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ROB
Junior Member
USA
347 Posts |
Posted - 13 March 2002 : 12:12:30
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For the benefit of those of us who aren't on the development team, I've created the following list of features planned for version 3.4. This information was culled from a wide range of topics, and compiled just to make it easier for folks to reference. As I get updated, I'll edit this message to contain the best information available. Remember, this is not a wishlist. Please keep the discussion limited to clarifications on the list.
Please keep in mind that this list is subject to change without notice up until the actual release.
New Features- MSN Messenger - The MSN option only displays a user's MSN username, there is no tie-in with MSN Messenger. Appears in the profile and in their posts.
- Username Filter - Allows you to specify usernames that you don't want people to be able to register with. For example, you might not want to allow someone to register with your real name, even if you don't use that as your username.
- Show Days... - You can specify the default number of days to show for each forum. Only used if the user doesn't already have their preference in their cookie. The default in 3.3.03 is currently "Show topics from last 30 days." You would typically use a larger default value for low volume sites, or a smaller value for high volume sites (volume defined as number of new topics/replies).
- Password Encryption - Passwords will be stored in encrypted form in cookies. Don't know if they'll also be encrypted in the database.
- Hide Email - Members will be able to hide their email address/profile. Thwarts email harvesting programs used by spammers. Removes all references to the user's email address from the forum code, so that nowhere will it ever be displayed in the outputted HTML (if you have e-mail functions enabled on your forum). If you don't have email functions enabled, each user can still choose to "Not Receive Mail" and then their email address will never be displayed in the outputted HTML. But, if they have chose to receive mail, but you don't have email functions enabled, it will display a mailto: link including their email address.
- Sticky Topics - Allows creation of "sticky" topics that always appear at the top of the forum list. Very useful for topics that you want to give high visibility to.
- Email Validation - Automatically sends a confirmation email to new registrants, requiring them to click-through to activate their account (and thereby validating their email address).
- Dynamic Signatures - If enabled (it's optional) signatures are no longer stored as part of the post. If you change your signature, the changes will show up in all your previous posts. Also, members can choose to view posts without signatures if they choose (might speed things up a bit).
- Preview Signature - Similar to preview post.
- Link to Last Post - Not sure where this appears.
- Images Location - I'm guessing this lets you move your images (folders, smileys, buttons) to another folder.
- Background Image - You can configure a background image for your forum.
- Bad Word Filter - Updated to allow word-by-word replacements (i.e. replace "sh*t" with "poop")
- Forum Link Color - Now configurable.
- Dynamic "Edited By" and Datestamp - The "edited by" and edited datestamp are dynamically created. Past edited by text and dates cannot be edited as text. The datestamps will automatically be reformatted if you change your timezone offset or date display format.
- Disable Registration - Allows the forum administrator to disable new registrations. This might be useful if you want to close participation but allow anonymous browsing. I'm not sure what other reasons you'd use this option for.
- Moderator Configuration - Moderators can now be configured when creating or editing a forum/web link. Very nice improvement that makes moderator configuration much easier.
- Group Categories - Allows you to create "groups" of members. In theory this could be used for permissions (grant moderation rights to a group). I'm not sure what specific features are included in this implementation.
- Flood Control - Limit the number of topics/replies a member can post within a certain period of time.
Thanks to everyone for their contributions to this list. Please let me know if their are any inaccuracies or omissions. Most recent edits appear in green.
Jeff Hester http://www.bigblueball.com Absolutely everything about Instant Messaging & Chat
Edited by - ROB on 26 March 2002 22:53:59 |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20584 Posts |
Posted - 13 March 2002 : 12:26:10
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thankyou for spending the time.
Dynamic Signatures means they are no longer stored as part of post, this is also true for the last edited by and date in 3.4, which is one thing you missed.
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
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ROB
Junior Member
USA
347 Posts |
Posted - 13 March 2002 : 13:22:14
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quote:
You also forgot the "turn off registration" feature Richard said he wanted to put in as it was only a small but useful MOD: http://forum.snitz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=24144
I'm not familiar with this MOD, and looking at the topic you referenced, it's not clear whether this disables registration (preventing new members from signing up), allows anonymous posting in addition to registration (making registration optional), or whether it makes all posts anonymous (no registration, period).
Can you clue me in?
Jeff Hester http://www.bigblueball.com Absolutely everything about Instant Messaging & Chat |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
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RichardKinser
Snitz Forums Admin
USA
16655 Posts |
Posted - 13 March 2002 : 14:26:40
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Yes, it just allows the Admin to not allow new members. For instance, if you have a small group of members and don't want anyone else to be able to register.
The Dynamic Signatures is optional, you will have a choice of keeping Signatures the way they are now, or enabling Dynamic Signatures. But, with Dynamic Signatures enabled, user's will have an option in their profile that they can turn on and they will not see other user's signatures when viewing posts.
The only thing we did with the Date/Time was to take the Edited By date/time out of the actual post and keep it in a separate field in the database. Doing this allows the Date/Time to change if you change the Time Offset, or the Date/Time Format on your forum. Also, when editing a post, you don't see the "Edited By...." section, you also don't get multiple "Edited By...." lines appended to the post.
