Features for ranks

[interstatefan990]

I guess a special lounge would be kinda cool.

We already have the chat room. That's a pretty fun place to hang out in.

I'm de facto banned from it, though (without an actual ban).

I got banned from the forum proper for a month for messing around in the chat back in 2017.

Seriously? I thought you just get banned from the chat for however long but you remain on the forum. Was it repeated or egregious messing around?

[Roadgeekteen]

I guess a special lounge would be kinda cool.

We already have the chat room. That's a pretty fun place to hang out in.

I'm de facto banned from it, though (without an actual ban).

I got banned from the forum proper for a month for messing around in the chat back in 2017.

Seriously? I thought you just get banned from the chat for however long but you remain on the forum. Was it repeated or egregious messing around?

I honestly don't remember. I was being a troll though, annoying the other users. I deserved it.

[interstatefan990]

I guess a special lounge would be kinda cool.

We already have the chat room. That's a pretty fun place to hang out in.

I'm de facto banned from it, though (without an actual ban).

I got banned from the forum proper for a month for messing around in the chat back in 2017.

Seriously? I thought you just get banned from the chat for however long but you remain on the forum. Was it repeated or egregious messing around?

I honestly don't remember. I was being a troll though, annoying the other users. I deserved it.

Gotcha. I was kicked from the chat for about a minute after I got into an insult match with another user last year that I didn't realize was a joke, and went too far. After that, I decided to stay off the chat permanently, as it causes me to say things impulsively that I would not have had I had the chance to think it through, like a normal forum post.



On an unrelated subject: I'm curious about this, but not enough to start a new topic. Who provides overnight moderation to the forum? If a random user decided to start spamming and violating the rules like crazy at some late night time, like 4:30-5am EST when I'd say most of us are asleep, would it just stay there until the first mod/admin sees it in the morning? I don't know if mods remain on the forum when the majority of users are not online at night.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Yeah, I'm imagining users like deleting/merging multiple posts to adjust their number or something, lots of interesting folks on the internet.

Haven't you done that yourself?

That was different.

[Roadgeekteen]

I guess a special lounge would be kinda cool.

We already have the chat room. That's a pretty fun place to hang out in.

I'm de facto banned from it, though (without an actual ban).

I got banned from the forum proper for a month for messing around in the chat back in 2017.

Seriously? I thought you just get banned from the chat for however long but you remain on the forum. Was it repeated or egregious messing around?

I honestly don't remember. I was being a troll though, annoying the other users. I deserved it.

Gotcha. I was kicked from the chat for about a minute after I got into an insult match with another user last year that I didn't realize was a joke, and went too far. After that, I decided to stay off the chat permanently, as it causes me to say things impulsively that I would not have had I had the chance to think it through, like a normal forum post.



On an unrelated subject: I'm curious about this, but not enough to start a new topic. Who provides overnight moderation to the forum? If a random user decided to start spamming and violating the rules like crazy at some late night time, like 4:30-5am EST when I'd say most of us are asleep, would it just stay there until the first mod/admin sees it in the morning? I don't know if mods remain on the forum when the majority of users are not online at night.

Scott is often on the forum late at night I find.

[kphoger]

Scott is often on the forum late at night I find.

Yes, Scott's household has had such strange work schedules for enough years, that he's likely to be online when the rest of us are asleep.

The forum is moderated whenever the mods are online.  If they're offline, then yes, stuff will get left until someone logs on and steps in that pile.

[vdeane]

Perhaps list the join date instead of post count?  The ranks would still serve as a proxy for posts and it would stop things like "I want my post count to be 4444 so I'm going to delete old posts as I make new ones".

Your join date is already listed when you click on your profile. That user that did that has become a useful contributor to the forum and has seemed to have matured past that phase, thankfully.

I was envisioning having it to the left of every post, just like post count and last login is now.

As for gaming post counts, in addition to the user you mention, MMM also had a brief foray into that activity.

[Roadgeekteen]

Perhaps list the join date instead of post count?  The ranks would still serve as a proxy for posts and it would stop things like "I want my post count to be 4444 so I'm going to delete old posts as I make new ones".

