Communications (Forums) Tech Development

[The Sherpa Empire]

Another thought that occurs to me regarding Foe/Ignore lists (crosses over into moderation tools dev) that could use some input:

Right now, when we get two (or more) players who just CAN NOT get along, but their bickering doesn't really rise to smackable levels, we'll tell them to put one another on Ignore. With the current forum, mods cannot see, let alone modify a player's Foe list. So in no particular order:

1. Should mods be able to see user Foe lists?
2. Should mods be able to ADD somebody to a user's Foe list? Essentially take current "Put one another on Ignore!" and turn it into "This is not just a suggestion, you're both ignoring one another now."
3. Should players be able to remove mod-added Foes from their own lists?
4. Foe history log that the player and the mods can see, so players can see when they added/removed someone from their Foe list?

My thoughts on the above in order:

1. Yes. Being able to see who has who blocked would be useful information when handling harassment complaints, similar to how we can see TG blocks gameside. It would help give players better protection in cases where somebody comes crying to us about being harassed when they didn't even block the 'harasser' and were basically just trying to goad the other person into a trap.
2. I'm a bit torn on this one. Given the number of times over the years where "Use your Foe list!" was ignored and ultimately turns into a sea of redtext somewhere down the line because they just CAN'T leave well enough alone, I do feel like mods being able to forcibly put the jilted players onto one another's Foe lists would probably help mitigate some of that where the player just doesn't like to use their Foe list for whatever reason.
3. Firm YES on removing mod-added Foes. A player removing a mod-added Foe and then going right back to needling that person would probably become another factor moderation would consider when evaluating those types of back-and-forth complaints.
4. Heck yeah, relating to the first point. It's a lot harder for somebody to bait another player into "harassing" them when we can see that they unblocked their harasser themselves.

All of the yes for this, and if they removed the mod-add Foe only just to go back to their bickering, with the presumably still oblivious person, it'll make them liable to get warned via redtext. But Tin has a good point -- there should be a minimally mechanically enforceable limit where the player can not remove the Foe after a mod has instated it until an arbitrary length of time has passed, like say six months. Then once that limit has passed, the player can be free to remove the mod-added Foe, and are thus liable to get warned if they go back to their old ways.

6 months is waaaaaaay too long for something like that, especially as a minimum. If someone just needs to step away from their latest argument and cool off, that might only take a couple of days.

[Comfed]

Another thought that occurs to me regarding Foe/Ignore lists (crosses over into moderation tools dev) that could use some input:

Right now, when we get two (or more) players who just CAN NOT get along, but their bickering doesn't really rise to smackable levels, we'll tell them to put one another on Ignore. With the current forum, mods cannot see, let alone modify a player's Foe list. So in no particular order:

1. Should mods be able to see user Foe lists?
2. Should mods be able to ADD somebody to a user's Foe list? Essentially take current "Put one another on Ignore!" and turn it into "This is not just a suggestion, you're both ignoring one another now."
3. Should players be able to remove mod-added Foes from their own lists?
4. Foe history log that the player and the mods can see, so players can see when they added/removed someone from their Foe list?

1. I’d defer to what the mods want on this. Seems like it could make the reports where people complain about others being on ignore easier.
2. No. If people can’t behave around each other then they need to learn or shouldn’t be on this forum.
3. No. Wouldn’t that defeat the point? Maybe mods could put people on ignore temporarily.
4. Seems like it could be useful to mods. I can’t see how players could use it.

One thing I’d like to see is posts from people on ignore completely hidden. Seeing the little link which invites you to see the post is rather annoying.

[Tinhampton]

As Fris has stated, those changes are a long ways off.

And are not likely to include Emojis/Smileys.

Further to what Lamoni said above in Ispravlennaja Tsekovija's emoji thread, will we still be allowed to use default smilies such as and in our posts on the new forums, or will that functionality be removed altogether?

[Frisbeeteria]

will we still be allowed to [whatever] on the new forums?

We can't supply answers to questions about a product that's still under construction. When it gets released, such answered will either be obvious or can be requested.

[Ispravlennaja Tsekovija]

will we still be allowed to [whatever] on the new forums?

We can't supply answers to questions about a product that's still under construction. When it gets released, such answered will either be obvious or can be requested.

can you supply some sort of a timeline related to said construction? the current status (i.e., is it actually even under construction or are you just kind of thinking about it in the background?) and even a vague predicted release would be significantly better than what we're getting. what would be even better is if the source code and development actions were in a public repository, but i'm not gonna hold my breath for that given how opaque this website's management loves to be.

