Need some suggestions and ideas *** PLEASE READ ***

[Reality]

I am working on a project and I could use some ideas and suggestions for it if any of you have the time.

What are your favorite features on forum sites?

Some examples could include Quick Reply, Chat Room, Private Messaging, Live Topic, etc.

What are your favorite features on FaceBook?

Some examples could include Profile Pages, Instant Messaging, Photo Sharing, Surveys, Games, etc.

What are your favorite features from other web sites?

Some examples could include Video Sharing, Content Management (Blogs), Email, Shout Box, etc.

I really do appreciate any ideas, comments and/or suggestions that you can give me .. the more detailed the better in fact.

Please keep this thread on-topic! :D

-Reality

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Ive seen a site where posts get rated. Like on the bottom you see how many people agreed, disagreed, thought it was funny, thought it was dumb, informative, etc.

I didnt see that they kept an overall user tally of what theyre getting rated though.

[Reality]

Ive seen a site where posts get rated. Like on the bottom you see how many people agreed, disagreed, thought it was funny, thought it was dumb, informative, etc.

I didnt see that they kept an overall user tally of what theyre getting rated though.

That's a good idea .. I like the idea of some type of meter/bar/etc. that shows a percentage of the users that liked a post/article/whatever versus those who did not.

-Reality

[Sam I Am]

I am working on a project and I could use some ideas and suggestions for it if any of you have the time.

What are your favorite features on forum sites?

Some examples could include Quick Reply, Chat Room, Private Messaging, Live Topic, etc.

What are your favorite features on FaceBook?

Some examples could include Profile Pages, Instant Messaging, Photo Sharing, Surveys, Games, etc.

What are your favorite features from other web sites?

Some examples could include Video Sharing, Content Management (Blogs), Email, Shout Box, etc.

I really do appreciate any ideas, comments and/or suggestions that you can give me .. the more detailed the better in fact.

Please keep this thread on-topic! :D

-Reality

I think site blogs are good. Especially for the posters who generate content specifically for the site. I wouldn't be selective about who can and can't have one, but I would put restrictions on initially gaining one. Maybe active posters who have a history of good standings of NOT circumventing the filters since obviously blog posts must be moderated also.

I use PMs here, but only occasionally to talk privately with other posters. I don't carry long conversations in them, but I'm sure many people do.

I don't use Quick Reply. It just doesn't work as well as the normal reply in many cases. (especially on phones)

Photo sharing is good if you have the drive space.

Does anyone actually use the chatroom here?

Inner CowboysZone IMs would be nice. (ala Facebook style)

Games? I don't know. Maybe something like Bejeweled is on Facebook where you can compete with other posters, but I wouldn't load bunches of games on CZ. Sounds like a fail. I don't see CZ trying to be a Facebook.

As for video sharing, I think Youtube does this for you. I would stick with that. Adding the ability to embed Youtube was great for the site.


Ive seen a site where posts get rated. Like on the bottom you see how many people agreed, disagreed, thought it was funny, thought it was dumb, informative, etc.

I didnt see that they kept an overall user tally of what theyre getting rated though.

I've seen this and like this idea too. /. uses it and so do several other forums.

Other things I would like to see:
When you ignore someone, any quoted comments from that user get blocked too. String replaced with "IGNORED COMMENT" RSS feeds for thread titles for each forum. This would be huge for me. Especially in the FanZone since a lot of news breaks in there and I'm not always able to hang out on CZ. The ability to READ threads without logging in. (this I freaking hate and damn near never join CZ in the first place because of it) I double hate it when I'm on the train or something and surfing from my phone. Give the users the ability to create polls. I'm sure there are reasons not too, but for the most part, there isn't. The biggest issues come from non-trusted users. Create a group or something where you can give that group the ability to do other stuff. Let posters earn their way into that group by being good posters over time. If they abuse it, remove them. If you make it were posters can rate other user posts, maybe make a filter in each forum that only shows the highest rated posts in the last 24 hours. This will allow people visiting with limited time to find the best / most valuable posts quickly. For instance, breaking news happens, then on post 56, someone post video of it. Well, the first and 56th post would appear allowing you to find it quickly when you don't have much time.

