What would you like to see improved on this board?

[The Chief]

Alright alright guys this isn't a thread for spewing venom at other teams.  Some people don't like the Orioles, some people do, and others are indifferent or don't mind them.  Everyone is entitled to their own way.  Let's try to focus on suggestions and keep the Oriole discussion to another topic

[AuRevoirExpos]

A section with useful links, both to Nats team media coverage sites (CBS, ESPN, Fox etc) and other Nats fan sites/blogs.

Personally I'd also love you to have an arcade with a few fun games, it would keep members logged on to the board for longer periods so debate would improve, and replies to threads would be more spontaneous as we'd see each other's posts much sooner!

[shoeshineboy]

I'd like to see some improvement in the scanning through posts. The nice thing about the other forum is that it is easy to see threads that you have posted to, when threads are updated, and then easily scan to the latest posts. I find that tougher here. I end up needing to check the dates and then scan through everything I have read before. (I may be missing something, but just the overall usability could be improved. I will check out the dev version.)

[PC]

Completely unrelated to the board content, how about adding a favicon?  For some reason, the favicon listing in Firefox is the CBS logo.  

I suppose the Nationals would frown upon using a Nats logo?  :wink:

Though they shouldn't mind because the favicon for the official Nationals site is the MLB logo!

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Completely unrelated to the board content, how about adding a favicon?  For some reason, the favicon listing in Firefox is the CBS logo.  

I suppose the Nationals would frown upon using a Nats logo?  :wink:

Though they shouldn't mind because the favicon for the official Nationals site is the MLB logo!

Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing a change up of the Emoticons either.  A thumbs up/thumbs down one, one shaking its head no, a stinky piece of poo, something different added to what we already have.

I need to show my emotions with little faces.

[The Chief]

A section with useful links, both to Nats team media coverage sites (CBS, ESPN, Fox etc) and other Nats fan sites/blogs.

Personally I'd also love you to have an arcade with a few fun games, it would keep members logged on to the board for longer periods so debate would improve, and replies to threads would be more spontaneous as we'd see each other's posts much sooner!

Those ideas have been tossed around before and it basically boils down to me needing help making a page that isn't part of the forum (in other words, extending the site beyond just the forum)

I'd like to see some improvement in the scanning through posts. The nice thing about the other forum is that it is easy to see threads that you have posted to, when threads are updated, and then easily scan to the latest posts. I find that tougher here. I end up needing to check the dates and then scan through everything I have read before. (I may be missing something, but just the overall usability could be improved. I will check out the dev version.)

You know that there's a link that will take you to the most recent post in a thread, right?



The link highlighted by the orange rectangle in the image above will always take you to the most recent post and is shown from all thread-views (forum, new post listing, main index, etc)

The only other thing that I can think of that you might mean is a "last unread post" link, which I don't think this version of the forum supports.  I'll see if the next version has such a thing or not.

Completely unrelated to the board content, how about adding a favicon?  For some reason, the favicon listing in Firefox is the CBS logo.  

I suppose the Nationals would frown upon using a Nats logo?  :wink:

Though they shouldn't mind because the favicon for the official Nationals site is the MLB logo!

This forum doesn't currently have a favicon...  if you're getting a CBS favicon for this forum, there's something going on with your computer or browser.  I did actually have a curly W favicon set up with the board for a while, but it got lost during the last upgrade.  I'll see if I can find it again.

Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing a change up of the Emoticons either.  A thumbs up/thumbs down one, one shaking its head no, a stinky piece of poo, something different added to what we already have.

I need to show my emotions with little faces.

I'm willing to look at (and probably approve) any submissions for new emoticons

[Dave B]

Can the gameday threads autoupdate when someone makes a post.  I guess that woul make it a chat room.  So could we just do chat roooms for game threads?

[tomterp]

Chief, I want to echo SSB's comments.  In my opinion, it is the major shortcoming of this software vs. MLB's package.  The posts since last visit often doesn't work right, for me.  That is, if I've been on the computer for a while before checking in, it indicates no new posts since my last visit, which is often grossly wrong.  

I'm not saying there aren't advantages - being able to post links, pictures, emoticons, etc, are great advantages over the other board.  But just finding stuff I haven't read is more difficult, and I like to read EVERY post.

[Senators2005]

Never had any problems with finding unread threads here.  Maybe you aren't allowing cookies - or you are cleaning your cookies which would erase your footprint in the forum.

[tomterp]

Never had any problems with finding unread threads here.  Maybe you aren't allowing cookies - or you are cleaning your cookies which would erase your footprint in the forum.

