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Forum upgrade - Public beta previewFollow

#1 Jun 24 2011 at 1:35 PM Rating: Excellent
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Over the past several months, the development team and various forum and management staff have been working on an upgrade to the existing forum interface. One that captures the essence and features of our existing forum, but also modernizes and improves key areas of the forum posting experience. A team of users selected from all areas of the site have put these new forum modules through their paces, and we are now ready to unveil the upgraded system to the general public. Please take a look at the links below. We welcome any feedback or comments you may have, please post them as a reply to this thread, or via PM to myself or Darqflame.

Thank you,
Administrator Kaolian

New forum locations:

http://www.forumtest.zam.com/forum.html
http://rift.forumtest.zam.com/forum.html
http://ffxi.forumtest.allakhazam.com/forum.html
http://ffxiv.forumtest.zam.com/forum.html
http://wow.forumtest.allakhazam.com/forum.html
http://everquest.forumtest.allakhazam.com/forum.html

(Other skins also exist, if you don't see yours here, replace the text before forumtest with your existing text. These should no longer require a password, if you do encounter one, try username forum, password testing, and please let us know where you encounter the password prompt.)

Design Update notes

The overall forum design has gotten a big update. Lists of forums and threads, the threads themselves, the post page, and posting buttons and forum controls all have been worked on. In general things should be clearer with less clutter, allowing for more focus on the discussions themselves. Forum controls are now collapsed by default and take up less space, posting buttons are more prominent, and Recent Visitors has moved to the bottom and is now expanded by default. The "path" or "breadcrumbs" showing where you are in the forums now has drop downs available to more quickly move between forums and categories.

The Private Messages areas have been updated to reflect the forum changes and are more consistent with forum formatting and styling.

The user settings/profile page has been updated as well to have a cleaner presentation and give easier access to your settings in one location.


New Features
  • Category Jump Drop down: On the main forum page the top-right has a drop down you can use to quickly jump to any forum category on the page.
  • Forum Post Indicators: When viewing the root forum page or other forum category pages there are indicators to the left of forum names showing whether there are new posts since your last view of that forum.
  • Quick Reply: Enter your reply to a thread right from the thread view page. There is an option in your user settings to have this open by default.
  • YouTube Video Button: Embedded YouTube videos in posts.
  • Easier Color Options: Adding colors to your posts is now easier with more clearly visible color options. The old color names are still usable as well.
  • Avatar Gallery: There are now a variety of pre-made avatars for use by any users. Custom uploaded avatars are still a premium feature.
  • Post Numbers and Simpler Linking: In the top-left of posts it display what number in the thread a post is, and you can click (or right-click) to get the link to the post. The resulting links are now also shorter to more easily send to friends or post on sites such as Twitter.
  • Thread Searching: You can now search within a thread. The forum search box in the top right will change accordingly when you are viewing a thread.
  • More Stars: There is now a 5th star. And a 6th, and a 7th...
  • Contact Information: You can now enter your contact information for IM services, Facebook, and Twitter in your profile. Be aware that this information is accessible from your public profile and only enter information you wish to be public.
  • User Bios: You can fill out your bio in your settings. This is displayed on your public profile.

Features Opening to Non-Premium Members
  • Image Posting: You can now attach images to posts once you reach a post count of 250.
  • Polls: You can now attach polls to posts once you reach a post count of 25.
  • Emoticons: These are now open to all users.
  • Mouse over Post Preview: This is now open to all users. Options to disable it are available at the top of forum pages and in your settings.
  • Advanced Search: This is now open to all users.

Other Changes
  • Clearer Stars: All users will now have stars visible according to their post count, as opposed to admins always having 5 and some users having their stars hidden in favor of other text.
  • Karma Changes: These will be implemented slowly over the coming weeks after the forum rebuild goes live.



1. Pre append 100 3.00 rates to all accounts except those created out of notorious spammer countries such as China and Russia, using same criteria as the PM restriction script. This will prevent instant sub default users and instant gurus. This change will only affect new accounts.

