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Forum Games and more slight changes


Chaos

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Hi all, some minor changes happened this week for the site.

There is now a Forum Games forum

Way back in... uh, 2016, a dedicated forum games section has been suggested. I guess I just consistently forgot since I liked the idea, so we made one! Forum games whether they are generic games or Brandon related will go here now. This has an advantage in that they are now easier to find, and also will be out of the way for people interested in book discussion. Things will go in the Forum Games section if they are games, or if the thread is pretty random, like the Random Stuff thread. The goal is to make General Discussion more discussion based.

Some forum games can be spammy (for one example, Three Word Story) and lead to an enormous amount of very short posts. For this reason, the Forum Games board does not increase post count. 

Eventually, the forum's post statistics will be recounted (it happens automatically when the site updates), and it may be the case if you posted, say, 1000 posts in topics that are now in Forum Games this may be retroactive and your post count may be significantly lower. I don't actually know if this is the case though. This hasn't come up yet in my experience.

Are there any other forums you'd like created? Anything miscategorized? Let us know!

Hiding posts returns

A while back, I disabled hiding posts because there were a few instances of members hiding all their posts for some bad reasons. But since there's been a lot of double posting going on, this just seems unnecessary. So if you'd like to remove your posts, use the Hide button. :) No need to report them now!

Just as a note because I've seen a lot of accidental double posting: if the Post button says "Saving" just wait it out! I have noticed sometimes it can take a while to go through for some reason, and I'm not quite sure why it does so. But if you click it again it will post again, which can result in something like 3-4 topics of the same kind. Remember the general computer rule that if something is loading, don't click more! (That makes things worse and will cause your computer queue that action more for every click!)

That said the lag in posting is extremely annoying. If you have any information on this do post here or in Tech Support.

Signature restrictions 

Our signature guidelines have been in effect since 2015. I've enabled some technological restrictions to prevent signatures from being too long. Now signatures can be a max of three lines. The exact value of lines can be discussed but I think 3-4 lines is a good amount. 

Long signatures really add to scrolling on desktop and are generally not aesthetically pleasing, especially if one adds a one-line post and the signature takes up much more room than the post itself.

Animated profile pictures are disabled 

Speaking of aesthetically displeasing things, animated profile pictures generally make the site look much less modern and are pretty ripe for abuse. With profile pictures appearing on the main page, you really don't want a bunch of flashing lights from animated profile pictures on the main page. Additionally, animated gifs make sites load slower if there are a lot of them.

I have generally discouraged animated profile pictures though it has not been a rule. I believe in old versions of Invision Power Suite, our software, there was an ability to disable this. I could never find the setting in the newer version, but tonight I found it, so animation in profile pictures are now disabled. This should generally lead to slight performance increases.

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Can I keep my sig the way it is if I make it single-spaced instead of double?

44 minutes ago, Chaos said:

A while back, I disabled hiding posts because there were a few instances of members hiding all their posts for some bad reasons. But since there's been a lot of double posting going on, this just seems unnecessary. So if you'd like to remove your posts, use the Hide button. :) No need to report them now!

Ooh, that's nice. Thanks!

Edited by xinoehp512
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A couple questions. First of all, what actually belongs in the Forum Games section? Is it any thread that seems like it counts as a game, or just those that are the type where every post contributes to the game? Would something like the Roast Rap Battles go there, where it's definitely a game but also more complex? How about the You Know You're a Sanderfan thread, which is kind of in the same vein as the games but also not exactly a game?

Are we allowed to hide recent posts of ours if we just realized we shouldn't have posted them, or should we just use edits and hiding is only for double posts?

I've never really understood the signature restrictions. It seems like if a signature is overdoing it you could just use the "Hide X's Signature" tool in the top right of the signature.

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13 minutes ago, Kidpen said:

Are we allowed to hide recent posts of ours if we just realized we shouldn't have posted them, or should we just use edits and hiding is only for double posts?