Here's another forum I belong to - www.gwapa.org  Uses the same software, and yet every time I log in, the "view posts since last visit" works fine.

Ok, so I'm a tropical fish nerd, but that's beside the point.

[Senators2005]

Really strange Tom...I don't use anything or click anything to view unviewed posts - all unviewed posts on my computer are indicated by the color of the icon next to them in the thread list.  New unread items are highlighted in a light orange color...do you not have this?  
UNREAD NEW POSTS IN THREAD

ALL POSTS READ IN THREAD

MESSAGE SECTION WITH THREADS UNREAD

MESSAGE SECTION WITH ALL THREADS ALREADY READ

If you are using the traditional basic symbols, they should look like this in the same order...
unread
read
unread
read

[shoeshineboy]

You know that there's a link that will take you to the most recent post in a thread, right?

Thanks. I had no idea. I figured there was something I was missing, I guess that wasn't overly intuitive. BTW, what do all the varieties of briefcases mean. I have not been able to determine any rhyme or reason. I thought the open one would mean maybe I had viewed it, but I haven't noticed a pattern to the colors and icons. Any help would be appreciated, because this all makes the site a lot more enjoyable.

Thanks

[Senators2005]

BTW, what do all the varieties of briefcases mean. I have not been able to determine any rhyme or reason. I thought the open one would mean maybe I had viewed it, but I haven't noticed a pattern to the colors and icons. Any help would be appreciated, because this all makes the site a lot more enjoyable.

Thanks

The open briefcases ( ) represent HOT TOPICS - those threads that have alot of postings within a short amount of time.  The colors are described in my previous post right above yours which represents read & unread.  

If you are using the traditional icons it shows the paper symbol shaking...like this for HOT TOPICS:

[shoeshineboy]

The open briefcases  represent HOT TOPICS - those threads that have alot of postings within a short amount of time.  The colors are described in my previous post right above yours which represents read & unread.  

Thanks. What do the different colored Nats caps mean on the main page?

Also, I think a few of these notes on the meaning of the iconography should be included in the FAQ.

[Senators2005]

Thanks. What do the different colored Nats caps mean on the main page?

Well depending on which color scheme you opted for: RED or BLUE - the caps that are highlighted in color represent sections that have new posts since your last visit (posts that you have not read)...the dark or grey hats mean you have read everything in that section.

I think I know what your problem is...you have too many unread items.  For this to work properly, you need to go to each discussion group and click the item at the upper right hand corner: Mark all topics read...then that will darken all the messages for you.  Once you've done that you will be able to see the new areas light up from that point onwards.

Go to the Index...
Then Click Each Discussion Area (General, Minors, Trade Rumors, News Around the Majors etc..etc. individually)
Click the Selection "Mark All Topics Read" for each area
That should fix you up.

[2k6nats]

BTW, what do all the varieties of briefcases mean. I have not been able to determine any rhyme or reason. I thought the open one would mean maybe I had viewed it, but I haven't noticed a pattern to the colors and icons. Any help would be appreciated, because this all makes the site a lot more enjoyable.

Thanks

The open briefcases ( (Image removed from quote.) ) represent HOT TOPICS - those threads that have alot of postings within a short amount of time.  The colors are described in my previous post right above yours which represents read & unread.  

If you are using the traditional icons it shows the paper symbol shaking...like this for HOT TOPICS: (Image removed from quote.)

Technically, the open folder or shaking sticky note happen when a topic has more than one page of posts.

[AuRevoirExpos]

I just hope/pray that the next release of the forum softwear may enable me to finally see the forum banner, which I still can't see and which I assume is proudly displayed across the top of the screen of every single member except me!!

It's the most baffling thing I've ever experienced on the web...if we had to pay for the priviledge of posting on here by now I'd certainly be asking for at least some of my money back!  :cry:

[Minty Fresh]

Can the gameday threads autoupdate when someone makes a post.  I guess that woul make it a chat room.  So could we just do chat roooms for game threads?

This idea is an idea whose time has come.

I second Dave B's motion......

And by the way Dave......A 2-1 loss to Sacred Heart?  AT LYNAH?  What's this woyld comin' tuh?

[nats2playoffs]

I'd like to see some improvement in the scanning through posts. The nice thing about the other forum is that it is easy to see threads that you have posted to, when threads are updated, and then easily scan to the latest posts. I find that tougher here. I end up needing to check the dates and then scan through everything I have read before. (I may be missing something, but just the overall usability could be improved. I will check out the dev version.)

