# Chris's "it's Saturday and I'm breaking stuff" thread.



## Chris (Jan 19, 2008)

Stuff I broke today:


I've reworked the google ads a bit. Guests see all ads, registered users see the ad up top, and at the bottom. The ad after the first post in a thread has been slimmed down. Contributing members will see no ads at all.

The navigation bar has been reworked, removing the site features dropdown menu and adding an upper menu bar with the relevant links. It's still a work in progress so bear with me as I try to make it a bit more manageable. 

The whole upper navbar has been redone, and I've grabbed the 777 logo that Darren made, in hopes that he doesn't mind. It's too damn awesome not to use. 

There is no navigation bar on the front page of the site anymore. It was redundant with the same batch of controls in the left column anyway, and looks much neater.

The pointless strip all by itself at the bottom where the Contributors link was has been removed, and the contrib link is now below the main forum listing, where the links for leaders, mark read, etc are.

Private Message quickreply has been removed due to a bug in the actual coding which made it suck. It'll be back as soon as I figure out how to get it to work properly and quote the PM you're replying to.

 The New Posts display under the private messages area has been removed for performance reasons. (two queries per pageview x 25m pv's a month = way more cpu time than it was worth). I'll miss it too, and try to come up with a cleaner way of bringing it back.


I'll be adding to this as I'm doing quite a bit more, including adding some new content that you guys should dig.


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## djpharoah (Jan 19, 2008)

Awesomeness!!


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## Stitch (Jan 19, 2008)

<3

Nothing broken yet!


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## ohio_eric (Jan 19, 2008)




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## Apophis (Jan 19, 2008)

great


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## oompa (Jan 19, 2008)

great initiative


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## El Caco (Jan 19, 2008)




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## NegaTiveXero (Jan 19, 2008)

The site looks pretty badass (as per usual) now. I like the new ss.org banner.


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## Desecrated (Jan 19, 2008)

People with Firefox and Ad-watch haven't seen any Google ads either


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## Chris (Jan 19, 2008)

Note that the User CP link is now under Quick Links. (It was always there as well, just removed the redundant link)


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## Chris (Jan 19, 2008)

Desecrated said:


> People with Firefox and Ad-watch haven't seen any Google ads either





You don't see them anyway, as you are a contributor.


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## Desecrated (Jan 19, 2008)

Chris said:


> You don't see them anyway, as you are a contributor.



Fucking ey, it rocks to be me!


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## Scott (Jan 19, 2008)

Chris said:


> Note that the User CP link is now under Quick Links. (It was always there as well, just removed the redundant link)



Ironically, the redundant way, was the quicker way to access the CP.


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## Chris (Jan 19, 2008)

Scott said:


> Ironically, the redundant way, was the quicker way to access the CP.



How many times a day do you really need to edit your profile?


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## Desecrated (Jan 19, 2008)

Chris said:


> How many times a day do you really need to edit your profile?



You have to check how many points your e-rep have gained at least 5 times per day. :sarcasm:


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## TomAwesome (Jan 19, 2008)

Desecrated said:


> People with Firefox and Ad-watch haven't seen any Google ads either





Chris said:


> You don't see them anyway, as you are a contributor.



Yeah, I have Firefox and Ad-Watch, and I see the ads. They do look cooler now, though!


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## Desecrated (Jan 19, 2008)

TomAwesome said:


> Yeah, I have Firefox and Ad-Watch, and I see the ads. They do look cooler now, though!



Thats odd. do you have the ABP addon to firefox ?


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## Chris (Jan 19, 2008)

This conversation -> IT forum please.


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## WarriorOfMetal (Jan 19, 2008)

so.....uh....where is the User CP link now? i never saw it anywhere other than the top menu bar 






edit: found it, but will i remember? dunno....


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## Chris (Jan 19, 2008)

WarriorOfMetal said:


> so.....uh....where is the User CP link now? i never saw it anywhere other than the top menu bar
> 
> 
> 
> ...







Chris said:


> Note that the User CP link is now under Quick Links. (It was always there as well, just removed the redundant link)


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## Michael (Jan 19, 2008)

I love the new head banner thingo.


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## amonb (Jan 19, 2008)

Cheers Chris! And I always wondered why we never saw Darren's 777 logo anywhere... now fixed!


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## newamerikangospel (Jan 19, 2008)

Im unable to login or post messages/topics.


