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Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:48 pm
by Dissension
Have an idea you think would make the forum experience better for everyone? Want to give your opinions on recent changes or upgrades? Well this is the place!

Posting an idea doesn't guarantee it will be implemented, but how can we know what you guys want if you don't tell us, eh? Have at, have-atters!

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 8:24 pm
by KizerZin
Can there be a age locked zone for us, the Bad Pets to play?

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 8:58 pm
by Dissension
I can answer that with a definitive, resounding "no." It's been suggested before, and will never be approved. We're a family-friendly environment and have no intention of changing that in any way.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:03 pm
by Psykeout
if your talking about me, i would like to say i was taken out of context!!! it makes me sad. <:c

also, im not so sure, but what do people think about a karma system thingy-do?

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:07 pm
by Teh Brawler
Psykeout wrote:also, im not so sure, but what do people think about a karma system thingy-do?
Expound, please.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:10 pm
by Dissension
I'm pretty sure it refers to a feature on some forums that allows users to vote on posts, submissions, etc., all of which raises or lowers a member's "karma" score. It's kind of like a popularity contest.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:14 pm
by Beagle
Hey, would it be okay if I posted my idea from the "More Sections" thread onto here? :3

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:29 pm
by CaptainPea
Psykeout wrote:also, im not so sure, but what do people think about a karma system thingy-do?
We had 1-5 star ratings on the Sporums... which I always thought was annoying because ultimately the only time it was used to down rate people in flame-wars. I'm not really sure how it would work here, but honestly I think it would be pointless here because most people would only have the heart to give each other 4 or 5 ratings. It's really not needed, because people here don't seem to need positive reinforcement to act decent.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:31 pm
by Psykeout
i been to a place where you clicked the button and they got a cookie, and you could only give one cookie to a any one person every _____ mins/hours/whatever.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:32 pm
by copper
I don't know if this is possible, but it would be great if you could make the forums more "Word" friendly. I mean, make it so that it is easier to transfer from microsoft word to the site. I hated having to go through my ATKM submission and putting italics and bold lettering in again.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:36 pm
by CaptainPea
Psykeout wrote:i been to a place where you clicked the button and they got a cookie, and you could only give one cookie to a any one person every _____ mins/hours/whatever.
Okay, I have to admit that is absolutely the best possible way of implementing this.
Image

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:01 pm
by dalonewolf25
Call me crazy, but...

"As I was doing my homework, I felt as if my mind started to become blank, the screen in front of me had lost meaning, the words inscribed on the screen just existed, nothing more, nothing less. As I felt the darkness enveloped me piece by piece, I did not resist. I let myself get taken over by it. I was so weak to have soon realized that exhaustion and sleep debt had caught up with me.

For the first unsaid 45 minutes, all I saw was darkness, if I even had conscious reasoning in the first place. I was in an unstable place, and yet I didn't even bother to look at my surroundings.

Then, all of a sudden, I had a dream. I looked around within the scene to look at the screen once again. I viewed a computer screen, and I saw this same website with a dark purple background instead of the already wont to us sky blue colored background. There were also wonderful graphics in the background that intrigued my curiosity even more to the screen.

The layout of posting had changed; the blocks were wider and more uniform. They were somewhat see-through; as in you could see the graphics in the background and still able to read the message posted by the user. By luck of the draw, I ended up in the Art Thread. I had seen Psykeout's improvement in digital art and Kyderra posting back with responses. The layout of the screen was more like how the art gallery looks like now.

I wish I was able to see more of this, but then all of a sudden, reality had hit me with a wise baseball bat. The darkness slowly lost control over me and decisively gave up on me. I woke up to see that I was still doing my homework and that only an hour had passed since I had lost consciousness. Dreams tell the future. Follow them at your own risk..."

So, I believe the forum layout does need a bit of improvement in attractiveness...However, we need to find a way to make it so insignificant that it won't affect page load rate.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:03 pm
by Teh Brawler
dalonewolf25 wrote:Call me crazy, but...

"As I was doing my homework, I felt as if my mind started to become blank, the screen in front of me had lost meaning, the words inscribed on the screen just existed, nothing more, nothing less. As I felt the darkness enveloped me piece by piece, I did not resist. I let myself get taken over by it. I was so weak to have soon realized that exhaustion and sleep debt had caught up with me.

