View Full Version : The Forum Improvement Thread
EDIT: I've edited this thread to serve as a log (or whatever) of improvements/changes around here...to the forums, that is. That is all. Carry on. :)
First off: a few new smilies added. Remember, put each smilie's name (the one in parentheses for each listing) in lowerclose between two colons ( : ). Love (love): :love:
Good (goof): :goof:
Indifferent (indifferent) :indifferent:
Randy (randy) :randy:Enjoy. :)
thmilin
01-13-02, 05:10 AM
the goof one is so coo!! it's got like, the three stages of drama in it! just that one little face!
i think it is both sad and sick that we actually require a "randy" one. cuz you know we're gonna use it! :randy:
i've always wanted one that was horrified. you'd use it in mock horror but it would look all shocked and confused. have you seen the yahoo ones? they have some cool ones, like the cross-armed "humph" one and the "talk to the hand" one ... fun fun fun!! :)
sadesdrk
01-13-02, 01:36 PM
Originally posted by TWTCommish
No big whoop. Just a few new smilies added. Remember, put each smilie's name (the one in parentheses for each listing) in lowerclose between two colons ( : ). Love (love): :love:
Good (goof): :goof:
Indifferent (indifferent) :indifferent:
Randy (randy) :randy:Enjoy. :) I :love: the new smilies. I think we all know who the indifferent face will belong too. :rolleyes: <<<<<<Still, my favorite smilie.
spudracer
01-13-02, 02:01 PM
I still think you need the Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down "smilie" added to the repotoire. :yup:
sadesdrk
01-13-02, 02:08 PM
Never Satisfied!
* and a barf-face.;)
It's hard to find a barf that isn't too "big." What do the rest of you think? Anyone else want the thumbs up/thumbs down ones? It's just be the hand/thumb, mind you...not a little face with a hand.
sadesdrk
01-13-02, 03:05 PM
Maybe not a barf face then, howabout one that just looks sick? I don't know about the thumbs up and down...I guess they would come in "handy" for those movie reviews...heh-heh.;)
spudracer
01-13-02, 03:22 PM
Here's one:
sadesdrk
01-13-02, 04:08 PM
Yeah. I like that one.:)
Holden Pike
01-13-02, 04:19 PM
Or you could simply enable us to post images and we could find our own. Like...
THIS (http://www.freakygamers.com/smilies/s2/otn/other/bandit.gif)
THIS (http://www.3dpcgame.com/cwm/s/contrib/ruinkai/FIREdevil.gif)
THIS (http://www.3dpcgame.com/cwm/s/otn/funny/smile18.gif)
THIS (http://www.minorannoyance.net/~spin/Smilies/contrib/edoom/buzz_saw.gif)
THIS (http://www.contrabandent.com/cwm/s/cwm/cwm/puke.gif)
THIS (http://www.3dpcgame.com/cwm/s/contrib/paladin/shotgun.gif)
THIS (http://www.freakygamers.com/smilies/s2/otn/angry/unlurk3.gif)
THIS (http://www.theunholytrinity.org/cracks_smileys/otn/violent/smileydies.gif)
THIS (http://www.3dpcgame.com/cwm/s/contrib/anym/pyth.gif)
And on and on and on.
A few of those seem broken, Holden. We already have the second-to-last one, too, I think. I doubt I'll be allowing the posting of images anytime soon. I've seen boards that allow HTML or free reign with images: they get very cluttered...and clutter is something I try to avoid, big time. Sorry.
If anyone else has any other ideas, don't hesitate to mention then.
Holden Pike
01-13-02, 04:25 PM
I was in the process of fixing the links. They're fixed.
spudracer
01-13-02, 04:25 PM
I like the barf one out of that list you have there Holden.
Holden, those are hilarious! i particularly like the barf, footstomp, and shooting ones.
T- i like all the smilies, and whatever new ones you add, i'll make use of as well, thanks..