I'd say this is one of those things where user discretion is advised. If people have already replied to your recent comment, or have quoted it, you going and hiding it kind of breaks the continuity of the thread (unless you all agree that your posts don't belong, so you all go hide them). 

 

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33 minutes ago, Kidpen said:

A couple questions. First of all, what actually belongs in the Forum Games section? Is it any thread that seems like it counts as a game, or just those that are the type where every post contributes to the game? Would something like the Roast Rap Battles go there, where it's definitely a game but also more complex? How about the You Know You're a Sanderfan thread, which is kind of in the same vein as the games but also not exactly a game?

Are we allowed to hide recent posts of ours if we just realized we shouldn't have posted them, or should we just use edits and hiding is only for double posts?

I've never really understood the signature restrictions. It seems like if a signature is overdoing it you could just use the "Hide X's Signature" tool in the top right of the signature.

Roast battles should absolutely go in Forum Games. I would say You know you're a Sanderfan is not. Things that seem like games should go there. I don't really understand the distinctions you're trying to make?

Defining what is or is not a game is nontrivial which is a reason why the board didn't exist in earlier incarnations of the site. Some people will probably feel differently as to where the line is but do feel free to ask if there's any miscategorization with your rationale. I'll be putting the Roast Battles into Forum Games for sure.

Regarding sig restrictions: forums can be pretty big eyesores if signatures are unregulated. It can add a ton of vertical scrolling to a short discussion thread. If there is even a single individual who, say, lists 8-10 long quotes in their sig, that isn't just a bad experience for members, but it also makes the viewing experience terrible for guests and will likely make them tune out and not come back. Sure, you can press the X on that person. Now imagine there's 20-30 really active people with giant sigs. A new member shouldn't have to press X's on all of those to get the site to be readable for them on desktop. At that stage that is a problem on the staff for letting that happen.

Signatures are very much a less is more scenario. If you have ten quotes you like, they will have more impact if you hit just the three best ones and call it good. Some of the long signatures I have seen have been pretty unnecessary. Signatures are not people's life story (use About Me); keep them short and snappy and to the absolute essentials.

Don't even get me started on image heavy signatures. I remember other sites where people would have 3-5 banners across their sigs, and they were tall. That's not great.

At the end of the day, it's important for the site to be a good viewing experience for everyone. This is kind of in the same vein of why animated profile pictures are also disabled 

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3 hours ago, Chaos said:

Speaking of aesthetically displeasing things, animated profile pictures generally make the site look much less modern and are pretty ripe for abuse. With profile pictures appearing on the main page, you really don't want a bunch of flashing lights from animated profile pictures on the main page. Additionally, animated gifs make sites load slower if there are a lot of them.

I have generally discouraged animated profile pictures though it has not been a rule. I believe in old versions of Invision Power Suite, our software, there was an ability to disable this. I could never find the setting in the newer version, but tonight I found it, so animation in profile pictures are now disabled. This should generally lead to slight performance increases.

Uhh

I don't think that worked

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51 minutes ago, Ax's Boyfriend said:

Uhh

I don't think that worked

I don't see them and animated pictures are now static. Do you still them? Where? Be specific.

EDIT: I've heard another report as well of this. This is likely due to caching so if you clear your cache it should be resolved.

3 hours ago, xinoehp512 said:

Can I keep my sig the way it is if I make it single-spaced instead of double?

Single spacing is irrelevant, I think you can still compactify it. Maybe we can make the limit four lines, but I don't think technologically single space or double space will be distinguished by the board. You're welcome to try to test it.

Edited by Chaos
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3 hours ago, Chaos said:

Roast battles should absolutely go in Forum Games. I would say You know you're a Sanderfan is not. Things that seem like games should go there. I don't really understand the distinctions you're trying to make? 

I was just unsure whether the purpose of the subforum was to have a place where all the silliness and threads with a lot of really short posts or whether it was just just exactly what it sounded like. I understand now though.

The signature restrictions make more sense to me now. Thank you for explaining.

