Forum Suggestions Megathread - what do you want?

[DDDorian]

So it seems like every day someone asks for some upgrade or feature to the forums and the answer always seems to be "nice idea, but it's upto Alex". Well, here's your chance to have your suggestions heard and (maybe) get something done!

If there's anything you'd like to see added (or changed) to the forums then post it here! Big, small, whatever - just realise that the more implausible your suggestion the less likely it is to ever happen. If you have a suggestion that's already been made, then don't repeat it - second it with a +1, GOTM style.

I'll give it a month, at which point the top five most requested features/upgrades will be sent to Alex, along with a few mod requests, and we'll go from there.

Post away!

[hufschmid]

I thought about this different colour for the names of the established guitar makers who are in the forum...

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/fee...ar-makers.html

[Scar Symmetry]

forums dedicated to polls and NGDs/NADs would be nice.

great to see the forum open to change

[hufschmid]

Suggestion 2 .....

The ability to delate a profile visitor comment without having to kindy ask a moderator to take them off, this can both be a time saver for both the members and the moderators....

[cataclysm_child]

I want a ´new threads´-section

[Konfyouzd]

there's a thread already about this, but if there's a way we could cut down the pic size without screwing over the guys with slower internet connections that'd be cool too.

[TimSE]

Originally Posted by cataclysm_child

I want a ´new threads´-section

also an admin who exists would be nice ...

[Stitch]

Yes, an admin who gives a shit about the forum beyond treating it as a cash cow would be fantastic. Restoring some power to the mods would be great too.

[All_¥our_Bass]

Originally Posted by Konfyouzd

there's a thread already about this, but if there's a way we could cut down the pic size without screwing over the guys with slower internet connections that'd be cool too.

+1!

I love the motivators and picstories as much as the next guy but I am cursed with dial-up.

Originally Posted by Stitch

Restoring some power to the mods would be great too.

+1

[Zepp88]

Originally Posted by Stitch

Yes, an admin wo gives a shit about the forum beyond treating it as a cash cow would be fantastic. Restoring some power to the mods would be great too.

+1

Also, whats the status of the WAP version?

It would also be cool if we could encourage people to use the chat room more, and make it IRC.

[Mattmc74]

Originally Posted by Scar Symmetry

forums dedicated to polls and NGDs/NADs would be nice.

great to see the forum open to change

A NGD thread would be cool.

[D-EJ915]

an 'NGD' subforum to each of the regular forums would be pretty nice. It's annoying seeing a million threads just with pictures posted and no actual information. This is a forum and not a picture gallery people.

[Zepp88]

Adding an NGD subforum to our already large number of subforums seems a bit overkill to me.

[Konfyouzd]

Originally Posted by Zepp88

Adding an NGD subforum to our already large number of subforums seems a bit overkill to me.

that's very true. and usually NGD threads have "NGD" somwhere in the title and if not you can expect a 56k joke. so i mean if you don't want to look through the "picture galleries" they seem rather easy to avoid as the titles are dead giveaways.

[Scar Symmetry]

Originally Posted by Konfyouzd

that's very true. and usually NGD threads have "NGD" somwhere in the title and if not you can expect a 56k joke. so i mean if you don't want to look through the "picture galleries" they seem rather easy to avoid as the titles are dead giveaways.

yeah I had thought about that, but I'd rather see all N*Ds in one place and they could still be titled NGD, NAD, NPD, NRD etc etc

[D-EJ915]

Originally Posted by Konfyouzd

that's very true. and usually NGD threads have "NGD" somwhere in the title and if not you can expect a 56k joke. so i mean if you don't want to look through the "picture galleries" they seem rather easy to avoid as the titles are dead giveaways.

it makes searching for useful information MUCH easier which is a BIG problem here

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Zepp88

+1

Also, whats the status of the WAP version?

It would also be cool if we could encourage people to use the chat room more, and make it IRC.

If you recall, the chat room did have an IRC hook when I first created it ages ago. The problem is, the vBulletin integration (eg: what logs you in) is VERY tempermental and way out of date now, so it's probably not even available/supported at all.

Secondly, most IRC providers (I used dal.net) require some sort of bot in the room to keep it active enough so that the vB workaround will work. I forget who did it, but someone made a "stringer" admin for me that would sit in the room all the time and just keep it alive. The problem there is that someone has to maintain the bot, and any admin/mod that logs into the room is NOT given any rights to the room, so basically if you have someone in there being an asshole, they can't kick them.

Lastly, I had it that way for about a year, and I'd say out of 100 people who used the chat (random stats, ftw) maybe 2-3 actually used the IRC hook. It just wasn't worth the effort, considering that it would .... up and break ALL the time. It's a good idea and a nice concept, but the work required to get it running and constantly maintain it was huge in comparison to the amount of people who actually took advantage of it.

.2c.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Zepp88

+1

Also, whats the status of the WAP version?

vBulletin is tables and graphics, so coding up a WAP version that is usable and doesn't suck is not easy. There are a few skins out there that are "WAP-friendly" (and I use the term loosely) but truth be told, they all suck, and are tailored to some-other-guy's-site who just opted to release it on vb.org.

If I had more time (I probably will do this on my other sites), I'd just copy the original skin, strip all of the graphics calls from it and just make it a super light version of the "Real" skin. The issue with this site is that this skin was coded up by me over the course of about 5 years, so there is a LOT of table-trickery going on to make things look the way they do. So it's probably easier for Alex/Flick/whoever to code one from scratch than to try to reverse-engineer all of my, erm, questionable coding methods.