Hmmm, the barf one seems popular, but I'm a picky little punk who tends to dislike "big" smilies that take up too much room. Hmmm, tough call. :laugh:
sadesdrk
01-13-02, 09:57 PM
The overly animated ones aren't cool. They bug.
New improvement (I think it went up yesterday, though): now, when you receive an email notifying you of a new private message in your inbox, it SHOULD (let me know if you see any bugs) give you a link directly to the message, as opposed to your Inbox, which has been the standard so far. And yes, I'm working on having the PM popup notification take you straight to the newest message, too; we'll see if I'm capable. :)
spudracer
01-13-02, 10:57 PM
Signature Editor...Signature Editor!! :laugh:
Alright, I'll see if I can get that up. For now, though, you'll have to settle for a character counter beneath the box you type in, to let you know if you're getting near the limit on long posts. :)
spudracer
01-14-02, 09:57 AM
:laugh:
What is the actual limit???
Click on the "check message length" link to find out. I had to raise it more than once...I lost a giant post once because of it, I think. Or part of it. I forget the details...but I hit the limit at least once.
spudracer
01-14-02, 10:03 AM
Well you don't see me hitting that limit anytime soon. I'm not one that likes to really get into a post and right a short story. :laugh:
In case anyone else would like to know the length, it's 15000 characters. :D
sadesdrk
01-14-02, 05:56 PM
There have been so many guests here, today. Hello guests! Jeez, seriously...we're surrounded.:goof:
spudracer
01-14-02, 06:31 PM
:laugh:
Which brings about my signature from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
BTW, this has been bugging me, and I don't know if it's just me or what but down in the staus bar of IE, it says that there are errors on the page. Just thought I would bring that up.
Yeah, it's this stupid smilie popup box. I was trying to improve it so that it stuck the smilie wherever your cursor was, as opposed to the end of the message. Didn't work. Now I must....DEBUG! :furious:
spudracer
01-14-02, 08:35 PM
Ahhhhhhh. Well happy hunting. :D
Ok, the errors should be gone. Also, the PM popup things should now list the title of the message right there on the alert, and take you to the most recent new PM you have automatically! Please, hold your applause. The downside is that if you have more than one new PM, it'll just take you to the most recent one. Still, I'm dang proud...took me a little while to figure out how to get it to work the way I wanted, but it works like a dream now.
Question, though: is this of any use to you? If so, do you think it'd be a good idea to list the name of the user who's sent the PM along with the title?
Alright, a few more things. I think that all form buttons (except for ones like the "Verify" button visible on the new PM page) should now be sleek/black. I'd missed a few in my first go-around.
I think I've not "smoothed" out the tables a bit. As you'll notice, the majority of pages and such here don't have any thin black lines seperating them like most forums...I avoid them when I can. I think I've removed them from virtually every page now.
I've customized most of the text on the form buttons throughout the site. Decided to sprinkle a little bit of the old site's humor around here. :) In addition, all the reset buttons should not prompt you for a confirmation before they erase the form's data.
Fixed a few small formatting problems with hardly visible links and such.That's all for now. If anyone notices any problems or has any suggestions, feel free to post them here.
More stuff: a random glossary (glossary.php) term is now displayed underneath the clickable smilies on the Post Reply/New Thread pages. Clicking on the link will display a JavaScript alert message containing the term's meaning. A link below this random term takes you to the entire glossary. Nice, eh? :) Made another change today, too...but I won't tell any of you what it is. You have to figure it out for yourselves. :D
Also: the PM popup alert has been improved. The last improvement had it displaying the username of the sender and the title...it also took you directly to the message, and not just to your PM inbox...but it didn't have any kind of special notification in case you had more than one new PM. Now, if you have one, it works as usual. If you have more than one, though, it tells you how many you have, and takes you to the inbox so you can see them all.
Working on all kinds of little changes, too. Having a blast. :)
henry hill
01-22-02, 03:27 PM
can you increase avatar sizes?
or would that heavily affect the databases performance?
