Many WC'ers have advanced ideas for The Forums and problems encountered using them. They're spread out all over the place. That's the reason I'm making this Post: To centralize things to make the job of others who want to make WC the best it can be easier.
Everyone is welcome. Have fun. I'll do my best to sift through it all and post it up here to try and save evryone's time (Zubaz's suggestion)
A. Make last post read work.. for everyoneB. 1. Return to top of page at bottom of each page. 2. Clicking on Recent forum Activity take you to latest post not first page. 3. Expanded smiley list. 4, Separate section for Political discussions, Humor (including shopping shots) and personals. 5. General section would be for general Stardock and WC realated conversations. 6. Recent posts list either expanded to 20 listings, or separated into help related and non-help related subjects. 7. Better search function.C. 1. Polls.. everyone could create polls. 2. Introduction of negative karma. 3. Increased Firefox compatibility. 4. Lower/shorter render times. 5. Bann on using adult words 6. Animated Gif avatars less than 100 kb 7. Integration between WC main site and forums.....(sign on)D. actually having the built-in browser spell checkers function in these post boxes.E. I think rather than trying to implement more ideas for the forums...like birthdays etc...as done previously....best to try and get what we already have working.....or back to working....again.F. 1. Fix the "insert link" function. It currently works backwards. It should work as follows: Click the insert link, put in the url, it puts in the appropriate code with the url doubled as the name, which is highlighted so you can name it whatever you wish. (any problems with this suggestion please ask bebi bulma for a better/fuller explanation). 2. actually having the built-in browser spell checkers function in these post boxes.
G, 1.subscription emails for watch list) and other features that are totally broken/nonfunctioning (guestbook comment deletion, the photo albums) that those should be fixed before anything else gets added. 2. make the smilies style='vertical-align:middle' like they were before. 3. fix the Quote mechanism: attribution should work even for limited portions of posts/replies.
H. Please make the comment book 'remove comment' function work again.
I. I would like to see a timer perhaps. You have 2 minutes to edit your post . .and then it's locked.
J. There are times when you need to edit something after 2-5 min.
K. 1. uploading images directly into the post as opposed to calling on an external site to relay the image back. this would be especially helpful in the help sections of the forums . 2. [do something with the wiki to make it effective, it seems pretty barren on information/help.]
L. 1. Faster refresh rate for the forum pages to prevent mistimed replies.
2. Fixing the "double post" problem.
M. 1. No changes to karma. Should remain positive incentive.
2. Mod edit objectionable picture content.
N. No animated avatars. Forums not a video store.
O. 1. Several ideas for time limit to "edit" function: Range from 2-10 minutes from time of post.
2. the time limit should be fairly long until they get around to putting a spell checker in the editor.
3. Edit would only add new comment in the same box and require printed 'reason for edit' above the newer post and notfication in the thread that a post was changed.
4. Karma should not be anonymous. Karma has become pointless.
5. Karma is ok, it's meant to be taken lightly, and there's no need to kill the fun
6. Karma is nothing but a novelty. It's FUN trying to get that karma up. Add negative Karma and the fun is gone, and with that it'll be entirely useless.
7. Karma: It's kind of relative and for me it has had a positive effect.
P. 1. Edit function should last a few minutes. Original post/reply should remain along with it.
2. Freezing the post after a short time, if someone wants to correct or change a thought, let them post another.
3. Re the editing of comments....I'm totally against it. Posts [and threads] being altered for whatever 'agenda' is not acceptable. Whatever is decided, the number one demand is accountability....the thread comment must be tagged with 'edited by....' publicly .... and ideally if that's the case the edit text should be linked [hidden] but visible for review by the Admins. I've always thought the height of bad manners was/is to edit a thread topic, etc AFTER several/many people have taken the time/effort to respond/comment.
Q. 1. The forums shouldn't parse any html whatsoever from the post box.
2. Unless you are a member of a specific user class, your html isn't parsed, period.
3. User posted html just wrecks havoc on the forums and should be completely ignored from parsing. It should all be plain text (with the exception of the bbcode buttons in the editor). There just doesn't seem to be any checking for open tags, which causes all the problems.
4. I think 2-3 mins for the post locking. negative Karma is a bad idea.
5. Several of the classic smilies do not match when posted...would be nice to have them tidied up...the sad goes to angry and the Yum goes to the big smile.
6. Cross posting errors if two windows are open.
R. {1. Inaccurate time/date stamping keeping comments at the top of notes on Personal sites}
S. Fix the need for double sign in @ WC Home page then again @ Forums.
T. Subscribers still see ads.
Make last post read work.. for everyone
Bags of free cash given away weekly.
Return to top of page at bottom of each page.
Clicking on Recent forum Activity take you to latest post not first page.
Expanded smiley list.........we know they are out there. bwa ha ha.
Seperate section for Political discussions, Humor (including shopping shots) and personals.
General section would be for general Stardock and WC realated conversations.
Recent posts list either expanded to 20 listings, or separated into help related and non-help related subjects.
