Forum Improvement Suggestions

[kalpik]

Hello Everyone!

Here we talk about things to improve upon in our forum. Remember, please suggest stuff in order of priority

Things i can think of right away:

1. Upgrade vBulletin.
2. Fix issues like attachments, AJAX etc.
3. Prune old posts.
4. Add Anti-Spam plugins/mods.

Keep the suggestions coming, ill keep updating this post with the high priority suggestions

Thanks

[Liverpool_fan]

Do something about Spam. If there as Askimet equivalent for vBulletin, please install it.
Also Please care to explain why the forum goes down when it goes down that is...

[kalpik]

Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

Do something about Spam. If there as Askimet equivalent for vBulletin, please install it.

Good suggestion. Adding.

Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

Also Please care to explain why the forum goes down when it goes down that is...

Sorry, not in our hands Only the admins know the reason.

[Kl@w-24]

1] Fix the Views=Replies+1 bug.

2] Error on posting a visitor message on a member's profile, even though the message gets posted.

3]New smilies

Will add more.

[kalpik]

Originally Posted by Kl@w-24

1] Fix the Views=Replies+1 bug.

Should be fixed when we upgrade vBulletin and fix AJAX stuff.

Originally Posted by Kl@w-24

2] Error on posting a visitor message on a member's profile, even though the message gets posted.

Again, should be fixed by a vBulletin upgrade.

Originally Posted by Kl@w-24

3]New smilies

Low Priority.

[rhitwick]

Well I had posted it in d previous thread too, no one cares reading long posts...too lazy eh, to bring change

1>close the thread older than 1 year. Let them be for viewing only. A simple sql query will do that if there is no option in vBulletin (by ichi)

2>But don't close a currently opened thread in Chit Chat unless it becomes stale(after 2-3 days if it doesn't get buried itself) and you thought it was another spam kinda thread made by genuine members (by ichi)

3>The admins can include a box that displays the forum rules one at a time like a "Tip of the Day" box. (by Alexanderthegreat)

4>Close the thread if more than two guys report about it. And if everyone is happy then atleast let the thread run for 2-3 days and sink to the bottom by itself or close it manually by 4th day if mods suspect it to be buried deep. (by ichi)

5>Move it to the top of the page where it is easily visible and update that option to have negative ratings as well.
* 1 to 0 to +5 with zero being the default rating of every thread.
* After 1 page of replies:
* If the ratings go negative, thread gets deleted.
* If the ratings stay at zero with votes, thread gets locked.
* If the ratings stay at zero without votes, thread continues.
* If the thread does not finish 1 page of replies after 3 days, thread continues unless it comes under rule 1 or 2.
* Any positive ratings(1 to 5) let it be the criteria for the thread starter to judge how his/her thread is received by other members, with the thread being allowed to continue. (by afonofa)

6>A new rating in the thread rating system should be added. It should be named "Spam". AND, in case a thread gets too many Spam ratings, it should be... wait for it... AUTOMATICALLY deleted. I can already see some wise guys pointing out how that would help the spammers to delete posts too. Well, I would like to suggest that new members should not be permitted to rate the thread as a "Spam".

7>We can let mods vote for these old faithful people. Once those old faithfuls are selected, THEY can vote for more in the future. See a pattern emerging? (by Alexanderthegreat)


8>There are not enough smileys! Instead of providing us with the same smileys with different code, TDF admins should replace repeated smileys with smileys for things like rofl and a better smiley for lol. (by Alexanderthegreat)


9>Though I have set reply notification for subscribed threads to email me the moment someone replies, but I hardly get instant notifications. At times, it's after 5-6 hours after reply is made. Using gmail ID. Never got any notification when I provided a @luckymail.com id as my email address. (by thinkFree)

[din]

Something about mods - Please feel free to ignore / delete if this is not a good idea.

