Upcoming Features

[SirSteve]

I have hinted around to some upcoming new features that will be added to the forums. We will probably be rolling them out in about 2 months as soon as the bugs are worked out. Here is a list of them:

Added Features:

--to the user interface

General

• Quick registration system...username, password, email and any required custom fields and timezone
  
  Pop-up auto-refreshing buddylist with ICQ-style alerts when new buddies come online. You'll find a link in the temp buttons top right in the nav bar.
  
  Show the title of the last posted to thread for each forum on index.php
  
  Subscription to Threads/Forum without receiving e-mails
  
  Favorite threads - you don't get email from these either.
  
  User reputation rating (not sure if we will turn this on yet)
  
  User ranking
  
  Password break-in watches -- too many failed attempts warning with a preset wait after too many failures.
  
  Threaded view
  
  Password protected forums
  
  Similar threads display
  
  Send an email "thanks for registering and welcome to .." on user registration (welcome email)
  
  Validity check for homepages
  
  Search engine friendly archive of open forums
  
  Happy birthday e-mails
  
  Much improved calander system (too many changes to mention)
  
  hit counter on announcements
  
  Digests: new posts/threads in selected forums daily/weekly/monthly
  
  "excerpt of message:" are now in the new reply email notifications
  
  'report post to mod' sends anonymous copy to the original poster of the message
  
  Restyled FAQ section now looks similar to a forum

Posting

• WYSIWYG Editor for major text input fields (IE 5.5+Only). This works like a word processor. You highlight the text and click the option you want, like bold.
  
  Minimum number of characters in post
  
  Insert smilie/vB code where cursor is (IE 5+ Only)
  
  Preview on edit
  
  Ability to add attachment when editing a post instead of just when creating
  
  Reason for editing
  
  Reason for deleting (for admins and mods)

User CP - Profile

• User Pictures - user can upload a personal picture. This picture is shown in the profile of the user.
  
  Completely revamped PM system (currently in work)
  
  Longer signature field with optional limit

Search

• Get daily for just one category
  
  Search only in subscribed forums
  
  A list of ignored words or words used in a search are added to the results page
  
  Option to find only started by 'username'
  
  Display matching forums in results
  
  Support for searching custom profile fields
  
  Search for exact username (e.g. turn off wildcards)

Polls

• Option for users to see who voted for which option (public vote)
  
  When you vote your name is highlighted when viewing results
  
  Poll results ordered by most to less voted
  
  Ability to post a poll AFTER a thread had started

Usability

• Hitting the back button no longer necessary when you have too many images
  
  Option to save cookie *on this computer* when logging in
  
  Login/logout ability in all pages, with user/pass form -- single login system

And whatever else gets done...

[Pendo]

Sounds GREAT SirSteve!!! I can't wait for all the features to come into action . This place just keeps getting better and better!

PENDO!

[Beast]

Wow Sir Steve, that really is a "butt-load of new features". You know I am gonna run that quote right into the ground. All of them sound great. Is there any chance that they long rumored custom rankings could make their way in also? Oh, and don't forget that chatroom.

I have a ton of questions, but I need to put my thoughts in order. Though how is the "user ranking" feature going to work? That one sounds like it could be the most misused, and become like a SSG version of Survivor.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[master jedi]

Originally posted by SirSteve

Password protected forums

What exactly does this mean? Does it mean for forums for mods & admin or what?


Another cool thing you could to the forums is to have a feature where the user could set the forums he/she wishes to see. For Example, I rarely check any of the toy sections anymore and I never go to the auction/trade forums so I could choose in my CP not to view them. This would help from scrolling up & down a long list to get to and/or find a forum I want to get to.

[SirSteve]

Custom ratings? That's already a feature, I just have it turned off. It could get really messy. As for master jedi - yes, that feature is coming but it may be for the follow-up of the new version.

[-JediMaster-Yoda-]

hey what new user rankings are coming? and are rankings like Jedi and Sith Paths, and will their be like a Bounty Hunter Path?

[SirSteve]

User ranking is more like, you rank a user but it is anonymous. Not sure if I will use it or not yet...

[JediTricks]

I vote "not" on the individual user rankings, I don't like the idea of voting on a specific user.

As for password protected forums, I could swear we have it on this version and it WORKS.

[QLD]

Hey, if we use it, it could make the forums more like Face the Jury.

And I would LOVE the chatroom back.

And instead of custom rankings, have a group of new rankings to add, that we can all vote on. Maybe take ideas from us, and then take, say 20 of those, let us vote on them, and the top, say, top 3 for each side (light, dark) get added. Just a thought.

But most of that stuff sounds GREAT!

[SWAFMAN]

In addition to all the past comments on the subject, I think today's GenDisc thread stirring the post-padding pot seems to make a lot of good arguments for a chatroom feature, too.

I suppose it might be a pretty big hassle from a Mod's perspective, though.