Forum Suggestions
Suggestion: bumping button or perhaps permission to bump using post
If it's a button, I understand it's more about technical. On the other hand, permission to bump a non-RP thread using manual post is easier.
What this is for: just like on Facebook if you "bump" a post - to make it go up when actually you've nothing to add to the post itself but just want to make sure others can see it easier.
Why: for games and OC threads such as clubs that can easily be buried among "hundreds" of others. You feel like you're the only one playing it and you want to encourage others... or you're managing a club but seems like nobody wants to join - but you really don't know what new post to make! (It doesn't look professional to keep typing "we're waiting for new members" on your club thread.)
Restriction: can only be used for a thread that hasn't been replied for a certain period of time (for instance one month full). Because otherwise, people will keep on bumping up their thread (even the active ones) just to make sure it's on the top of the list.
What this is for: just like on Facebook if you "bump" a post - to make it go up when actually you've nothing to add to the post itself but just want to make sure others can see it easier.
Why: for games and OC threads such as clubs that can easily be buried among "hundreds" of others. You feel like you're the only one playing it and you want to encourage others... or you're managing a club but seems like nobody wants to join - but you really don't know what new post to make! (It doesn't look professional to keep typing "we're waiting for new members" on your club thread.)
Restriction: can only be used for a thread that hasn't been replied for a certain period of time (for instance one month full). Because otherwise, people will keep on bumping up their thread (even the active ones) just to make sure it's on the top of the list.
Henry Llewellyn
Forum Suggestions
This suggestion is kind of based on a system one of my old RP sites had in place. There was an area where you could go to work on writing skills specific to RP (i.e. Fodder, Give and Take, God Modding, etc.).
There would be a pinned/main thread with the instructions at the top (rules, rewards, description of each component, etc) and then people could claim the component they’re working on (there would be a required order for the components) and then tag the mod in charge when they completed the component. Each component would require three links to posts/replies where the skill was demonstrated and an explanation as to why the person believed they had met the requirement. I don’t remember all the skills that were used on the old site, but I have made a list of nine skills that could be used. This would allow people to take their time to work through each skill. Ideally, this would result in fuller, deeper posts and replies instead of posts reaching the 200 word minimum and calling it good.
Once the component would be completed, they’d edit their post with the links and a tag for the mod in charge. This would mean they’d need a new post for every component they worked on, but would allow us to know that the three links posts were from after they learned about the challenge, and not a post they went backward in time to find. The mod would then approve them for the reward or give feedback about how they could improve.
This could be a fun way to earn a few extra coins. I’m aware there used to be a system similar in place on here, though I don’t know the extent of it, just that it wasn’t very popular. Just wanted to throw this out there, because I remember it being a big hit on the site I remember it from.
There would be a pinned/main thread with the instructions at the top (rules, rewards, description of each component, etc) and then people could claim the component they’re working on (there would be a required order for the components) and then tag the mod in charge when they completed the component. Each component would require three links to posts/replies where the skill was demonstrated and an explanation as to why the person believed they had met the requirement. I don’t remember all the skills that were used on the old site, but I have made a list of nine skills that could be used. This would allow people to take their time to work through each skill. Ideally, this would result in fuller, deeper posts and replies instead of posts reaching the 200 word minimum and calling it good.
Once the component would be completed, they’d edit their post with the links and a tag for the mod in charge. This would mean they’d need a new post for every component they worked on, but would allow us to know that the three links posts were from after they learned about the challenge, and not a post they went backward in time to find. The mod would then approve them for the reward or give feedback about how they could improve.
This could be a fun way to earn a few extra coins. I’m aware there used to be a system similar in place on here, though I don’t know the extent of it, just that it wasn’t very popular. Just wanted to throw this out there, because I remember it being a big hit on the site I remember it from.
Forum Suggestions
The problem with bumping threads is that every player wants to be near or on the top of the page. Managing when someone bumped last would be a difficult task for the staff to complete.
There is something about ambition, how it not only propels you but also defines you.
There is something about ambition, how it not only propels you but also defines you.
Forum Suggestions
I have a couple suggestions for the site that I thought I'd get out all at once.