Better search funtion.
IMHO
uploading images directly into the post as opposed to calling on an external site to relay the image back. this would be especially helpful in the help sections of the forums (concur with IslandDog's thought here)
do something with the wiki to make it effective, it seems pretty barren on information/help.
*edit
triangle button to the right of each post....
any search function...
yep
Would take a bit of money and time on that one.. To make a 'good' vid tutorial on SKS\WB\PS.. would take at least a couple of months.
* edit
it's an adult forum....not a kindergarten......being a little doctatorial.....I'll leave you to it....
pleasure Ed....
Apology:
Sydney, I didn't mean to come across that way. The last thing I wanted was to make you feel that way. I probably should have sent a pm. and should have asked in the post to do the cross talk in pm's. My intentions were only to keep it on track.
1. Polls.. everyone could create polls.
2. Introduction of negative karma.
3. Increased Firefox compatibility.
4. Less render times.
5. Bann on using adult words
No need for an apology DrJBHL.....I'm just finding it particularly annoying to have a number of posts lately....being prefaced with things like.........Please be polite and respect others etc.... it's like asking people to dinner....and telling them when they arrive, to not forget to mind their manners.... it grates...
Fix the "insert link" function. The process is backwards. First we have to write the text, and only AFTER we highlight it (how are we supposed to know this?) does the "insert link" option become available. Myself and many other people just think it's disabled entirely. It doesn't make any sense this way. This is where the KISS ideology should come in to play.
1. Press insert link button
2. Popup appears to enter the url
3. Another popup appears to give a name to the link
4. The link is inserted with the given name (click here, link, whatever the person chooses)
A good example of this method would be the mIRC forums. Even the Aqua-Soft forums do it well. Click the insert link, put in the url, it puts in the appropriate code with the url doubled as the name, which is highlighted so you can name it whatever you wish.
Pfft, it's an adult forum, Brad has said this himself, PG-13 or up. This isn't Disney.
Is sense an adult word?
Rule 2 of thread starting post.....
2. Please: No cross talk nor commenting on other replies: Please remain "On Topic".
Relax heman, this is Wincustomize, not 'Stalag 13'
It was on topic, if we can't even discuss the ideas other people are bringing up, then what's the point? This is a message board afterall, that's what it's designed for. Sorry Doc, but I have to agree with syd on this one, we're not 5 year olds. And besides, this isn't even an "official" thread so as I see it, we can discuss it however without such implicit rules.
i dont think your list will come to fruition DOC.....and i think your expecting a bit much, we are human not robots...
people swear, its a fact of life, i cant even count how many times my mother has told me not to swear, even at my age, and
i promtly reply, im 34 not 12 and ill bloody swear if i feel like it.
i agree with sydney and bebi on this...... and we had a poll last year where everyone could submit what they would like improved to the site........this is like double handeling the situation....and makes no sense.
.....and i cant help wonder who died and left you in charge of the forum rules......sorry, but thats how i feel.
What's the point of putting forth an idea, if you can't elaborate on it
6. Animated Gif avatars less than 100 kb
7. Integration between WC main site and forums.....
( when I have already signed at WC main site and open any forum thread from there I have to sign in again to post anything. This might be happening to others too)
Once again....not a chance in hell. This has been discussed before and it won't happen. They are beyond irritating; nothing but a pure distraction to have a bunch of epileptic seizure inducing flashing monstrosities to detract from the whole point of a message board: the content of the messages. Plus they seriously slow down browsing threads. They're just like forum signatures, the forums will become nothing more than a huge billboard of ads and flashing nonsense (I've had experience with this so it's a pet peeve of mine, it's a nightmare and more trouble than they're worth). Honestly, we were lucky to get a handful of animated emoticons, even those weren't supposed to be accepted.
However...displaying the avatar in the first post would be helpful, so as to better identify the poster since the poster name is easy to miss when first looking.
Here's another suggestion for functionality: actually having the built-in browser spell checkers function in these post boxes.
I feel ya, we're just gonna talk ourselves til we're blue in the face here. It'll be a few years before any of it gets implemented.
I think rather than trying to implement more ideas for the forums...like birthdays etc...as done previously....best to try and get what we already have working.....or back to working....again.
Things like the personal page comments...not being able to delete.....not that one should have to....
Getting the dates back in order....it did work once upon a time...
...and the Private Messaging.....when I got to a hundred...I deleted nearly half of them....yet the number remains....I have 52 messages in there...and shows 99....the only option, I know...is to delete the lot....shouldn't have to...would be nice to have that feature working again...
keep it simple.....but keep it working...
There have been quite a number of things implemented that are much better.....but it seems...everytime we gain something....we lose something else....
I agree with that syd, get thing's working again, and the comment book, you shouldn't have to delete stuff, but apparently it's neverending, as it is, I can't even visit my own site, unless I'm prepared to wait 10 minutes for the comments to load, and sometimes people post crap in there, and you just can't remove it..
Sounds like a simple cookie problem
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