Site Suggestion

[CPU-DESTROYER]

How about a shoutbox?

Yay? Nay?

[wildgoosespeeder]

Yay I say!

Yes, vBulletin does have a ShoutBox but why doesn't Mike lets us use it?

[Samail]

There was this (http://forums.blitwise.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2017) thread, but it died out...

[User]

You guys are welcome to use my chat room if you'd like, it's hosted on my server.

And yes it will need moderators...

[prateek.singla]

What server?

[Samail]

His server.
Wherever that is...

[prateek.singla]

Where is it??

[Mike W.]

Shoutbox? I shall take a look and see.

[VoLAN]

What is shoutbox?

[Samail]

Think of it as a quickie chat.
In fact, that's exactly what it is.

It's small box on the side where anyone can say anything. Basically the forum's instant messenger.


I personally would prefer a karma system over the shoutbox, myself.

[ben]

While it's something I'll keep in mind, I don't know that a shoutbox would be all that beneficial at this time. They tend to work best with more heavily populated forums, and given the extra maintenance and administration one involves, I think I'll wait before implementing one.

[wildgoosespeeder]

[Shoutboxes] tend to work best with more heavily populated forums.

Are you kidding me? This forum is pretty populated. We've been getting a lot of active members here lately.

[Rex Nex]

Are you kidding me? This forum is pretty populated. We've been getting a lot of active members here lately.
That's true, but new members doesn't mean added population, in forums at least. We are a relatively small and slow forum, actually.

[flankattack]

A shotbox would go ok, so long as it is visible from the main (fourm) page and NOT in it's own page.

[AWP]

I personally would prefer a karma system over the shoutbox, myself.

What is "Karma system"? :confused:

[prateek.singla]

A shotbox would go ok, so long as it is visible from the main (fourm) page and NOT in it's own page.

That's what a shoutbox really is. It is visible in every page of the forum.

btw, I'm not really sure about this but I don't think vBulletin supports the shoutbox.

[Samail]

Are you kidding me? This forum is pretty populated. We've been getting a lot of active members here lately.

That's true, but new members doesn't mean added population, in forums at least. We are a relatively small and slow forum, actually.

This a rather small forum, actually.
If I wasn't counting the stupidly dead forum I know of, this would be the smallest I have seen so far.

What is "Karma system"? :confused:

It's an integer attached to your name/avi/whatever.
Karma is also known as "reputation" or "rep".
People can choose to either raise or lower this number.

Basically, if you do or say something awesome, someone can choose to raise your rep.
Example: In the GoldenEye: Source forums (http://forums.goldeneyesource.net/index.php), under each poster's name are two buttons; [Applaud], and [Smite].
So, say if someone were to post something very rude, etc, one could choose [smite] and their rep would be lowered.
It can also dip into the negatives.
Some forums don't allow users access to altering rep until they have so many posts. (The GE:S forum uses 100)
I think setting it to require a certain post count would be a must.


Of course, the karma/rep system can only be used in a mature community, and it's important not to abuse it, or it becomes meaningless.

[prateek.singla]

That's way better than just categorizing people based on their no. of posts.

[AWP]

@Samail: Oh... that clears it up. Thanks!

[ekoz]

Yay Quotes!!!

Are you kidding me? This forum is pretty populated. We've been getting a lot of active members here lately.

no. this is the second smallest, open forum i know of (open meaning it's not under development)

A shotbox would go ok, so long as it is visible from the main (fourm) page and NOT in it's own page.

that's the only place they appear.

That's what a shoutbox really is. It is visible in every page of the forum.

btw, I'm not really sure about this but I don't think vBulletin supports the shoutbox.

false and false. shoutboxes only appear on main page, and vBulletin supports them.

[prateek.singla]

shoutboxes only appear on main page

Not in forums where I've seen them.

[wildgoosespeeder]

Then you must be seeing other board brands. It all just depends on the board's brand.

[User]

I'm not sure about vBulletin, but with phpbb 2 you can place a shoutbox just about anywhere you want. As long as you had HTML enabled and have the allowed HTML Tags set in the admin control panel..

[prateek.singla]

Enabling HTML is not an option. People nowadays can not be trusted with it.

[User]

Thats where the allowed tags come into play, To allow members to post certain things in HTML

Edit:
So for those who don't know what a shoutbox is, i put a few examples up on my forum...

Check them out here
http://xmp.forumcircle.com/index.php?

[prateek.singla]

Yes, that quite explains it.
Though, guests shouldn't be allowed to shout in the shoutbox (as you can see in your forum).

[wildgoosespeeder]

All I know a Shoutbox can replace are threads such as:

Random Conversations (http://forums.blitwise.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1051)
Random conversations II (http://forums.blitwise.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3537)
random thread (http://forums.blitwise.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4272)

[Samail]

That's my concern as well.
Minus that last one...

[CPU-DESTROYER]

A shoutbox would be perfect on this site, no question. It's fully supported by vb and php. It would be best to just leave it on the main page.

As far as maintenance, it's basically who ever you have as a super moderator, also gets "shoutbox moderation powers". There's really not much you can do with it anyways.

