The ability to put threads on an ignore list, like we can people, would be a huge asset.

 

I personally dislike the fuckton of trolling and flaming a thumbs-down button would cause. I'd rather we kept it positive with the thumbs-up and leave it at that.

If you have real problems with another person's post respond to them, don't give a little thumbs-down that explains nothing. If it's important or on-topic enough you can post, if not it's probably not worth it.

EDIT: I'm all for some sort of restriction on the For Review. Be it a time-restriction or a post restriction (or both). There have been far too many people who seem to join to post silly shit, to the point where I can't remember the last time I found something passable in the For Review.

 

In this case, what we could have is a specialized tagging system for OPs, single-post tagging or something.

For example, and with shameless advertising, when I add on the second chapter to Clock With No Hands, I can tag that single post with a specialized tag reserved only for me, being the OP. That way, if someone reading the story wanted to, they'd be able to click on that tag and read all the updates from beginning to end, all the untagged posts being filtered out.

Maybe even have the story and the comments side by side in a split screen (with word wrap enabled, of course), so people can compare the fic with the comments and/or discussions.

But yeah, my point is you all should go read Clock With No Hands in the WbA section and leave me some feedback. :awesome

 

Best idea in the thread.


Since I mostly use the mobile theme, here's some suggestions for that:

- a link to "New Posts". This is my main way of browsing the forums and there's no good way to get to it from the mobile theme. I've resorted to typing the whole URL (http://forums.darklordpotter.net/search.php?do=getnew - I know it by heart now ) every single damn time. My thumbs are killing me.

- a Home button inside threads. Having to push "Back" a bunch of times is awkward and sometimes slow.

- Make it so external links don't open in new windows. There's a lot of good reasons for links not to open in new windows... but the most important from my perspective is that it breaks the browser on my Kindle! Basically any link to ff.net, PC, etc. just doesn't work on the Kindle.

 

Maybe integrate DLP and PC along the lines of, when a story is posted on PC, a thread is made on DLP and is separated into two subthreads, the main story and the discussion, meaning an author could post a story either here on DLP or on PC, a thread is made, each chapter posted either on here or on PC is on both in the right place and comments/reviews and discussion are in the review section on the story and in the discussion subthread.

Maybe make an achieve forum and appropriate subsections for stories older than 3 years? That way the library is still kept but mainly newer stories are kept in the main library and library worthy older stories from ages ago are put in the achieve.

Either way, make a PC DLP theme or integrate PC so a DLP thread is made, much easier to read.

 

Right top corner of the thread -> Display Modes -> Threaded.

It's already there. For years.


Btw:
Library purge - I'm all for it. I agree with Vash, nobody is the same person they were a few years ago, but I don't see the point of keeping the (now) shitty stories just for old times sake. Maybe make a new category, "retired stories", and move them there.

Thumbs down - Please do that. Please.

 

I'm against the thumbs down option mainly because it'd lead to the same shitstorm that negreps led to: bandwagoning.

And I have an idea for a feature: Random story recs. Every day, the forum (the forum itself, not the users) will pick out one random thread from the various sub-fora (sub-forii? forums?) of the library and have a banner up top that says, "Have you read (so and so) by (so and so)?" or something to that effect. It might garner interest in threads that have long since rotted away, maybe breathe new life into them. Plus it may give those of us who are bored something new to read, or at least something novel (no pun intended).

A side benefit of this would be to cull the fics that are no longer posted on their respective websites, since I would imagine that the users would be fairly quick to point out that a link is broken.

 

For the introduction: You should make that part of the profile. So everybody can have an introduction and only those look at it who are interested in the person.

 

I was thinking about how the WBA system could be improved a while back, and I figured that, if there were no "limits" to the amount of new coding, it could go like this:

1. The main meat of the system wouldn't be forum-based - it'd be closer to PC or FF, but optimized for WBA submissions...

2. The system would not only divide by chapters, but it would also save revisions of chapters, so the author and the users could compare old versions of a chapter to the most recent version.

3. The system would allow authors and registered users to leave spot notes. They'd be footnote-style (in the style of wikipedia footnotes) or pop-up style. The idea is that if a reader or author has a comment to make about a specific point in the text, they can leave it right there. This would be especially useful for the more mechanical corrections, like spelling/grammar/punctuation.

4. Submitting your new story to the system would automatically make a thread here in the WBA board, with a link to the story inside the post. The forum threads would continue to be used in the standard way, for the more general comments and criticism. Threads should be a bit less cluttered with the spelling/grammar correction stuff out of the way.