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I'm making a note of this for anyone who hasn't yet hid a post of theirs - I just tested it and can't find a way to bring the thing back. I don't mind personally, I chose a post from ages ago in the NW Boon/Bane thread that wasn't super important, but if anyone else plans to test this, pick something you don't care about.

Definitely an interesting update, though! Thanks ^_^

(Also, my signature technically reaches four lines, but I think it's pretty concise and it's not taking up much room. Do you want me to try and whittle away a word or two so it's exactly three, or am I okay?)

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On 6/15/2019 at 10:50 PM, AonEne said:

(Also, my signature technically reaches four lines, but I think it's pretty concise and it's not taking up much room. Do you want me to try and whittle away a word or two so it's exactly three, or am I okay?)

...did someone go and edit my sig, or was something done to make the text smaller? It's exactly three lines now, and I'm spooked.

*seconds Ark's question*

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3 hours ago, Ax's Boyfriend said:

Question: As the posts in forum games don't count, can we double post there?

Tell me a good use case for why you would want to do such a thing. I think the answer should be no. You really don't want people spamming any thread with five posts in less than ten minutes when they could have just made it into one post. That's a can of worms there.

2 hours ago, AonEne said:

...did someone go and edit my sig, or was something done to make the text smaller? It's exactly three lines now, and I'm spooked.

*seconds Ark's question*

I see no evidence of it being edited to my knowledge. I don't know.

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10 hours ago, Chaos said:

Tell me a good use case for why you would want to do such a thing. I think the answer should be no. You really don't want people spamming any thread with five posts in less than ten minutes when they could have just made it into one post. That's a can of worms there.

13 hours ago, AonEne said:

The main reason double posts exist (for me) is because you can't edit a quote in

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2 minutes ago, Ax's Boyfriend said:

The main reason double posts exist (for me) is because you can't edit a quote in

You kind of can, but its a bit round about. You need to make the quote in your new post box, then copy the whole quote into your edit post box, then you can get the quote in the og post.

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6 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

You kind of can, but its a bit round about. You need to make the quote in your new post box, then copy the whole quote into your edit post box, then you can get the quote in the og post.

uh

sure

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It's not like double posting is the biggest thing ever; just be cognizant of this and don't overdo it. If it happens occasionally due to the quoting issue that is not the worst, but if you respond with five posts in five minutes, all one after another, maybe use Multiquote instead. That's not good. An occasional double post due to quoting? Who cares.

I do realize copying quotes is very annoying with the editor. It was much easier without the fancy text editor because it was all code that was trivial to copy and paste.

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7 hours ago, Chaos said:

It's not like double posting is the biggest thing ever; just be cognizant of this and don't overdo it. If it happens occasionally due to the quoting issue that is not the worst, but if you respond with five posts in five minutes, all one after another, maybe use Multiquote instead. That's not good. An occasional double post due to quoting? Who cares.

I do realize copying quotes is very annoying with the editor. It was much easier without the fancy text editor because it was all code that was trivial to copy and paste.

Does BBCode still work with it?

Edit: Apparently it does. I'm gonna see if I can set the user and time now.

test

Edited by Kidpen
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19 hours ago, Chaos said:

I see no evidence of it being edited to my knowledge. I don't know.

*camera zooms out from Ene's face, playing creepy music as she tries to figure out what happened*

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27 minutes ago, AonEne said:

*camera zooms out from Ene's face, playing creepy music as she tries to figure out what happened*

*starts theorizing about font changes in signatures*

*squints at the 'o's in an attempt to determine if they're Arial-like or Calibri-like*

*is pretty sure they're Calibri-like*

*tries to recall if signatures always were*

*fails and remains unsure*

Wild theory:

During the last switch to Arial, signatures also turned to Arial. This latest update somehow switched them back. Calibri, being slightly smaller, shrank down Ene's signature.

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1 minute ago, Chaos said:

The signature changes aren't retroactive. Ene's uses the default font. 

Which is the default font? I'm now embarrassed to say that I pay almost no attention to fonts on here...:P

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