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## El Caco (Jan 19, 2008)

newamerikangospel said:


> Im unable to login or post messages/topics.


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## Chris (Jan 19, 2008)

newamerikangospel said:


> Im unable to login or post messages/topics.



There was a window of about half an hour where I was tweaking the login system. I assume that since you logged in, and posted a message, you're all set.


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## Desecrated (Jan 20, 2008)

When you log in there used to be a little link that said how many new post there was since you last visited, you can still push the new post link but I kinda miss that number thing.


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## Apophis (Jan 20, 2008)

me to, and as I said before I would like to see more threads, 150 at least, not only 125, PLEASE


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## eaeolian (Jan 20, 2008)

Nice work, boss man!


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## -K4G- (Jan 20, 2008)

Michael said:


> I love the new head banner thingo.


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## Chris (Jan 20, 2008)

Apophis said:


> me to, and as I said before I would like to see more threads, 150 at least, not only 125, PLEASE



http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/819383-post8.html


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## Chris (Jan 20, 2008)

Desecrated said:


> When you log in there used to be a little link that said how many new post there was since you last visited, you can still push the new post link but I kinda miss that number thing.



 Nobody ever reads my posts.




Me said:


> The New Posts display under the private messages area has been removed for performance reasons. (two queries per pageview x 25m pv's a month = way more cpu time than it was worth). I'll miss it too, and try to come up with a cleaner way of bringing it back.


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## Desecrated (Jan 20, 2008)




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## amonb (Jan 20, 2008)

Wow, I logged off here last night, went to bed, logged on today and DAMN! Top banner/menu thingy totally different again 

Nice changes Chris! Will take some getting used to but a change is as good as a holiday!


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## Chris (Jan 20, 2008)

Thanks man.  Fuckton of work, and I had some help from Josh and my buddy Ed who runs Club3G in getting some problems with the code sorted out.

It'll take some getting used to, for sure, but I have a bit more to do (including fixing the buttons so the text is a bit more crisp) but imo the end result is worth it.


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## amonb (Jan 20, 2008)

Things look a million times better than before (not that they looked shit before... ah fuckit you know what I mean) and the hours really show in the design.


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## budda (Jan 20, 2008)

do what you do


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## The Dark Wolf (Jan 20, 2008)

Site looks fucking sick, dude. I logged on earlier, come back tonight, and I'm all Black Rob, 'Like Whoa!'  It's the shit.


I was actually bragging you and ss.org up to a web designer buddy of mine, Big C.


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## Chris (Jan 20, 2008)

Thanks man, but what took me the better part of two days would take a real web designer only a couple of hours:


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## The Dark Wolf (Jan 20, 2008)

Still, the results are what counts. 

I was like, "Yeah, my buddy Chris, he's works for DoD, big-time engineer dude for 'em, master's degree and shit. He just happens to do web design as a hobby, and his shit is amazing."

 Dude, I think you do great work. This is one of the best designed forums I've ever seen.


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## ohio_eric (Jan 20, 2008)

The site looks amazing. Sadly it will take my dumb ass about a month to remember where all the buttons are.


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## Rick (Jan 20, 2008)

Great job, as always.


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## WarriorOfMetal (Jan 20, 2008)

thanks for the new easy-to-find CP link


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## amonb (Jan 20, 2008)

Not sure if this is the right thread... but would it be any easier on you Chris to get rid of the Chat room? I mean, the most I have EVER seen in there is two people, and the forums are pretty close to chat rooms sometimes anyways


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## Groff (Jan 21, 2008)

Just some feedback... The new design looks killer... But... I miss the nav bar on the front page. It took me a while to figure out I had to go to the forums first if I wanted to check my PMs or go to the user control panel. The reorganized nav bar while in the forums is great. But It'd be nice to have it on the front page as well, so I can go straight to the forum spy for example. Yadda yadda blah blaheverybodyprobablystoppedreadingthisbynow.


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## Chris (Jan 21, 2008)

I'm going to add some controls in the sidebar for members under the rest of the links today at some point.


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## Drew (Jan 21, 2008)

The Dark Wolf said:


> Still, the results are what counts.
> 
> I was like, "Yeah, my buddy Chris, he's works for DoD, big-time engineer dude for 'em, master's degree and shit. He just happens to do web design as a hobby, and his shit is amazing."
> 
> Dude, I think you do great work. This is one of the best designed forums I've ever seen.



It's because we periodically pour a sacrificial bottle of gin over the server.