2. Add a .10 positive karma to base karma for every year a poster has existed on the system, based on their first recorded post. (some technical challenges to this one, expect it later)

3. Alter the down rate button so that it isn't quite as punishing to newbies by changing it from the existing two 1.00 rates in a row is followed by a third -2.00, to five 1.00 rates in a row, followed by the sixth rate being a -6.00, and the 7th rate being a -8.00. The purpose being to still allow people to rate threads up or down, but only the truly awful ones that get multiple consecutive down rates in a row would drop extremely quickly.

4. Unspecified adjustments to the "report post" function to inhibit post spammers.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 12:48pm by Kaolian

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 5:27pm by Darqflame
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#2 Jun 24 2011 at 1:43 PM Rating: Good
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I'll dig around it, liking it so far. It fixed the General Discussion issue on Live View that I had mentioned previously.
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#3 Jun 24 2011 at 1:45 PM Rating: Good
ffxiv is broken for me in .forumtest

[edit]

ok, no it isn't. Just realized that ffxiv is a .zam and ffxi (which I used to change the link) is .allakhazam and that makes all the difference.

That might be a bug as far as beta stuff goes.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 3:48pm by Lubriderm
#4 Jun 24 2011 at 1:47 PM Rating: Excellent
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Lubriderm Quick Hands wrote:
ffxiv is broken for me in .forumtest


Try http://ffxiv.forumtest.zam.com/forum.html

Some of the older domains are on .allakhazam.com, some are on .zam.com, so if you rename ffxi for example, there is no such thing as ffxiv.allakhazam, etc.
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#5 Jun 24 2011 at 1:49 PM Rating: Good
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Feels weird getting two more stars, but the forums look like they were designed for little kids. I actually preferred the minimalist way the posts looked in the original FFXI threads.
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George Carlin wrote:
I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.
#6 Jun 24 2011 at 1:49 PM Rating: Good
Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
Lubriderm Quick Hands wrote:
ffxiv is broken for me in .forumtest


Try http://ffxiv.forumtest.zam.com/forum.html

Some of the older domains are on .allakhazam.com, some are on .zam.com, so if you rename ffxi for example, there is no such thing as ffxiv.allakhazam, etc.
Yeah, just figured that out.
#7 Jun 24 2011 at 1:51 PM Rating: Good
Sooooooooo, do custom titles (not the 10k deals, the premium ones) not show up on thread listings now?
#8 Jun 24 2011 at 1:53 PM Rating: Excellent
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Lubriderm Quick Hands wrote:
Sooooooooo, do custom titles (not the 10k deals, the premium ones) not show up on thread listings now?


Thats correct. Some of them are rrather long.
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#9 Jun 24 2011 at 1:53 PM Rating: Good
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Still no "Thread Index" button. If you want to go back, you have to click the "Page top" link and then click the forum "path" link. Smiley: frown

Everything else looks great. The font used for most of the stuff (except the buttons) could use a slightly larger size, though. Even on my 1366x768 laptop it's kinda small.

Smiley: thumbsup

Edit: The Quick Post feature is awesome, by the way.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 9:53pm by Mazra
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#10 Jun 24 2011 at 1:56 PM Rating: Excellent
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Mazra wrote:
Still no "Thread Index" button. If you want to go back, you have to click the "Page top" link and then click the forum "path" link. Smiley: frown

Everything else looks great. The font used for most of the stuff (except the buttons) could use a slightly larger size, though. Even on my 1366x768 laptop it's kinda small.

Smiley: thumbsup

Edit: The Quick Post feature is awesome, by the way.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 9:53pm by Mazra


They should be there, Are you not seeing the "forum" link breadcrumbs under the names at the bottom on the skin you are looking at? or are you referring to a different button?
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#11 Jun 24 2011 at 1:56 PM Rating: Good
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The Recent Visitors are currently exposed by default. Is that on purpose?
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George Carlin wrote:
I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.
#12 Jun 24 2011 at 1:57 PM Rating: Good
When I navigated away from this thread it showed mazra had posted, but thread was not bolded and no arrow was present.

Edit, might just be me being retarded.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 3:58pm by Lubriderm
#13 Jun 24 2011 at 1:57 PM Rating: Good
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Karma rating moved... took a minute to find it. Other than that not bad.

