Musicbanter Improvement Thread

[s_k]

Does Alfred mean that the threads you post in will always show up as new threads?
That wouldn't be very practical as I want to click that little button telling me there are new postings in threads. So... How can I know there are new postings in there?
If you mean you want to know what threads you posted in; It could be handy to be able to get updates on threads you follow (adding a follow button to threads) in your profile or via e-mail.

[James]

Originally Posted by Dirty

James, just keep that as "something I wish would happen" and not as a legit suggestion. You have a ratio or something and then you've got people like me posting bullshit in the Metal forum and accomplishing nothing. There's nothing wrong with things anyways. People post on stuff they are knowledgeable about and want to talk about and that's fine by me.

It was, obviously it's not possible to make that happen. It just pisses me off, I see sex discussed more than music ever since Ill Duce joined.

[Alfred]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

- I'm not sure how your second request would be necessary... If you were the last person to post in a thread, why would you want it to show up as a new post? Feel free to discuss this. Anyone? Maybe I'm not seeing the point.

Well, I'm used to being able to do this on other forums. Say you forgot to add something to a post of yours. It's just kind of a nice shortcut.

Even threads that you don't post in, if you read the last page, they won't show up on "new posts." It'd just make things a little easier for some people. Maybe not everyone wants it, but if there was an option that could be set on your profile to view all posts made recently when you click "new posts", regardless of whether or not you saw the thread, that'd be nice on the occasions that you do want to go back and read a thread.

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by s_k

Well I should say a limit isn't neccesary, but I know postings with too many images can cause problems on some computers. I'm not sure what causes this, they just stop loading images. This could also be a bug of SMF forums (my forum is an SMF forum). I'm not sure.
Eitherway, if someone wants to post images he or she will just continue in the next posting, so it doesn't stop anyone from doing so.
If it causes problems for no one, I'd say: no limit.
It could be handy though if images weren't included in quotes, or a maximum of 5 images only. Some people tend to quote postings with 10 images in them and that's a bit overdone I guess.
So, my question here is: Why is there a limit in the first place and is it really neccesary?

I'm not too sure about how the forum software handles linked images. This is something we could look into. I'm wondering if the forum just handles the link, and doesn't actually cache the image? If that's the case, then unlimited images wouldn't put any kind of strain on server storage or bandwidth, as the images themselves are being handled by the original server they're hosted on. As far as images that are actually uploaded to MB's server as an attachment, I could see why there would be a limit there. Maybe we can make a distinction, like unlimited linked images, provided the software only handles the URLs themselves? Again, more research will be needed to confirm the handling.

And here's another one;
When I put a picture in a posting on my own forum, I can do this
[img width=640]http://linktotheimage.com/image.jpg[/img].
This way the image will only be 640 pixels wide. I should admit that my forum also has an option of automatically resizing images to 800 pixels but that just doesn't work. Far from perfect, thus.
Eitherway, if you want to make a link to a bigger image on my forum, you can do this
[ url=http://siteofimage/200pixelswideimage.jpg][img width=640]http://siteofimage/200pixelswideimage.jpg[/img][/url]

So it's the same as making a clickable url by doing
[ url=http://www.thisistheurl.com]CLICK HERE[/url]
Only you make a clickable image instead of a clickable URL.
Also you use the width=640 command to make the clickable image smaller while the original image stays huge ass. Very practical. Probably not possible, just sayin' ;D

So basically what we're talking about is extended bbcode to resize and/or customize images, etc? This is a good idea. Perhaps we can do some research and figure out which bbcode additions we'd like to add, and make a list of that to include?

Another idea; My forum provides you with a pop-up (you can turn it on or off in your profile) whenever you get a PM and when you click 'ok', it opens the pm in a new tab/window. Very practical if you ask me. I often don't see that I have a PM here.

We have that already. You need to go into your settings in the userCP and enable the setting that gives you a popup with a PM is received. The only caveat to add to this, is the popup doesn't arrive until you actually initiate a communication with the server, and it updates you. aka.. clicking a thread, changing pages, refreshing, etc.

Another one: I am a stupid ass so I always post visitor messages in my own profile when I try to reply to someone. I can't get the hang of it and I noticed it doesn't just happen to me. It would be nice if this wasn't possible.

Some folks may agree or disagree with this one... as in, some folks may enjoy posting on their own. Dunno, I think that's something that should be decided by the community, as it affects everyone. Votes on that would be appreciated, if anyone has opinions on it.

