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Possible New forum features

Discussion in 'Forum rules and information' started by Mr. Linux, Jun 1, 2004.

  1. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    I decided to open this topic in order to track some ideas the Tech Committee comes up with in regards to these forums, as well as ideas from our users.

    I'll start off with something that I use extensively on a daily basis: RSS feeds. I found some code I can add to the forums in order to have it provide an RSS feed of the latest posts. Anyone intrested in such a feature, besides myself?

    Mr. Linux
    ------------------------------------------------
    Got Broadband?
    Yea, REALLY SOON now!
     
    Mr. Linux, Jun 1, 2004
    #1
  2. tigger

    tigger New Member

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    Mr. Linux, what is RSS?
     
    tigger, Jun 1, 2004
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  3. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    Good question!

    Here's a definition provided by XML.com, which I have copied here:

    http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html

    "RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it's not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: the "recent changes" page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.

    RSS-aware programs called news aggregators are popular in the weblogging community. Many weblogs make content available in RSS. A news aggregator can help you keep up with all your favorite weblogs by checking their RSS feeds and displaying new items from each of them."

    For example, I keep up with dozens of sites each day. Instead of going through each one individually, I use a news aggregator which pulls 'feeds' from each site. I can see all the new information on all the sites I frequent from one single application. If something interests me, I click on it and I'm taken to the actual site. It's a tremendous time saver for me.

    Many sites now provide RSS feeds, including Yahoo, etc.

    Mr. Linux
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    Got Broadband?
    Yea, REALLY SOON now!
     
    Mr. Linux, Jun 1, 2004
    #3
  4. tigger

    tigger New Member

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    Thanks Mr. Linux. Sounds like a great idea!
     
    tigger, Jun 1, 2004
    #4
  5. sri_n

    sri_n Member

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    Mr. Linux,

    Sounds like a great idea. I have of late started to use an RSS aggregator (trillian, which is mainly an IM tool), and find it very useful. All the stuff that I care about, right on my desktop!

    Sri.
     
    sri_n, Jun 1, 2004
    #5
  6. Dutchml

    Dutchml Member

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    What happened to the "ignore poster" feature that was discussed several months ago which can seemingly be more easily implemented into the forum? One poster even provided a download link for integration into the website.
     
    Dutchml, Jun 1, 2004
    #6
  7. GCyr

    GCyr New Member

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    I don't see any need for "RSS" and don't see what purpose it would serve in our forums, but obviously that's my personal opinion because I've never heard of it or had a need for it. What purpose would these news feeds serve here? I get my news elsewhere and my Broadlands-related items here, and they don't need to mix.

    Instead, I would like to see more useful features like a spell checker, a better search capability, and a feature that would retain (save) the draft message text when I forget to log in and try to post the reply. Or, how about a warning if someone tries to post a reply and they're not logged in? I sometimes forget to save my text and check if I'm logged in before posting a reply and there goes the draft down the bit bucket. That's my fault but if there's a fix for it, that would be great!

    How about a feature that limits the size or amount of quoted text. No, I don't know what is enough or too much, but some of these posts scroll off the screen with just the quoted text. There's really no need to repeat so much text to respond to a message. I'm not talking about original text here but the text quoted from a previous message. There's probably no such "feature" but I think it would be useful.

    How about a "zap" button to zap someone off the forums. Oh, that wouldn't work because no one would be left to post here.
     
    GCyr, Jun 1, 2004
    #7
  8. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    Dutchml: I'm still looking into that modification. The only negative I see with it is that I can see people 'ignoring' a bunch of users in a thread, which could cause some posts that could trigger people to reply "Haven't you read the last post?". It's still a good idea though.

    Gcyr: The idea of RSS is NOT to bring news *into* the forums, but to provide the forum posts to users without havening them directly visit the site. Here's an example: I added 'feeds' to my website at home. Take a look at the following pages:

    http://www.thehouse.net/aggregator/sources/38
    http://www.thehouse.net/aggregator/sources/37

    You're actually at my personal website, but you can see the forum posts and if you're interested, you can click on one and be taken to the actual posting. Now think bigger; I can add a bunch of different feeds and then only have to go to one place to read 'stuff' from all the sites I usually visit. See something I like, I just click on it to read it...

    Mr. Linux
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    Got Broadband?
    Yea, REALLY SOON now!
     
    Mr. Linux, Jun 2, 2004
    #8
  9. Pats_fan

    Pats_fan Former Resident

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    I think this is a cool idea. But where do we send the feeds if we don't have a website to post them to? Can they be sent by e-mail?
     
    Pats_fan, Jun 2, 2004
    #9
  10. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    Mr. Linux, Jun 2, 2004
    #10
  11. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    I'm still waiting to migrate to something like vb forums where we have tons more features :)

    I'm still a believer in email notification.. RSS is neat, but too techy.

    -Steve
     
    flynnibus, Jun 3, 2004
    #11
  12. GCyr

    GCyr New Member

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    OK, I see what RSS does and my response is so what? If RSS is transparent to forum users at this site and doesn't affect these forums in any way, I don't have any problem with RSS feeds. Otherwise, we don't need RSS. That's my 2ยข worth...
     
    GCyr, Jun 3, 2004
    #12
  13. Homer Simpson

    Homer Simpson New Member

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    Ooooh! Ooooh! <Raises hand> I'd like to be able to put images in the Signature or Avatars for the poster.
     
    Homer Simpson, Jul 7, 2004
    #13
  14. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    Hey Homer! You still want images after that little 'situation' a few months back???

    LOL!

    :)

    Mr. Linux
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    Got Broadband?
    Yea, REALLY SOON now!
     
    Mr. Linux, Jul 7, 2004
    #14
  15. Homer Simpson

    Homer Simpson New Member

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    Yep. I've got a real good one. Not offensive in any way :)
     
    Homer Simpson, Jul 12, 2004
    #15
  16. ianthepetrock

    ianthepetrock New Member

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    This is a pretty old topic i see ^ but is there a particular reason for using Snitz Forums? There are some better ones that are open source :)

    I use phpBB but I hear alot about it being hacked :\

    -Ian
     
    ianthepetrock, Oct 12, 2005
    #16
  17. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    how much do we pay for the hosting per month?
     
    boomertsfx, Oct 13, 2005
    #17
  18. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    we are planning on upgrading. just the volunteers haven't had the time yet to work out the new hosting deals yet. Its budgeted for and planned as soon as we can get it together

    -Steve
     
    flynnibus, Oct 13, 2005
    #18
  19. ianthepetrock

    ianthepetrock New Member

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    Just perhaps someone could slightly edit the code to make it say something like (Ignored user: name has posted here) so if someone says "Havent you read the last post" the person could just go click on "show post" or something to see it. I guess that wouldnt be much of an ignore system if it still says they posted ._.



    -Ian
    _____
    Uber Script Kiddy
    :)
     
    ianthepetrock, Nov 8, 2005
    #19

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