The Second Apocalypse

General => News/Announcements => Topic started by: What Came Before on April 19, 2013, 12:02:44 pm

Title: Suggestion Box
Post by: What Came Before on April 19, 2013, 12:02:44 pm
Just thought I'd make a sticky about suggestions. Feel free to post here, PM, or e-mail me with ideas and criticisms about the running and organization of the forum.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on April 22, 2013, 05:21:28 pm
In the advent of the new board I thought it may be worthwhile to consider a slight change. Much of conversation in TUC board, I think, should be moved to the WLW. We as a community have kind of decided that each dedicated board contains the spoilers up to the reading of that book. As such, I think now that TUC is coming soon (hopefully), and since in light of the entire forum move, I think it might be a good idea to move the topics to WLW.

That way we can still discuss the WLW stuff without fear of TUC spoilers, since, by design, TUC board will be discussing the book. It will be a bit awkward for some time after TUC is released, in regards to what is/isn't spoiler tagged. If the conversation where moved to WLW, then this could be somewhat alleviated. Those interested in continuing the conversation about WLW could do so, and those sufficiently worried about spoilers would be able to avoid TUC board until they finished reading.

Hopefully you havent moved to much yet, I wouldn't want to have to do it twice.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: What Came Before on April 23, 2013, 03:21:26 am
What you see is what you get, Wilshire, so far ;). I did one session of motion, most of the forums with the least posts. I'm setting my sights for TUC and Misc. next, and I might hazard another episode tonight before bed (though, it's been a two jobs long day and I have a Latin exam tomorrow within another two jobs day) - quite unprepared.

I think it shall be so.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Baztek on April 23, 2013, 03:51:13 am
Madness, dumb question, but have you already advertised this board on Westeros? Not sure if they frown upon that. Breaking into tight-knit communities can be very difficult, and I'd hate to think we missed out on some great discussion because tentative members don't feel like breaking into what looks like an insular community. Not that we are, but you get the picture.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: What Came Before on April 23, 2013, 04:51:38 am
Lol.

Short answer, yes. It's my sig there and in the past I've earned myself some reprimands for plugging the original SA in excess (by members, never moderation) - I can't help that our discussions here encompass and exceed those at Westeros and thus beg to be referenced ;). It's the nature of using an entire forum to discuss Bakker rather than one thread.

But again, this rendition of Second Apocalypse is an official bid to attract engage membership - I've upped the ante considerably, I think.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on June 27, 2013, 01:12:43 am
I love all the available stats that are there to be seen. Any chance of more? Like some kind of traffic/log-on statistics?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on July 02, 2013, 03:18:31 pm
Hmm... I'm not sure, Wilshire. I shall do some poking around.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on July 11, 2013, 07:38:38 pm
Just noticed that there is an "Average online per day" listed, which is kind of what I was asking for. Its close to 17, which I find interesting. I wonder how its calculated? I could believe that there are 17 unique visits per day if it counts the guests, since half are likely just spam-sranc. That brings the count closer to 10 or 8, which seems reasonable.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on July 13, 2013, 06:37:43 pm
Does it include guests, I wonder?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on July 17, 2013, 12:59:31 am
Not sure who's suggestion it was, but whoever said it would be a good idea to have a topic that labled "Unholy consult release date" or something similar, you where right. Its nearly the top viewed topic on the site with nearly 1500 views. That topic has certainly drawn a couple people here. Hopefully some of them has stuck around.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on July 17, 2013, 04:19:40 pm
Curethan, who has been Erratic for far too long ;).

It's the second hit on google for "Unholy Consult release date."
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on August 28, 2013, 08:43:29 pm
is there a posted list of all the titles based on post counts somewhere?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on August 30, 2013, 12:47:26 am
Top Ten count in the More Stats like at the bottom of the frontpage...

I don't understand why you and I don't have more comprehensive statistics.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on August 30, 2013, 12:48:26 am
Nah I mean like:

newbie:0
Jr. Member:50
Full Member:100
Sr. Member:250

etc.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on August 30, 2013, 12:51:44 am
You're pretty cool, buddy.

You should be able to see them: Admin, Members, Membergroups.

We should edit them :).
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on August 30, 2013, 01:08:24 am
All i got is "ban member" in the admin tab. :(

We should probably have a separate topic or something for all my ridiculous admin related queries.