[CoraSpia]

This is probably a no-go, but would it be possible with the new forum to create moderators just for specific subforums (obviously any current mods who want to be could be grandfathered in for all forums.) I know how much of an utter pain in the arse that is to do with phpbb, so I get why it's not done, but it would get rid of the issue of new mods being appointed largely because there's a problem with one particular forum who have absolutely no idea what the culture in a part of the site they never look at is. I'm guessing that training has been updated because this is far less of a problem than it used to be but obviously we have no idea what a potential new class of mod recruits is going to be like.

[Lord Dominator]

Could the "Your Forum Posts" site be maybe fixed?
It sometimes shows quotes correctly, but sometimes it doesn't which makes it sometimes hard to see which posts are the actual user and not him quoting someone else.
(Image)
Correct Quote depiction

(Image)
Incorrect Quote depiction

On a similar note, it’s been my observation that the most recent post in any given search (whether yourself, someone else, or a regular search) will have an odd glitch where the displayed text is all shoved to the side (and consequently only a few letters on each line) making it entirely unreadable. Could just be me though

[CoraSpia]

Could the "Your Forum Posts" site be maybe fixed?
It sometimes shows quotes correctly, but sometimes it doesn't which makes it sometimes hard to see which posts are the actual user and not him quoting someone else.
(Image)
Correct Quote depiction

(Image)
Incorrect Quote depiction

On a similar note, it’s been my observation that the most recent post in any given search (whether yourself, someone else, or a regular search) will have an odd glitch where the displayed text is all shoved to the side (and consequently only a few letters on each line) making it entirely unreadable. Could just be me though

I know that quotes often don't work properly on that search. Since I'm a screen reader user this could be me as well.

[Comfed]

Could the "Your Forum Posts" site be maybe fixed?
It sometimes shows quotes correctly, but sometimes it doesn't which makes it sometimes hard to see which posts are the actual user and not him quoting someone else.
(Image)
Correct Quote depiction

(Image)
Incorrect Quote depiction

On a similar note, it’s been my observation that the most recent post in any given search (whether yourself, someone else, or a regular search) will have an odd glitch where the displayed text is all shoved to the side (and consequently only a few letters on each line) making it entirely unreadable. Could just be me though

This also happens to me.

[Frisbeeteria]

can you supply some sort of a timeline related to said construction?

No, for several reasons.
1) Mods are rules enforcers and occasional alpha testers. We have nothing to do with the code generation.
2) The project belongs to [violet] and is subject to the other demands on her time. There's no stable of developers working on this as a sole project.
3) Unanticipated massive problems can arise, and the entire project halts until a solution presents itself. We were hoping to have this ready a year or two ago, but an unspecified problem put it on a back burner.

It will happen when it happens, and the one guarantee I can make is that some people will love it, and others will think it destroys the game ... just like every other change to the UI, ever.

[Ispravlennaja Tsekovija]

small feature suggestion for the new forum - have mods look like normal users ordinarily but make them able to add username color and distinguish their mod posts (like on reddit) when they're talking in an official capacity? maybe it's just me but it's jarring to see the names of the mods, especially the ones with bright red names, on my view your posts screen or on the forum overview when they're just posting normal things.

does that seem like a reasonable idea?

[WayNeacTia]

small feature suggestion for the new forum - have mods look like normal users ordinarily but make them able to add username color and distinguish their mod posts (like on reddit) when they're talking in an official capacity? maybe it's just me but it's jarring to see the names of the mods, especially the ones who pick bright red names, on my view your posts screen or on the forum overview when they're just posting normal things.

does that seem like a reasonable idea?

Bright red is for normal moderators and forum moderators. Blue is for Senior Moderators. They don't get to pick the colors of their names.

[Ispravlennaja Tsekovija]

small feature suggestion for the new forum - have mods look like normal users ordinarily but make them able to add username color and distinguish their mod posts (like on reddit) when they're talking in an official capacity? maybe it's just me but it's jarring to see the names of the mods, especially the ones who pick bright red names, on my view your posts screen or on the forum overview when they're just posting normal things.

does that seem like a reasonable idea?

Bright red is for normal moderators and forum moderators. Blue is for Senior Moderators. They don't get to pick the colors of their names.

i got rid of "pick", hope that satisfies you.

[Hanovereich]

small feature suggestion for the new forum - have mods look like normal users ordinarily but make them able to add username color and distinguish their mod posts (like on reddit) when they're talking in an official capacity? maybe it's just me but it's jarring to see the names of the mods, especially the ones with bright red names, on my view your posts screen or on the forum overview when they're just posting normal things.

does that seem like a reasonable idea?

