Forum bugs/feature requests/todo list - Please read before posting.

[Orion Pobursky]

A summation of bug reports and feature requests.
Please do not reply to this topic with suggestions. Instead post them as a separate topic.

Requests:

• Make "Message list display options" default to "All messages in a topic, threaded" - TEMPORARY SOLUTION: inform users of the option to change the display
  
• Mark thread as read link on recent messages
  
• Mark thread as read link returns you to topic list
  
• Allow attachment of small images (as opposed to external linking). Admin - this is currently possible but not desirable since limiting attachment size applies to all attachments not just images
  
• Allow different types of attachments to have different size limits. Admin - Related to the above. Contacted the developers of the forum software, this will require a module to be written
  
• Add more user titles, specifically parts authors. Admin- Implemented
  
• Make signature persistant. In other words when a user changes their signature, the previous post don't change. Admin - this would require a significant change in the way signatures are stored and handled
  
• Add a feature to render attached model files
  
• Clicking on the "new message" flag takes you the newest post chronologically, instead of the top new post visually
  
• Have an "all forums" RSS feed Admin - Aready existed and found by accident. Front page template to be edited
  
• Have a LUGNET style message preview in the threaded view and on the recent messages page.
  
• Add a "status" modifier to the dat_part BBCode tag for referencing the PT status of a part and a "title" modifier to include the part name.
  
• Allow the "readable dates" module to be set on a per user basis.
  
• Create a mobile device template and theme
  

Known Bugs:

• BUG - New message flags sometimes don't show up on the main forum page
  
• BUG - Moving messages around causes the moved messages to show up on recent messages regardless of how old they are.
  
• BUG - Image embedding code inappropriately repositions images in the post.
  
• BUG - BBCode "code" tag handling is buggy. BBCode module adds an erroneous semicolon when turning bare URLs into clickable links if said URL is enclosed in double quotes. Admin - reported to the developers
  
• BUG - Emoticons didn't work correctly. Admin - this is an issue with the module and is pretty much unfixable due to the way the module is written. The module author agrees and they're working on a solution
  

[Jean-Philippe Ouellet]

• Have an "all forums" RSS feed

Looking for this?

[Orion Pobursky]

How do you find that? Is it on the front page and I'm just blind?

[Jean-Philippe Ouellet]

I found it by accident.

I was adding each individual sub-forum RSS feed to my phone, when I accidentally added the URL of the main page, and it magically gave me an RSS feed for the entire forum.

As far as I am aware, there is no visual link to it, but if you view the source of the page, you find two RSS feeds:

Code:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS (topics)" href="http://forums.ldraw.org/feed.php?0,type=rss" />

and

Code:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS (topics + replies)" href="http://forums.ldraw.org/feed.php?0,replies=1,type=rss" />

Perhaps you should add a link to them on the front page (or every page).

Edit: I just realized... for Safari users, they'll see a little thing like so:

But that's just Safari. I don't use safari as my primary browser, and even if I did, I doubt I would have noticed the little RSS thing unless I were looking for it as I am now.

[Orion Pobursky]

Sweet. I'll update the front page soon.

[Rafael Skibicki]

I couldn't find an option to change displayed date format. I really dislike that relative "some time ago" format used throught forums/blogs/etc., I want to use absolute dates.

[Orion Pobursky]

Not sure if this is able to be disabled on a per user basis. If it isn't I'll add it to the list.

[Travis Cobbs]

Long message titles trigger a CSS error in the Recent Messages list. If they wrap to a second line (like the "Re: Main LDraw.org Website bugs/feature requests/todo list - Please read before posting." ones do currently), the link underline only shows up on the bottom line for the portion of the link that has multiple lines of text. I'm using Firefox, and I don't know if this happens in other browsers.

[Tim Gould]

Firefox handles borders badly in that case because it puts them outside the bounding box. Sadly I'm unaware of a simple fix other than using the underline property (which loses the dots) or replacing the dots by a repeated background image (an ugly fix).

I think Opera, Safari and even IE do it 'right'

Tim

[Travis Cobbs]

I understand that it may not be something that can be fixed, but Chrome looks the same as Firefox, as does Safari. Given that, I strongly suspect that the browsers are behaving correctly. Also, if you view a single forum, the underlines show up on both lines, so the problem only appears to be present on the recent messages page.