Size as in width/height, or size as in file size? I'm not opposed to allowing a larger file size...but really big avatars in terms of width and height would be baaad, IMO.
henry hill
01-22-02, 07:13 PM
100 x 100
awww go on, aww go on
/me snuggles up to TWTCommish (apparantly if i flirt...)
Sorry, 100x100 is just too big. I'm trying to keep the space to the left of the post as un-crowded as possible, really. I've seen forums where the user's info, avatar, and various other stats and such take up much more space than the post itself. It's the same reason I don't allow HUGE signatures. :) I might bend to 75 or 80, though. I think it's at 70x70 right now.
spudracer
01-22-02, 08:12 PM
What was the other change you made!?
spudracer
01-22-02, 08:15 PM
I know what it is...you made it so the Submit button at the bottom has like two different messages that show up. Maybe I'm wrong. :D
Close enough: it's random. I entered like 8 different phrases...it shows a random phrase each time the page is loaded...it applies to the reply and new thread pages. I'll probably add it to other places, like new PMs and such, too. Cool, eh? :D
More more more: new page. Check it out:
Who Was Online Today? (http://www.movieforums.net/onlinetoday.php)
You'll find a link to this page on the Who's Online? (http://www.movieforums.net/online.php)...the new page, of course, links back to the "old" one, too. Useful to see if someone's checked the site recently. Minor improvement...worth noting, though. You can hold your each username on the new page, too. A second later the time of their last visit should pop up.
More hacks coming soon, too. :)
henry hill
01-25-02, 07:13 AM
Another stupid silly note:
Just noticed if you come in through movieforums.net the cookies don't work :)
but if you come through www.movieforums.net it does...
The Silver Bullet
01-25-02, 09:34 AM
That contadicts itself.
A few minor changes to the Shoutbox, and the place is pretty much perfect in my opinion, T.
henry hill
01-25-02, 09:42 AM
http://movieforums.net <-- asks you to login, cookies don't work
http://www.movieforums.net <--- all is fine
as i said: Another stupid silly note:
:)
Okay, another improvement: Both The Shoutbox (http://www.movieforums.net/shoutbox.php) and The Glossary (http://www.movieforums.net/glossary.php) now show up on the Who's Online? (http://www.movieforums.net/online.php) page like everything else. Nice, eh? :)
thmilin
01-28-02, 04:30 PM
cool, i'm loving these changes you're making! :)
More stuff: the profile pages have been improved. Just click on a "Profile" button on any post you see here to take a look at the new format. Some of the changes: Better layout (IMO)
A listing of the person's shouts -- this number is clickable and allows you to view all of their shouts easily. It also displays their ranking on the Shoutbox Leaderboard.
Latest post is now displayed. Not just the thread they last posted in...but the thread title (a link), the date/time, and even the first 200 characters of the post. If the post is over 200 characters, a link to the entire thing will be displayed.
The ability to see when the person last visited the forums.I also added page navigation links to browse through older shouts. I'll also be improving the profile page a bit more soon...still not satisifed with the bar where the avatar, etc, is displayed. Any suggestions are welcome.
spudracer
02-10-02, 07:54 PM
Maybe you should make the background of the Avatar bar the light grey of the forum...just a suggestion...
You mean lighter gray, like the alternating colors on the posts and such?
spudracer
02-10-02, 07:58 PM
Yeah...lighter grey...:D
sadesdrk
02-10-02, 10:02 PM
KentBobFancyPants...I like the forum the way it is. How's your's going? You should PM me a link so I can add it to my favorites.
There's a link in his sig...visit that, then click "Forums," and you're there.
sadesdrk
02-10-02, 10:07 PM
Oh. :blush: Thanks.
Another small improvement: on the forum's main page, the total number of threads in each forum is now clickable. Clicking on it will bring up a small popup window showing you a listing of all the users who've started a thread in that forum, with those who have started the most at the top, of course. I hope you all find it useful. I didn't write the hack (but I could've :cool: :D), so I can only take credit for installing it...but I am looking into writing a hack to try and get the same effect for the post totals in each forum. Certainly a geek-worthy challenge.
