OT: ALERT: New Board Coming - Feedback Needed

[Ian]

Over the past month or so I've been working on getting us ready for a software upgrade here, which is much sleeker and has improved performance and stability over the current version. Some additional features will include some cool things like a "Quick Thread" prompt to make it faster to start a thread, a "What's New" page to show the latest posts, enhanced media embedding to improve the current plugin that handles that, and a better overall interface that makes it quicker to post, reply, etc. along with better readability.

It's been a little tedious because I've had to start over again with our own customizations, which go well above what is out of the box in order to give people the type of controls over their experiences here that I felt were important. As I did the first time, I came up with some subtle changes that I'm planning on making to streamline things further and fixing some things that I never quite got perfect, but wanted to reach out to get a feel for any suggestions, requests, etc. to see if I can help make things a little better here. Hoping to wrap this up over the weekend and the goal is to potentially switch things out next week, but let me know your thoughts and I definitely appreciate any feedback anyone would like to offer here.

 

[Kontradiction]

I just have what I suggested previously about the layout...

Layout suggestion

 

[IcyPatriot]

Best site around ... whatever you do I'm happy with it.

I like Kontra's suggestions also ... makes sense.

 

[PatriotsReign]

I’m not techie at all, but I’ve never posted on a better board than this one.

End of story!

 

[Deus Irae]

I can give a few suggestions, which might or might not be even remotely on point.

1. Better emoticons
2. Ditch the <disagree/dislike> buttons
3. Make the thread post count interactive (in other words, make the "replies" number a link that gives a breakdown of who's posted in the thread, making it searchable by poster in the way that it works with vBulletin)
4. Do some cross training with a martial art in an attempt to improve the mods' speed and quickness, although that will take years to have any effect
   
5. Bring back some version of a political sub-forum, even if it's exclusively for political issues in the NFL
   
6. Ditch the Twitter direct linking system, as it slows everything down.
   
7. Give me absolute power over the entire planet

One or two of the above might be taking things a little too far.

 

[lancerman]

Remove the dislike buttons. People abuse them. Just have a like button.

 

[Ian]

Remove the dislike buttons. People abuse them. Just have a like button.

Dislikes/disagrees have no value at all - it's a zero vote aside from triggering the image. I changed that years ago after I kept having to delete them from people who went on a spree and it has no bearing on anyone's rep. So people who like to go around and hit them are wasting their time while making themselves look foolish.

 

[Ian]

I just have what I suggested previously about the layout...

Layout suggestion

Many of these are part of the equation. They were on the docket before but I got bogged down and didn't have time to follow through on them.

 

[Ian]

I can give a few suggestions, which might or might not be even remotely on point.

1. Better emoticons
2. Ditch the <disagree/dislike> buttons
3. Make the thread post count interactive (in other words, make the "replies" number a link that gives a breakdown of who's posted in the thread, making it searchable by poster in the way that it works with vBulletin)
4. Do some cross training with a martial art in an attempt to improve the mods' speed and quickness, although that will take years to have any effect
   
5. Bring back some version of a political sub-forum, even if it's exclusively for political issues in the NFL
   
6. Ditch the Twitter direct linking system, as it slows everything down.
   
7. Give me absolute power over the entire planet

One or two of the above might be taking things a little too far.

People do use the Twitter feed, but I am going to change it so that when it's disabled, it doesn't load in the background, which should hopefully take care of that for those who don't. Same thing if the board is set in full-width by those with that option, it will just require a refresh if it's re-enabled for the window to reappear and load again.

And yes - new/better emoticons/reactions are coming

 

[IcyPatriot]

People do use the Twitter feed, but I am going to change it so that when it's disabled, it doesn't load in the background, which should hopefully take care of that for those who don't. Same thing if the board is set in full-width by those with that option, it will just require a refresh if it's re-enabled for the window to reappear and load again.

And yes - new/better emoticons/reactions are coming

I don't use Twitter with an account ... but I really like the feed - good news bits in there.

 

[Ian]

3. Make the thread post count interactive (in other words, make the "replies" number a link that gives a breakdown of who's posted in the thread, making it searchable by poster in the way that it works with vBulletin)

I'll also check into this. I know what you're referring to, and I'll see how hard it might be to implement something like that on here.

 

[Deus Irae]

I'll also check into this. I know what you're referring to, and I'll see how hard it might be to implement something like that on here.

I'm glad you were able to translate my gibberish on that. I was trying to find a better way to say it, and was going to put in a demonstration link in a future post.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

I can give a few suggestions, which might or might not be even remotely on point.

1. Better emoticons
2. Ditch the <disagree/dislike> buttons
3. Make the thread post count interactive (in other words, make the "replies" number a link that gives a breakdown of who's posted in the thread, making it searchable by poster in the way that it works with vBulletin)
4. Do some cross training with a martial art in an attempt to improve the mods' speed and quickness, although that will take years to have any effect
   
5. Bring back some version of a political sub-forum, even if it's exclusively for political issues in the NFL
   
6. Ditch the Twitter direct linking system, as it slows everything down.
   
7. Give me absolute power over the entire planet

One or two of the above might be taking things a little too far.

The only problem I see here is removing disagree. Everything else seems reasonable.

 

[BobDigital]

Just an idea. I think it be smart to limit new posters in the length and frequency of their posting for the first few days. It be a way to cut down on trolling

Also I heard the site could use more bobdigital post. I'm hearing a lot of complaints about that lately. You should look into it.

 

[maineman209]

I hate interface changes.

However, since everything you've done so far has been brilliant, I figure I'll like this one.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Over the past month or so I've been working on getting us ready for a software upgrade here, which is much sleeker and has improved performance and stability over the current version. Some additional features will include some cool things like a "Quick Thread" prompt to make it faster to start a thread, a "What's New" page to show the latest posts, enhanced media embedding to improve the current plugin that handles that, and a better overall interface that makes it quicker to post, reply, etc. along with better readability.

It's been a little tedious because I've had to start over again with our own customizations, which go well above what is out of the box in order to give people the type of controls over their experiences here that I felt were important. As I did the first time, I came up with some subtle changes that I'm planning on making to streamline things further and fixing some things that I never quite got perfect, but wanted to reach out to get a feel for any suggestions, requests, etc. to see if I can help make things a little better here. Hoping to wrap this up over the weekend and the goal is to potentially switch things out next week, but let me know your thoughts and I definitely appreciate any feedback anyone would like to offer here.

Don't bother us with all the technical details, we just want to know if we're winning in Atlanta in February

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

I'll also check into this. I know what you're referring to, and I'll see how hard it might be to implement something like that on here.

I haven't been able to find old posts, are they still there?

 

[Ian]

I haven't been able to find old posts, are they still there?

Of course - are you not able to find them...?

 

[maust]

'Ray Lewis Killed a Guy' should autofill as a choice when polls are created

 

[mgteich]

Remove the dislike buttons. People abuse them. Just have a like button.

OK, but keep the disagree button!