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Perhaps something that could help

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Razgriz

Razgriz

Shall we write beautiful stories together?
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Joined
Jan 27, 2011
Now, I forgive if this steps on any toes, but given the space constraints that BMR is experiencing, I was thinking that reinstating the ability of thread-authors to delete any of their threads that are really old themselves and haven't seen a reply in some time might help clear up some of the clutter on this site.

This way, mods and admins won't be getting bombarded with requests to delete threads and there won't be as much confusion as to what gets deleted and what doesn't.

Like I said, just an idea. Maybe I'm missing something that would make this a completely unacceptable solution, but....yeah, I'll stop rambling now, hehe.
 
No, Raz, it's ok to ask about this......

The reason that this was taken away is simple. Members were abusing it and deleting things that they shouldn't and had not right to seriously delete. Just because a thread author created a thread, doesn't always mean that they have the most sound judgment in when to use and/or refrain from using that ability. It's far too easy for some to just up and use it and not look at the bigger picture and think about who their actions might be affecting and what the repercussions of their actions might mean. And then, in the end, this actually causes staff more issues because we then get bombarded with PMs from members saying that so-and-so deleted their posts on them without permission, that all of their creative works were lost, that they are upset, that they want it back, etc. FORTUNATELY, these things can indeed be retrieved. But it does take time to for administration to dig through and then re-post. So, you see, that can be an issue in and of itself. That said, in the end, I'd rather get a PM from someone with a simple link saying..... "please delete this thread". It requires me to merely scroll down and click a check box and then a single button. Done. No hassle. Two seconds of my time. :)
 
Other things that I assume would help include:
  • Removing the option of uploading avatars (removes the space it takes for the site to host the image, rather than hosting it off-site)
  • Removing unused forums (PVP is locked, and honestly I think it gives a bad impression of the site, so why not remove it all together?)
  • Deleting unused accounts (Registered, but never logged in again, or never posted (such as the "Dust" accounts)

You could also promote the Supporter tags, a monthly (or bi-monthly) announcement reminding people that donations are appreciated, and give special perks to those who support, like bumping Supporters up to 750 PM's, rather than just 500 that regular members get.
 
Staff is already brainstorming ideas to help alleviate the stresses of space and quite a number of these ideas are ones we're already considering. But please keep ideas coming as the suggestions are very helpful. :)
 
Yeah I'm sure a bunch of little things will help. I'm all for limiting image sizes and uploading to the site.

One thing I personally think might help the PM issue is instead of when people delete stuff from their inbox and sent box, it's deleted for good... as opposed to essentially moving to what is another folder, simply get a warning pop up that's pretty much says "Are you sure? Because once you click yes, these will be gone for good." Or just keep the trash can and make it so that every week or so, it automatically cleans itself out... if that's possible.
 
Another suggestion for how to save space is to change the PM display into something similar to Gmail's conversation style, where you can see the hole discussion at once. Sort of like a private thread, in other words. That would eliminate the need to have numerous nested cites in every single message. The amount of data used to store a conversation would grow linearly instead of geometrically.

Also, storing the same PM both as a sent message at the sender and a received message at the receiver sounds like a waste of space to me. I'm not sure that this is actually done, but I suspect that since you encourage people to delete their sent messages.

Off course these are just suggestions and thoughts, and I understand that they are both might require some reprogramming to implement and therefore might not be the best ideas.
 
In talking to Vek about stuff, it's not so much space in the traditional sense as it is load. So threads and posts as they are, are fine. But when threads get large, that can be an issue especially when they are highly traffic'd. So threads like 'Random Info' which has exceeded 10k posts and going strong is an issue. Our PM system is also an issue since there currently is no cap (though it is coming) and is used daily not to mention nightly. Since no one feels the need to clean it out (and this includes the inbox, sent box, trash box and any folder you may have created within, etc ALL taken together), it also causes issues. If, while we wait for the cap, people would actually clean out their PMs rather than wait for the cap, that would be helpful. And, if when we get the cap, people try to actually stay below it rather than hover close to its limit, that too would be helpful.

Hope this helps clarify some things. I know it did even for myself. I'm no techie, so I found it beneficial even for me. :)
 
Oh, so it is the same problem as before.

FYI, so everyone knows the stakes.

Running the forum itself isn't terribly load intensive... What is, is the chat. Now, back in the day, I remember going tooth and nail with Vek over the fate of the chat - I saw it as an integral part of the community, and he saw it as a poorly-designed resource hog.

Problem is, we're both right. Secondary problem is that the situation is deteriorating as the site grows and activity increases. There's only one real, long-term solution to this problem.

MONEY!!!

I don't know what Vek's current link for donations is, perhaps DA can help with that.

Also, excuses for why you can't donate are even less then useless. Skip 'em. Nobody's gonna punish you for not ponying up - You'll just have to live with the guilt when the chat is disabled, and one by one, other forum features are stripped out because you just couldn't be arsed to throw a few bucks at the man who hosts a site you use every day, for free, swallowing the thousands of dollars of running costs without a word of complaint.

(okay that last part may have come on a bit strong. srsly, not being able to donate isn't a big deal)
 
The chat is a good way to bring community together, but it does hog up a lot. Can't the chat be linked to, elsewhere? A free service, or something? I'm not sure. Not every knowledgable with these things.