Well whaddya know? I got the post thing working without much trouble. Yippee. Wow, I've got over 1,200 posts in the General Movie Discussion forum alone. That's so sad. Oh, by the way: both displays are limitd to 50 rows. Otherwise the loading time and server strain and all that would be cray-zay.
spudracer
02-11-02, 02:08 PM
That's pretty cool Mr Bowyer...:D
spudracer
02-11-02, 03:47 PM
No problem Mr Bowyer...it's just another way you can tell how addicted we are to this site. :laugh:
sadesdrk
02-11-02, 07:45 PM
Shhhhh. We don't talk about addiction, here.:)
spudracer
02-11-02, 07:51 PM
:laugh:
Oh yeah...that's the OTHER forum...:laugh:
Honestly, I have no idea what you guys are talking about. :)
Anyway, back on topic: changed it to the top 30...popup windows take a little too long to load with 50. Hopefully this'll help.
Another improvement: now, when viewing the voting breakdown of a poll, each number, when clicked (yep, they're all links now), will bring up a list of each person who voted for that option. Obviously the ones that are clickable but are still "0" will only bring up a "No votes found" message. I hope you guys find this tweak useful.
Another change; you can now sort the display of the Who's Online? (http://www.movieforums.net/online.php) page by username, last time active, or location. Thought it might be useful.
spudracer
02-20-02, 01:39 PM
I was playing around with that yesterday and was like...ooooh this is fun...:laugh:
Holden Pike
02-21-02, 04:28 AM
Hey, the new font is great. A subtle change, but I like it much better.
spudracer
02-21-02, 09:43 AM
New font!?
Oh..
The bar along the bottom of the page is a nice touch...:D
Holden Pike
02-21-02, 10:17 AM
Yeah, I'm seeing a new font. It's thinner and slightly smaller than what used to show on the posts, main forum page and such.
Spudsie, does your above post mean there isn't a new font, it's just something coming through on my monitor!? Or is this related to my server and not the site itself?
Anyway, I do likes it. Whoever or whatever is responsible, thanks!
spudracer
02-21-02, 10:21 AM
I'm not saying you made it up, but it looks the same as it always has on my computer. :D
mightymose
02-21-02, 10:22 AM
I'm seeing the same ole' font that I've always seen... perhaps you need to lay off the budda Holden... LOL ;)
Holden Pike
02-21-02, 10:32 AM
Cool. Well I didn't log on any differently the past couple days or change the settings on my computer, so I guess it's just magic.
Oh well, I'm enjoying the slightly new look...even if it I'm the only one who can see it.
mightymose
02-21-02, 10:34 AM
Are there any pink elephans in the 'new look'? LOL
Holden Pike
02-21-02, 10:38 AM
Nope, just a sleeker font.
Hmmm. Odd. The switch I made was from primitive <font> tags, to CSS-defined fonts. Only required a minor stylesheet addition, and it should save on both bandwidth and loading time. Anyway, glad you like it. Still looks the same to me, but i'm not surprised that it's changed a bit for others. Lots of variables involved.
Holden Pike
02-21-02, 10:56 AM
Don't know which set of variables caused mine to change, but coolness.
sadesdrk
02-21-02, 12:42 PM
I like this font. It's smaller, but it's nicer looking. Neater. Tidy.
spudracer
02-21-02, 01:41 PM
:idea: I know what he did now.
Didn't change the font...just made it a certain size...:D
Another improvement: added the "Attachment Viewer" hack, so that now you can stay without the forum's layout and all that, and not have to endure a boring blank page with only the file on display. It's not much, but I think it helps keep things consistent, and will improve banner impressions a little, too. :yup:
More smilies: Devil - :devil:
Dizzy - :dizzy:
King - :king:
Kiss - :kiss:Enjoy. Any demand for thumbs up/thumbs down smilies?
spudracer
03-04-02, 11:51 AM
There isn't a laugh smilie that is actually rolling is there? I find a need fot that one a lot. :D
You mean a smilie that's actually rolling around, like a ball down a hill?
spudracer
03-04-02, 11:56 AM
Yeah, but is laughing too...
