Forum Redux

[PhilipK]

I like it the way it is personally..

oh really?

expected rotating skulls and animated fire gifs from u

Anyway Im with the idea of simple, clean and only pm as extra feature really.

(and being able to post images of course)..

[RD]

we used to have a mappers list. Something like that would be nice, but in a better way

[Evert]

What's the mapper list?

[RD]

a list

of mappers

[D3ads]

we used to have a mappers list. Something like that would be nice, but in a better way

Yes! Hopefully that way everyone will stop thinking of me as a newbie

I like it the way it is personally..

oh really?

expected rotating skulls and animated fire gifs from u

*grins*

[Spellbinder]

oh really?

expected rotating skulls and animated fire gifs from u

I cant help to think about one of the first avatars i used ever.

I think this was about late 90's or sum.

I was in CyberArmy.

Of course i stoled it from some where couse i didnt even know what photoshop was back then allthough i think it was in its second version or sumething.

Any way here it is:

This version is a lot smaller then the one i used and i know i have the original (o well the copied original) on a cd some where at home but im not home now

Spellbinder.

[Spellbinder]

To be continued about those avatars.

I think it would be totally ok if each of us hosted our own avatars to make it easier on the load for mapcore.net.

Some might and have said actually on the channel, that newbies can't handle this.

Well i say, if you are interested enough to have your own avatar and signature, i bet you find your way around to host it aswell.

Especially with all these image host that are out there today.

Also it's kind of hard to say i prefer what you are doing now against the way the forum is at the moment.

Thats why i said that develope it, put it somewhere and let us try.

Maybe it will rock this forum out of its socks, i dunno.

But without ever trying......

And when you done it, you can get a lot of feedback if we try it out, and make it even better perhaps.

Well theres 2 cents more from me.

Spellbinder.

[Zacker]

I prefer that we stick with phpbb, in most situations it works like a forum should do.

Over at CSB we made the switch from Invision Burning Board or something to a custom coded forum system. This has far from been a succes and the new forum is still majorly bugged and lacks features big time. The coder has implented plenty of crap features, but he haven't even managed to keep regular users from reading and replying in the admin forum...

[NRG]

Greetings,

I wanted to make this post directly to the mapcore people at large to get your opinions and suggestions about forum software usage habits.

The topic of this post is to ask you what features of a forum do you value most? (Post/Reply Topic, Polls, Private Messaging, Calendar, Gallery, Emoticons)

Would you use a forum if it only had sections with topics and replies? (This means no private messaging, galleries, calendar, polls) Don't worry, there would be avatar/signature support.

Please, only constructive criticism and direct answers with some reasoning behind them because I'd like as much information as possible.

Thanks agan for your replies, I look forward to reading them.

I really counldn't care less about polls (although they can be fun sometimes)..nor calanders.. but as far as things like Private Messaging goes, I think a feature like this really should stay. There is no emoticon to express how I am feeling right now (it probably doesn't help that I don't know how I am feeling right now.. oh wait.. tired.. yes... tired), so perhaps a greater range of them would be nice

Post/reply topics, PMs, Galleries, Emoticons and such are vital...

Other than that.. I think it's all good

Cheers,

NRG

[ginsengavenger]

Thanks for all the replies, I'm not looking to obliterate the current board, just make a simplified one with just enough features to make the community interactive and helpful. Having a featured works section at the top of the board has crossed my mind and I wouldn't be against adding that in to the system as well.

The private messaging system is a little tricky in proposition and I brought up the use of gravatars instead of personally hosted avatars. Gravatars were invented for the blogging masses as a means to have an avatar anywhere you commented on a post. Avatars are merely an optional accessory, as with any of the extra features of a traditional board. I'd like everyones opinion on the use of gravatars versus a hosted option, not just because it's less for me to code, but it also takes a little burden off the server to serve up that extra content. If you're curious, check out the Gravatar site at http://www.gravatar.com/ to see for yourself.

Again, thank you for all the responses and commentary, keep posting some more suggestions and requests.

My strongest objection to a revamp of the forums is the prospect of losing the entire archive of posts to date. If the database can be converted and you can retain the entire archive, well great - so long as the core functionality is present and you're willing to maintain and improve upon whatever system you build.

If the gravatar thing is to save on serving costs I'd appreciate the option to host my avatar myself instead of registering at a third site.

I just hope this isn't sort of a "vanity project" built just for the hell of it - whatever comes in should absolutely be as functional and reliable as what is in place now. A lot of people use this board very regularly and you don't want to upset your users

[FrieChamp]

so long as the core functionality is present

I absolutely agree with gg, I like the forums as they are now, but I wouldn't have any objections against "adding" new features, like the spotlight gallery we used to have incorporated. A brand new forum should be at least as good as this one and the database should be preserved.

Otherwise I don't see a reason to switch (thumbs up for contributing to mapcore though )

[theiggsta]

Agreed, I'm looking to write a better version of this board. Simplified, easy to use and useful for the community. The Spotlight section has been on my mind and I've had some thoughts about where to incorporate this feature.

Spotlight Section at the top on the forum frontpage, sort of an announcements section, but with images. I'd be dropping the news stuff in favor of a Jobs category for easier maintainence. I would almost be inclined to make a separate jobs app after this one for industry jobs, but some sites already have this covered, might be a moot point.

What do you think?

[wormie]

no black peoples

[theiggsta]

I will be starting a beta of the forum app over this weekend (12/16/05) since I just upgraded my hosting account to allow for more domains, mainly the mapcore.com domain so I can host it while it's being developed.

I will start with the basics of a forum system with the minimal amount of features needed, from there I will take your suggestions for features to add to the system. The spotlight system will be one of my first priorities, so any suggestions you have on making this more streamlined would be really helpful. Maybe a checkbox in your post to allow moderators to review it for a spotlight showing? Let me know, I'm all ears!

[ginsengavenger]

If you want to build a specific system for the spotlight stuff I'd suggest a link that any (logged in) user can click in order to "vote" the thread into spotlight. Similar to the digg.com system I guess.

It could be automated to move the thread after a certain number of votes are cast, or it could be flagged for admins to move manually. Names of voters should be exposed to admins. Only users with a modest (20?) number of posts outside of EOT should be permitted to vote.

If the spotlight system is automated, users should be able to flag inappropriate spotlight threads to be dealt with by an admin as he sees fit.