For the first unsaid 45 minutes, all I saw was darkness, if I even had conscious reasoning in the first place. I was in an unstable place, and yet I didn't even bother to look at my surroundings.

Then, all of a sudden, I had a dream. I looked around within the scene to look at the screen once again. I viewed a computer screen, and I saw this same website with a dark purple background instead of the already wont to us sky blue colored background. There were also wonderful graphics in the background that intrigued my curiosity even more to the screen.

The layout of posting had changed; the blocks were wider and more uniform. They were somewhat see-through; as in you could see the graphics in the background and still able to read the message posted by the user. By luck of the draw, I ended up in the Art Thread. I had seen Psykeout's improvement in digital art and Kyderra posting back with responses. The layout of the screen was more like how the art gallery looks like now.

I wish I was able to see more of this, but then all of a sudden, reality had hit me with a wise baseball bat. The darkness slowly lost control over me and decisively gave up on me. I woke up to see that I was still doing my homework and that only an hour had passed since I had lost consciousness. Dreams tell the future. Follow them at your own risk..."

So, I believe the forum layout does need a bit of improvement in attractiveness...However, we need to find a way to make it so insignificant that it won't affect page load rate.
Personally, I like the layout, though that may be a bias from using it for so long. :lol:

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:05 pm
by dalonewolf25
That's what I was thinking also, and for some reason, it's still too appealing...

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:15 pm
by CaptainPea
dalonewolf25 wrote:So, I believe the forum layout does need a bit of improvement in attractiveness...However, we need to find a way to make it so insignificant that it won't affect page load rate.
I always thought these forums looked downright homely, really.
(Again, my comparison is to the Sporums, which had pretty much white and bright blue everything.)

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:17 pm
by Blue Braixen
CaptainPea wrote:
dalonewolf25 wrote:So, I believe the forum layout does need a bit of improvement in attractiveness...However, we need to find a way to make it so insignificant that it won't affect page load rate.
I always thought these forums looked downright homely, really.
(Again, my comparison is to the Sporums, which had pretty much white and bright blue everything.)
I like how the forums look, honestly. And I've been here for just over...what is it now...two months?

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:48 pm
by dalonewolf25
Same here, so I guess we're all in disagreement with the idea, then, right?
Or how about this: Another website layout will be created in another site. There will be a link to it, and see if it could go well with the layout we currently have.

Hmm...this should be my Christmas project: create something from which I have some knowledge on to show that I can make do with what I know...

Off-topicness aside,
copper wrote:I don't know if this is possible, but it would be great if you could make the forums more "Word" friendly. I mean, make it so that it is easier to transfer from microsoft word to the site. I hated having to go through my ATKM submission and putting italics and bold lettering in again.
That, my friend, would involve some hacking, a change in a line or all of the page source code, or just a click of a button...There's a reason why we have BB chat, to bypass the textarea command's inability to let text formatting such as italics, bold, etc. to appear, if I'm not mistaken...

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:31 pm
by Buckdida
KizerZin wrote:Can there be a age locked zone for us, the Bad Pets to play?
I'm just going to answer this question one more time, to be extremely clear, make this very clear, and make this very well known so that I never, ever, ever need to be bothered by this question again.

NO.

The comic is PG. Do not expect the rating of this site or any of the semi-official affiliates (such as the IRC channel) to go far past that. PG-13 is the MAXIMUM rating, and I suggest you don't push that, because the forum's normal rating is in between PG and PG-13. Don't test this rule or you will receive warnings and bans. This rule about the rating applies to everyone who wishes to participate in these forums.

I'm sorry if you don't like it, but that is a set rule, and it isn't arguable. I do hope that was clear enough, yeah?
_____________

Oh, please keep your suggestions clear and concise if you can, and stay on topic. We'll probably just skip over them if it's a needless wall of text, or just ignore the thread entirely if we have to dig though it in order to find the actual suggestions, right? :P

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:38 pm
by Challenger01
Well, I would like to say that I think the mods are doing a GREAT job so far! As for suggestions.... Um, maybe for the people RP'ing, more color variations on the color wheel? That's about all I can suggest... Also, the whole, "bad pet" thing is 1. VERY inappropriate 2. Been discussed by Buck so many times that it scares me to even think about it :oops:

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 6:35 am
by Dissension
Buckdida wrote:NO.