Bring back the numbers?

Seriously though I'm glad that you're doing a beta before just throwing it into production. Good progress on the implementation planning. Smiley: thumbsup
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#14 Jun 24 2011 at 2:00 PM Rating: Good
Anyone check to see how many stars joph has?
#15 Jun 24 2011 at 2:01 PM Rating: Good
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While looking at http://ffxi.forumtest.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10, I think that the blue scholar font color is rather hard to read on the blue background. I dont know if making the font color a brighter shade would help or not.

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#16 Jun 24 2011 at 2:01 PM Rating: Good
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Lubriderm Quick Hands wrote:
Anyone check to see how many stars joph has?
Seven.
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George Carlin wrote:
I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.
#17 Jun 24 2011 at 2:01 PM Rating: Good
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Lubriderm Quick Hands wrote:
Anyone check to see how many stars joph has?


7, I believe.

Oh, and this is awesome by the way:

Quote:
Post Numbers and Simpler Linking: In the top-left of posts it display what number in the thread a post is, and you can click (or right-click) to get the link to the post. The resulting links are now also shorter to more easily send to friends or post on sites such as Twitter.


Edited, Jun 24th 2011 4:03pm by Eske
#18 Jun 24 2011 at 2:02 PM Rating: Good
Sorry in advance but I have to say it:

Holy frig does this site look good here in the beta.

Pardon my salty language.
#19 Jun 24 2011 at 2:02 PM Rating: Good
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Are the [lg][/ lg] tags now open to all? I noticed the button, but I thought it was closed to all but admins and saw no mention of the change.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 3:03pm by xypin
#20 Jun 24 2011 at 2:04 PM Rating: Good
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Another one I just noticed. 51 posts per page now? That's gonna mess some stuff up.

Ha ha, large tags are open for now.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 4:04pm by lolgaxe
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#21 Jun 24 2011 at 2:04 PM Rating: Excellent
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Iamadam the Malefic wrote:

Seriously though I'm glad that you're doing a beta before just throwing it into production. Good progress on the implementation planning. Smiley: thumbsup


Yeah, I can't imagine anyone would want to just spring this on everyone as a suprise at the last minute. That would be foolish in the extreme, and likely **** people off. Which we want to kind of avoid doing.
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#22 Jun 24 2011 at 2:05 PM Rating: Excellent
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xypin wrote:
Are the [lg][/ lg] tags now open to all? I noticed the button, but I thought it was closed to all but admins and saw no mention of the change.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 3:03pm by xypin


I think we are re-implementing those, on the theory that if they get abused again we'll pull them again.
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#23 Jun 24 2011 at 2:05 PM Rating: Good
xypin wrote:
Are the [lg][/ lg] tags now open to all? I noticed the button, but I thought it was closed to all but admins and saw no mention of the change.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 3:03pm by xypin
seems so
#24 Jun 24 2011 at 2:06 PM Rating: Good
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Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
xypin wrote:
Are the [lg][/ lg] tags now open to all? I noticed the button, but I thought it was closed to all but admins and saw no mention of the change.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 3:03pm by xypin


I think we are re-implementing those, on the theory that if they get abused again we'll pull them again.


Yeah, they'll get pulled again.

What about flashing text? Can we do that, too?
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"I have lost my way
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About a heaven in Alberta
Where they've got all hell for a basement"

#25 Jun 24 2011 at 2:07 PM Rating: Good
Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
xypin wrote:
Are the [lg][/ lg] tags now open to all? I noticed the button, but I thought it was closed to all but admins and saw no mention of the change.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 3:03pm by xypin


I think we are re-implementing those, on the theory that if they get abused again we'll pull them again.
Let people abuse stuff that doesn't eat up band width. We have a karma system to deal with people who just decide to post everything large.

Is ******* still filtered?
#26 Jun 24 2011 at 2:07 PM Rating: Good
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A "Hide Youtube Video Preview" toggle would be good, along the lines of the Hide Images/Hide Signatures ones. Just something to compress them down to something like:

Video

...would be perfect.

Edited, Jun 24th 2011 4:10pm by Eske
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