mod_rewrite.  I don't know enough about mod_rewrite, truth be told.  I know that I keep my /forum/ directory clean (nothing but .htaccess is in it).  I keep everything else in /cgi-bin/{forum} directory.  Hope this helps?

Think I'm muddled with where you put your htaccess, forum is a virtual folder already being rewritten to cgi-bin/bb/ ?

P.S the sitemap generator works a treat - well once I get these urls sorted out!

Oh aye, any thoughts on the problems with the category display? I've tried it on two different machines, firefox only seems to have the problem, but then a refresh sorts it out!

I have an update sitemap gen I should post ... it adds the dates so Google can index you better.    I'll post it soon.

If you PM me or IM me some FTP login info I'll try to fix it up for ya.

Think I got it working (the mod rewrite). The funny error thing, I think its in the login script, it redirects you to forum/blah//b=/m-//, so I think its the double forwardslash. Tried to find it in the code, but whatever I edit I get errors.lol

Make sure that in your Settings.pl $realurl does not have a backslash on the end

$realurl = "http://www.pigeonbasics.com/forum/blah";

Thanks, it didnt have a tralling slash; but when I pop one in it seems to use the correct urls now.

I'm still getting the message category not dispaying right, as I said it looks like only Firefox, but it clears up once you press refresh. I've tried it on a few different machines to see if it was just mine, but all same. I'll try and attach a photo of it.

Yeah, that was an issue.  If you open up BoardIndex.pl you can remove all the <col> (I think that's it) and it should fix it for you.

Thanks Justin, that seems to have put it right

Justin I don't see it.

Ok long version:

1) I use modrewrite extensively. The folders I use do not exist at all. For example:
   http://www.clixnetwork.com/products/traffic-exchange/
   There is no folder "products". You don't need to create one.

2) I downloaded the zip with eblah in it and it doesn't have those options.

3) I'm hot, humid, hungry, and just want it to work with mod rewrite but I may just do it the old fashioned way and ping you.