You can put word filtering on it, and then the rest of the commands are very simple...

/prune - clears all text in the shoutbox
/notice - anything typed after that puts a notice or message above the chat field
/ban | /unban username - bans a person from the shoutbox
/me - anything typed after that posts message in third person context.

I think you can also type /prune username and it removes who ever's text from the shoutbox..

I used to moderate a shoutbox on a high traffic gaming site and it's a do nothing job pretty much.. it takes care of itself.

[prateek.singla]

The main advantage of putting a shoutbox will be to allow non-members to share their views about the game. But I don't think people can be trusted...

[Samail]

It goes along with the karma/rep system. The community needs two things:

a) Non-stupid people using it.
b) People to moderate it. <-(Doesn't apply to karma)

So, just non-stupid people using it.

[flankattack]

All who agree with Samail's post, raise a hand.
*Raises hand*

[prateek.singla]

*agrees*
We need the rep system, but still not quite sure about the shoutbox.

[User]

*agrees*
But doesn't think it's gonna happen.

[Samail]

*agrees*
We need the rep system, but still not quite sure about the shoutbox.

Don't really need a rep system. Would just be a nice thing to have. (And is easy to implement.)

[prateek.singla]

Though its easy to implement, but I don't think its gonna happen since such kinds of things are added when the forums are set up. It's been almost 3 years now, and now I feel its too late.

[Rex Nex]

Though its easy to implement, but I don't think its gonna happen since such kinds of things are added when the forums are set up. It's been almost 3 years now, and now I feel its too late.
True. It has been long, but that is no reason to deny the positives to such an installment.

[orbital pain]

shout box and a karma system would be nice, and we would need either a post number, or join date to be met before they can use either.

[minmay]

I'm wholly against a karma system. Any sort of detailed ranking system for forum members is just asking for trouble.

[Samail]

I can see how it can turn into a popularity contest, but I'm pretty sure the users here can handle it...

[ben]

OK, we will try out the reputation system. I hope everyone can use it constructively, and not turn it into a popularity (or infamy for that matter) contest.

If there is a problem, please use the Contact Us (http://forums.blitwise.com/forums/sendmessage.php) link to tell us about it.

[prateek.singla]

Thanks a lot, man.

[ben]

I've added a new style, CA Serenity. I think I've got all the bugs ironed out, but if I missed anything tell me via the Contact Us button.

The new style is a bit more colorful, perhaps more to the liking of those who dislike the grayscale default?

[wildgoosespeeder]

I also noticed you changed the vBulletin logo to the colorful BlitWise logo for the Default Style, a much needed change.

To be completely honest, I prefer Default Style better than the new CA Serenity.

The reputation system I'm neutral on. I don't bother with such things.

[ekoz]

HOLY!!!...

wow. never thought it would happen here. thank you very much, ben. let us not abuse it.

[ben]

The fact that the default style had the vBulletin logo instead of the BlitWise logo was a mistake on my part. I must have accidentally reverted it during a forum upgrade. :o

[ekoz]

just tried CA. i actually rather like it. if i wasn't hardwired to blit default, i'd definantly use that.

[Samail]

Wow.
Very nice, ben. (Intentional lack of caps)

Thanks for the upgrades.

Better, stronger...
We can rebuild him.


As for the skin, I'll try it for a couple days and see how it goes before I make any strong opinions. ;)
(This happens to be the format the forum I moderate uses.)

Oh, and methinks this would be a good item for the Forum Announcements forum.

EDIT: Post icons do not appear for some reason...
(In the new scheme, that is.)

[XRaiderV1]

nice, very nice

[Samail]

Question:
Any way to display rep in numerical values as well/instead of the graphic?

[XRaiderV1]

that's actually not a bad idea.....

numbers would be easier to figure out than an abstract graphic...

[prateek.singla]

I agree with Samail.
Numbers, not figures.

[AWP]

Wow, CA Serenity (fluid) style O_O

[ben]

OK, I've changed the reputation to display numerically. I had to tweak a bit of PHP, which is not my most familiar language, so please do post about any problems.

[Everlast]

I don't know if this is a bug or not, but after you give reputation to a post, it turns back into squares until you refresh the page.

But like I said, I don't think that is a bug.

[ben]

It is a bug, and it required a fix to vBulletin (not just the forum theme). I think I've corrected it.

[XRaiderV1]

nice, much better, ben.

[Samail]

I don't know if this is a bug or not, but after you give reputation to a post, it turns back into squares until you refresh the page.

But like I said, I don't think that is a bug.

That sounds like a bug to me. :anirolleyes:
Would you consider that normal?


Anyways, thanks for the change.

[XRaiderV1]

agreed, it's a bug.

[prateek.singla]

Hey, while we are at making changes to the structure, how about increasing the max. no. of PM's from 50 to about 75 or even 100??

[XRaiderV1]

agreed, the current max number of pm's is a bit on the small side....

[Samail]

Hey, while we are at making changes to the structure, how about increasing the max. no. of PM's from 50 to about 75 or even 100??