[Reality]

Thank you for posting your thoughts, nyc!

I do want to point out that this project has nothing to do with CowboysZone which is why I posted it in the OT Zone :D

Oh and the examples I gave were not a list of things to comment on, just an idea of the types of answers someone might give.

-Reality

[Joe Rod]

One thing I like about Facebook is the "Notifications" tab that indicates when someone has commented on a user's post, pic etc. Quite handy when you are mobile.

[Reality]

I really appreciate the responses so far but I really need more!

Remember .. this has nothing to do with CowboysZone! .. so please keep all suggestions for CowboysZone for another time.

I know a lot of you visit other forums, FaceBook and many other sites so I really would appreciate it if you could list some of the favorite features you like from those sites!

Thanks!

-Reality

[Reality]

One thing I like about Facebook is the "Notifications" tab that indicates when someone has commented on a user's post, pic etc. Quite handy when you are mobile.

I like the idea of a notification system. There would have to be a great detail of control given to users to tweak when and how they are notified because I could see that getting annoying at some point :)

Of course I think another good idea for that would be a simple Notifications On/Off switch to temporarily enable or disable all notifications that would not affect your other notification settings.

Another great suggestion! Thanks!

-Reality

[Rackat]

The one facebook feature that I enjoy is the "Like" button/option. When someone makes a good post, and others have already made a comment you would've made, clicking the like button is better than restating what was said.

[VietCowboy]

I am working on a project and I could use some ideas and suggestions for it if any of you have the time.

What are your favorite features on forum sites?

Some examples could include Quick Reply, Chat Room, Private Messaging, Live Topic, etc.

What are your favorite features on FaceBook?

Some examples could include Profile Pages, Instant Messaging, Photo Sharing, Surveys, Games, etc.

What are your favorite features from other web sites?

Some examples could include Video Sharing, Content Management (Blogs), Email, Shout Box, etc.

I really do appreciate any ideas, comments and/or suggestions that you can give me .. the more detailed the better in fact.

Please keep this thread on-topic! :D

-Reality

1) Maybe allow posters to subscribe to threads so that they can get an email when there is a reply.

2) On Facebook, I like that you can tag photos, videos.

3) On Youtube, I like that I can favorite a video. I know that threads generally get archived, so that might not be a good idea.

4) I like the Quick Links we have here on CZ.

5) Some sites have the OP carry over onto every page. Not sure if I really like it, but it is an interesting concept.

[Faerluna]

The one facebook feature that I enjoy is the "Like" button/option. When someone makes a good post, and others have already made a comment you would've made, clicking the like button is better than restating what was said.


This.

[Reality]

Great ideas!!

Need more :D :D

-Reality

[hairic]

Hotkeys.

[VietCowboy]

What about allowing people to set up alerts? i.e. someone puts up an alert for Romo, so any threads started about Romo (or OP mentions Romo) will send an email to the poster "alerting" them to it.

[Jenky]

What about allowing people to set up alerts? i.e. someone puts up an alert for Romo, so any threads started about Romo (or OP mentions Romo) will send an email to the poster "alerting" them to it.

Yes something like this! I've been on other forums which e-mail you a notification when someone has directly replied to your post. I know it probably does it for PM's already, but I do check my e-mail frequently.

Also being able to give +rep points for posts.

[CowboyDan]

I basically second everything NYC said.
Also, I hate the idea of rep points. Rating posts is fine, but rep points for posters is just lame.

[JustDezIt]

I basically second everything NYC said.
Also, I hate the idea of rep points. Rating posts is fine, but rep points for posters is just lame.

I like the idea of rep points, along with a negative for posts. I know alot of people dont, but in the end they are private and if an overall total is shown that is a number not solely based off the sheer number or props/hate but given rather a point system given where someone with more rep props carry more weight. There for strong posters are given more credit and their opinions carry more wegiht since alot of people obviously agrre.like thier posts. If that makes sense. Just my differing opinion.

