Idea for improvement of forums

We know you have an opinion on how things should be run around here. These are suggestions for the forums, and the website.This forum is not a place to ask for suggestions to your own coding (or otherwise) problems.

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califdon
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Idea for improvement of forums

Post by califdon »

This may be impractical due to the amount of customization it would require, but I'd be interested in hearing what others think about the idea, anyway.

We're all familiar with the issue of noobies ignoring the forum rules and we constantly have to ask them to use meaningful Subjects, BBcode tags, close out [SOLVED] questions, etc. Has anyone ever discussed the possibility that we could mod the forum to force a new subscriber to read a VERY BRIEF set of instructions, as part of the sign-up process? If it could be done at all, I would suggest that they be exposed to no more than one screen's worth of the most basic rules and then referred to the more complete rules, but if we could guarantee that every new subscriber has at least read a few lines about those topics I mentioned, I think half of the moderators' work might be done. Just a thought.
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Maugrim_The_Reaper
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by Maugrim_The_Reaper »

I doubt it would work - people click through signups faster than you can say "click". You'd only end up Eulaitis or Termsofservitis.
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onion2k
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by onion2k »

One small improvement would be to question the submission of posts that contain php tags (eg <?, <?php, and ?>) unless they have BB code tags... so anyone who posts without the correct tags would get chucked back to the posting page with a message of "Forgotten your code tags?".

Or, better yet, make <?php and ?> work like [syntax=php]and[/syntax].
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Bill H
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by Bill H »

Another would be to get tough with "this is in the wrong forum, you boob" and "use a better subject, moran" from moderators like some other forums do, but I see two reasons against that.

First is it would tend to dampen (!) the friendly climate that makes this forum such a nice place to visit.
Second is that it would be a lot of work for the moderators.

So, maybe not. Never mind. I'll go back to sleep.
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volomike
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by volomike »

This site keeps going down, so perhaps an area for improvement could be to figure out why that's occurring and fix that.
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Eran
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by Eran »

I say if 'urgent' or 'please' or even 'pls' appears in the subject, some extreme action must take place. Like blowing up their computer. Or something
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Benjamin
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by Benjamin »

onion2k wrote:Or, better yet, make <?php and ?> work like [ php ] and [ /php ].
That's what I was thinking.
Last edited by Benjamin on Sat Jul 05, 2008 12:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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califdon
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by califdon »

volomike wrote:This site keeps going down, so perhaps an area for improvement could be to figure out why that's occurring and fix that.
I know the Admins are working very hard on this. It ain't easy managing a busy server like this one--in your "spare" time!
nimd4
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by nimd4 »

Maugrim_The_Reaper wrote:I doubt it would work - people click through signups faster than you can say "click". You'd only end up Eulaitis or Termsofservitis.
You bet... Anyway there are mods like a message for unregistered users, or even better perhaps, a greeting PM that would arrive in everyone's inbox; Just a thought.

ps. The Tutorials forum has no "Subscribe forum" link to it :( link in text won't work as of yet
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califdon
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by califdon »

nimd4 wrote:You bet... Anyway there are mods like a message for unregistered users, or even better perhaps, a greeting PM that would arrive in everyone's inbox; Just a thought.
I like the new member PM idea. Or possibly a greeting email, but some might be annoyed by email.
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jayshields
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by jayshields »

astions wrote:
onion2k wrote:Or, better yet, make <?php and ?> work like [ php ] and [ /php ].
That's what I was thinking.
Agreed. Isn't that what php.net does?
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aditya2071990
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by aditya2071990 »

Give the new users a set of the most basic rules, then ask them to solve a small quiz consisting of a few questions based on the rules. Only if they pass, give them the authority to post any messages. This is something similar to what Elance does.

And yeah, "boob" was funny, I almost died laughing :lol:, thanks, Bill H.
Josephbarlick
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by Josephbarlick »

the solution that aditya has suggested is an nice idea. it 'll stop the people who comes here just for spamming...
3dfan
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Re: Idea for improvement of forums

Post by 3dfan »

[quote="onion2k"]One small improvement would be to question the submission of posts that contain php tags (eg <?, <?php, and ?>) unless they have BB code tags... so anyone who posts without the correct tags would get chucked back to the posting page with a message of "Forgotten your code tags?".

I support we should use only BBCode and nothin' else and that is what I am doing designing free glitter graphics !
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