 

So, basically integrate PC into DLP and make it more DLPish.

 

Assimilate. Assimilate.

 

Yeah, right. As if that was going to be used moderately... much like rep, amirite?

On the topic of reputation, the only reasonable implementation would be to make it non-accumulative, like the thumbs up. And in that case, you can just as easily keep rep out and keep the thumbs up. It's a much better system anyway.

As for WbA, the ideal solution would be wholesome immersion of PC into DLP. I'd settle for the "chapter"-tag proposed by knuckz, with the OP marking the posts, and a button for "read chapter-posts only".

As for For-Review-requirements; I'd support a requirement of 10 posts. It's sufficient for peer-review of the poster before and enough to keep the "one-post-wonders" away.

Random-fic-rec-announcement: I approve of this. It would bring some life into the library and a less forcible way of re-reviewing old fics.

 

I honestly don't want PC and DLP integrated. PC is a repository of fics, DLP is a place to discuss them. A lot of shitty fics get posted on PC, and I don't want to have to read through the enormous clutter of bullshit posted to find something worth reading.

The idea I do love though, is the WBA changes proposed. One thread for the story, one thread for the comments.

 

I think a thumbs down button could be good, but it would need to be carefully done. If users were given, say, one down thumb a week, that could work to prevent abuse. It would mean that thumbs down were reserved for the really monumentally dumb posts, and couldn't be used to mass spam thumbs down.

I'm agree with Vash regarding the re-rating idea. Not only for the reasons he gives, but also because I doubt that many people will be willing to read and rate stories from ages back that they've already read. All that'll happen is that we'll end up with an empty library and all the fics sitting in For Review for eternity.

 

I disagree, if someone did something monumentally dumb, people would reply anyway, just like they do with thumbs up and totally awesome posts. The whole purpose of thumbs up (and down) is to say "that's cool (dumb), but not enough to warrant spamming the topic".

 

If thumbs-down were added (or even if not), perhaps also a filter to only view posts above a user-defined based number of thumbs-up/down.

I don't always have time to read a gazillion posts in a long thread, but being able to skim the handful of top-rated posts would be handy. Also, stuff that's really stupid could be thumb-chucked below threshold and I'd never have to see it.

 

On the topic of separate subthreads for Story and Reviews in WBA:

Since I started this back in the day with Dresden WBA when bitches were flaming every reviewer in Shezza's story thread I think I can speak with some authority that this turns out to be very bad. One, the reviews fall significantly, because having to click to one extra thread apparently is too much for most and the lazy bastards will not comment.
And two, given that the whole point of WBA is feedback for improvement, it defeats the purpose. We have PC for chapters and separate reviews.

I think a balanced approach is to have the author tag his/her chapter posts with a 'chapter' tag like someone above suggested.

The other way cuts down feedback dramatically. Trust me.

Other suggestions: I don't know if this is possible, but it would be great if we could have a button on the main page menu (instead of inside the CP) which turns off images/avas/sigs.

I browse often from public work type places where I can't afford a faux pas of having a chick's ass hanging out in a sig and having to explain it. So it would be really convenient if you're at a library you can quickly click the "no img" button on the menu bar and go about browsing without having to log in necessarily and drill down in the cp to change your settings.

Added benefit would be that when you're somewhere with a slower connection the board will load faster.

 

1. Thumbs Down button.
2. Real-time thread updates (possible?)
3. Library purge
4. Mandatory link to "About Me" section of Noob profiles until a certain number of posts are reached.

EDIT: Sorry KrzaQ. I (a) wasn't clear, and (b) forgot that profile comments and the 'about me' section aren't connected.

Since intro thread is gone, I envisioned a prompt for new members to do their "Intro" in the 'About Me' section, with a fixed link to said section in their signature until a certain postcount is reached. Then, the rest of us could comment however we wanted - but since comments can be moderated by the user, they get the power to edit/delete those more inclined to troll.

After the predetermined postcount is reached, the intro/about me is shifted to its own tab in the user cp, and the profile comments returns to it's normal state.

 

What do you mean by 4?

About the minimum post number requirement for For Review: I think the number can be as low as 5, just enough for them to get the gist of DLP.

 

I would read old stories, actually. I'm all for reviewing the old stories again, seeing as quite a few of them don't even have stars on them, or even 4 for that matter.