Members can nominate other members whom they think - good for moderating the forum. Like who are not too strict but not too liberal, who is impartial, having patience, not a khaitan-boy and above all, who can spend some time to cleanup threads and manage forum in a nice manner.

Once the majority go with some names, they (mods themselves) can decide the time at which they can be online, like some may be able to spend time for forum in the morning, and some in the afternoon. If they manage the timing like shift, it will be very nice.

Just my suggestion.

[skippednote]

Extend section into further sections in the forum. Like from hardware to graphics card, cpu and mobo, overclocking etc.

Keep separate mods for different sections.

The forum should have new and a lighter skin.(Optional)

One more thing. There should me some sort of plugin builtin that allows members to chat.

[kalpik]

Originally Posted by rhitwick

Well I had posted it in d previous thread too, no one cares reading long posts...too lazy eh, to bring change

1>close the thread older than 1 year. Let them be for viewing only. A simple sql query will do that if there is no option in vBulletin (by ichi)

Dont know how it will help, plus sometimes threads need to remain open.

Originally Posted by rhitwick

2>But don't close a currently opened thread in Chit Chat unless it becomes stale(after 2-3 days if it doesn't get buried itself) and you thought it was another spam kinda thread made by genuine members (by ichi)

Didnt really understand this

Originally Posted by rhitwick

3>The admins can include a box that displays the forum rules one at a time like a "Tip of the Day" box. (by Alexanderthegreat)

I really think this is kinda annoying

Originally Posted by rhitwick

4>Close the thread if more than two guys report about it. And if everyone is happy then atleast let the thread run for 2-3 days and sink to the bottom by itself or close it manually by 4th day if mods suspect it to be buried deep. (by ichi)

Wont work well in such a huge forum.

Originally Posted by rhitwick

5>Move it to the top of the page where it is easily visible and update that option to have negative ratings as well.
* 1 to 0 to +5 with zero being the default rating of every thread.
* After 1 page of replies:
* If the ratings go negative, thread gets deleted.
* If the ratings stay at zero with votes, thread gets locked.
* If the ratings stay at zero without votes, thread continues.
* If the thread does not finish 1 page of replies after 3 days, thread continues unless it comes under rule 1 or 2.
* Any positive ratings(1 to 5) let it be the criteria for the thread starter to judge how his/her thread is received by other members, with the thread being allowed to continue. (by afonofa)

Rating system is already there. Im sorry, but i dont think its a good idea to automate stuff based on ratings.

Originally Posted by rhitwick

6>A new rating in the thread rating system should be added. It should be named "Spam". AND, in case a thread gets too many Spam ratings, it should be... wait for it... AUTOMATICALLY deleted. I can already see some wise guys pointing out how that would help the spammers to delete posts too. Well, I would like to suggest that new members should not be permitted to rate the thread as a "Spam".

Again, this would not work in such a huge forum. A lot of potential to get misused.

Originally Posted by rhitwick

7>We can let mods vote for these old faithful people. Once those old faithfuls are selected, THEY can vote for more in the future. See a pattern emerging? (by Alexanderthegreat)

Again, possibility of misuse.

Originally Posted by rhitwick

8>There are not enough smileys! Instead of providing us with the same smileys with different code, TDF admins should replace repeated smileys with smileys for things like rofl and a better smiley for lol. (by Alexanderthegreat)

Already answered. Low Priority.

Originally Posted by rhitwick

9>Though I have set reply notification for subscribed threads to email me the moment someone replies, but I hardly get instant notifications. At times, it's after 5-6 hours after reply is made. Using gmail ID. Never got any notification when I provided a @luckymail.com id as my email address. (by thinkFree)

I get instant notifications.

I am really sorry i rejected all your suggestions, but you have to understand that when we are asking the admins of something, please be sure its something easily implementable. We do not want to overwhealm our beloved admins!

Originally Posted by din

Something about mods - Please feel free to ignore / delete if this is not a good idea.