Edit: Not trying to stick my nose in, just wanted to toss out a couple of reasons why some ideas get turned down. Some of 'em just can't be done, while others are just a monstrous pain in the ass.

[E Lucevan Le Stelle]

Originally Posted by Stitch

Yes, an admin who gives a shit about the forum beyond treating it as a cash cow would be fantastic. Restoring some power to the mods would be great too.

Yep, pretty much. Alex is going to find the site dying pretty quickly now if he goes on paying no attention... the best posters are pretty much all on mg.org as well, and the quality of posting seems to have gone into freefall lately.

Also, more mods, preferably recruited from the "old-school" members. Hell, I would do it if nobody else could be found (though I'd probably be the worst POSSIBLE choice...)

[Daemoniac]

Originally Posted by .........

I thought about this different colour for the names of the established guitar makers who are in the forum...

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/fee...ar-makers.html

^ I like that idea. It seems to make much sense, although i raed through the other thread about it and i dont know how possible it is

Originally Posted by TimSE

also an admin who exists would be nice ...

Originally Posted by Stitch

Yes, an admin who gives a shit about the forum beyond treating it as a cash cow would be fantastic. Restoring some power to the mods would be great too.

+1,000,000 to both the above

Actually, more than anything else: More mods to help out the awesome current lot

[Zepp88]

Originally Posted by Chris

If you recall, the chat room did have an IRC hook when I first created it ages ago. The problem is, the vBulletin integration (eg: what logs you in) is VERY tempermental and way out of date now, so it's probably not even available/supported at all.

Secondly, most IRC providers (I used dal.net) require some sort of bot in the room to keep it active enough so that the vB workaround will work. I forget who did it, but someone made a "stringer" admin for me that would sit in the room all the time and just keep it alive. The problem there is that someone has to maintain the bot, and any admin/mod that logs into the room is NOT given any rights to the room, so basically if you have someone in there being an asshole, they can't kick them.

Lastly, I had it that way for about a year, and I'd say out of 100 people who used the chat (random stats, ftw) maybe 2-3 actually used the IRC hook. It just wasn't worth the effort, considering that it would .... up and break ALL the time. It's a good idea and a nice concept, but the work required to get it running and constantly maintain it was huge in comparison to the amount of people who actually took advantage of it.

.2c.

Originally Posted by Chris

vBulletin is tables and graphics, so coding up a WAP version that is usable and doesn't suck is not easy. There are a few skins out there that are "WAP-friendly" (and I use the term loosely) but truth be told, they all suck, and are tailored to some-other-guy's-site who just opted to release it on vb.org.

If I had more time (I probably will do this on my other sites), I'd just copy the original skin, strip all of the graphics calls from it and just make it a super light version of the "Real" skin. The issue with this site is that this skin was coded up by me over the course of about 5 years, so there is a LOT of table-trickery going on to make things look the way they do. So it's probably easier for Alex/Flick/whoever to code one from scratch than to try to reverse-engineer all of my, erm, questionable coding methods.

Edit: Not trying to stick my nose in, just wanted to toss out a couple of reasons why some ideas get turned down. Some of 'em just can't be done, while others are just a monstrous pain in the ass.

Thanks for chiming in dude

The IRC chat thing is just a quirk of mine, I like IRC I had no idea that the bot was in there constantly for IRC though, I don't think I ever asked.

On the WAP thing, I DEFINITELY see the pain in the ass there, even coding the skin for this site would drive me mad, you have more patience than me that's for sure

Regardless, I'm happy to see you stopping by here from time to time, you haven't completely left us

[auxioluck]

An automatic thread deletion. 6 months old with no activity, unless stickied, gets deleted.

Maybe limited access to brand new users...since we've had so many issues with new people trolling and starting internet wars for no reason, throwing out neg-rep like old toys, it's starting to get a little out of hand. (Or so it seems.) Maybe have a 30 day period where they have limited access?

The rep system. If it's starting to get out of hand, I have another idea. On k-1fans.com, a forum I still frequent, they have their "rep" status change by how many posts they have. There's no rep thrown between users, but it's kind of like an award for being active. Then, anyone that would be a douche just got banned. Of course, this would be a big change, and would require more reporting from the underlings and more work for the mods, but it's an idea.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by auxioluck

An automatic thread deletion. 6 months old with no activity, unless stickied, gets deleted.

Delete, no, close, can be done. You can't just delete anything over 6 months old, because a TON of useful (searchable) information is contained in those threads. You'd end up with 5 pages of stickies in each forum otherwise.

[Konfyouzd]

what exactly is the point of the rep system? i could see maybe for thanking people for their OPs, but as far as being able to add/remove rep for ANY post, i just don't see the point. and that seems to be where all of the trouble lies.

Originally Posted by Chris

Delete, no, close, can be done. You can't just delete anything over 6 months old, because a TON of useful (searchable) information is contained in those threads. You'd end up with 5 pages of stickies in each forum otherwise.

any way of locking and/or archiving threads after a certain point? that way people could use the archives for searching old useful threads?

[auxioluck]

Originally Posted by Chris

Delete, no, close, can be done. You can't just delete anything over 6 months old, because a TON of useful (searchable) information is contained in those threads. You'd end up with 5 pages of stickies in each forum otherwise.

Good point. Should've said close, not delete.