[MarionBarberThe4th]

I think it would be cool to see what people think of posts/threads. It would be a good guideline that what you are posting is appreciated by the masses. And then maybe it would make reading threads easier if that would then cut back some one posts quoted to say 'good read'.

We dont have to have rep points but if the someone had a stat of 3.5 "agrees" per post that would be cooo


But it sounds like there arent any changes actually being made here. Reality is doing a school project of some sort, correct?

[Reality]

Okay, ideas such as Like/Dislike, Notifications, etc. have been suggested .. I really could use some more ideas :)

Oh and this is a work project not school :D

-Reality

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Ninjas are always a good idea. People love ninjas

[CATCH17]

I wish moderators could block people from reading someone elses posts if they felt it was for a valid reason.


Like putting someone on ignore and they cant read your stuff either.

[Reality]

I wish moderators could block people from reading someone elses posts if they felt it was for a valid reason.


Like putting someone on ignore and they cant read your stuff either.

I can see the benefit in this but it would be hard to implement at least in a forum system due to people quoting posts by other users. Meaning, you could block someone from reading your posts, but anyone quoting you would expose your posts.

-Reality

[Sam I Am]

I can see the benefit in this but it would be hard to implement at least in a forum system due to people quoting posts by other users. Meaning, you could block someone from reading your posts, but anyone quoting you would expose your posts.

-Reality

I made this point earlier that it should filter quoted text too. Obviously there are issues involved, but normal quoting lists post number and the named user quoted. Thats enough to filter those, though when someone manually quotes someone else, (manually writing the quote tag) that would be harder to catch.

[Reality]

Thats enough to filter those, though when someone manually quotes someone else, (manually writing the quote tag) that would be harder to catch.
That's the problem especially as you get into multi-quote situations. Beyond that though, that's one of those features that even if you create a solution, it adds so much additional processing time that it's not feasible on high traffic sites.

-Reality

[Reality]

Really could use some more new ideas and suggestions :D

-Reality

[rynochop]

This.

THIS needs to be done around here. :)

As far as the rating of a thread with a meter system or whatever, i dont know. I used to frequent a site with a star rating system, 1 to 5. And we had a one star bandit who one starred every single post. It turned into a huge deal. lol

[Sam I Am]

That's the problem especially as you get into multi-quote situations. Beyond that though, that's one of those features that even if you create a solution, it adds so much additional processing time that it's not feasible on high traffic sites.

-Reality

Thats what memcached is for! ;)

[JustDezIt]

how bout video embedding from many other video sharing sites and not just youtube?

[Reality]

Thats what memcached is for! ;)

Already use memcached ..

-Reality

[Reality]

THIS needs to be done around here. :)

As far as the rating of a thread with a meter system or whatever, i dont know. I used to frequent a site with a star rating system, 1 to 5. And we had a one star bandit who one starred every single post. It turned into a huge deal. lol

That's very easy to defend against ...

-Reality

[Reality]

Just a reminder ...

.. this thread has nothing to do with CowboysZone and none of the suggestions made here will be considered for CZ. In the near future, I will make a thread for discussing CowboysZone related ideas and suggestions, but the reason I put this thread in the Off-topic Zone is because it has nothing to do with CowboysZone.

I could really use some more ideas though .. there have been a couple that have been great but most posts have been reposted/seconded ideas.

I could really use some help with your favorite features from FaceBook and other forum sites and other sites and services.

There has to be some features on other sites you visit that you really enjoy using .. tell me about them!! :D :D

-Reality

[Sam I Am]

Already use memcached ..

-Reality

Our web based financial trading platform averages eight million plus requests a day. I can't imagine filtering quotes especially if using memcached (we don't) can't handle the load. (we use Java though rather than php) Still, it should be a feasible project. :) Well, it could be an issue if everything (web server, database, and primary processing is all one server) It could easily be done with a single DB and webserver.

Sorry, off-topic. :cool:

[Sam I Am]

How about multi-site post aggregations? Read posts from many sites like Facebook walls, twitter, and all those others aggregated into a single widget on the site. Any RSS rendering is good too.

[Avaj]

Ive seen a site where posts get rated. Like on the bottom you see how many people agreed, disagreed, thought it was funny, thought it was dumb, informative, etc.