Your join date is already listed when you click on your profile. That user that did that has become a useful contributor to the forum and has seemed to have matured past that phase, thankfully.

I was envisioning having it to the left of every post, just like post count and last login is now.

As for gaming post counts, in addition to the user you mention, MMM also had a brief foray into that activity.

Punish the user, not everyone else.

[jakeroot]

The only thing I've seen that makes a difference in post quality is time. 2000 crappy posts in a year is easily achievable, but 2000 crappy posts over 5 or 10 years is much less likely.

Ergo, I propose moving away from post count visibility and ranks based on it, and moving to a badge system that simply shows how many years we've been on the forum. You could still see if a user is new, but there would not be any encouragement of post-spamming to boost your post count.

[Scott5114]

Scott is often on the forum late at night I find.

Yes, Scott's household has had such strange work schedules for enough years, that he's likely to be online when the rest of us are asleep.

Yep, my active hours are roughly 15:00 to 06:00 Central Time. This coincides with the busiest period (evening), so it works well for the sake of the forum. (I imagine if I relocate to Las Vegas my schedule will become even screwier, since I believe there is more accommodation for people who work odd shifts there owing to how many people there are who work a casino schedule.)


Now as for the original post in this thread:

Suggestion of features exclusively for "Like the forum way, way too much" users:

   
• Post count increases by 2 for every post made.
• You can see when a user is replying to you and what they're typing in real time.

These are not available options in the software. If you'd like us to consider them, please write the code for them in PHP as an SMF extension and we will consider adding them at that time. (And if you can't be bothered to write the code, neither can we.) Also, I don't see what the point of the first one would be.

Ability to see deleted posts.

This is a bad idea because posts are deleted for a good reason. Letting people see deleted posts would defeat the purpose of deleting them. (If you want this feature, join 4chan.)

Ability to change username.

This is a bad idea because frequent name changes make it hard to keep track of who is who. (If you want this feature, join Tumblr.)

Your signature allows up to 1000 characters instead of 300.

This is a bad idea because it would mean pages would often end up being more signature than post.

No ads.

This is a bad idea because it would mean Alex wouldn't be able to afford to host the forum anymore. (If you want this feature, install AdBlockPlus.)

Special "Likes the forum way, way too much" subforum.

This is a bad idea because the discussions in there wouldn't be any different than anywhere else on the forum, so it would be pointless to implement. (If you want this feature, join a country club.)
   

Ability to edit theard titles for 1 hour instead to 5 minutes.

You can already do this as far as I know.

[Scott5114]

Also, I still like the idea of the forum displaying your answer to the "lowest route number you haven't been on" game instead of your post count. But I don't like it enough to overcome my laziness and write the PHP for it.

[Rothman]

Also, I still like the idea of the forum displaying your answer to the "lowest route number you haven't been on" game instead of your post count. But I don't like it enough to overcome my laziness and write the PHP for it.

Ugh.  I'm never getting off 451...

[jakeroot]

The only thing I've seen that makes a difference in post quality is time. 2000 crappy posts in a year is easily achievable, but 2000 crappy posts over 5 or 10 years is much less likely.

Ergo, I propose moving away from post count visibility and ranks based on it, and moving to a badge system that simply shows how many years we've been on the forum. You could still see if a user is new, but there would not be any encouragement of post-spamming to boost your post count.

Here is a very quick concept:


AARoads Year-Based Badges concept by Jacob Root, on Flickr

[Roadgeekteen]

Also, I still like the idea of the forum displaying your answer to the "lowest route number you haven't been on" game instead of your post count. But I don't like it enough to overcome my laziness and write the PHP for it.

People could just lie to make themselves look better.

Also for spamming, I believe that the badges are a bigger problem than the actual number. Most other forums I'm on have some sort of post count feature, and I've never heard of it being an issue. But I still like the badges though and would want them to stay.

[hbelkins]

On an unrelated subject: I'm curious about this, but not enough to start a new topic. Who provides overnight moderation to the forum? If a random user decided to start spamming and violating the rules like crazy at some late night time, like 4:30-5am EST when I'd say most of us are asleep, would it just stay there until the first mod/admin sees it in the morning? I don't know if mods remain on the forum when the majority of users are not online at night.