There is a UserName filter as well. You can specify usernames that you don't want anyone to be able to register with. |
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wii
Free ASP Hosts Moderator
Denmark
2632 Posts |
Posted - 13 March 2002 : 14:49:04
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As I remember, the issue about dynamic signatures has been discussed in the past, and the reason it was not introduced then, was that it would slower the forum, because of the extra field in the database that has to be read at every post with a signature.
In any case, I like the fact that admins and users have a choice |
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RichardKinser
Snitz Forums Admin
USA
16655 Posts |
Posted - 13 March 2002 : 15:19:24
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Moderators can now be configured when creating a New Forum/Web Link, or editing an existing Forum/Web Link.
We are using the same type box that is used for the Authorized Members List. |
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chief77
Junior Member
New Zealand
114 Posts |
Posted - 13 March 2002 : 16:23:14
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YAY!!
I see that my suggestion for "Dynamic Signature" and "Dynamic Edited By" actually made it to the board!!! WooHoo... I have to say, these two features are the one that I see from vBulletin. There are many other things that I would like to adopt from vBulletin, aside from vBulletin being PHP-based forum system though.
BTW, is there a chance to see the inclusion of a better Forum Moderator configuration? For current, it is only a link for each moderator being assigned to a forum they can mod. And when if I want to select multiple-moderators to assign to a forum (or forums) I have to go through each forum, then each moderator to enable/disable them... Is there a way to have it listing out all moderators available for each forum, then uses check box to select.
In one extend too, can it include a way to select multiple-moderators for forum-wide moderation? Like, have mod_1 mod_2 and mod_3 moderating all forums.
Thanks for the feature list though... it make the wait more worthwhile now... :D :D
(p/s: is snitz 3.4 using CAT_ID or FORUM_ID or TOPIC_ID instead of the subject/name in between pages?? cleaner/shorter URL-querystring parsing?)
Very cool though.. keep up the nice work. Thanks.
Kel.
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RichardKinser
Snitz Forums Admin
USA
16655 Posts |
Posted - 13 March 2002 : 16:40:08
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As I said in my post right above this one, you will be able to configure the moderators of a Forum or Web Link when creating or modifying a Forum or WebLink, here is a screenshot:
quote: (p/s: is snitz 3.4 using CAT_ID or FORUM_ID or TOPIC_ID instead of the subject/name in between pages?? cleaner/shorter URL-querystring parsing?)
Yes, we have done that too. |
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redbrad0
Advanced Member
USA
3725 Posts |
Posted - 14 March 2002 : 04:11:11
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Well the only thing that I would say that should be added, which should be easy is with the Dynamic Edit By.
You should be able to choose, to display all edit bys, or just the last one. This could also be an option in each users profile on how many they would like to see, if they want to see any.I dont think it would be that hard to just insert another editby in the table, put the date, and then when outputting the edit by, you just sort it by the date.
When someone edits a message on some forums I have, I like to see how many times they edit it, and not just show the last one. Plus I dont want them to be able to erase when editing a message the number of times it was edited. i hope this makes since its really late and im tired
Brad Web Hosting with SQL Server @ $24.95 per month Snitz Mod Archive
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RichardKinser
Snitz Forums Admin
USA
16655 Posts |
Posted - 14 March 2002 : 04:14:38
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we will only be keeping track of the last editby (hence the name). |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20584 Posts |
Posted - 14 March 2002 : 04:18:56
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quote:
I see that my suggestion for "Dynamic Signature" and "Dynamic Edited By" actually made it to the board!!! WooHoo... I have to say, these two features are the one that I see from vBulletin. There are many other things that I would like to adopt from vBulletin, aside from vBulletin being PHP-based forum system though.
Really ? not to be picky, but dynamiv adit by information has been running in my forum for over a year, so it may not have been your idea
quote:
You should be able to choose, to display all edit bys, or just the last one. This could also be an option in each users profile on how many they would like to see, if they want to see any.I dont think it would be that hard to just insert another editby in the table, put the date, and then when outputting the edit by, you just sort it by the date.
That would be a bit daft, you would have to add a new field each time you edited the post, or have a seperate link table maintaining a list of dates, even more strain on the server.
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redbrad0
Advanced Member
USA
3725 Posts |
Posted - 14 March 2002 : 04:22:54
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quote:
That would be a bit daft, you would have to add a new field each time you edited the post, or have a seperate link table maintaining a list of dates, even more strain on the server.
yea i know it would be more drian, that is the only bad part about it. it would basically have to be another table in database with
id post_id editedby_id editedby_date
basically just something like that i would guess.
Brad Web Hosting with SQL Server @ $24.95 per month Snitz Mod Archive
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20584 Posts |
Posted - 14 March 2002 : 04:25:39
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I don't really see the point of this in a standard forum situation, why do you need to keep a history of all the dates it was edited, that would only be useful if you kept a copy of the post each time it was edited as well.
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redbrad0
Advanced Member
USA
3725 Posts |
Posted - 14 March 2002 : 04:30:40
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well at one of my clients intranet sites for the employees to post at they want to be able to be able to see exactly what times and dates the post were edited where the user could not change it. im not sure why they want this, but i was just thinking if they want it, there might be some other people that would want it.
Brad Web Hosting with SQL Server @ $24.95 per month Snitz Mod Archive
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