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GOURANGA! Forums > News > Announcements > IceyBoard Ideas
Post 1 | New
Icey
the pirate. arrr

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Here's a list of big and small ideas for the board:

1. Member post counts are displayed in the author info next to messages. Should they be removed?
 - Advantage: Less to download. Pages are generated slightly quicker. Less tempting to spam to increase post count.
 - Disadvantage: ?
 - Notes: Post count can be viewed from the profile pages. Join date is probably a more reliable indicator of how reputable someone is.
  
2. Should user numbers be positioned next to names?
 - Advantage: Posts take up less vertical space.
 - Disadvantage: May look a little cluttered.
 - Notes: Perhaps member numbers shouldn't be shown at all in the author info next to posts?

3. Should member titles only be editable after you've been registered for N amount of days?
 - Advantage: It's kind of a reward for being a long-term member.
 - Disadvantage: You can't change your member title straight away.
 - Notes: Possibly we could make them only editable by mods/admins. Then we can give people 'hilarious' titles ;)

4. Would you like an option to disable images?
 - Advantage: "Safer" browsing at work or school. Faster page loading.
 - Disadvantage: Should be handled by the browser. It's yet another option that slows things down slightly.
 - Notes: This would replaces images with the string "[image]" like disabling images in signatures. Possibly that option could be combined.

5. Should custom fields in profiles be allowed?
 - Advantage: Less restrictive. More control to users. Allows for more detailed and relevant information.
 - Disadvantage: Might be more complicated to use.
 - Notes: This means profiles can store any information. Like, you could add fields for all the instant messengers you use. A field for your pets, for the name of your alien spaceship, for an alternative e-mail address. Anything is allowed. The board would list these things on your profile page. The board would have a preset list of information that it can enhance in some way. So if you entered a field with the name "ICQ" the board could show if you were offline/online and perhaps provide a link to your ICQ homepage.

6. Should header graphics be removed?
 - Advantage: Less vertical space taken up. Nicer header. Faster downloading.
 - Disadvantage: Decreased branding?!
 - Notes: I have no interest in graphics, so the header graphics are boring and fairly pointless. It would be nice to get rid of them and have a more asthetically pleasing layout for the header.

7. Should we have mini board games?
 - Advantage: It's fun and something to keep us amused. Brings together the community a bit more.
 - Disadvantages: Beyond entertainment, it's pointless.
 - Notes: This would involve little word/number/post/etc based games that you can play. For example, maybe you would be shown a post and have to guess who created it. Or perhaps whoever can post the largest number of consecutive times in a specially created topic would win after X amount of hours have passed. Every time you win you get points and stuff like that.

8. Should we allow for mini reward icons?
 - Advantage: It's something to aim for. Bragging rights!
 - Disadvantage: Would slow down the board slightly. May annoy mods/admins if people keep requesting them.
 - Notes: This means moderators and administrators could place between 1 to 5 icons below your name. If you did something good, these icons could be something like monkeys or spoons or bananas. If you did something bad, they could represent stages towards being banned. That kind of thing.

9. Should members be able to lock their own topics?
 - Advantage: When a problem is sorted, the topic could be locked.
 - Disadvantage: There may be more to add to a topic, so information may be lost.

10. Should the online members bit be removed from the main page?
 - Advantage: Quicker downloading. Less clutter. Faster page rendering.
 - Disadvantages: You can't see who's online straight away.
 - Notes: The "Online Members" page shows who is online and what they are browsing. Is a cut down version on the main page necessary?

11. Should we remove avatars and use gravatars instead?
 - Advantage: No need to find an image host. Less dead avatar links. No chance of ridicolously big avatars. One avatar for all sites.
 - Disadvantages: More restrictive (has to be a certain size, prolly 60*60).

12. Should major announcements be shown at the top of every page?
 - Advantage: People wont miss important news. Most people seem to miss the announcements and complain before checking the announcements forum.
 - Disadvantage: More code, slower pages, more clutter. It's annoying to be reminded of something on every page.
 - Notes: Perhaps just on the main page?

13. In the forum view, should icons be removed and text added before topic titles?
 - Advantage: More consistent with "Sticky: " text. Less images to load. Easier to make themes.
 - Disadvantage: ?
 - Notes: Locked topics could use a line-through effect.

14. Should we keep the capital letters filter?
 - Advantage: No messages with excessive capital letter use.
 - Disadvantage: It can interfere with legitimate posts. It doesn't take into account code tags.
 - Notes: The caps filter only runs for new members.

15. Should we keep the descriptive titles filter?
 - Advantage: Cuts down on topic titles like "help please" "gta" and so on.
 - Disadvantage: Could be a bit annoying.
 - Notes: This filter only runs for new members.

16. Should topics use threading?
 - Advantage: Keeps different parts of a topic together. Less quoting needed. Easier to navigate.
 - Disadvantage: Possibly more confusing to navigate.
 - Notes: Threading is used on a lot of sites. Some examples: b3ta, Slashdot and plebian.

