Alex and the others have been discussing adding more functionality to the forum. One of the ideas proposed was to allow the embedding or uploading of photo directly to the site, negating the need for any image hosting sites. However, we wanted to expand it to a broader horizon. Simply put, if you could add some sort of functionality to the AARoads Forum, what would you like to see? For example, maybe you support the idea of embedding photos so you don't need to upload them to other sites to display them on the forum. I'm sure many of you have ideas on what you would want to add to the forum to expand it's functionality. Please feel free to list any or all suggestions you would like to see on the forums in the future! Suggestions with the most 'demand' will be considered as future improvements to the forum!
Just a note as well, these are only suggestions, and nothing is set in concrete unless an official announcement is made!
:i95: -> (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F6%2F61%2FI-95.svg%2F601px-I-95.svg.png&hash=c5d2e58a753143a42476a9b5eb2091df1a1c2954)
Quote from: 1 on September 11, 2014, 04:41:00 PM
:i95: -> (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F6%2F61%2FI-95.svg%2F601px-I-95.svg.png&hash=c5d2e58a753143a42476a9b5eb2091df1a1c2954)
I agree with this. It's the most logical extension of the smiley function for a
road forum. Start with Interstates and US highways and go from there.
The problem with adding things is y'all are limited by what SMF can support. I'd personally love to see some kind of "Recent Status Updates" type thing, but that's something I've only seen so far on an Invision-based board. In any case, it'd be a good place for users to put things like updates to their own sites or small reminders about meets that could be seen on the front page, stuff that they'd want to reach people with that might not merit full topics or even updates posted in ongoing threads.
Apologies if this has been requested before, but province shields as topic icons in the Canadian board would be nice! I also support the :shield: smileys suggestion.
The only problem with smileys for every major route is that they'll probably become abused if used in a post. It would be okay for avatars and message icons.
Photo uploads would be nice, but who's paying for that...?
Yes, the ability to upload images directly to the forum would be nice.
Wonder who will be the first to request a "Like" button?
Quote from: Darkchylde on September 11, 2014, 04:50:48 PM
Quote from: 1 on September 11, 2014, 04:41:00 PM
:i95: -> (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F6%2F61%2FI-95.svg%2F601px-I-95.svg.png&hash=c5d2e58a753143a42476a9b5eb2091df1a1c2954)
I agree with this. It's the most logical extension of the smiley function for a road forum. Start with Interstates and US highways and go from there.
The problem with adding things is y'all are limited by what SMF can support. I'd personally love to see some kind of "Recent Status Updates" type thing, but that's something I've only seen so far on an Invision-based board. In any case, it'd be a good place for users to put things like updates to their own sites or small reminders about meets that could be seen on the front page, stuff that they'd want to reach people with that might not merit full topics or even updates posted in ongoing threads.
I second the second. These icons would be a great improvement, especially given the forum subject.
I'd like to see an easier guide for how to submit pictures to the site. I have a few pictures of US 231 and US 431 I'd like to submit if I could figure out how.
Quote from: hbelkins on September 11, 2014, 10:52:42 PMWonder who will be the first to request a "Like" button?
I'll do the honors, but only for the Road Illustrations sub-forum:
Quote from: on_wisconsin on September 07, 2014, 06:28:50 AM
I am all for a like button (as long as there is no karma or points), especially for the Road Illustrations sub-forum. It would be a great way to show appreciation for someone's work when you don't necessarily have anything else to say.
Direct uploading would be great, if the web site an afford the space. It's fairly common for some fly by night picture hosting company to be down or gone, which makes the discussions impossible to follow.
Builtin interstate and US route logos would be pretty neat too.
I am all for direct uploading as well. It is a pain to have to go through an outside source as you currently must do.
I also think that maybe a child board in the General Highway Talk for just posting news articles about expansions, changes, or other topics of interests of roads. If it is local or regional, still use the regional boards, of course, but topics like I-49, I-69, etc. that are major as these local projects are part of a national change in the road system could be posted here along with other cool stuff of interest like MUTCD changes and what the FHWA is saying or planning.