That isn't a "structure" change, but yeah.
Though 100 is a bit excessive. I'd be happy with even a +10 boost.

Also keep in mind that your inbox may be cluttered with your sent messages as well.
I save the PMs I want to hang on to with Firefox's awesome page-downloading feature.

[prateek.singla]

75 good?

[blissturd]

Why not unlimited? :)

I think just giving us a gig or two like the e-mail sites do. Oh, yeah.


Alright, alright. That probably isn't possible but, we can dream can't we.

[blue_moon]

Thank you Ben, for making this forum just that much more awesome.

Trying to get used to CA Serenity is kind of hard, but not too bad.

[wildgoosespeeder]

Hey, while we are at making changes to the structure, how about increasing the max. no. of PM's from 50 to about 75 or even 100??

I really don't care how many PMs I can have at one time because I don't get many and don't send much. 50 is more than enough for me.

[blissturd]

I really don't care how many PMs I can have at one time because I don't get many and don't send much. 50 is more than enough for me.
Does someone need a friend? :)

Just kidding. I actually feel pretty much the same way. I've only emptied it out once since I've been here and I would definitely rather do that then allow it to become cluttered into oblivion.

Whether it's infinite or stays 50 is cool with me because I don't really have any care about it.

I'm not sure why I'm even typing any of this.

*looks side to side and slowly backs away*

[flankattack]

I really don't care how many PMs I can have at one time because I don't get many and don't send much. 50 is more than enough for me.

Same here. If anyone on these forums want to keep 50 odd PMs, they're...

[blue_moon]

I would find that very useful. If I am having a conversation with some people, I can usually reply about 15 times, because of PMs sent/recieved, and a few that I want to keep... Plus some that I forgot about.

[blissturd]

Why don't you just converse with them over Hamachi?

That's why prateek, I believe it was, made the chat channel on Hamachi.

It'd save you a lot of trouble. I put up the Forums, Hamachi and Pocket Tanks whenever I get on my computer. You should do that same because I'm the King and I command you to. :)

[XRaiderV1]

yeah......right......sure......*looks from side to side, then bolts*

[prateek.singla]

I hope we reach a conclusion soon. This 50 PM limit is KILLIN ME!!!!

[Everlast]

It doesn't bother me to much, I usually just delete the ones in the "sent" folder.

[prateek.singla]

It doesn't bother me to much, I usually just delete the ones in the "sent" folder.

Yeah, I delete the sent and the unwanted ones too, but still, I feel 50 is a little less.

I just found out that we can't use a smiley in our sig if it already has a pic. How about fixin that too?

[ben]

I've bumped up the max number of saved PMs to 70. I think this is a fairly decent balance between usefulness and server considerations.

As for the max number of recipients, increasing this setting could cause excessive stress on our database. vBulletin wasn't designed as a mailing list, for that I would suggest using e-mail.

[Samail]

http://forums.blitwise.com/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif
*appreciative*

[Rex Nex]

http://forums.blitwise.com/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif
*appreciative*
Agreed. Just emptied my folder for the... 10th time now? Unsure. I have a lot to talk about that I would rather not be public.

[Everlast]

Thanks, Ben, much appreciated.

[wildgoosespeeder]

vBulletin wasn't designed as a mailing list, for that I would suggest using e-mail.

Doesn't registration and being able to keep your account require you to have your own e-mail address?

[prateek.singla]

Doesn't registration and being able to keep your account require you to have your own e-mail address?

Yes. What ben meant was that we should use e-mail instead of PM whenever we want to send messages to more than 5 people.

[Samail]

Thought that was obvious...

And I start a new page.

[wildgoosespeeder]

Yes. What ben meant was that we should use e-mail instead of PM whenever we want to send messages to more than 5 people.

The way ben worded it made me think of it like that.

[AWP]

Speaking of forum improvements, what's up with a calendar?

[prateek.singla]

Speaking of forum improvements, what's up with a calendar?

I was about to post the same thing.

It won't display any date after Dec 31, 2006.

[Everlast]

Maybe because December 31, 2006 was absolutely the best day of all time, and the system doesn't want to move on from the perfect day, because then it will feel sad. :D

[XRaiderV1]

I know for a fact, I joined AFTER 2006......

[Samail]

Hence the calendar's reluctance to go back.
Zing!

[ekoz]

oh, reeeeeaaaaal mature......
Zing!

[minmay]

Also, the clock is inaccurate; it's about five minutes off as confirmed by time.gov.

[flankattack]

Zing...

[XRaiderV1]

um......off topic much?!

[ekoz]

Zing!!!

[wildgoosespeeder]

Where have I heard that before...?

[ben]

Heh, I had forgotten all about that calendar. The year range is fixed (well, until 2014).

The time is fixed too.

[Samail]

*appreciative*
Man, we're going through all the issues in one swoop.

[XRaiderV1]

better this then finding and fixing them randomly.....

[prateek.singla]

Yeah. Now we have a thread where we can post any flaw we may find in the forum.

[ekoz]

awesome

EDIT: 4,000th post!!!

(thanks samail)