17. Should page titles start with the topic title?
 - Advantage: Easier to see what a page is about when viewing abbreviated titles in the taskbar/tab/window title.
 - Disadvantage: The site name gets knocked off, but the site icon can be used to identify the site easily
 - Notes: So instead of all the tabs being like "GOURANGA! Forums > ...", "GOURANGA! Forums > ...", "GOURANGA! Forums > ...", "GOURANGA! Forums > ..." they would be like "Forum Updates - GOUR...", "Vice City - Observati...", "Americans Choose Next Targ..." and so on.

It would be great if people would give a yes/no answer for each one, although you're welcome to write more if you want. You don't need to make an answer for all the questions. Feel free to edit your posts if you want to change your mind about an answer. For an example reply, see my next post.

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Post 2 | New
Icey
the pirate. arrr

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1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. No
5. Yes
6. Yes
7. Yes
8. Yes
9. No
10. Yes
11. No
12. No
13. Yes
14. No
15. No
16. Yes
17. Yes

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Post 3 | New
Fragdieb2
just öne löuder

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  • Joined: Mar '03
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Don't do this threading idea (idea 16), or make it at least possible to switch it on/off, I really can't stand it.

and about idea 3: do you really think you mods can think of even more 'hilarious' user titles than we are already giving to us?

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Post 4 | New
Cerbera
Ben 'Cerbera' Millard

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  • No - post count shows how active a person is.
  • No - it doesn't mean anything; it's just a data indexing system.
  • No - if people aren't sire if they want to stay, waiting for a custom member title will make them more likely to leave.  The quality of the forum should speak for itself.
  • No - more code for you to write and, as you point out, it's already a browser setting.
  • Maybe - adding more fields might be good, but fiddling with a dynamic, online profile creation system sounds like a nightmare for you to code and people to use.
  • No - the header graphic help to soften the bordered boxyness of the forum layout.  You could remove the header image from your own skins and let people choose what they wanted to use.
  • Maybe - I think they are completely pointless and not very fun.  Other people might like them.  Just let any games people naturally create to run without binning?
  • No - as shown by GTAF, reward/punishment icons are impossible to administer fairly.  They just cause arguments and jealousy, tearing the community apart.
  • No - authors might lock topics before other people had their questions answered in it, so those people would have to start new topics.  Other people might want to add to a topic but can't because the author locked it.
  • No - there are normally very few people online, so it doesn't add much to download time.  Seeing who is online is useful for PM conversations since you see if the other person is still there or has gone.
  • No - I don't think Gravatars should be used because it means signing up at yet another site.  People use avatars on other forums and they should be able to use their avatar from there.  If members could choose either system then it might be alright, but it seems like "yet another thing to slow the board down" to have optional avatar systems.  And the images would be bigger, so more downloading for visitors.
  • No - Main page shows the Announcements forum anyway, so if people want to read announcements they will choose to do it from there.
  • No - graphics help to soften the bordered boxyness of the forum layout.  More aesthetically pleasing than text, take up less visual space.  Some skins don't have images, IIRC, so people can choose what they want.
  • No - I agree with the disadvantages you gave.  Excessive capitalisation can make posts funnier and may be required for the subject.  The time it takes for this feature to be disabled on a new member is arbitrary.
  • Maybe - full documentation of what it checks for would help decide if it was worth keeping, needed improvements or wasn't worth keeping.  It requires an arbitrary cutoff date, which might not reflect the maturity of the member.
  • No - complicated, difficult to reply to more than one person, inconsistant line lengths because of indented posts, more page code (presumably), more CSS (presumably).  Too difficult for normal people to use.
  • Yes!


I think that changing the smilie and list formats would be worth doing.  Nobody uses these features correctly (even you) because their format is too complicated.  I hoped you would make a question about this asking the members what they wanted.  It's so common to see old-style smilies in posts (even yours) that it's a pretty obvious problem, imho.

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Post 5 | New
Alfadog
beats eating it

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1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No
5. Yep why not - just make it so people don't have to deal with it if they feel itstoo complicated
6. No!
7. That sounds fun :D
8. Yes!!!
9. No
10. Nope
11. No - but is there a current restriction on the size?? Could do this and do one for the sig too?
12. No
13. No
14. I think it should be removed actually
15. Not sure...
16. Definitely not.
17. No

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Post 6 | New
DaDa123
Yuki-San

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  • Joined: Aug '03
  • Posts: 969
1. No
2. Yes
3. No
4. No
5. Yes
6. No
7. Yes!
8. Yes!
9. No! Locking topics is the job of a admin or mod and I respect that.  smilewinkgrin 
10. No
11. No
12. No- users should learn how to browse a forum and read every category
the forum has to offer. You see there are not that much who browse in this section, no wonder there isn't that much response to this thread.
13. No
14. No, but users should known when to type in all "CAPS" and when not to.Typing in all "CAPS" shows disrespect and I don't like that.
15. No, but they should still type it clearly on what they need to help on.
e.g. Help Me! (can not install GTA SA)
16. No because we humans want things to be easy, the simpler the better.
17. Yes
Post 7 | New
Icey
the pirate. arrr

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Excellent, thanks for the reply's people. Anyone else?