<<< Amateur hour
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on August 30, 2013, 11:05:14 pm
Private message, homie.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Cüréthañ on September 01, 2013, 01:06:38 pm
Not sure who's suggestion it was, but whoever said it would be a good idea to have a topic that labled "Unholy consult release date" or something similar, you where right. Its nearly the top viewed topic on the site with nearly 1500 views. That topic has certainly drawn a couple people here. Hopefully some of them has stuck around.

;)
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on September 03, 2013, 04:58:02 pm
Yeah  Curethan that was brilliant.


Soooo what now... Put it to a vote/poll or something? Maybe we will get slightly higher participation % this time.

 Or we could give it some more time, split this into its own topic and let it marinate for a while.

edit:
there doesnt appear to be a character limit to groups. Or at least its >30. 
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on September 04, 2013, 01:08:16 pm
If you are talking about the forum ranks (http://second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=1006.0), then yeah, I think I'll add a poll to it right now and then likely baztek is going to win. It's not like we can't change them. And though I think we should reduce the post counts we should leave big margins somewhat as they are.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Royce on September 29, 2013, 04:04:24 pm
Not sure where to ask the question so I will just put it here :) Can someone tell me what this karma stuff is all about?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on September 30, 2013, 01:39:40 pm
Its for whatever you want it to be for. It has no affect on anything in particular.

Originally it was just a simple +/- but Madness changed it to Redemption/Damnation so that it would fit in better with the whole theme.

Thats as far as my knowledge on that subject goes. If you like someone's post, hit the "+" ... or the "-" I guess, whatever floats your boat.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on September 30, 2013, 09:39:05 pm
What Wilshire said - it was simply an optional feature, Royce, to use in lieu of upvotes for particular posts. I've still as unsure as to whether I actually condone its use but...

Time will tell.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Royce on September 30, 2013, 11:08:24 pm
Quote
Its for whatever you want it to be for. It has no affect on anything in particular.

Ok,I was just wondering if it was some kind of system to get rid of trolls or something ;D Like five negatives and you are OUT!
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on September 30, 2013, 11:20:54 pm
I guess I'm on my way ;). You sure Norway doesn't have a Troll problem?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Royce on October 01, 2013, 08:30:48 am
Quote
You sure Norway doesn't have a Troll problem?

Lol ;D We have lots of them,but for the time being they are safely trapped in the shape of huge mountains and islands 8)
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on October 08, 2013, 05:12:47 pm
Lmao.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Borque on December 03, 2013, 08:21:25 am

I mentioned this is some other thread a while back, and now finally found this thread which clearly is a better place to post it.

I would like to have a clear entry point for people who are new to Bakker, or curious about his work, primarily the Eärwa books.

Could be a stickied post, or a FAQ type document, ideally linked to from every page - due to Google, the top page isn't the given entry point for new readers.

If needed, I can volunteer to help writing this, if the powers that be think it's a good idea.

Opinions?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on December 03, 2013, 05:50:57 pm
I appreciate your offer and gladly accept any effort you put forth.

I recently sticked a copy of Links to Fan Resources (http://second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=883.0) to Misc. Chatter and all the Earwa subforums (it is also originally stickied here in News/Announcements). The SMF system here doesn't allow global threads ??? ...

You're welcome to update it, reword it, etc, and I'll change my post.

Especially, you can help us get over the hurdles in the dreaded Pre-FAQ (http://second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=779.0), which asks, for four pages, what even goes into a Bakker FAQ?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Borque on December 04, 2013, 11:52:30 am
I have woken the dreaded Pre-FAQ discussion from the dead. Be warned.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on December 04, 2013, 01:00:44 pm
Excellent.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on December 04, 2013, 11:21:27 pm
Suggestion:
Be careful with the number of stickied topics. If there are too many, it just creates clutter and prevents new material from showing up.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on December 05, 2013, 11:38:32 am
I'm going to include the FAQ in with existing Links to Fan Resources stickies...

Warning noted?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on December 05, 2013, 09:50:25 pm
 ;) just offering my suggestions in the box.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on December 06, 2013, 12:30:19 pm
Unrelated but maybe I should mass sticky this to all the subforums...

Lol.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on April 02, 2014, 07:03:28 pm
Suggestion:
Un-hide the "Quick Reply". Hidden, as default, probably means most people don't know it exists. I often forget about it and have "discovered" it more than once :P
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: locke on April 03, 2014, 06:26:15 am
we have an unread posts link at the top of the page and a new replies to your posts link at the top of the page that save me a ton of time (by using them I don't have to click forward and back through forum navigation).   How about just a "all new posts" link?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on April 03, 2014, 01:10:40 pm
How about just a "all new posts" link?