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## djpharoah (Jan 21, 2008)

WarriorOfMetal said:


> thanks for the new easy-to-find CP link


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## Shawn (Jan 21, 2008)

Site looks good, Chris.


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## newamerikangospel (Jan 21, 2008)

Chris said:


> There was a window of about half an hour where I was tweaking the login system. I assume that since you logged in, and posted a message, you're all set.



 No dude, it was an obscure joke. I posted a reply, about me not being able to post a reply


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## Leon (Jan 21, 2008)

looks good


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## D-EJ915 (Jan 21, 2008)

Chris said:


> How many times a day do you really need to edit your profile?



He just likes to see "CP"

I noticed on the main page there is no longer the forum bar at the top so I made /forum my homepage now...so I can click the "new posts" thing more easily like before. I guess all is well though because some of that stuff was broken because the path was assuming it was under /forum and it wasn't.


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## Chris (Jan 21, 2008)

D-EJ915 said:


> some of that stuff was broken because the path was assuming it was under /forum and it wasn't.



 No it wasn't.


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## Popsyche (Jan 22, 2008)

Is the 30 second between retrieving new posts a permanent thing? Not a complaint. Jus' wondering...


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## D-EJ915 (Jan 22, 2008)

Chris said:


> No it wasn't.


mmhmmmm top posters mmmhmmm  ok so by "some" I meant one thing, but something else might have been


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## Chris (Jan 22, 2008)

D-EJ915 said:


> mmhmmmm top posters mmmhmmm  ok so by "some" I meant one thing, but something else might have been



Well, thanks for just letting it be broken instead of letting me know, dick.


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## Chris (Jan 22, 2008)

Popsyche said:


> Is the 30 second between retrieving new posts a permanent thing? Not a complaint. Jus' wondering...



Yeah, it's 10 seconds more to try and save server load (which was the whole point of most of what I did this weekend). It's just the nature of being busy, and with the server already costing about the same as leasing a luxury car every month, I really can't afford to upgrade it any further.


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## amonb (Jan 22, 2008)

Chris said:


> Yeah, it's 10 seconds more to try and save server load (which was the whole point of most of what I did this weekend). It's just the nature of being busy, and with the server already costing about the same as leasing a luxury car every month, I really can't afford to upgrade it any further.



Damn dude! I get paid this week so more contribution I say!

I didn't realize it was so expensive...


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## The Dark Wolf (Jan 22, 2008)

Well, all the effort is much appreciated.

I think it looks, feels, and functions just beautifully.


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## playstopause (Jan 22, 2008)

D-EJ915 said:


> mmhmmmm top posters mmmhmmm ...



Just wondering : whatever happened to this "top poster" link? 
Chris, did you also recalculated the rep system?


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## Popsyche (Jan 22, 2008)

Chris said:


> Yeah, it's 10 seconds more to try and save server load (which was the whole point of most of what I did this weekend). It's just the nature of being busy, and with the server already costing about the same as leasing a luxury car every month, I really can't afford to upgrade it any further.



Understood and appreciated!


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## Groff (Jan 22, 2008)

Chris said:


> with the server already costing about the same as leasing a luxury car every month, I really can't afford to upgrade it any further.



Ouch... I'll have to contribute some more the next time I get paid


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## Chris (Jan 22, 2008)

playstopause said:


> Just wondering : whatever happened to this "top poster" link?



Whoops, it's back in Quick Links.



> Chris, did you also recalculated the rep system?



Yeah. Just a teeny bit, and unintentionally (rolled back to a previous bit of code and had to off-hand remember what the hell the settings were per blip). It's not off by much.


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## playstopause (Jan 22, 2008)

Thanks sir!


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## Stitch (Jan 22, 2008)

As an aside, as I seem to notice you've been doing a lot to reduce server load...just how much does the forum cost to run a month? And how much of that is covered by adverts/contributions? Are you out of pocket running this, is what I'm asking.


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## Chris (Jan 22, 2008)

Stitch said:


> As an aside, as I seem to notice you've been doing a lot to reduce server load...just how much does the forum cost to run a month?



That's not something 99.9% of busy forum owners will say, it's bad form. 



> And how much of that is covered by adverts/contributions?



About 25%.



> Are you out of pocket running this, is what I'm asking.



Very much so.


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## Tester (Jan 22, 2008)

[action=Mr. Test]closes this since it's done, report bugs in a new thread, please. [/action]


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