I created a thread for smilie discussion.
Smilie Stuff (http://www.movieforums.net/showthread.php?threadid=1910)
More stuff:
The signature system has been improved. As it stands now, you can add many signatures (there is no real limit) and have them randomly displayed on your posts. Be sure to give your signatures descriptive titles, though, because, as of now, there will be a dropdown menu on the New Thread/Post Reply pages, at the bottom, just about the Submit button. This will allow you to attach a SPECIFIC signature to your post, if you like. That post will then always display that signature. That way you can have specific, appropriate signatures for some posts, and random ones for the others.
Anyway, there are some things to watch: if you go back and delete a bunch of signatures, it'll mess with your specific signature display. So will changing or moving around a bunch of them. If you select your first signature to always display on a post, and you change that at some point, it won't matter...the forum will still display whichever signature is in that SAME slot in numerical order. So you've been warned. :D
Enjoy the features. I'll be scouring for bugs over the next couple days.
Another improvement: the "Subscribe" link on the top of each thread will now be changed to "Unsubscribe" if you're already subscribed to that thread. Naturally, it will also lead to a page to remove your subscription, instead of add it. Just a little convienence. :)
They keep coming (I'm especially proud of this one): you know that little paperclip image next to a thread's link when there's an attachment somewhere within? Now you can click on it to display only the posts with attachments within that thread...the thread is otherwise duplicated, with all the same page number links and all that. Cool, eh? I'm gonna see if I can stick a "View Attachments in this Thread" link somewhere ont he thread page itself, too.
Another: now, the Subscribe/Unsubscribe links lead to popups, so you don't have to bother with that annoying redirection page just to subscribe to a thread.
More: now, on the user's profile, at the end of the breadcrumb along the top, you'll see their status (online/offline). Also, as you all know, the Shoutbox (http://www.movieforums.net/shoutbox.php) has been improved somewhat as of late. I hope you all like it. :)
Small improvement: now, by clicking on a user's avatar, you can see whether they're online or not, and also, you can see their local time. Useful for fellows like SB, who's local time is radically different from most of ours.
sadesdrk
03-28-02, 09:17 PM
WOW! That's frippin cool! Thanks, Chris. Neat-O Mosquit-O!
:rotfl: I love that little rhyme. The alert's still a little buggy, though. Gimme some time and it'll be sorted out. Surely. :yup:
sadesdrk
03-28-02, 09:19 PM
Yeah...I clicked on my own and it said, 5:17AM [friday] and it's 5:17PM on Thurs.
Alright, another little addition: now, just below the link to download an attachment, you'll see a Who Downloaded This? link. Clicking on it will display a popup listing all the users who have downloaded that attachment. Note: the script tracks downloads now...but did not before. Therefore, any downloads before, say, last night, were not tracked...so even if an attachment has been downloaded 100 times, it might only have one or two users listed as having downloaded it. Enjoy.
Yet another: now on each profile page, it'll display the last 5 attachments that user has downloaded. Yay.
Now, on the Who's Online? page, instead of a plain text "Editing Post" message, the word "Post" is a link directly to the post being edited. Cool, eh? :D
spudracer
04-30-02, 11:28 AM
*shrugs shoulders* I guess...:D :laugh:
Originally posted by TWTCommish
Alright, another little addition: now, just below the link to download an attachment, you'll see a Who Downloaded This? link. Clicking on it will display a popup listing all the users who have downloaded that attachment. Note: the script tracks downloads now...but did not before. Therefore, any downloads before, say, last night, were not tracked...so even if an attachment has been downloaded 100 times, it might only have one or two users listed as having downloaded it. Enjoy.
ahhhhh, i was wondering. thanks chris. :king:
More stuff: all kinds of changes to the Who's Online? page. Now, if someone is Reading a PM, Sending a PM, or Replying to one, it'll let you know if it's one of yours. IE: "Reading a Private Message From You," or "Replying to Your Private Message."