Not a mod, but, if they're talking in a, quote, 'official capacity', then they normally use red text. That's how you distinguish between general chat and moderation.

[Esternial]

small feature suggestion for the new forum - have mods look like normal users ordinarily but make them able to add username color and distinguish their mod posts (like on reddit) when they're talking in an official capacity? maybe it's just me but it's jarring to see the names of the mods, especially the ones with bright red names, on my view your posts screen or on the forum overview when they're just posting normal things.

does that seem like a reasonable idea?

Can't say I'm annoyed by it. If anything it could help people behave a bit, kind of how you see people sticking to the speed limit when a cop car is on the highway.

[Bears Armed]

small feature suggestion for the new forum - have mods look like normal users ordinarily but make them able to add username color and distinguish their mod posts (like on reddit) when they're talking in an official capacity? maybe it's just me but it's jarring to see the names of the mods, especially the ones with bright red names, on my view your posts screen or on the forum overview when they're just posting normal things.

does that seem like a reasonable idea?

Except that probably sometimes they'll honestly forget to switch between the two -- just as people with more than one nation sometimes post with the "wrong" one of those -- and then we'll get more threads here complaining about them...
I say leave them permanently in their official colours: Apart from anything else, seeing them clearly present might discourage some other posters in those threads from rule-breaking.

[Ispravlennaja Tsekovija]

small feature suggestion for the new forum - have mods look like normal users ordinarily but make them able to add username color and distinguish their mod posts (like on reddit) when they're talking in an official capacity? maybe it's just me but it's jarring to see the names of the mods, especially the ones with bright red names, on my view your posts screen or on the forum overview when they're just posting normal things.

does that seem like a reasonable idea?

Not a mod, but, if they're talking in a, quote, 'official capacity', then they normally use red text. That's how you distinguish between general chat and moderation.

i know but i mean like in the view my posts section, it's jarring bc you can't tell what color of text they're using in their post, you can only see a mod posted there.

not that big of a deal, i just think it makes more sense to let mods look like normal users when they're not being mods, since they are supposed to be able to act as normal users.

[Lamoni]

The mods *ARE* also normal users, when we don't have our mod hats on. Your proposal makes *ZERO* sense, Ispravlennaja Tsekovija, as we already distinguish between when we do and do not have our official "moderation" caps on.

[WayNeacTia]

Not a mod, but, if they're talking in a, quote, 'official capacity', then they normally use red text. That's how you distinguish between general chat and moderation.

i know but i mean like in the view my posts section, it's jarring bc you can't tell what color of text they're using in their post, you can only see a mod posted there.

not that big of a deal, i just think it makes more sense to let mods look like normal users when they're not being mods, since they are supposed to be able to act as normal users.

They use the same color to post as everyone else, unless they are using red text.

[Wymondham]

Do we know when we might get an update as to when development of this might start, assuming of course is hasn't already started behind the scenes? I appreciate that this is likely an extremely complicated project and do not wish to be a pest, but it is a project that a fair few members of the community, myself included are rather excited about.
Additionally, a cool thing to do when things get started in ernest, again assuming they haven't already, could be some sort of new forum dev diary so the community can follow developments as it progresses.

A lot of the base functionality is already well on its way, but a lot is still pending discussion of desired/plausible features. ^^;

As we're 9 months down the line from this post - it feels appropriate to enquire as to how work on the new forums is progressing?

[Reploid Productions]

A lot of the base functionality is already well on its way, but a lot is still pending discussion of desired/plausible features. ^^;

As we're 9 months down the line from this post - it feels appropriate to enquire as to how work on the new forums is progressing?

Painfully, miserably slowly. Admin time has been more sparse than usual lately due to pesky IRL obligations and interference.

[Wymondham]

As we're 9 months down the line from this post - it feels appropriate to enquire as to how work on the new forums is progressing?

Painfully, miserably slowly. Admin time has been more sparse than usual lately due to pesky IRL obligations and interference.

Is there an ETA or is still too far away to even speculate as to which decade it might arrive in?

[Reploid Productions]

Painfully, miserably slowly. Admin time has been more sparse than usual lately due to pesky IRL obligations and interference.

Is there an ETA or is still too far away to even speculate as to which decade it might arrive in?

I'm starting to think we need to have timelines laid out in centuries at the rate it's going.

[Wymondham]

Is there an ETA or is still too far away to even speculate as to which decade it might arrive in?

I'm starting to think we need to have timelines laid out in centuries at the rate it's going.

[Haganham]

A nice QoL for the mods might to be to link WA proposals and their threads, such that they will automatically sticky when up for vote and desticky after, and have their titles edited to [AT VOTE], [PASSED], [DEFEATED].