Suggestions on forum improvements
Posted: 2008/06/29 03:27:22
As there has been talk about updating the forum software, I thought I'd start this thread about things we'd like to see improved.
I think that we should all keep in mind that migrating forums is usually highly non-trivial and as I said in another thread somewhere, despite the lacks in this forum's software, the quality of the answers one receives compensates for it. In other words, let's not get into, These forums are awful and I don't see why they can't do.....
Rather, let's take the attitude of, if they (all the volunteers--let's not forget that part of it, that they're all volunteers) are able to migrate the forums to different software, it would be nice if it were possible to.....
So, the things I'd like to see.
Major:
Some sort of Remember Me checkbox or button that works across multiple computers. As it stands, if I log in from my FreeBSD box, clicking the View Unread selection shows me everything that's been unread since the last time I viewed the forums on that machine. If, the next day, I log in from my CentOS machine, all the posts that I viewed at my last log (from the FreeBSD machine) are still marked as unread. It seems that at present, the software works on a machine by machine basis, rather than a user basis.
Most forums, although you will have to check the remember me on each machine (and even on different browsers, e.g., firefox and opera, on the same machine if you always want automatic login), will remember you. Even if you don't check the Remember Me checkbox on machine number 2, the next time you log in from machine number 2, it does remember what posts you viewed on machine number 1.
As has been mentioned in other places on these forums, even if you check off the option to keep cookies for a year, it only seems to last around 24 hours and possibly less.
Minor:
A View First Unread
Convenient for longer threads that you keep revisiting.
One of those Thanks icons, so that one can thank someone for a post.
That one is really trivial--I just think it's nice to be able to thank someone when they've helped you. In addition, it does give an indication of how helpful the person's posts are. Though that sounds somewhat high handed, someone might think someone's posts have values merely because of high post count, when in fact, the person's post count is high because they're too lazy to google and just ask a lot of questions. :)
Ability to see subscribed threads from the login page.
Even more trivial than the last, since one can get to that menu with a few clicks. However, it's a nice convenience, once you've logged in, to be able to, with a single click, see the threads with which you're involved.
I think that we should all keep in mind that migrating forums is usually highly non-trivial and as I said in another thread somewhere, despite the lacks in this forum's software, the quality of the answers one receives compensates for it. In other words, let's not get into, These forums are awful and I don't see why they can't do.....
Rather, let's take the attitude of, if they (all the volunteers--let's not forget that part of it, that they're all volunteers) are able to migrate the forums to different software, it would be nice if it were possible to.....
So, the things I'd like to see.
Major:
Some sort of Remember Me checkbox or button that works across multiple computers. As it stands, if I log in from my FreeBSD box, clicking the View Unread selection shows me everything that's been unread since the last time I viewed the forums on that machine. If, the next day, I log in from my CentOS machine, all the posts that I viewed at my last log (from the FreeBSD machine) are still marked as unread. It seems that at present, the software works on a machine by machine basis, rather than a user basis.
Most forums, although you will have to check the remember me on each machine (and even on different browsers, e.g., firefox and opera, on the same machine if you always want automatic login), will remember you. Even if you don't check the Remember Me checkbox on machine number 2, the next time you log in from machine number 2, it does remember what posts you viewed on machine number 1.
As has been mentioned in other places on these forums, even if you check off the option to keep cookies for a year, it only seems to last around 24 hours and possibly less.
Minor:
A View First Unread
Convenient for longer threads that you keep revisiting.
One of those Thanks icons, so that one can thank someone for a post.
That one is really trivial--I just think it's nice to be able to thank someone when they've helped you. In addition, it does give an indication of how helpful the person's posts are. Though that sounds somewhat high handed, someone might think someone's posts have values merely because of high post count, when in fact, the person's post count is high because they're too lazy to google and just ask a lot of questions. :)
Ability to see subscribed threads from the login page.
Even more trivial than the last, since one can get to that menu with a few clicks. However, it's a nice convenience, once you've logged in, to be able to, with a single click, see the threads with which you're involved.