Of course, no usernames are revealed...it won't publicy display who you're sending the message to, or replying to...unless you ARE that person. :) Furthermore, now you'll know if someone is sending a new PM, or replying to one they received...but anonymity remains...as it will continue to. :yup: Knowing who everyone was PMing on there would kinda defeat the purpose, after all.
Hope everyone's cool with all this. If there are any problems or complaints, lemme know. :)
spudracer
04-30-02, 02:27 PM
Originally posted by TWTCommish
Of course, no usernames are revealed...it won't publicy display who you're sending the message to, or replying to...unless you ARE that person. :) Furthermore, now you'll know if someone is sending a new PM, or replying to one they received...but anonymity remains...as it will continue to. :yup: Knowing who everyone was PMing on there would kinda defeat the purpose, after all.
A confused look just swept over my face reading that. I got the idea though. :D
Another thingamajig: now you will see a checkbox on each post, and next to it, the word Quote. At the bottom of each thread page, you'll see a bottom opposite the Post Reply button titled Quote Selected. This allows you to quote several posts at once...check the ones you want to quote, hit the Quote Selected button, and voila. :)
Furthermore, as you may have noticed, the little popcorn items next to your "profile" buttons on each post only appear if you've entered any favorite movies.
More stuff: there's a "Download" link on all threads now. Clicking on it will allow you to view or save a file containing the contents of the thread in plain text form. :cool:
Also, just like with replies, PMs now only quote the last message...so no more automatic quotes, within quotes, within quotes.
The Silver Bullet
07-15-02, 12:12 PM
Who even uses the PM system?
Who even uses the PM system?Looking back, I'll bet you can hardly believe you wrote that.
Anyway, I should consider resurrecting this thread, what with all the changes I've been making lately. The Shoutbox, Quizzes area, and Glossary have all returned, I've reformatted the sticky threads in the Movie Reviews area (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=7928), activated the Quick Reply option, overhauled the forum main page (http://www.movieforums.com/community), and am halfway done with something I suspect Slay'll like quite a bit.
I'm thinking the Favorite Movies option ought to be next. Second opinion? Take advantage of this unusual level of ambition, MoFos...if you want anything done, now's the time, before I notice something shiny and disappear for a few weeks.
Looks good so far, although it appears I need an edit feature in the shoutbox, I are a speeling bee chump...
You are doing great Chris. Just one thing... What about the possiblity of making a MoFo media section with trailers and such? I would help if you would like me to.
I've got a bit of a trailers DB, but I really need to re-work it a bit. If I ever get around to it, I'll letcha know. :)
Anyway, another improvement: pictures that are way too wide and stretch out a thread should now be automatically resized and turned into a link to view the full image. This applies to images linked to on the web, and not attachments, which are already turned into clickable thumbnails.
You can see an example of this in the third post on the fourth page of the MoFo Desktop Thread (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=2358&page=4&pp=25).
LordSlaytan
07-30-04, 07:26 PM
Any chance of changing the default resolution to 1024x768?
Any chance of changing the default resolution to 1024x768? I don't think I plausibly can. I'd have to rework a number of graphics in the header to make it fit. That, by itself, isn't a big deal, but toss in the fact that the majority of Internet users are still using 800x600, and it'd just turn way too many people off. Plus, a site too small for your resolution is an annoyance, but a site too big is more or less unusable.
I feel your pain; I've been on 1024x768 for a very long time now, but I've got to wait for the rest of the web to catch up, unfortunately.
Sidewinder
07-30-04, 11:36 PM
I'm on 1600x1200 :(. Its all so small! I like the Favourite Movies thing you were mentioning before though Yoda. Great work with the site, keep it up :yup:
Garrett
08-02-04, 01:30 AM
What's this Favorite Movie thing you're talking about?