You know that there's a link that will take you to the most recent post in a thread, right?
(Image removed from quote.)
The link highlighted by the orange rectangle in the image above will always take you to the most recent post and is shown from all thread-views (forum, new post listing, main index, etc)

The only other thing that I can think of that you might mean is a "last unread post" link, which I don't think this version of the forum supports.  I'll see if the next version has such a thing or not.

I'm not sure this is accurate.  If you click on the folder icon showing an arrow on the far LEFT side, I believe it opens to the last post you have not read.  If you click on the far right one, as circled, it goes to the last post made, regardless of what you already read.  After you do this, I think it will treat the entire thread as being read, even if you only read the last post.  So click on the LEFT, not the RIGHT.  Hold the mouse over each folder, (on the far left and far right), and that's what it says, too.

What can drive you nuts is if you read the new postings without logging in first, since the forum doesn't know you read them, it will not update the last one you read.  The MLB Nationals forum works the same way.  But this forum will log you out after a period of inactivity, while MLB will keep you logged in until you close the window.  That's the big difference that the genuine TomTerp probably notices.

The other thing he may notice is if you open with Windows Explorer sometimes and Firefox other times, it keeps track of the last post you read through each method.  So if you rarely use Explorer, you are surprised to see all the posts you already read with Firefox still showing as unread in Explorer, (at least that's been my prior experience here.)    

Spy vs. Spy, sort of:
   

[hillnat]

Chief here is an idea to increase traffic. Just thought oif it maybe its old news or what ever but why not make up some decent looking shirts with your addreess in them and sell them cheap to regulars on the forum and encourage them to wear them to the games.  Might catch a few eyes. I keep thinking of the boxer with the casino tattoo or whatever it was on his back.

I dont think its in poor tast if they look cool and people would know it was good nats fans cause they would be watching the games at the park. Just a thought.

[hillnat]

And we would see eachother there and meet and chat.

[The Chief]

Can the gameday threads autoupdate when someone makes a post.  I guess that woul make it a chat room.  So could we just do chat roooms for game threads?

This idea is an idea whose time has come.

I second Dave B's motion......

The idea of chat rooms for game discussion has been floated and shot down before.  For one thing, it would be impossible to control participation (including spamming or trolling) because the forum software has no built-in chatroom feature, so at best we would be looking at integrating a 3rd party chat service, which I have no administrative control over.  Then you'd have to decide which service to use.  There are at least 5 or 6 major ones, and I'm sure everybody has a preference, so how do we decide?

On top of all of that, I simply don't feel that "live" chatrooms are conducive to the kind of atmosphere that the game threads have provided in the past.  They're impossible to archive in a browseable format, and more often than not end up being even more chaotic "blurt out whatever comes to mind" free-for-alls than the game threads already sometimes can be.  I just don't think it's a good idea.

[The Chief]

I just hope/pray that the next release of the forum softwear may enable me to finally see the forum banner, which I still can't see and which I assume is proudly displayed across the top of the screen of every single member except me!!

It's the most baffling thing I've ever experienced on the web...if we had to pay for the priviledge of posting on here by now I'd certainly be asking for at least some of my money back!  :cry:

I'm at a loss to explain this.  The banner image is hosted right here on the very same server that the rest of the site runs on.  Could you possibly show me a screen shot of what you're (not) seeing?

[2k6nats]

Can the gameday threads autoupdate when someone makes a post.  I guess that woul make it a chat room.  So could we just do chat roooms for game threads?

This idea is an idea whose time has come.

I second Dave B's motion......

The idea of chat rooms for game discussion has been floated and shot down before.  For one thing, it would be impossible to control participation (including spamming or trolling) because the forum software has no built-in chatroom feature, so at best we would be looking at integrating a 3rd party chat service, which I have no administrative control over.  Then you'd have to decide which service to use.  There are at least 5 or 6 major ones, and I'm sure everybody has a preference, so how do we decide?

On top of all of that, I simply don't feel that "live" chatrooms are conducive to the kind of atmosphere that the game threads have provided in the past.  They're impossible to archive in a browseable format, and more often than not end up being even more chaotic "blurt out whatever comes to mind" free-for-alls than the game threads already sometimes can be.  I just don't think it's a good idea.

I second The Chief on this one.

[tomterp]

And we would see eachother there and meet and chat.

Oh, so YOU'RE that friggin' (POW) tomterp mutha  (BAM) who's always (KICK) telling me I'm (ZOWIE) an idiot...

(fill in the gaps with Batman style attack words)

On second thought, let's not have an identifiers.