I have wondered about this as well. Once you have no new messages in either "show new replies" or "show unread posts since last visit", the top of the table changes to something like "No more message, click here to see all unread posts". This takes you to a page that lists every post you haven't read.

I almost never go through all the forums manually anymore due to these 3 links.

Anyway, I don't know how to get to that page without the link, and sometimes I have posts that I am saving to read later so I can't access the 3rd page :P. It would be nice to have that linked right under the two we already have.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on April 03, 2014, 01:30:38 pm
Actually its:
"No unread topics found since your last visit. Click here to try all unread topics."

here is the link it points to:
http://second-apocalypse.com/index.php?action=unread;all;start=0

But I'm not sure if anyone else can actually use it.

EDIT:
It may be worse nothing, for those interested in this type of thing, that the quote above remains exactly the same once you run out of posts in either "Show unread posts since last visit" or "Show new replies to your posts".
This amuses me, so I thought I'd share :)
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: mrganondorf on April 05, 2014, 04:26:08 pm
Hey!  I have a suggestion!

Really, I don't know if this is needed or if my browser is just messed up, but I would like a little arrow to go to the next page in the thread.  Would that be good or dumb?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on April 05, 2014, 07:25:55 pm
That would be a nice addition :P
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: mrganondorf on April 07, 2014, 11:37:23 pm
Another suggestion?

A "new" tag to individual pages in a thread?

There are some really big threads that I want to read, but am intimidated by the size.  If I could remember how far I got by the presence/absence of a 'new' tag it might be easier to digest?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on April 08, 2014, 09:42:55 am
MG, I looked into a "next-page" button and, from what I understand, the people programming SMF and the mods for it think that the page numbers are enough of a way for you to navigate (paraphrase).

Another suggestion?

A "new" tag to individual pages in a thread?

There are some really big threads that I want to read, but am intimidated by the size.  If I could remember how far I got by the presence/absence of a 'new' tag it might be easier to digest?

Lol... not just SA specific, per say, but start a note-taking habit. I always have a notebook or clean pages of some kind to record things should I want to or sort something outside of my mind.

Or bookmark the page as you leave off and replace that bookmark the next time you read.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: mrganondorf on April 09, 2014, 09:50:33 pm
Ok!  ;D
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on May 08, 2014, 01:38:17 pm
I'd like to revisit the idea of capping posts in a topic.

A few of them are getting pretty big now, and I think it would encourage people to start new topics (which almost no one has done yet). It might also help keep some boards "on topic" (more of a side-effect than an actual driver since its not really a big deal either way).
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on May 08, 2014, 05:08:38 pm
I'd like to revisit the idea of capping posts in a topic.

A few of them are getting pretty big now, and I think it would encourage people to start new topics (which almost no one has done yet). It might also help keep some boards "on topic" (more of a side-effect than an actual driver since its not really a big deal either way).

21? My first reaction is to take a cue from Westeros? I don't remember if threads were ever capped on ZTS.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on May 08, 2014, 08:27:44 pm
Never heard of Westeros, but 21 sounds like a lot for us. 15 posts per page, 21 pages is 315 posts per topic. We only have 1 at that threshold right now.

Maybe we should wait for your mystical "uptick" in users. Sigh. its what we do best around here, waiting...
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on May 09, 2014, 02:03:06 pm
Edit: Also the lost password function isn't working/isn't sending any e-mails. In the end I just got lucky and remembered my password.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on May 09, 2014, 02:16:59 pm
Edit: Also the lost password function isn't working/isn't sending any e-mails. In the end I just got lucky and remembered my password.

Edit: Also the lost password function isn't working/isn't sending any e-mails. In the end I just got lucky and remembered my password.

Thanks, will look into it.

Sorry but I could not replicate the issue. I made a new account with a new email, logged out, went to recover password, and it sent me an email.

Possible solutions:
1) You forgot which email you had/have linked to your account
2) You didn't wait long enough for the page to load after you submitted the request. It took at least 2 minutes, maybe even longer, after I hit "submit" for a new page to load that told me an email was sent to my account. It is possible that if you don't stay on the page and wait for it to load fully, then the system doesn't have enough time to process your request and it cancels it.