I didnt see that they kept an overall user tally of what theyre getting rated though.

I don't like this idea because it becomes a popularity contest. That is one of the thing I like about this site that it don't have that feature.

[Avaj]

Like I how some sites have an app design to browse for phone usage. Easy to read and navigate.

[CATCH17]

I can see the benefit in this but it would be hard to implement at least in a forum system due to people quoting posts by other users. Meaning, you could block someone from reading your posts, but anyone quoting you would expose your posts.

-Reality

I think it would be ok as long as you didn't have to communicate with that person directly.

[Reality]

Our web based financial trading platform averages eight million plus requests a day. I can't imagine filtering quotes especially if using memcached (we don't) can't handle the load. (we use Java though rather than php) Still, it should be a feasible project. :) Well, it could be an issue if everything (web server, database, and primary processing is all one server) It could easily be done with a single DB and webserver.

Sorry, off-topic. :cool:

memcached is a nice compliment caching system but it can only cache data, it doesn't actually help with processing performance itself. Many netbooks can watch videos, 3D animations, etc. without many issues but try rendering those same videos, 3D animations, etc. on that netbook.

I really did not want to stray off-topic as I have repeated several times now *sigh* however, the problem with filtering posts as you said is that kind of filtering would require on-the-fly filtering .. that has nothing to do with memcached or caching. If it was not user-by-user, it would be feasible because you could process posts, then cache them while only creating processing overhead on the first pass.

To support a user-by-user level filtering of posts that included manual quote checking, it would require on-the-fly processing which means allocating additional CPU/memory resources. Sure you could use memcached to save the processed results but since it would only be seen by one user and unless that one user is going to read not only the same thread but the same page over and over again, any benefits gained would be outweighed considerably by the additional resource usage by memcached itself in storing the data each time.

memcached has its advantages but it's not ground-breaking technology, it's simply a cog or tool among many that compliment other pieces of the puzzle to make things run more smoothly. In many ways, I find memcached extremely limited and in some cases, my own caching systems performed much better than memcached. Still, it can provide a nice performance boost when dealing with previously processed or queried data.

The software I am developing is extremely optimized and I will be avoiding adding features that cannot fit within tight resource requirements. The mistake that most programmers make is assuming just because something can be done, that it should be done. Providing a user-by-user quote filtering system simply because someone cannot take someone else's comments while at the same time increasing processing overhead is a waste of resources especially when there are many ways a user can get around it such as altering the quoted text slightly or using different user accounts.

So .. back to those new ideas!! :D :D

-Reality

[Reality]

Like I how some sites have an app design to browse for phone usage. Easy to read and navigate.

I plan to create an App for the software at some point but for now, I am focused heavily on keep the themes as smartphone friendly as possible. I think over the next couple of years, we'll see more and more sites on the internet go more simple in design. I've been saying that simple, clean designs are what every site should be focused on but most older established sites are trapped by the "users hate change" society we have become.

A lot of non-gaming/graphic Apps simply use a web design based user interface rather than an app API interface which makes sense really since it makes it easier to not only develop complimentary apps for your site, more importantly it makes it easier to update and maintain the app as your site evolves and changes over time.

I do believe that a mobile friendly layout or mobile support in some manner will become a primary focus in the near future. As we transition more of our online time from desktops and laptops to mobile devices, sites know they either need to go along with us or risk being replaced by other sites that do.

-Reality

[Reality]

How about multi-site post aggregations? Read posts from many sites like Facebook walls, twitter, and all those others aggregated into a single widget on the site. Any RSS rendering is good too.

I'm definitely a ran of RSS feeds .. until recently, it's the sites that really handcuffed users in that area because many sites would limit their feeds to one or two sentences per article. In fact, some sites used character length truncation causing sentences to be chopped off mid-sentence.

Fortunately, things are changing for RSS feeds as sites are realizing that users are not using RSS feeds instead of visiting their sites but rather to access their content more often.

I definitely like this suggestion though. Providing an integrated mashup feature especially if done in an organized yet simple/clean manner could be quite popular among users.

-Reality