This would be the ultimate, but not really necessary, but have popular route designation icons to post where we can grab and post rather than write out in text certain roads as 1 pointed out. Not every road, but most discussed interstates and US routes could help as it probably won't be too much to add if Darkchyld is correct in his view to the idea.
From reading 2009 and 2010 posts, images hosted here used to be allowed, but it got removed.
Some bbcode for embedding interactive maps (google, bing, mapquest, and/or openstreetmap) would be nice.
I'd really like to be able to 'paste' a picture into a reply.
Also, I have noticed at another site where pictures are stored elsewhere, that after a year or two, quite a few pictures 'evaporate'. I really hate that.
If we have some threads here that get called up from time to time (demolition and reconstruction of a particular interchange, for instance) it would be annoying to review the thread when the construction finished, and realize several of the tear down pics are lost and gone forever.
Definitely far from necessary, but I wouldn't mind seeing an expansion to the available animated smileys. Seems like the other forums I visit have a much larger library.
Quote from: DaBigE on September 16, 2014, 08:42:11 PM
Definitely far from necessary, but I wouldn't mind seeing an expansion to the available animated smileys. Seems like the other forums I visit have a much larger library.
We decided early on to limit the animated ones. They can get quite annoying quite quickly.
Quote from: on_wisconsin on September 12, 2014, 10:06:50 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on September 11, 2014, 10:52:42 PMWonder who will be the first to request a "Like" button?
I'll do the honors, but only for the Road Illustrations sub-forum:
Quote from: on_wisconsin on September 07, 2014, 06:28:50 AM
I am all for a like button (as long as there is no karma or points), especially for the Road Illustrations sub-forum. It would be a great way to show appreciation for someone's work when you don't necessarily have anything else to say.
This would also be great for the Road Trips subforum. I love reading everyone's logs, but rarely have anything to say about them. It would be good to know that they are appreciated!
There is a "thumbs up" smiley. Click "more" under the smiley gallery and there it is -- along with a "thumbs down" version, which would be the equivalent of the "dislike" button Facebook won't ever add.
:thumbsup: :thumbdown:
Quote from: hbelkins on October 21, 2014, 02:12:11 PM
There is a "thumbs up" smiley. Click "more" under the smiley gallery and there it is -- along with a "thumbs down" version, which would be the equivalent of the "dislike" button Facebook won't ever add.
:thumbsup: :thumbdown:
Just playing devil's advocate, (not saying that we have a rampant problem of this presently) but some might view just posting a smiley as a way to inflate a user's post count. Or, as thread bloat. A 'like' or 'agree' button could prevent that.
Quote from: DaBigE on October 21, 2014, 04:28:03 PM
some might view just posting a smiley as a way to inflate a user's post count.
<-- agree
Quote from: hbelkins on October 21, 2014, 02:12:11 PM
There is a "thumbs up" smiley. Click "more" under the smiley gallery and there it is -- along with a "thumbs down" version, which would be the equivalent of the "dislike" button Facebook won't ever add.
:thumbsup: :thumbdown:
Too much work. What is this, 2007?
Posts generally should contain more than just a smiley. If we see a number of thumbs up or thumbs down smileys to inflate post counts, they will be removed.
Quote from: formulanone on September 11, 2014, 09:33:56 PM
The only problem with smileys for every major route is that they'll probably become abused if used in a post. It would be okay for avatars and message icons.
I agree with this 100%. Having a thousand smilies in a post severely hinders readability.
Additionally, I often read this forum away from home, on my phone, using the Tapatalk app...which doesn't display the custom smilies. Having everything coded as :i95: and such would show up as code on the app, and would make it that much more difficult to read.
In an increasingly mobile society, I think any feature that would make the forums more functional and accessible on mobile devices would be considerably more beneficial than those which only improve the experience while on one's computer.