I do know that there is a huge difference between people who can't donate, and people who can, but don't. A lot of people live on fixed income, and don't have anything to spare. Others can, but don't. So instead of getting a large double mocha latte from the coffee shop - get a small, pocket the change, and give it away. Give it to people who deserve it, like this site, for providing you free entertainment and a place to come together. Five dollars a month could be spared, if you think about it, for those who can but don't. And I will, as soon as I get paid tomorrow, (and if I can get that donation link) because I can live without McDonald's for lunch for a day. McDonald's isn't going anywhere. But this site will, it'll be going and gone, unless people step up and support.
 
We tried free alternatives. They're universally awful, and none of them operate in the always-open topbar, which was a stringent requirement of mine. Having the chat -always there- instead of behind a few clicks makes a lot of difference in actually getting people IN the damn thing, and once people are in the chat, they talk, which keeps them online for longer, which drives up site metrics.

At least, that was my logic at the time - It's no longer up to me and current management may make a different call.
 
Has cbox.ws been suggested? It's a pay-for service, but for what you get, I think it's pretty good. Includes user integration, which I'd assume is a big thing here, ad-free if you pay for it, works at high capacity. Ah, hell, here is the features link.

It's $2 a month, flat rate, discounts given if purchasing for more than a month at a time. While it doesn't come with the tab at the top, you can easily do so with html coding to add a tab that opens and closes it.
 
When you say 'easily' it makes me think you're either A) Very uninformed or B) Actually quite skilled in which case PLEASE CONTACT VEK NOW THIS SITE NEEDS A DEDICATED PROGRAMMER THREE YEARS AGO.
 
What Try said. :)

Seriously, if you do have programming skills, do not hesitate to hit Vek up and shoot him a PM. He could use the help. *nod*
 
I honestly don't have a lot of experience with MyBB, but I know how to add a collapsible shoutbox to the page. If it were to be placed in the same position as the existing one, I'd use this.

Add before the end </body> tag:
Code: 
<div id='vertical-toggle'>
<ul></ul>
</div>
<div id='chatter' style='display:none;'>
<!--PUT IN YOUR CBOX/SHOUTBOX ETC CODE HERE-->
</div>
<script type='text/javascript'>
/**code written by kismet of RPG-Directory.com**/
$('vertical-toggle').observe('click', function(){ $('chatter').toggle(); });</script>

And then this into the CSS:
Code: 
#vertical-toggle {
position: fixed;
top: 35px;
right: 0px;
height: 250px;
-webkit-border-radius: 15px;
-moz-border-radius: 15px;
border-radius: 15px;
background-image: url(http://bluemoonroleplaying.com/forums/images/acopen.png);
background-color: #??????;
cursor: pointer;
padding: 0px 5px;
}
#vertical-toggle ul {
list-style: none;
font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 11px;
color: #888;
text-align: center;
padding: 5px;
margin: 0px;
margin-top: 50px;
}
 
#chatter {
padding: 10px;
background-image: url(http://bluemoonroleplaying.com/forums/images/acclose.png);
background-color: #??????;
border: 1px solid #d4d0d9;
position: fixed;
top: 35px;
right: 35px;
z-index: 100;
}

I couldn't test it out, since I don't have a spare MyBB board just to play around with, but I did test it on one of my sites. Since there isn't an actual chatbox in there yet, it won't 'work'. If you add the cbox codes, it will work, though.
 
...I definitely added B as an afterthought to be nice. I apologize for my presumption. As DA said, you really should contact Vek.
 
Ha! No worries. Like I said, I don't totally know what I'm talking about. I know some basic things, a few complicated things, but I'm no expert and definitely not a professional. I taught myself, through reading other documentations.

Anyway, sent a PM to Vekseid. I hope this'll help out some. ^^
 
Razgriz said:
Now, I forgive if this steps on any toes, but given the space constraints that BMR is experiencing, I was thinking that reinstating the ability of thread-authors to delete any of their threads that are really old themselves and haven't seen a reply in some time might help clear up some of the clutter on this site.

This way, mods and admins won't be getting bombarded with requests to delete threads and there won't be as much confusion as to what gets deleted and what doesn't.

Like I said, just an idea. Maybe I'm missing something that would make this a completely unacceptable solution, but....yeah, I'll stop rambling now, hehe.
Click to expand...

There are absolutely zero issues with the number of threads, or the number of overall posts. For very large threads (over 10,000 posts or so), there is a problem at the moment, but locking and splitting these is fine.

It's not a 'space' problem. We have plenty of 'space'. The problem has to do with the fact that, specifically, private messages in MyBB and to a lesser extent forum software in general are implemented in a fashion that could be best described as 'moronic'.

Why is there an AJAX chat on BMR and not on Elliquiy? Simple - the converse is true regarding user integration. It's done well enough on BMR that the ajax chat is actually not that big of a deal, even though it represents more php requests than everything else I'm running on the server combined - including Elliquiy.

Even then, I'm going to be fundraising for a new server (both here and on E), that would make this entire problem moot. Blue Moon is getting close to Elliquiy's size as it was when we first started hosting BMR, and E herself has grown.

In addition I've also been working on new software for the site, that will go live on BMR first, that removes the ridiculous overhead that PM usage on BMR imposes.

In short:

1) Post to your heart's content. If you have or see a thread over 10,000 posts, may want to ask about getting it split.
2) Use the ajax chat to your heart's content.
3) The PM system on the other hand is borked - and only moderately less so on Elliquiy than BMR here.
4) #3 won't be an issue on a new server, at least for a few years.
5) So doing a fundraiser is going to happen soon (tm).
 
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