The comic is PG. Do not expect the rating of this site or any of the semi-official affiliates (such as the IRC channel) to go far past that. PG-13 is the MAXIMUM rating, and I suggest you don't push that, because the forum's normal rating is in between PG and PG-13. Don't test this rule or you will receive warnings and bans. This rule about the rating applies to everyone who wishes to participate in these forums.

I'm sorry if you don't like it, but that is a set rule, and it isn't arguable. I do hope that was clear enough, yeah?
My original reply was basically this plus "we have no interest in letting you be a perv." It is probably in everyone's best interest not to push us on this issue. Now, back to the suggestions!

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 11:22 am
by rickgriffin
copper wrote:I don't know if this is possible, but it would be great if you could make the forums more "Word" friendly. I mean, make it so that it is easier to transfer from microsoft word to the site. I hated having to go through my ATKM submission and putting italics and bold lettering in again.
I am positive there are rich-text forms that do this automatically--the Wordpress blog post form can do this, but I don't think that phpBB is able to.
dalonewolf25 wrote:tl;dr
So, I believe the forum layout does need a bit of improvement in attractiveness...However, we need to find a way to make it so insignificant that it won't affect page load rate.
The current style is Hestia Blue. I can change the color scheme between blue, purple and green, but that's about it. It's already difficult enough to get modulations for the forums that don't ONLY support subsilver (the default, which looks extraordinarily ugly imo) without heavy amounts of hacking. Hestia was the best I could get in terms of attractiveness without being too 'themed'.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 11:41 am
by EchoFireant
Frankly speaking, the currently color and layout is fine. I prefer simple color schemes so that I can read what's posted without straining my eyes to see the words or "blinded" by the forum layout color :mrgreen:

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 12:16 pm
by Sleet
I love the current color scheme, actually. It's very neat and clean.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 5:09 pm
by Beagle
Know how Facebook has their own mobile version of their website for easy access to people with phones? It's much plainer than the facebook .com itself, so it doesn't eat up plans with data limits.

Well, for anyone with Verizon, our carrier switched it now in early September to where when we type in a webpage, it gives us the FULL webpage, instead of the little mobile one we used to get. The Facebook mobile still works though...

I'm wondering: think we could do a mobile version of the Housepets forums? I don't understand the first thing about coding, but maybe some way to type in an alternative URL which would take us to the same site, but avatars and other graphics are turned off, low color, and there's no detail to the background, and etc.? Just a plain and simple way to post and answer PMs, without having to use 3 MB every time we log in through a phone?

I know the mobile version of facebook is (EDIT) So could the forums use a URL like that?

EDIT: I just checked my first link... I typed it wrong! ^_^;;; The correct URL is http://m.facebook.com

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 6:19 pm
by CaptainPea
dalonewolf25 wrote:Call me crazy, but...

(spouts craziness)

So, I believe the forum layout does need a bit of improvement in attractiveness...However, we need to find a way to make it so insignificant that it won't affect page load rate.
I've seen on other websites (once again I'm talking about the Sporums) some custom-made buttons with a bit of personality, for example:
Image
Image
(um where did my examples go)

That's what I see as what might be the most interesting (and plausible) way to spruce up the look of the forums.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 6:45 pm
by Psykeout
CaptainPea wrote:
dalonewolf25 wrote:Call me crazy, but...

(spouts craziness)

So, I believe the forum layout does need a bit of improvement in attractiveness...However, we need to find a way to make it so insignificant that it won't affect page load rate.
I've seen on other websites (once again I'm talking about the Sporums) some custom-made buttons with a bit of personality, for example:
Image
Image
(um where did my examples go)

That's what I see as what might be the most interesting (and plausible) way to spruce up the look of the forums.
i think the sporums have more at their disposal.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 8:26 pm
by CaptainPea
Psykeout wrote:
CaptainPea wrote:
dalonewolf25 wrote:Call me crazy, but...

(spouts craziness)

So, I believe the forum layout does need a bit of improvement in attractiveness...However, we need to find a way to make it so insignificant that it won't affect page load rate.
I've seen on other websites (once again I'm talking about the Sporums) some custom-made buttons with a bit of personality, for example:
Image
Image
(um where did my examples go)

That's what I see as what might be the most interesting (and plausible) way to spruce up the look of the forums.
i think the sporums have more at their disposal.
I'm pretty sure they use phBB too, and I'm pretty sure that's free.
Money won't do you any good in that case.
I'm assuming you're talking about money?