Quote from: cu2010 on October 21, 2014, 05:53:09 PM
Additionally, I often read this forum away from home, on my phone, using the Tapatalk app...which doesn't display the custom smilies. Having everything coded as :i95: and such would show up as code on the app, and would make it that much more difficult to read.
In an increasingly mobile society, I think any feature that would make the forums more functional and accessible on mobile devices would be considerably more beneficial than those who only improve the experience while on one's computer.
I access the forum on my phone about 75% of the time I access it. I'm on it a lot at school (may or may not be during class :sombrero: ), and I also go on the forum a lot after Im in bed.
Idk about the rest of yall, but I can say I personally access this forum on mobile
a lot.EDIT: Also, I actually don't use Tapatalk (I don't even really know what it is). I actually have a shortcut to the forum whenever I enter my Safari app. Here's a little what it looks like: https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/127322363@N08/14975648773/
Tapatalk is an app that serves as a mobile platform for many online forums. It is much easier to use on a mobile phone than the regular AARoads site. There'a tradeoff of the loss of most of the formatting buttons, but I think most users' formatting is limited enough that typing a few tags in is not a big deal.
Quote from: 1 on September 13, 2014, 12:05:40 PM
From reading 2009 and 2010 posts, images hosted here used to be allowed, but it got removed.
That's because it kept being abused with giant images that kept overloading the file space that was set aside on the server for attachments.
Now that we have an active user from Mexico, it would be nice to have a Mexico tab instead of posting Mexico road information in international highways.
Quote from: US 41 on October 21, 2014, 08:09:07 PM
Now that we have an active user from Mexico, it would be nice to have a Mexico tab instead of posting Mexico road information in international highways.
We do? I haven't noticed one.
Yes jbte. He's been giving me advice on where to go in Mexico. He's been a huge help. I think he lives in the estado of Zacatecas. He also posted pictures of his road trip to Copper canyon.
Quote from: US 41 on October 21, 2014, 08:09:07 PM
Now that we have an active user from Mexico, it would be nice to have a Mexico tab instead of posting Mexico road information in international highways.
There needs to be a demand for a sub-forum to be made. It seems that Mexican roads are at a very low point of interest for most of the users here, which is why there isn't one.
I might wait until more people who reside in Mexico join the forum, if they do, before a Mexico regional sub-forum is created.
Quote from: DaBigE on October 21, 2014, 04:28:03 PM
Just playing devil's advocate, (not saying that we have a rampant problem of this presently) but some might view just posting a smiley as a way to inflate a user's post count.
Are there people who actually care about their post count? I couldn't care less. I don't even know what mine is.
Quote from: US 41 on October 21, 2014, 08:09:07 PM
Now that we have an active user from Mexico, it would be nice to have a Mexico tab instead of posting Mexico road information in international highways.
Maybe split the International Highways area into sections: "Latin America & The Caribbean" (Mexico, Central America, South America, Caribbean Islands), "Europe, Asia, & Africa", and "Australia & Oceania" as we do have more posts about Mexico, Europe, and Australia than the others.
Quote from: hbelkins on October 21, 2014, 08:58:04 PM
Quote from: DaBigE on October 21, 2014, 04:28:03 PM
Just playing devil's advocate, (not saying that we have a rampant problem of this presently) but some might view just posting a smiley as a way to inflate a user's post count.
Are there people who actually care about their post count? I couldn't care less. I don't even know what mine is.
And all of that posting about post counts has disappeared. Let's keep it that way.
Quote from: rickmastfan67 on October 21, 2014, 07:36:39 PM
Quote from: 1 on September 13, 2014, 12:05:40 PM
From reading 2009 and 2010 posts, images hosted here used to be allowed, but it got removed.
That's because it kept being abused with giant images that kept overloading the file space that was set aside on the server for attachments.
Also, with Flickr now offering a terabyte of free space to host images, one would argue that hosting giant images would be obsolete (although Flickr allowed a maximum of 200 images for free accounts for the longest time).
The Road Illustrations sub-forum needs a like button (as long as there is no karma or points). It would be a great way to show appreciation for someone's work when you don't necessarily have anything else to say.