Members can nominate other members whom they think - good for moderating the forum. Like who are not too strict but not too liberal, who is impartial, having patience, not a khaitan-boy and above all, who can spend some time to cleanup threads and manage forum in a nice manner.

Once the majority go with some names, they (mods themselves) can decide the time at which they can be online, like some may be able to spend time for forum in the morning, and some in the afternoon. If they manage the timing like shift, it will be very nice.

Just my suggestion.

Din, appreciate your suggestion. But i think this is something that needs to be discussed in private. If we open the option for people to vote, it again becomes open to misuse. I just want you to know that you have to trust us (the admins and the current MODs) to make the right decisions for the forum. In fact, apart from the parameters you mentioned, there are a whole lot of parameters that go into the decision of selecting a MOD. I hope you are convinced with what im saying. Still, if you think you need to clarify, im open to it! But plese send me a PM regarding it

Originally Posted by bassam904

Extend section into further sections in the forum. Like from hardware to graphics card, cpu and mobo, overclocking etc.

Can be added, but IMO its low priority.

Originally Posted by bassam904

Keep separate mods for different sections.

This kinda restricts moderation. Has been discussed both internally as well as externally.

Originally Posted by bassam904

The forum should have new and a lighter skin.(Optional)

Agree, but im not sure it will happen

Originally Posted by bassam904

One more thing. There should me some sort of plugin builtin that allows members to chat.

Come to the IRC #think-digit on freenode!

[rhitwick]

^^No issues mate, I guess u know d diff. b/w "Suggestion" and "Demand"

Suggestions keeps d path open to choose among proper opinions...

Again, d suggestions u commented as "Not possible for huge forum" and "misuse of power" are they really impossible?
I'm not a blogger so can't comment on what is problem for huge forum but in case of "misuse of power" u ask us believe in u (not only u but all), if its a vote and all mods are voting, how can one do monopoly there...
and about "Automation" of things...its a matter of time, all things that can be automated will be automated...

[kalpik]

^^ But somethings are better when they are not automated That's what i meant

[ravi_9793]

1. The forum is little slow (in term of loading)... either because of theme or server load.
2. Increase PM size.
3. Allow BB code for signature with restriction on images, html, flash, font size.

[gary4gar]

I request a Complete Overhaul of current Forum Structure.
we need to add new sections for many topic like Internet & ISP Talk, Feedback Corner for forum related issues etc.
also, need we remove few redundant ones.

And organize it, to get a clean Layout


If admins are ready, we can a detailed discussion on this.

[kalpik]

Originally Posted by ravi_9793

1. The forum is little slow (in term of loading)... either because of theme or server load.

I think its the theme. There are workarounds in the tutorials section

Originally Posted by ravi_9793

2. Increase PM size.

Its a big thing to do. Dont know if its possible. Depends on the infrastructure.

Originally Posted by ravi_9793

3. Allow BB code for signature with restriction on images, html, flash, font size.

Low Priority.

Originally Posted by gary4gar

I request a Complete Overhaul of current Forum Structure.
we need to add new sections for many topic like Internet & ISP Talk, Feedback Corner for forum related issues etc.
also, need we remove few redundant ones.

And organize it, to get a clean Layout


If admins are ready, we can a detailed discussion on this.

Agreed. But again, i think this wont happen. At least in the near future.

[victor_rambo]

Originally Posted by gary4gar

I request a Complete Overhaul of current Forum Structure.
we need to add new sections for many topic like Internet & ISP Talk, Feedback Corner for forum related issues etc.
also, need we remove few redundant ones.

And organize it, to get a clean Layout


If admins are ready, we can a detailed discussion on this.

Reorganizing the forum structure will need someone to manually move every thread between forums. It will be very tedious task and not worth the effort.

[Faun]

Do little by little at leisure No need to do it all at once.

I am quite optimistic this time. Will see if any new thing happens in a week.