Maybe a false positive for an error, but will keep it logged here just in case.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on May 09, 2014, 02:39:10 pm
Never heard of Westeros, but 21 sounds like a lot for us. 15 posts per page, 21 pages is 315 posts per topic. We only have 1 at that threshold right now.

Maybe we should wait for your mystical "uptick" in users. Sigh. its what we do best around here, waiting...

:P

Friend, the dividends we experience from this place are a correspondence of cause, not a raison d'etre. And truly we aren't waiting for a community, we have one. It's just one where the majority watch and scrutinize the minority who manifest it (there are few content-generating members ;))... Something inherently balanced in that though.

15? And I'll take some time later today and make that and the short-stories subforum happen (though I really don't know that I'm going to call it that).
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on May 09, 2014, 05:08:39 pm
Like I said, might be best to wait (btw had to google "raison d'etre"), and as for the rest: i just enjoy complaining so pay me no mind.

The separations of sub-forums is putting bets for the future. Right now it might not make a ton of sense, but as numbers/comments/participation grows so too will the need for organization. Either wait until its a huge pain, or change now and risk looking silly for having an empty sub.

Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: mrganondorf on May 13, 2014, 09:20:33 pm
I think maybe a thread cap might be a good thing, possibly.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on May 22, 2014, 02:56:28 pm
regarding what happened to the Chorae

Wilshire [22|May 10:53 am]:   We'll get it back in time I'm sure. Kind of irritating to have that placeholder though. We should probably switch it to something else in the interim.
Garet Jax [22|May 10:55 am]:   That's what I was thinking... Even little peace signs, which I hate for some reason, would work.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on May 25, 2014, 05:43:24 pm
I haven't heard from Sovin in a minute (been like two weeks). He was talking about securing our security scripts, which apparently costs some coin and was taking up his time allocated for us. I can make it the original coloured blocks again for now?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on May 25, 2014, 06:27:52 pm
I think that will work for now.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Wilshire on July 09, 2014, 12:58:03 pm
Anyone else have troubles with the Quorum? I have to log off and then back on every time I want to use it.

edit:
problem seems to have gone away by itself.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Somnambulist on August 27, 2014, 12:00:50 am
Anyone else having problems with messaging?  Takes a long time to send, then half the time I get an error message.  Kinda weird since it was working a week/two weeks ago.  Also haven't been able to participate in the quorum for some time now.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Cüréthañ on August 28, 2014, 02:52:47 am
Could be your DNS.  You could try changing to Google's (https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/) and see if that improves your problem.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on August 28, 2014, 02:55:51 am
Same thing happened to me. It seems like a new issue - the PMs and registrations have always taken a long time on Sovin's server space but it hadn't sent duplicates until now.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Cüréthañ on August 28, 2014, 08:26:01 am
You're most likely sending multiple queries. 
Unless the server only hosts this website its pretty unlikely to be an isolated or occasional problem there.
Which leaves your ISP's (in which case try the alternate DNS above), or your clients.
What browser are you each using?
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: SilentRoamer on August 28, 2014, 09:41:06 am
If it is your DNS and you do not want to manually set Google DNS servers try the following:

Clear your internet browser.
Flush DNS cache. In a cmd prompt type ipfconfig /flushdns

I rarely have any issues at all with he Quorum - its usually me having multiple pages open.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Cüréthañ on August 28, 2014, 10:41:09 am
That is still client side, SR. 
Corrupted local data would cause problems connecting to the web in general, as far as I understand it, much more than a few problems on one site.
Got big problems if you have been DNS-spoofed, especially if you do any online finances. 
My ISP's DNS was causing me similar problems recently with a few specific websites; intermittent communications et al. but fine on most sites.

Still, give it a try - can't really hurt your setup by doing it.
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Madness on August 28, 2014, 12:13:01 pm
Firefox. Again though, Sovin, not I, has access to the stuff that truly matters now in terms of maintenance (see Chorae rank icon :().
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Somnambulist on August 28, 2014, 01:51:56 pm
Chrome (OSX 10.7.5 and later, if that matters)
Title: Re: Suggestion Box
Post by: Cüréthañ on August 29, 2014, 06:42:33 am
As i said Madness - if the issue was with the server these problems would very likely be universal to all users.

I have no problem with Chrome - although I had to switch from Firefox because it didn't work properly with the scripts my university servers ran a couple of years back.