1. I think it would look at bit better if there was more space between the button to go forward/backward one page and the button to bring you to the start/end of the thread. The way it is now, a brief glance makes it look like there is just one button with three arrows. This isn't a big thing by any means, but it might make the site a bit more user-intuitive. (Note: They look much closer together on the actual site than in the below screenshot because they're smaller)
Reducio
2. Another formatting thing is if the search options could look a bit more like drop-downs instead of just a list of information. I didn't even realize they did anything until I accidentally clicked on one of them. Maybe if there was an outline around each option or something, it would be more obvious? I'm not sure.
Reducio
3. Also with the search screen, it would be amazing to have a way to search for a specific forum in the filters. There are a lot of forums and subforms to scroll through in such a small place, and although it will probably be a lot of work to implement, I think it might be worth it. I understand that Zachary is really busy, and don't expect this to be done any time soon, but I might as well plant the seed for the idea.
Reducio
4. A quick-link at the bottom of the site to your drafts page would make life a lot easier. As it is, you have to first go to the "favorites" page, then go to the dropdown at the top and click on the "drafts" option. As someone who does most of their writing in a stop-and-start fashion, adding the quick-link and taking out that extra step would be super helpful. If the extra link in the footer doesn't fit on mobile devices, a solution might be to just hide it on smaller screens. Having the quick-link some of the time is still better than none of the time.
Reducio
5. I honestly have no idea how hard it would be to implement this, but an alert for when you try to leave a page with unsaved changes to a draft would be really helpful. I know a lot of people just write their replies elsewhere, like Microsoft Word of a Google Document, but this would help the site be less reliant on other services. I think I've heard other suggestions about having an auto-save feature, but I feel like this might be easier to implement. If not, feel free to correct me. (The screenshot below is an example of what I'm thinking about from Desmos, an online graphing calculator)
Reducio
6. This isn't a coding suggestion, but could moderators just make it a habit to owl players when trunk updates, ability applications, prodigal spells, etc. are accepted, similar to the owls sent when a thread is locked? I feel like I've seen other suggestions about getting notifications when moderators edit posts, but I feel like this would be much easier to implement because it doesn't involve coding, and it shouldn't be too much harder for moderators either.
This site is amazing, and I appreciate each and every person who has put time into making it as awesome as it is!
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein
STA: 4 | EVA: 4 | STR: 3 | WIS: 9 | ARC: 8 | ACC: 7
Forum Suggestions
The thing here is strain this puts on the site. Zach made many attempts at lessening the load on the pages to make the site overall faster and more reliant. Like how the page for entering your house is a separate thing now instead of something that is loaded from the current page you are on.Robert Toukmond wrote: 28 Jan 2021, 01:37 5. I honestly have no idea how hard it would be to implement this, but an alert for when you try to leave a page with unsaved changes to a draft would be really helpful. I know a lot of people just write their replies elsewhere, like Microsoft Word of a Google Document, but this would help the site be less reliant on other services. I think I've heard other suggestions about having an auto-save feature, but I feel like this might be easier to implement. If not, feel free to correct me. (The screenshot below is an example of what I'm thinking about from Desmos, an online graphing calculator)
Reducio
Autosave is an active feature that needs to run in the background at all times. Not to mention that it would autosave everything you write into drafts, creating huge amounts of data that would need to be stored somewhere. We stopped hosting our own images because it was too much data for the server less than 1 year in. This has a very very low probability of being feasible.
The answer to this is no. The reason: what appears to be quick and easy for you as an individual player, is a lot of work for every single Index moderator.6. This isn't a coding suggestion, but could moderators just make it a habit to owl players when trunk updates, ability applications, prodigal spells, etc. are accepted, similar to the owls sent when a thread is locked? I feel like I've seen other suggestions about getting notifications when moderators edit posts, but I feel like this would be much easier to implement because it doesn't involve coding, and it shouldn't be too much harder for moderators either.
We used to send and owl for every approval we did in Index. With our current (growing) player population, this isn't possible anymore. If every owl takes 2 min and a moderator does 10 approvals in a row, that's 20 minutes of owls. This ignores people who actually need to change things about their application or need to be contacted for other reasons. It also ignores the time to do the actual work. It's on-top of everything else that needs to be done. Unofortunstely, the sheer workload isn't proportional to the gain when the person in question can check for themselves whether or not their application was accepted.
Owls for closed threads might also not be a thing anymore at some point in the future.
Cu ochii deschiși.
Forum Suggestions
Something Elaine said piqued my interest: “Owls for closed threads might also not be a thing anymore in the future.”