[gary4gar]

If time if not there, we can adopt Ubuntu Forums method of Archiving old threads and then Switch to a cleaner Layout.


we should let 'lazyness' come between to betterment. Also we have so many highly motivated members who can be trusted to do this tedious task.

[naveen_reloaded]

Point SYsTem

Awards given based on work done

Contest be help regularly

Elect NEW MODS / ADMINS ( ban inactive admins who simply work in digit and have nothing to do or dont know wht to do in this forum )

Theme should be changed *************

let them do this first.. then will psot the rest..





as usual they wont care about our thoughts......

so its simply waste of thread,,,

[gary4gar]

I feel Digit people are neglecting this forum

[rhitwick]

Originally Posted by naveen_reloaded

as usual they wont care about our thoughts......

so its simply waste of thread,,,

/Offtopic, plz report to "Optimism vs Pessimism" thread

[Psychosocial]

I think the forum is good as it is... the mods are also doing their work well. Two things I would like to mention (they already mentioned though) :-

1) Try and make it a little faster
2) Please allow us to use BB Code and images, flash stuff in sigs.... that would be good.

Thats all. I dont have much complains with the forum/admins/mods.

[red_devil]

1. Prune up old posts [already mentioned] --- appoint some more mods if you want [temporary basis] to help you out on this ....

2. Appoint new mods[or atleast show us some proof that most of the current greens are active !!] ... particularly during the day time when some greens have their own work to do [not blaming them at all]...

3. any chance of getting rid of these ads ?? [i know the revenue bit is present...but they're kinda annoying on a browser used out of the box ]

4. if you're re organizing the layout, can we have a FLAME THREAD/SECTION ?? some place where we can continue FLAMING without risking a BAN :-P [lowest priority...but we do need a true "FIGHT CLUB" to get some stuff cleared out...]

[ravi_9793]

Just want to add one more thing:

Don't make this thread just another like this one:
The Whining/Complaint Thread

Such a huge thread with so many complains and suggestions, but no one is there to listen.

[naveen_reloaded]

Originally Posted by red_devil

1. Prune up old posts [already mentioned] --- appoint some more mods if you want [temporary basis] to help you out on this ....

2. Appoint new mods[or atleast show us some proof that most of the current greens are active !!] ... particularly during the day time when some greens have their own work to do [not blaming them at all]...

3. any chance of getting rid of these ads ?? [i know the revenue bit is present...but they're kinda annoying on a browser used out of the box ]

4. if you're re organizing the layout, can we have a FLAME THREAD/SECTION ?? some place where we can continue FLAMING without risking a BAN :-P [lowest priority...but we do need a true "FIGHT CLUB" to get some stuff cleared out...]

prunning old threads is not a good idea... espeically in a tech forumm..c oz there are huge no of QnA .... loads of question asked... and answered... so wht if some one is comming to see it...

but prunning can be done in Chitchat section .. more over its not the reall problem .. since its the digit who is going to take care of the space and cost of running the site...

[Ecstasy]

I feel that the very first and topmost priority is to add/delete mods to/from list. I can't say the same for the admins.

[ionicsachin]

Please improve the market section...I had to post 2-3 times to make my post available on Market

[saurabh kakkar]

WTF i dont think any Admin will pay a heed to this thread
This Forum has become a mess i.e many active and contributing members have left this forum even i visit this forum occasionally
This forum has lost its charm and it can only be brought back by admins who don't pay any attention
I know mods Cant do much so no point in blaming them

So Its my sincere Request to ravi to make a forum and allow it to be hosted on his server so that we all Can say bbye to Digit Forum

Regards
Saurabh kakkar

[ico]

Forum Member List should be enabled again.

[The Conqueror]

1.Update the vbulletin
2. http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=172978
The Good Classic Kirsch Theme that we used to have earlier..

[Ethan_Hunt]

Two things from my side:
1.) Revert to the older look. (Phpbb was it?)
2.) More smileys (gif smileys especially)