Additional site/forum suggestions

from WinCustomize Forums
At Fuzzy's prompting, I have a few other suggestions. I've posted a couple of them in the other threads (bugs/issues) but seeing as how they're neither, they tend to get lost and I figured a different thread would be easier.

1. Improvement for the system-wide quote system: adding author/time+date/reply number information (I believe links to specific replies is in development). Basically, clicking on the Quote link will pull in the text of the post as well as who originally posted it, when, and a link to the individual reply.

(Bebi Bulma @ March 5, 2007 6:46pm Reply #2):
Blah blah quoted text and stuff. Now we'll know what all the quoting is in reference to, yay!


2. Email notification when a new comment is made on our personal guestbooks.

3. Adding a Report Skin for Violation link for skin submissions, as well as adding the Report option to skin comments (like what was implemented here on the forums). Should cut down on the drama that is created in the forums and keep things privately dealt with through proper email channels.

4. Automagically turn posted url's into clickable links. Maybe I'm just lazy, but it's annoying having to copy the url and paste it into a new tab address bar to view whatever it is because the poster is either too lazy to make it clickable or just doesn't know how (can't blame them, the insert url function is quite borked). It does this in the skin description section and I believe it used to do it here on the old version of the forums, I'm not sure why it doesn't anymore. If there is a reason I don't recall what it is.

Uhm that's all I can think of right now. :S
7,811 views 22 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I agree on all these.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Let me add one more:

I would like the Home link as well as the forum link to bring up the most recent posts. I have little use for the category view -- it's listed on the right after all.

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would like the Home link as well as the forum link to bring up the most recent posts. I have little use for the category view -- it's listed on the right after all.


Good call, especially since it only lists the most recent thread (which could be days, weeks, or months old), not replies.

Another one: would be nice if the number of comments was displayed on the gallery pages. That way I could tell if there are new comments without having to actually view the skin or add it to the watch list and get emails.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
They are all great suggestions   
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Another thing I would like is an easy way to get to and post to, Tutorials. I posted a mini tutorial the other day but just couldn't find how to post it to tutorials Tutorial: Taskbar Toolbars

I would like to see Tutorials made a more major feature here. With all the new people arriving it's an opportunity to get more people skinning and for the more experienced members to pass on their knowledge.

And if any of the forum moderators could move that thread to Tutorials I'd be grateful   

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Good suggestions all.  
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would like to see Tutorials made a more major feature here. With all the new people arriving it's an opportunity to get more people skinning and for the more experienced members to pass on their knowledge.


yep actually it's hard to find the forum for each applications.
May be a entire section of the "community" (forums) should be a good idea.

And if any of the forum moderators could move that thread to Tutorials I'd be grateful





I agree with all suggestions here
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
And if any of the forum moderators could move that thread to Tutorials I'd be grateful

I think that's one of the few forums I'm not a Mod of.  Sorry man

I don't know the last time I went to an actual forum.  I live in "View all recent posts" which is a link on the bottom of EVERY forum page.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thought of some more.

Gallery stuff: we see it all the time on the forums and IRC, people downloading stuff and then not knowing what to do with it. Sure the stuff is out there, the guides and tutorials and such, but unless you know what you're looking for and where to look, it's about hopeless. So how about making the Gallery Descriptions stand out more? Change the border images or something, make it bold and noticeable, anything. Also, why not add a link to a guide for the appropriate product right there in the gallery description (like Cordelia's newbies guides)? There is a Help link, but the Windowblinds one for example, I'm not even seeing a "How do I use a Windowblinds skin?" one right there off the bat. And if that's not enough, why not hardcode guide links into every skin submission description? At the bottom somewhere in nice bold letters: For help using this skin: click here for a guide.

Other stuff: It would be nice to somewhere (that's not hidden) have a complete list of all moderators, what sections (forums/galleries) they are responsible for, and how to contact them so we know who to go to should a problem arise. A sort of "Moderating Team" section. Besides, these people should get some kind of recognition anyway for pulling the strings behind the scenes right? I honestly don't know who moderates what and I'd like to think I've been here a while, plus I talk to these guys all the time on IRC. It's all a bit of a mystery.
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
One word....FAQ
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WORK IN PROGRESS THREAD.

I'd particularly like to hear Stardock's opinion on this..

Its a way for the community to provide feedback \ motivation to authors unfinished works while providing interaction for non skinners.

Also a place where questions can be asked about "how to" for folks that are new to skinning.

This really should be one of the first sections on any skinning site..