[Orion Pobursky]

That's a line spacing issue. In other words, the style box for the bottom line is overlapping the top line. I'll look into it but to be honest, I have a stronger desire to sync up the forum and wiki theming with the main website theme in order to have a uniform look across the site.

[Tim Gould]

I understand that it may not be something that can be fixed, but Chrome looks the same as Firefox, as does Safari. Given that, I strongly suspect that the browsers are behaving correctly. Also, if you view a single forum, the underlines show up on both lines, so the problem only appears to be present on the recent messages page.

Interesting. And positive.

I'd suspected it was simply the very annoying behaviour of FF as regards borders (and had ignored it) but if it's a problem in other browsers it probably is 'official'. And if it's not showing up in other places there's clearly a fairly straightforward fix. Will remove from 'too hard basket'.

Tim

PS. I'm not sure that the border placement is actually well-described by the CSS/HTML standards. But having them inside the box makes a hell of a lot more sense.

[Tim Gould]

Hi Orion,

I think you just need to find

Code:

#phorum a,
#phorum a:link
#phorum a:active {
text-decoration: none;
border-bottom: dotted 1px;
background-color: inherit;
color: black;
}
#phorum a:visited {
text-decoration: underline;
border-bottom: dotted 1px;
background-color: inherit;
color: black;
}

and change to

Code:

#phorum a,
#phorum a:link
#phorum a:active {
text-decoration: none;
border-bottom: dotted 1px;
background-color: transparent;
color: black;
}
#phorum a:visited {
text-decoration: underline;
border-bottom: dotted 1px;
background-color: transparent;
color: black;
}

[Rafael Skibicki]

I'm surprised about the lack of a basic Private Messaging feature, present on most forums. I assume we're small community here and may do without it?

I'm more concerned about the fact that my posts are no longer under my username, but my real name. It's OK for it to be hidden within .dat files, but perhaps I don't want it to be displayed publicly? "Display my real name" should be an option. Privacy on the Internet is a serious matter.

[Tim Gould]

I'm surprised about the lack of a basic Private Messaging feature, present on most forums. I assume we're small community here and may do without it?

Me too sometimes. It might be worth adding.

I'm more concerned about the fact that my posts are no longer under my username, but my real name. It's OK for it to be hidden within .dat files, but perhaps I don't want it to be displayed publicly? "Display my real name" should be an option. Privacy on the Internet is a serious matter.

Use of full names is a policy of the forums and I believe you had to 'sign' something asking for your real name to join. I'm willing to hear arguments against it, but there's nothing in your present statement that makes me think differently. There is a history of LDraw using real names (via LUGNET policies) so this is an old policy that I somewhat like. I'll note that you chose to join a community that asks for a real name.

It does, however, bring up one extra issue: the help forum should probably allow username only access as there people are asking for help, not to join a community. I think that we do need some way to deal with that.

Tim

[Rafael Skibicki]

I assumed that my full name is needed for copyright purposes (use and modification of my contributions), so I submitted it for the sake of parts tracker. I did not enter it on the forum registration form (neither did Steffen - so it is possible to bend this rule).
I see no benefits of using real names on an open internet forum like this one (as opposed to company intranet). I understand that users who are members of the steering committee may wish to sound serious/official and thus use real names (compare: company PR staff on a game forum). Yet the regular users should be able to use just nicknames (real names visible only to administrators, part tracker, etc.). I don't want to sound extreme and ask to remove my account because of this.
Your policies are not set in stone, they are not holy scriptures.

Real names on the Internet are an issue, there's identity theft, stalking ...or employers scanning Facebook/forum accounts assessing activities of their would-be employees. The more private information you make available online, the more can be used against you.

[Orion Pobursky]

Note that the LDraw.org Forum Usage Guidelines specify the use of a real name. Note that we allow you to only use one of your names if you wish.

That said, I like the use of real names, even for the help desk. It tends to add more ownership of one's statements and prevent ugly flame wars somewhat.

[Chris Dee]

The Parts Tracker header checking uses the user database on this forum to verify the relationship between real author name and LDraw UserID.

[Mark Kennedy]

I'm surprised about the lack of a basic Private Messaging feature, present on most forums. I assume we're small community here and may do without it?

Private Messaging would be very useful for allowing part authors and reviewers to contact each other.