Moar, and I really mean this one: GIMME A MEMBERS LIST! I hate not having that. It's so unpractical!

I want this too. Everyone does. I think it has been requested in the past, but I can't remember what became of it. I'll add this by default.

[Key]

I don't see why it can't be a legitimate improvement. This is a music site as I stated before. If people posted more about music, maybe this place wouldn't be so dead.

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by Alfred

Well, I'm used to being able to do this on other forums. Say you forgot to add something to a post of yours. It's just kind of a nice shortcut.

Even threads that you don't post in, if you read the last page, they won't show up on "new posts." It'd just make things a little easier for some people. Maybe not everyone wants it, but if there was an option that could be set on your profile to view all posts made recently when you click "new posts", regardless of whether or not you saw the thread, that'd be nice on the occasions that you do want to go back and read a thread.

Like s_k is saying, it may be more practical to have something like a "recent posts you made" section in your CP, maybe like the last 5 posts or something, that's dynamically updated, so that you can quick-reference them.

As far as viewing unread posts made recently, maybe there could be a filter you can set for New Posts, so that you can specify how far back you want the list to go?

Just ideas. If we can all whittle these ideas into focused, implementable ideas, I'll be glad to add them to the list.

[Dirty]

If people who post more in the lounge post more in the music forums, it isn't going to solve anything. You'll just get more people saying "this band sucks/is awesome." Which is what most of you complain about anyways. There won't be any addition to good discussion. People post about which music and artists they feel comfortable posting about. If it's only a few artists, who cares? At least they are adding their opinions about them. Only way to make certain forums more active is to have new members come in who feel like posting about different artists. Generally I think this place is pretty welcoming. It'd probably be a good idea to post links to artist threads or forums in welcome threads depending on who the new member says they listen to so more new members stick around.

[s_k]

Short one, gotta get some sleep.
I don't think any forum ever will cache images itself.
That would be very unpractical. I think it just handles the link.

Well I don't know what the limites of bbcode are, but I think it shouldn't be too difficult to make it accept simple resize commands. It would be even better if it had a button for that for the people wo can't remember the code

Sorry about the popup think. I'll try that .
It's very logical that the popup only appears when you update something. No prob.
I do get the e-mails though, but it is quite a lot.
Something that just popped into my head: Would it be possible to use pop-ups whenever a new posting appears in a thread you're subscribed to? I now always get an e-mail when the 'what's happening on mb?' thread has an update. A Pop up would be very convenient . I somehow don't think that's possible, but I'll just put it down here anyway.

Some folks may enjoy talking to themselves, indeed. But what about a message saying 'are you sure you want to...'.
Not sure if that's possible either, but I'm just saying .

Members list: MEMBERS LIST!
And a list telling me what people are doing would be nice too.
I sometimes stay up too long waiting for a posting to come .

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Just ideas. If we can all whittle these ideas into focused, implementable ideas, I'll be glad to add them to the list.

Are you keeping score?

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by milano

I don't see why it can't be a legitimate improvement. This is a music site as I stated before. If people posted more about music, maybe this place wouldn't be so dead.

I don't think having a lounge is affecting the music sections negatively at all. If people join this site to talk about music, then that's what they'll do. If they join the site to have general discussions in the non-music forums, then that's what they'll do. If they want to do both, then guess what...

The fact that both exist on the same site isn't a problem. Those who are here for music discussion shouldn't have any issues with unrelated conversations that are going on in non-music sections. If they do, then perhaps they should evaluate their own priorities...

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by s_k

Well I don't know what the limites of bbcode are, but I think it shouldn't be too difficult to make it accept simple resize commands. It would be even better if it had a button for that for the people wo can't remember the code

Like I said, we should compile a list of bbcodes that support this. They're available via a google search. If everyone searches around and finds what they'd like to have included, they can post those codes and we can include it in the list.

Something that just popped into my head: Would it be possible to use pop-ups whenever a new posting appears in a thread you're subscribed to? I now always get an e-mail when the 'what's happening on mb?' thread has an update. A Pop up would be very convenient . I somehow don't think that's possible, but I'll just put it down here anyway.

It would be just as possible as a PM popup, which we have. But I personally think that just a dynamic notification in the welcome section where you see "unread" PMs and the like, would take care of the issue.. since if you're subscribed to a thread, you'd have a "new notifications" link right under "private messages". But if others think there should be a popup for notifications that you can enable in your settings, that would behave just like the PM popups behave, then I'm all for that too.