..its Invaluable

Critique is SO important.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
How about an "Email this user" link on the personal sites? Not everyone has their email visible, but it's possible to email them through clicking on their name in a forum post, but why should we have to locate a forum post just to be able to email them?
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
How about an "Email this user" link on the personal sites?


How ironic, I tried to email U.. and I dont think you got it, was a couple of weeks back now.   
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Other stuff: It would be nice to somewhere (that's not hidden) have a complete list of all moderators, what sections (forums/galleries) they are responsible for, and how to contact them so we know who to go to should a problem arise. A sort of "Moderating Team" section. Besides, these people should get some kind of recognition anyway for pulling the strings behind the scenes right? I honestly don't know who moderates what and I'd like to think I've been here a while, plus I talk to these guys all the time on IRC. It's all a bit of a mystery.

For forums, go to the post list for a forum and look at the bottom. The moderators for a forum are listed there (if there are any). Used to have them at the bottom, in the same place, in posts but that was removed and the 'report' links were put there in place.

For the Galleries you can check out https://www.wincustomize.com/about.aspx for a brief, yet incomplete, list of people who help run the site.

Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top

1. Improvement for the system-wide quote system: adding author/time+date/reply number information (I believe links to specific replies is in development). Basically, clicking on the Quote link will pull in the text of the post as well as who originally posted it, when, and a link to the individual reply.

Don't count on this one anytime soon, but its been noted. The quoting is a legacy pill (which means its not fun to work with).

2. Email notification when a new comment is made on our personal guestbooks.

3. Adding a Report Skin for Violation link for skin submissions, as well as adding the Report option to skin comments (like what was implemented here on the forums). Should cut down on the drama that is created in the forums and keep things privately dealt with through proper email channels.

I've submitted these to our overlord. He will review them and punish the weak.

 

Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would like to see a solved icon next to posts that are...I apologize for wanting to add extra work to the mods but this would also help in our assisting others in easily being able to find links to a similarly solved thread. Those solved posts could then be moved to their own forum heading. This would make searches for users in general much easier.
An active list of Forum moderators would be also be extremely helpful as some issues need to be dealt with immediately. The current list of mods does not tell me that, and I do miss the list of mods at the bottom of each post.
These are all things that are available on other sites.

It's My Secret
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For forums, go to the post list for a forum and look at the bottom. The moderators for a forum are listed there (if there are any). Used to have them at the bottom, in the same place, in posts but that was removed and the 'report' links were put there in place.

For the Galleries you can check out https://www.wincustomize.com/about.aspx for a brief, yet incomplete, list of people who help run the site.


Not exactly what I mean. For one thing, no one uses that view anyway (Brad mentioned he wants to do away with the category view as it is). For a second thing, that's still pretty hidden. What I meant was to have perhaps a "Moderating Team" link somewhere by the Legend for the online users and it'll list the moderators and what sections they moderate (forums and galleries). If there's a reason why it's all mysterious as to who actually does what, then by all means, enlighten me.

As for the galleries, it only lists the upper echelon people on the About page, and it doesn't mention anything about who moderates what.

Just imagine how boring your job would be without me being a pain in the butt about all this stuff (still waiting on those user-local timestamps). *huggles andrew*
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Suggestion:

The 'search' on the main page should also include member profiles or have some sort of option to do so. Currently it only shows skin/submissions and there are ALOT of members who never submit anything but may be active.
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
As for the search on the forums page: how about making it work in Firefox when hitting Enter? As it is right now it just refreshes the forum list.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
While we are on a search kick:
  • Advanced search :and/not/or
  • Retaining search criteria across galleries
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Improvements for the expanded recent post list (that Brad would like to make the default view): Add the author under the thread title, like it's shown in the shorter version below the forum list view. Also, make the author nicks clickable, for some reason they are only clickable in the Last Post Info column in the forum category list.
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For andrew when you have time for it (mentioned it on IRC):

Photo album tweaks:

1. Being able to sort the images in the albums/albums themselves.

2. Album list view: display number of images in each album and the date for the newest added.

3. Image list view: display number of views in description.

4. Ability to add comments to images.

Other:

1. Add the avatar to the first post in a thread. I don't go by username so much, noticing the avatar is easier.

2. State the username when someone emails us from the forums. Right now it's anyone's guess who is actually sending the message (unless they specifically mention it themselves), personally I'd like to know exactly who it is.

Something like:

Message from (username):

Hi...wanted to know blah blah and so on.

3. In response to #12, how about the same for Find posts by this user? As well as Skin comments. I can't even figure out how to see *all* the comments I've personally made on skins, only the recent ones. Would be nice if we could do this for other users as well, since we can find all posts from a user from the forums by clicking on their name (but that requires finding one in the first place).