Sidewinder
08-02-04, 02:53 AM
I'm thinking the Favorite Movies option ought to be next. Second opinion? Take advantage of this unusual level of ambition, MoFos...if you want anything done, now's the time, before I notice something shiny and disappear for a few weeks.
Here ya are Garret ;)
Garrett
08-02-04, 03:33 AM
Here ya are Garret ;)
I read that already... I just don't know what it is.
MyRobotSuit
08-02-04, 12:33 PM
I still want movie star emoticons. Having crafted Mel for Mel points, I think it's an opportunity that you don't want to miss.
Yoda....I noticed there was a thread I had responded to that was in the General Movie forum. When I came back, I didn't see it anywhere at first but finally located it through the search button. I noticed the thread was put into a forum called Movie Questions: Flicks, Songs & Quotes, however I can't see this forum when I go back to the main forum page. Are you tinkering around and creating new forums and subforums?
Just curious. :)
Yoda....I noticed there was a thread I had responded to that was in the General Movie forum. When I came back, I didn't see it anywhere at first but finally located it through the search button. I noticed the thread was put into a forum called Movie Questions: Flicks, Songs & Quotes, however I can't see this forum when I go back to the main forum page. Are you tinkering around and creating new forums and subforums?
Just curious. :)
Yes. I'd like to cut down on those threads (and the restrictions on creating new threads has greatly helped with that), but I don't want to banish them altogether. I'd still like to find a graceful way to display the questions apart from the other discussions.
LordSlaytan
03-01-05, 04:38 PM
I'm working on that list thread I promised you. It'll be done by the end of this weekend.
Piddzilla
03-01-05, 04:39 PM
I'm working on that list thread I promised you. It'll be done by the end of this weekend.
List thread? What list thread?
LordSlaytan
03-01-05, 04:43 PM
A thread that will have hyperlinks to all of the existing list threads on the site. It is hoped that people will check there first before making another "What's your favorite horror movie?!" thread. An administrator from another popular site did this and I always thought it was a GREAT idea.
Just posted this in Slays Review thread, where it clearly doesn't belong ;)
I have been talking to Chris about streamlining the user reviews and trying to standardize a system of ratings ets, probably the popcorn boxes the site uses. Excellent input on the negative for that Slay, and I will keep it in mind. Actually, I would like to get some input from some of the reviewers who tend to post reviews frequently (Sammy, LS, Mosey etc...) as the review guidelines should please all involved. I mean if we come to the conclusion that there shouldn't be any guidelines, that is fine.
Some of the things I have considered:
-Standardized rating system, which I just mentioned.
-A different way of indexing the reviews, by film, rather than reviewer, as many newer members claim to have trouble finding reviews for any given fim now that we have consolidated them into personal threads. For instance, If I wanted to read reviews on the film To Live, I would input the fim into search. The engine would then report that To was too short to include and find all the posts with the word live in it. You can see the problem here. Even if the user did get pointed to Slay or my thread (we both reviewed the film), they would still have to comb through the entire thread to find the review. Not an easy task given the length of Slay's thread. So, a by-film system could be nice, but I can;t come up with a system that seems both efficient and easily organized.
- Now, for the downside of my last point. I can't count how many films I have been turned on to because I was forced to comb through a thread. The random exposure to great film would go down considerably with a by-film system. What needs to be decided is which is more important, and what many other members feel about the issue. If a majority of the people are irritated by the fact that they can't just search for a film and fins a review (ala Rotten Tomatoes), than I think a change is in order, but I would really like to perserve the "wow, I am so glad I read about XXXXXX because I really loved the film and never would have picked it up otherwise."
these are my main concerns, and input on these issues is requested.
Yoda will need to chime in here, as he knows what can be done and how much work it would be (for him) to do it....
