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Old 09-16-2008, 01:50 AM   #6
Greg
Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint
 
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Texas
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I was thinking about this today. If there's a significant risk that someone might be able to find a hidden file on the site, the webmaster would have to tell me the secret code first and then publish it on the site. Otherwise anyone would be able to look up the secret code.

Even better:


How to Program The List so it Knows and Recognizes Webmasters

  1. The webmaster logs in to the Ultimate Sims List with a Sun Sims ID.
    This is the nut I still need to crack.
  2. The webmaster requests a key for The List.
  3. The Ultimate Sims List software generates a small text file with an encrypted key in it.
  4. The webmaster puts that file on the site.
  5. Back at the Ultimate Sims List, the webmaster pastes the URL of the hidden key into a form.
  6. The Ultimate Sims List checks to make sure that the key it handed out is the key that's on the site. Also check the root of the URL to make sure we're going to the right site. It would have to be the exact same root URL as that which will appear in the Ultimate Sims List.
    Need to parse the URL's back to the directory level, and no farther.
  7. If the two match, then the Ultimate Sims List knows that this person does have write access to the site, and hence must be the webmaster.
  8. If all is good, the software sets the flag for that person being the owner of the corresponding entry in the Ultimate Sims List.


What Webmasters Could Edit

After that, the webmaster would be able to update the site's description, status, URL, and the other stuff listed in the first post in this thread without having to wait for me or anyone else.


Site News and Update Announcements

A nifty associated feature would be to added a field for Latest Update to the site, meaning the latest time that something was added.

Maybe also have a way to put in a brief text description of what the update is about and even a link to a picture. Then a modified version of the software I wrote for the old SimsHost Chronicle could generate a nicely formatted update notice, but this time for every site that wants to have them listed anywhere on the web.


Of course, we'd need to brainstorm all the possible ways that this system could be abused and find ways to program around it, but if it worked, it would be a very nice thing for all Sims fans.
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