The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > Forum Support > Site Questions and Tech Support (NO FIREARMS QUESTIONS)

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old June 24, 2018, 10:09 AM   #1
McCarthy
Junior member
 
Join Date: January 1, 2015
Posts: 312
A few suggestions

1.) I just found out that I can enable photos to be shown in posts, in my user options. I don't recall that I have ever turned this off. If this is off per default I suggest turning it on for new members, and making existing users aware of this.

One reason why I rarely read and partake on TFL is because of the lack of photos.

As the saying goes: "A picture is worth a thousand word." Especially when we can show off our passion for firearms, reloading, shooting, etc.

2.) I have still not figured out how I can quote somebody. I see quotes sometimes, but have no idea how to embed them.

3.) It would be nice if the quotes would show the name of the original poster.

4.) It would be also nice to be notified if somebody quoted one of my posts. This will increase the engagement by a lot. I've seen plenty of people replying to somebody specifically but they never came back to carry on the conversation, because they didn't know about it.

5.) Another tool that increases engagement is a "Like" button. It really makes people come back and see if their posts have been worthwhile to others, or not.


These are options you will find in basically all current forums.

If this is a technical issue, I'm willing to help out. I have a degree in CS and cranked out a lot of projects, including forums.
McCarthy is offline  
Old June 24, 2018, 11:33 AM   #2
Mal H
Staff
 
Join Date: March 20, 1999
Location: Somewhere in the woods of Northern Virginia
Posts: 16,939
1) You had to have turned it off at some time. The default for all members when registering is to show images (and signatures). That has been the default from day 1 of this forum.

2) See this thread which is a "sticky" thread at the top of this same forum. Post #4 is especially helpful.

3) Again, see post #4 in that same thread.

4) The closest the software comes to that is to subscribe to a thread when you start it or post in it. Most of the newer board systems do have the feature you are talking about.

5) In my opinion, the "Like" feature is of dubious value, but even it wasn't, it isn't available in the vBulletin board system. The closest thing to "Like" that the vBulletin system has is the "User Reputation" system. We have that turned off as it can be abused at times. It's more of a "Like or Don't Like a Member" system.
Mal H is offline  
Old June 24, 2018, 12:57 PM   #3
McCarthy
Junior member
 
Join Date: January 1, 2015
Posts: 312
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mal_H
1) You had to have turned it off at some time. The default for all members when registering is to show images (and signatures). That has been the default from day 1 of this forum.

2) See this thread which is a "sticky" thread at the top of this same forum. Post #4 is especially helpful.

3) Again, see post #4 in that same thread.

4) The closest the software comes to that is to subscribe to a thread when you start it or post in it. Most of the newer board systems do have the feature you are talking about.

5) In my opinion, the "Like" feature is of dubious value, but even it wasn't, it isn't available in the vBulletin board system. The closest thing to "Like" that the vBulletin system has is the "User Reputation" system. We have that turned off as it can be abused at times. It's more of a "Like or Don't Like a Member" system.

Testing this right now. I almost forgot about BBcode. Thanks for your reply. Wish there would be a quote button though. Writing the code and past&copy the text manually slows most replies down.

I did a quick google search on the Like button options and found this: https://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=231666

Should be easy to integrate.

This is not my forum, hence not my rules, but I have seen great usage and acceptance on other boards when it was added.
McCarthy is offline  
Old June 24, 2018, 03:27 PM   #4
Mal H
Staff
 
Join Date: March 20, 1999
Location: Somewhere in the woods of Northern Virginia
Posts: 16,939
Quote:
Originally Posted by McCarthy View Post
Testing this right now. I almost forgot about BBcode. Thanks for your reply. Wish there would be a quote button though. Writing the code and past&copy the text manually slows most replies down.

I did a quick google search on the Like button options and found this: https://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=231666

Should be easy to integrate.

This is not my forum, hence not my rules, but I have seen great usage and acceptance on other boards when it was added.
Actually, there is a quote button of sorts associated with each post, and I just used it here. Push the icon at the bottom right of a post to go to the "Quick Reply" window. Then check off "Quote message in reply?" to add the post text to your post. Note the small icon next to the quoted member's name - that is a link to the entire quoted post.

The main problem with a reply-with-quote function is that some members use it all the time whether they really need to quote a post or not. Then they add a short reply. They almost never edit the quote to include only the text they needed to quote. Multiply that 10 or so times per page, and frankly, it gets really annoying.
Mal H is offline  
Old June 24, 2018, 10:31 PM   #5
McCarthy
Junior member
 
Join Date: January 1, 2015
Posts: 312
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mal H View Post
Actually, there is a quote button of sorts associated with each post, and I just used it here. Push the icon at the bottom right of a post to go to the "Quick Reply" window. Then check off "Quote message in reply?" to add the post text to your post. Note the small icon next to the quoted member's name - that is a link to the entire quoted post.

The main problem with a reply-with-quote function is that some members use it all the time whether they really need to quote a post or not. Then they add a short reply. They almost never edit the quote to include only the text they needed to quote. Multiply that 10 or so times per page, and frankly, it gets really annoying.

Ok, lets try this.

EDIT: Wow, that really works. I have never "seen" this checkbox because I didn't expect this feature to be in that spot. Most other forums have a direct quote button right next to each post, I'm just so used to this pattern and concluded that this forum doesn't have it all.

Alright, I can work with this. Thanks for digging around.

Photos and quotes are covered. That like button hack would be something, but I won't push it any further.

Thanks again Mal!

Last edited by McCarthy; June 24, 2018 at 10:37 PM.
McCarthy is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:14 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.04737 seconds with 8 queries