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 8:33 pm
by Psykeout
im not sure.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:06 am
by 44R0NM10
I wanted to check if anybody else would bring this up, but since it hasn't I'll say it.

What thread gets posted in the most, even if by the same people ussualy over and over? The forum games thread. I admit there is already a lot of mods, but what if there was a mod for that thread alone? I don't know. Up to you guys really.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 12:24 pm
by Blue Braixen
44R0NM10 wrote:I wanted to check if anybody else would bring this up, but since it hasn't I'll say it.

What thread gets posted in the most, even if by the same people ussualy over and over? The forum games thread. I admit there is already a lot of mods, but what if there was a mod for that thread alone? I don't know. Up to you guys really.
I agree. The Forum Games have always been busy, and the transference of the Chat Thread there only made it worse. It would decrease Diss' workload that way, too.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 12:41 pm
by Private Elliot
KizerZin wrote:Can there be a age locked zone for us, the Bad Pets to play?
*sighs, followed by a facepalm*
This is supposed to be a FAMILY FRIENDLY COMIC.
But seeing how two mods already pointed this out, I don't think I really need to say anything more.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 12:44 pm
by Psykeout
we could probably do trial periods for some of this stuff.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 2:39 pm
by Foxstar
KizerZin wrote:Can there be a age locked zone for us, the Bad Pets to play?
Short answer - Heck no.

Long answer - Are you serious? What in heaven's name made you think that you should even have a area like that? Any other attempts to push the rating or bring more frisky stuff in and I'm just going to ban outright.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 3:15 pm
by Sleet
"In short, no. In long, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo... [for 17 seconds]"
-Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 3:17 pm
by Blue Braixen
Sleet, that kind of got old. Anyway, what about a Mod for the forum games? It would take some heat off of Diss (if he wants it that way).

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 3:56 pm
by dalonewolf25
I believe Diss is capable enough of dealing with the Forum Games section, since the Forum Games is the (almost only) section which is used in the Not The Comic Thread. Also, unless Diss wants to lose a major part of his workload, it would give him too little work to look over afterwards, since what's left of the posts in the Not The Comic section will be little...However, I believe there is a loophole for this: two mods control the Not The Comic section, so that they may both evenly have the same amount of workload, instead of just one person having all of the work and the other very little...Look at Kyderra, eventually, depending upon how active the The Comic Section and The Fan Fiction sections become, he'll eventually need another mod to help him out, but in the meanwhile, let's focus on the Not The Comic Section. I do agree, however, that the Roleplaying Section needs another mod, since ctcmjh will not always be online, as shown today that he'll be off for a while...that way, we have at least one sane person viewing the neighborhoods at all or most of the time...I nominate Aquablast and ArgentFlame for this position (and Brittles, if he ever comes back...), since they seem to have a greater understanding of the systems and have enough experience to deal with these matters...hopefully...

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 6:46 pm
by Dissension
I appreciate that everyone is concerned for me, but really, adding a co-mod in the Forum Games sub-forum would eliminate the vast majority of work I do. If anything along those lines is needed in the future, you can be assured that I'll talk it over with Rick and the g-mods and we'll come to the decision that's best for the forums. For now, I'm not overwhelmed and I don't think I'm slacking, so it's fine.

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 7:22 pm
by dalonewolf25
Dissension wrote:I appreciate that everyone is concerned for me, but really, adding a co-mod in the Forum Games sub-forum would eliminate the vast majority of work I do. For now, I'm not overwhelmed and I don't think I'm slacking, so it's fine.
Which is what I was trying to say...Plus, you've shown that you're more capable of the work and that you're able to put the time up for it, as shown in the past, what is it, like 2 years and counting, now? Plus, we all know you're not a slacker...right?

Anyways, here's my next suggestion: make polls user-friendly, as in anyone can make a poll, as long as it fits under the right condition...is that possible?

wait a minute, who made the furry poll viable, then? Knowing that the topic would've been controversial?

Something we truly, honestly and depserately need...

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 7:32 pm
by Anthroguy101
"THIS" BUTTON!!!

Re: Housepets! Forums Site Feedback & Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 7:32 pm
by Sleet
I wasn't able to make a poll at that time (I haven't made a thread in a while, so it might be possible now), but Buck made the poll for me.

I think it got through because there was sufficient warning against letting the topic turn bad.