Suggestions needed - Page 7

Matt Timion · 08-05-2006, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Do what teamswift did: add a Google search box above the GS search feature which adds "site:gassavers.org" before submitting it. People are more familiar with how to structure a Google search to get what they want anyway. (The only downside being it won't be as up to date as the GS search.)

That is an option. For now our database isn't that big, and having a giant server to play with also gives me a lot of leeway. I think we'll just have to revisit the search problem at some future date. It's also possible for me to hook up my own search server like honda-search.com just for gassavers.

MetroMPG · 08-05-2006, 06:12 PM

Anyway, it's great. Now I can search for "EBH" and "VX". Nice. Merci, monsieur.

DracoFelis · 09-06-2006, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Timion

Looking for suggestions for the site. After I get the garage and gaslog back up we will be embarking on even more cool changes.

If you have any ideas please let me know and I'll get working on it asap.

How about an option for registered users to upload pictures directly into the forum threads (as some forum software allows)? If that is too much work given the current forum software, how about a "picture gallery" for registered users, where we can upload pictures related to what we are doing (and then link to those "gallery pictures" in our forum threads)?

As they say, "a picture is worth a 1000 words". Many times, a picture would be handy to illustrate something we are talking about. And IMHO doing a separate signup for some 3rd party hosting site, and then linking in the images is a PITA. Worse yet, those threads later break if/when the 3rd party hosting company changes their rules.

IMHO I much prefer the way http://www.dslreports.com/forums/all (another forum site) handles pics (for registered users of their site). With DSLreports, you can actually upload the pics directly into the forum message you are posting, and they will be automatically "thumbnailed" in the message (with the hot link in the message bringing up the full pic). As I see it, this has several advantages: 1) It's "easy" for the (registered) forum member to upload the pics, as it's part of the forum software (not some process involving a 3rd party upload, followed by a hot link). 2) The pics are "thumbnailed", so that those on slower connections just (initially) see the smaller "thumbnail" of the pic, not have to download mult-megabytes of pics, just to read the text of the forum thread. 3) For anyone who does want to see the full pics, they are just a click away. 4) And since no "3rd party" is involved in hosting the pics, the forum threads don't "break" over time (as the pics are fully under the same hosting site doing the forums). 5) And finally, for the same "hosting" reason, the pics can be "moderated" by the forum moderators if/when needed (as they are uploaded into the same site).

Of course, this does require giving the users some (easy) way to upload pics to this site. And it also (potentially) involves some extra bandwidth/hosting costs for the pics. So it's not entirely free to do this.

But you did ask what would make the site more useful...

Silveredwings · 09-06-2006, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Made this suggestion under the old site: on the "Today's posts" page, can you make it "Recent posts" and show more than just the last 24 hours?

We've gotten busy enough that stuff drops off the bottom of the page if you don't check in regularly (i.e. daily), and I'm too lazy to go through each forum individually.

I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to modify the query to look for posts within 48 hours instead of 24.

Bookmark the link:
http://www.gassavers.org/search.php?do=getdaily&days=2

Change the query string param 'days=2' to be 3 or 4.

Silveredwings · 09-07-2006, 06:40 PM

Is there any way of adding a button for members in good standing to tag a message as quarantined, or embargoed-for-moderation?

It might make it easier to keep the site respectable until a moderator can evaluate and clean it up, and not require offensive material to soil the reputation of the site in the meantime.

tomauto · 09-07-2006, 08:50 PM

That's a good idea, in my latenight browsing, i've seen a couple recently, I'd bet it is because Ben is at school......

Matt Timion · 09-07-2006, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silveredwings

Is there any way of adding a button for members in good standing to tag a message as quarantined, or embargoed-for-moderation?

It might make it easier to keep the site respectable until a moderator can evaluate and clean it up, and not require offensive material to soil the reputation of the site in the meantime.

Hmmm... I kind of like the idea of this, but it might require more custom hacking than I'm comfortable with. Custom hacking like this makes it difficult to upgrade in the future.

I'll have to sleep on this one... it might be easier to do than I think.

BTW, there is a "report to moderator" button on each post. I'm thinking I cna change the routine to hide the post IF the user posting it meets a certain criteria.

Silveredwings · 09-08-2006, 03:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Timion

BTW, there is a "report to moderator" button on each post. I'm thinking I cna change the routine to hide the post IF the user posting it meets a certain criteria.

Is that something that's turned off, or am I missing it?