And I’ve been wanting to suggest getting rid of that for a while, actually. In its place, perhaps an auto-lock feature for threads that haven’t received a reply in over a month (only those labeled as RPG, of course)? I still think it’d be a good idea to notify the players though, so maybe the notification can be sent to poster and all participants through remembrall or a new Howler so that it’s kept separate from the rest of notifications? I think by owl would be annoying and a closing post left by a Game Master-esque account wouldn’t work either because it’d bump the thread to the top of the unread list. Of course, pay no mind to this suggestion if I’m dreaming too hard. I don’t have the technical knowledge to gauge the difficulty of this request, or whether it’s even possible at all with the code.
It would make prefecting a lot easier though! We’d still have to patrol the content itself, change topic types, word count, opening threads, etc. but roleplay threads would close on their own now and the forum would stay a lot cleaner without the room for human error.
Forum Suggestions
This is a suggestion for the discord, I have no idea where to put it, as the suggestion channel on the server was closed 
My suggestion is a roll channel to be used by non-staff players as well. The bot spam is open to everyone and for everything bot-related and I remember how my modded event last year was a little annoying to roll because some people kept spamming pet stuff between my action rolls so I had to scroll quite high up when I wanted to write a modpost, so I could find my rolls. I just feel like it would be a lot easier to have a separate channel only for rolls, when people want to roll actions in their threads.
My suggestion is a roll channel to be used by non-staff players as well. The bot spam is open to everyone and for everything bot-related and I remember how my modded event last year was a little annoying to roll because some people kept spamming pet stuff between my action rolls so I had to scroll quite high up when I wanted to write a modpost, so I could find my rolls. I just feel like it would be a lot easier to have a separate channel only for rolls, when people want to roll actions in their threads.
Forum Suggestions
Hi! Several ideas here seem very relevant to me. Some of them (like putting an alert if you have unsaved modifications) are even very simple.
To continue to centralize the things that concern me (because I often don't see them, or I forget them!), I created a topic : viewtopic.php?f=311&t=15378
Feel free to copy the previous ideas in it. The current topic can continue for topics that do not concern me (site life, animations, etc.).
Thank you to all for your implication!
To continue to centralize the things that concern me (because I often don't see them, or I forget them!), I created a topic : viewtopic.php?f=311&t=15378
Feel free to copy the previous ideas in it. The current topic can continue for topics that do not concern me (site life, animations, etc.).
Thank you to all for your implication!
Forum Suggestions
I was just about to propose an alert for unsaved content! : )
There's another thing, about the owl/notification thing @Robert Toukmond and Prof @Elaine Pendrast discussed - the one about approval, updated trunk, etc. Instead of owling each player, I think we can mention in the very first post something like, "Please periodically check your post of application to see whether or not an admin has approved it." IMO one of the difficulties for new players is that they aren't aware of this and thus get bored while waiting for a notification, resulting in them leaving the site while actually their character/ability/etc has been approved.
There's another thing, about the owl/notification thing @Robert Toukmond and Prof @Elaine Pendrast discussed - the one about approval, updated trunk, etc. Instead of owling each player, I think we can mention in the very first post something like, "Please periodically check your post of application to see whether or not an admin has approved it." IMO one of the difficulties for new players is that they aren't aware of this and thus get bored while waiting for a notification, resulting in them leaving the site while actually their character/ability/etc has been approved.
Forum Suggestions
Hey, this is more of a site rules thing- but I've heard of a couple of people who make plans/suggest/want to switch characters every six months, which is something the site allows.
I know this is not the intention of the site and it is very discouraged. I am also aware you can only deactivate and switch to a new character if you have been active with the first character for at least six months, discouraging this even more. You can only have one character, and are allowed to deactivate it and change to another one, but only if you've been active for six months, and change back to your original after six months if you deactivate that one (and keep switching like this every six months), but some people are intentionally switching characters every six months, which I feel like is not a very good idea. That character disappears for those six months, and thus disappears from the characters' around its' lives, which can be difficult to write and keep up with, as well as just overall very disappointing to know you won't be role playing with that person for the next six months, and any character development that relied on that character won't be happening with them. And, the user will probably miss graduation as their character is not in the index, messing up all kinds of plots. It overall gives a worse experience to everyone involved.
Maybe this is mean or too much to ask, but maybe we could put a limit on how many times you can switch between characters? Probably wouldn't be a very small or big number, maybe four or five?
I am expecting for this idea to be declined, but I thought I would propose it anyway. Just a very loose idea, thanks so much for reading