Design your own message board

[brewer joe]

I would like to be able to click a small icon or something to go directly to the last post in a thread.

[Brian the Automator]

[ I would like to be able to click a small icon or something to go directly to the last post in a thread. ]

 

Would the icon be at the forum level (i.e, next to the title of the post in the list of titles of each post) or at the thread level (at the top of the thread)?

 

I suppose we could make the "last comment" timestamp in the last column a link to the last comment if it's the former. If it's the latter, we make it at the top of the thread.

[ja002h]

If you're talking in-thread, that's called the "End" key.

[DHonks]

along the same lines of what 1992casey said, I'd like to be able to omit some people. Like if someone is making posts I don't like (ie, wasting my time), I'd like to be able to click a box by their username which prevents their posts from showing up. Then I can waste my time reading all the other posts I enjoy reading

[Brian the Automator]

We're going to be heavy on all sorts of moderator functionality, include ignore capabilities for users. As I start to implement things, it may be that there are things that are technically not feasable (that might require too much memory or processing power and can't handle load testing), so I won't make any promises... but i'm going to build it from the ground up using our forum here and its shortcomings to drive the new forum.

[Pack87Man]

Like nsimps, I'm a member over at the BigSoccer boards, and I must admit that they have a number of features you could steal. The big one I like is there are three levels of membership. Free membership allows you to post and all the normal message board stuff, the lower level gives you priority server access for high traffic times, along with an ignore list, avatar, signature, bigger Private Message box, and so on. The highest level also eliminates all ads. I don't know how you'd work it with a smaller board like this, as those boards are HUGE. But hey, it's money in your pocket instead of EZBoard's. I just hope you wouldn't replicate the server issues they've been having over there lately.

 

Also, their merge threads function (I'm a mod at another of their network of sites) automatically sorts by time. It can be a little odd reading the parallel discussions together, but overall it works well.

[JoeH33]

Just a random thought here, but it would be nice if there was a way to make the avatars on this site not blurry. It's so hard to find a pic that someone could even make out, so if there's a way to fix that on the new board that would be awesome.

[Brian the Automator]

[ Just a random thought here, but it would be nice if there was a way to make the avatars on this site not blurry. It's so hard to find a pic that someone could even make out, so if there's a way to fix that on the new board that would be awesome. ]

 

There's no real way to do that, other than to give users the ability to use a photo of ANY size as their avatar, and that's never a good idea. It all comes down to people finding pictures that they can re-size and have it look good as a re-sized picture.

[Cooper]

Here's my suggestion, and it might help cut down on the amount of duplicate posts within a thread or minimize posts like "Aw, you beat me by two seconds..."

 

When responding in a particular thread, it might be useful if, before actually saving your response, it does a quick query to check whether or not the actual thread your posting to has been updated while you're posting.

 

It could kick up a message that says, "Warning, the thread you're posting two has been updated 'X' times since your last visit... You may want to read the new additions and update your post accordingly and then hit 'send'."

 

Of course, it probably shouldn't be this wordy, but if someone has already said something for you, you might want to add on to it or just not post at all. This function would probably be useful in game threads or overly popular threads that receive several updates in a short period of time.

 

Let me know if you want an example of what I'm talking about... I've seen a few message boards that offer this and it might do away with a certain percentage of useless or repeated information posts.

 

Another thing that might be useful (I might as well pass it along while I'm typing away here), is if you give the user the ability to delete their own posts/threads. If you create a thread, you have the ability to delete it. If you contribute to a thread, you have the ability to delete your post. This might cut down on the number of 'duplicate' threads or posts that get created. If this function exists presently, you might want to make it more user friendly.

 

Just a couple of thoughts. Take 'em for what they're worth.

[ja002h]

This function would probably be useful in game threads or overly popular threads that receive several updates in a short period of time.

 

Actually, it would probably be next to useless for game threads, because the posting is so fast and furious that you're never going to go back and read the new posts since you started typing. But for normal threads it might be useful.

[Brian the Automator]

[ Actually, it would probably be next to useless for game threads, because the posting is so fast and furious that you're never going to go back and read the new posts since you started typing. But for normal threads it might be useful. ]

 

If you got a preview of what threads were posted since you clicked the "add reply" button, it'd be more useful. It's a nice idea.

[Cooper]

Right... Actually, it might include the previous 10 posts or whatever. I thought it was a pretty good idea when I saw it, so I figured I'd pass it along in the event it hasn't come up previously.

[ja002h]

If you got a preview of what threads were posted since you clicked the "add reply" button, it'd be more useful. It's a nice idea.

 

Yeah, that would be a good way to do it.