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Post 8 | New
Icey
the pirate. arrr

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Alrighty, I've looked through your answers and made some changes based on them. Anyone else is welcome to reply with their answers, if so I'll update this post and see if any futher actions need to be taken.

1. Should member posts be removed?
Yes: 25% / No: 75%
Action: None necessary.

2. Should user numbers be positioned next to names?
Yes: 50% / No: 50%
Action: An even vote each way, so I wont change anything for now.

3. Should member titles only be editable after you've been registered for N amount of days?
Yes: 25% / No: 75%
Action: None necessary.

4. Would you like an option to disable images?
No: 100%
Action: Nobody wants that, so it's not going to happen!

5. Should custom fields in profiles be allowed?
Yes: 75% / Maybe: 25%
Action: I shall add this in as long as it doesn't get too complicated to use.

6. Should header graphics be removed?
Yes: 25% / No: 75%
Action: None necessary.

7. Should we have mini board games?
Yes: 75% / Maybe: 25%
Action: This seems a popular idea. I shall look into it in the future.

8. Should we allow for mini reward icons?
Yes: 75% / No: 25%
Action: Hmm, most people want this but I think it might lead to a lot of squabbling and arguements. It also means more work for the mods/admins. I'll leave that for now.

9. Should members be able to lock their own topics?
No: 100%
Action: None necessary.

10. Should the online members bit be removed from the main page?
Yes: 25% / No: 75%
Action: None necessary.

11. Should we remove avatars and use gravatars instead?
No: 100%
Action: None necessary. There's a maximum width and height on avatars, which is set using CSS.

12. Should major announcements be shown at the top of every page?
No: 100%
Action: None necessary.

13. In the forum view, should icons be removed and text added before topic titles?
Yes: 25% / No: 75%
Action: None necessary.

14. Should we keep the capital letters filter?
No: 100%
Action: I've removed the capital letters filter.

15. Should we keep the descriptive titles filter?
Maybe: 50% / No: 50%
Action: I've removed that filter. Topic titles can be changed by admins and mods to improve them. Users can also modify the titles of their own topics to improve them as well.

16. Should topics use threading?
Yes: 20% / No: 80%
Action: None necessary.

17. Should page titles start with the topic title?
Yes: 75% / No: 25%
Action: Topic pages now start with the topic title.

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Post 9 | New
Delfi
Programmer

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this topic page 5 won't load properly (script times-out):
forums.gouranga.com/iceyboard/topic/1730/5/

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mathpudding.com
Post 10 | New
Will
Shovel Headed Kill Machine

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Loads fine for me!

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Post 11 | New
Delfi
Programmer

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Will wrote:
Loads fine for me!

 
i get this:
 
"Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 12 seconds exceeded in /home/httpd/vhosts/forums.gouranga.com/httpdocs/iceyboard/includes/functions/gen eral.php on line 62"
 
maybe it depends on the skin used?

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Post 12 | New
Gokhan
Would you like to know more?

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I get that same error, I am using Black & Red by GtAkReYz if that helps.

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GOKHAN
Post 13 | New
Cerbera
Ben 'Cerbera' Millard

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Works for me, using "Militant G!" theme in Firefox on Windows XP.  Might just be that Icey is making changes to the topic code, or to the URL code, or something else? smile

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Post 14 | New
Icey
the pirate. arrr

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It's to do with the amount of posts you're viewing per page.

I've temporarily locked that topic while I work out where the problem is specifically.

~ Edit ~

Alrighty, there is no page 5 for your amount of posts-per-page. The max would be 4. I've put in a basic error message when the page number is too high. I assume this occurs because you clicked a link that took you to page five of that topic. Where was that link?

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Post 15 | New
Will
Shovel Headed Kill Machine

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Aah. Lol, now we know.

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Post 16 | New
Delfi
Programmer

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icey wrote:
It's to do with the amount of posts you're viewing per page.

I've temporarily locked that topic while I work out where the problem is specifically.

~ Edit ~

Alrighty, there is no page 5 for your amount of posts-per-page. The max would be 4. I've put in a basic error message when the page number is too high. I assume this occurs because you clicked a link that took you to page five of that topic. Where was that link?

 
the topic used to show 5 pages to me and now it shows only 4  eek

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Post 17 | New
Icey
the pirate. arrr

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I'll have a look through the scripts for generating the page links later.

Are there any other related problems? If not I'll delete all these posts since they're off-topic.

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Post 18 | New
Cerbera
Ben 'Cerbera' Millard

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Perhaps it would be better to split them off this topic and merge them into the Forum Updates thread?  That way any further problems and whether the solution worked can be discussed without posts getting deleted.

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