New Forum Features

With the latest and greatest software update, we have a bunch of new functionality that will trickle in over time as we see the need and motivation

Some of the new features we have started to implement now and would love to hear your feedback and suggestions.

Thread Prefixes - these are titles that can be added in front of thread titles to make certain topics easier to identify. I only created a few to start with. Ideas on titles and styling welcome!

Thread tags - additional tags that can be added to a thread when its started or afterwards to make it easier to find. As tags get more and more used, a cloud view will be shown that shows the most popular tags and link to threads that use them. Example, 'parking' or 'hospital', etc. Think of it as a weighted search thing.

RSS Feeds - we've taken some local news sources and have them automatically posting into the forum. This way you can see breaking stories right here without leaving the Broadlands! We've also added an area for alerts from Loundoun County Government - the same you can get on your cell phone, email, etc. If you have suggestions on relevant news sources that should be added.. speak up!

User Profile Changes - with the emphasis on social networking, your user profile page can become more customizable now with the idea being that your profile page becomes a hub of activity between individual members (much like a facebook page, myspace, etc). We've kept most of these features off for now, but you can browse around there and make your profile page more 'you' and see who comes to visit!

Editing - we have more control over user editing posts again, so that will likely come back to being available rather then limiting it to 10minutes like it is currently.

That's all I can think of right now.. but browse around and let us know what you think. This is a community site and our goal is to make it the best we can for the community.

Thanks!

 

It's not spam.

It's the RSS feed described above. You can follow the instructions in the post at the top of the Local News section http://www.broadlandshoa.org/hoaforum/showthread.php?t=9188 to skip those posts in new posts scans if you like

 

sorry, there was a huge build up when the bot first queried the sites.. I thought I deleted the build up, but missed the ones in the local news section. I just deleted all the threads so a more reasonable level can start up tomorrow. There normally will not be that many new posts

Based on the volume of posts, we'll adapt it to a usable level.

 

Thanks, we think it adds a lot of value for Broadlands residents. Glad you like it, and appreciate the input!

 

Glad you all like it. If you have good ideas for local relevant - or things that would be topic focused.. let us know.

I know the post count can be intimidating, but using the new posts and 'mark forums read' it is very managable. Unfortunately I don't think the feeds from the local newspapers are all that great in terms of their feed contents, but I'm too lazy to merge threads, etc all the time

 

If you have a specific source in mind, I'll be happy to investigate and review it.