Pyro Tramp
03-01-05, 06:27 PM
I think the arranging of reviews into a list of film opposed to reviewer is a great idea, then this list of film reviews could be arranged into highest scoring opposed to alphabetically. This maintains the element of finding a review of a good film you havn't seen before. Though searching for a specific review would be hampered, so perhaps there should be an option to search alphabetical for reviews as well.
Kinda. I don't really know what i'm talking but it makes sense to me.
I've been bugging Yoda along similar lines Sedai :) I guess great minds just think a like!
I like the idea of consolidating our reviews for a particular film into one area... If they are stored in a database viewers would still be able to see all of the reviews by one person if the individual reviewer was stored as a variable (kind of like if you click on a director's name on IMDB it brings up their filmography). If Yoda could make it so people could comment on each individual review, and not the film as a whole us reviewers would still be able to get the feedback we enjoy.
Just my two cents :)
SamsoniteDelilah
03-01-05, 08:53 PM
Just posted this in Slays Review thread, where it clearly doesn't belong ;)
I have been talking to Chris about streamlining the user reviews and trying to standardize a system of ratings ets, probably the popcorn boxes the site uses. Excellent input on the negative for that Slay, and I will keep it in mind. Actually, I would like to get some input from some of the reviewers who tend to post reviews frequently (Sammy, LS, Mosey etc...) as the review guidelines should please all involved. I mean if we come to the conclusion that there shouldn't be any guidelines, that is fine.
Some of the things I have considered:
-Standardized rating system, which I just mentioned.
I don't know if it would matter really, simply because different people have different means of measuring the quality in films, and balancing the various aspects, so it will tend to come out personalized anyway. If Slay is looking at four main aspects and wants to use popcorn boxes, he shouldn't be pidgeonholed into my 10 point system (which I don't even use here, because rating things gives me a rash).
-A different way of indexing the reviews, by film, rather than reviewer, as many newer members claim to have trouble finding reviews for any given fim now that we have consolidated them into personal threads. For instance, If I wanted to read reviews on the film To Live, I would input the fim into search. The engine would then report that To was too short to include and find all the posts with the word live in it. You can see the problem here. Even if the user did get pointed to Slay or my thread (we both reviewed the film), they would still have to comb through the entire thread to find the review. Not an easy task given the length of Slay's thread. So, a by-film system could be nice, but I can;t come up with a system that seems both efficient and easily organized.
- Now, for the downside of my last point. I can't count how many films I have been turned on to because I was forced to comb through a thread. The random exposure to great film would go down considerably with a by-film system. What needs to be decided is which is more important, and what many other members feel about the issue. If a majority of the people are irritated by the fact that they can't just search for a film and fins a review (ala Rotten Tomatoes), than I think a change is in order, but I would really like to perserve the "wow, I am so glad I read about XXXXXX because I really loved the film and never would have picked it up otherwise."
I think there should be a general index somewhere, listed by film. Rotten Tomatoes does actually have such a system, but it's built into the journal/friends list feature, by the way. I'd like to be able to find your thoughts or Mose's (for example) on a given film and I'm not going to go looking through pages-long threads on the off chance that one of you reviewed it. I don't think this would decrease my tendancy to drift further downthread and see what you thought about something else. It would increase the chances of my opening the thread, and I'm be just as easily distracted after that as I always am.
The feature by which you can list your reviews by title in your profile is nice, but it goes by chronological posting date, rather than alphabetically, so it still has to be browsed through to find a specific title. A central linking system might alleviate some of the time spent reading what we're not looking for.
Is it bad that I had a dream about this last night? Sheesh, now I'm dreaming about MOFO ;)
I think there should be a general index somewhere, listed by film.
Ditto. :dizzy:
Sinny McGuffins
03-26-05, 07:50 PM
Yoda, do you know like we can adjust the time shown in posts for our location? Well, would it be possible to let people who live in England change the date format too? It's not a major problem, but I just can't get used to reading the date the way it is (MONTH-DAY-YEAR instead of DAY-MONTH-YEAR).
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