We've been having that discussion on another thread somewhere.

Now as for the original post in this thread:

Suggestion of features exclusively for "Like the forum way, way too much" users:

   
• Post count increases by 2 for every post made.
• You can see when a user is replying to you and what they're typing in real time.

These are not available options in the software. If you'd like us to consider them, please write the code for them in PHP as an SMF extension and we will consider adding them at that time. (And if you can't be bothered to write the code, neither can we.) Also, I don't see what the point of the first one would be.

I guess it's the same logic as having a shot from beyond 22 feet count for an extra point in basketball.

[webny99]

I may have deleted a few posts here or there, but I never did that for no reason or just to set my post count at a round number or anything???

Since you're new and probably don't know this, you might as well know: I did this once, and that's what people are referring to. I went on a binge and deleted several hundred posts or more to reset my post count to 4 4's. I had my reasons at the time, but it was a very immature and attention-grabbing thing to do, and it led to an increased focus on forum stats and a whole bunch of discussion about stats and post counts, which ultimately cost all users viewership privileges of the forum stats page. I was fuming for months, and it took me years to fully get over it, but I learned a valuable lesson about how to comport myself and interact with others online.

So, a bit painful to share, but there's some background as to why "stats" and "post counts" are such a hot-button issue on this forum.

[Roadgeekteen]

I may have deleted a few posts here or there, but I never did that for no reason or just to set my post count at a round number or anything???

Since you're new and probably don't know this, you might as well know: I did this once, and that's what people are referring to. I went on a binge and deleted several hundred posts or more to reset my post count to 4 4's. I had my reasons at the time, but it was a very immature and attention-grabbing thing to do, and it led to an increased focus on forum stats and a whole bunch of discussion about stats and post counts, which ultimately cost all users viewership privileges of the forum stats page. I was fuming for months, and it took me years to fully get over it, but I learned a valuable lesson about how to comport myself and interact with others online.

So, a bit painful to share, but there's some background as to why "stats" and "post counts" are such a hot-button issue on this forum.

I want the forum stats page back! It's a cool thing to look at that doesn't hurt anyone.

[Alps]

i want a palindrome of posts. this is 15348. i want 99999.

[Big John]

^^ 3 away from 15351.

[Scott5114]

Also, I still like the idea of the forum displaying your answer to the "lowest route number you haven't been on" game instead of your post count. But I don't like it enough to overcome my laziness and write the PHP for it.

People could just lie to make themselves look better.

And then we would make fun of them for being lame.

[hbelkins]

I can't think offhand of a time when I ever deleted an old post, but I have deleted a small handful of freshly-posted new ones when I have posted something and quickly realized, "oops, that was wrong," and a simple post edit wouldn't fix the error.

[Roadgeekteen]

I almost never delete posts. Very rarely if I post something and it's stupid and I realize it quickly I delete it. Deleting old posts would just be confusing to other people reading topics.

[kphoger]

   

Ability to edit theard titles for 1 hour instead to 5 minutes.

You can already do this as far as I know.

Does the software have an option to disallow deleting one's own posts after a set amount of time?

[hotdogPi]

I've deleted a post when someone beat me to saying the same thing, or sometimes even if they post after me but they explain it better than I do.

I'll also sometimes delete controversial posts (usually involving politics) after about 5-10 minutes of thinking.

[1995hoo]

When Scott5114 says "posts are deleted for good reasons," I don't think he was referring to users deleting their own posts but rather to moderators deleting posts. I've only deleted a very few of my posts over the years, usually when I thought better of something after saying it, but the moderators have deleted a number of them (or removed the text and replaced it with purple text) either because the post in question was part of a string of deleted posts or because they judged something I said to have violated the TOS (for example, in the "Weird Routes" thread I called the now-banned original poster "weird"; if you know the thread's origin, you'll understand why the moderators objected to that).


(Edited because the thread is called "Weird Routes," not "Weird Roads.")