Mahz's Dev Journal

[Hank]

I decided to hide old-system avatars so that people would wonder where their avatar went and visit their avatar settings. At which point they'd see a special message I show people with old-system avatars and upload their avatar into the new system (which removes their avatar from the old-system, hiding the special message forever).

@Mahz

I've noticed it took a (relatively) long time for several people I roleplay with to notice this change and upload a new avatar. Some of them still haven't done so. You could argue that this means that some people don't really care about their avatars, but it can also be interpreted to mean that this implementation is too vague.

<Snipped quote by Mahz> I've noticed it took a (relatively) long time for several people I roleplay with to notice this change and upload a new avatar. Some of them still haven't done so. You could argue that this means that some people don't really care about their avatars, but it can also be interpreted to mean that this implementation is too vague.

@Hank

I'd think its mostly that they haven't noticed - the post itself is far more important than the metadata (especially in an RP) so it isn't unreasonable that they could have simply neglected the fact that their avatars are missing. Just a thought.

[Ellri]

you know... if you gave the non-migratory people something generically annoying, then you might get more migrations. We personally haven't bothered with an avatar yet because we've not found one sufficiently good for us.

[Rina]

you know... if you gave the non-migratory people something generically annoying, then you might get more migrations. We personally haven't bothered with an avatar yet because we've not found one sufficiently good for us.

@Ellri

Like the unicorns we used to have? Those were fun but also got people to get an avatar to get rid of them.

[Ellri]

maybe like them, maybe something more universally annoying... hmm... perhaps if you want people to migrate you should set up something only visible to the user in question? a big flashy thing saying "CHANGE YER AVATAR, YE NARWHAL!" maybe? note: No insults to narwhals intended. EDIT: nice to see that notifications clear if the post you were referenced in is read. Earlier you had to check the notifications even when the post was viewed. This is one step closer to the unread posts system, right?

[Mahz]

<Snipped quote by Mahz> I've noticed it took a (relatively) long time for several people I roleplay with to notice this change and upload a new avatar. Some of them still haven't done so. You could argue that this means that some people don't really care about their avatars, but it can also be interpreted to mean that this implementation is too vague.

@Hank

Maybe, but I can only be so faffed. For example, people would frequently PM/email me to ask why they saw red text instead of their avatar in the old system. The red text that literally says "Avatar larger than 150x150". If let, hand-holding will become a full-time job. I depend on the community to help out the rest of the way. For all I know, some people just don't care.

[Dinh AaronMk]

<Snipped quote by Mahz> I've noticed it took a (relatively) long time for several people I roleplay with to notice this change and upload a new avatar. Some of them still haven't done so. You could argue that this means that some people don't really care about their avatars, but it can also be interpreted to mean that this implementation is too vague.

@Hank

I almost got downtrodden to think that maybe Mahz removed avatars again and I wouldn't get to see snowman ref declaring posts are offside again. And then I came here.

[Mahz]

<Snipped quote by Mahz> Huh, for some reason when I tried re-uploading it myself, it still didn't work. Renamed the file, deleted old avatar first, etc etc. What did work, however, was reducing the image size from 150x150 to 145x145. Perhaps your size constraint check is looking for <150x200, instead of =/<?

@KeysOfKayes

Nice intuition, plausible enough to make me have another look at the code. But I can confirm that it shouldn't be doing this according to the docs. Source code: https://github.com/danneu/guild/blob/49d5cedbdc621cda3a345022bbb0080bb4a77bdc/server/avatar.js#L85 image.resize(150, 200, '>') I'll take another look if other people report an issue uploading exact-dimension avatars. I couldn't reproduce the issue myself.

<Snipped quote by KeysOfKayes> Nice intuition, plausible enough to make me have another look at the code. But I can confirm that it shouldn't be doing this according to the docs. Source code: https://github.com/danneu/guild/blob/49d5cedbdc621cda3a345022bbb0080bb4a77bdc/server/avatar.js#L85 image.resize(150, 200, '>') I'll take another look if other people report an issue uploading exact-dimension avatars. I couldn't reproduce the issue myself.

@Mahz

My avatar is exact-dimensions and I had no trouble.

[Mahz]

Would it be possible to up the amount of people allowed in a single convo?

@duck55223

I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm going to implement a trust system so that I can give trusted members more privileges while restricting the privileges of potential spammers (i.e. new users). My core philosophy is that trusted users (i.e. users that have no record of system abuse, users trusted by the system) should be given a full toolkit to use as they see fit. If a trusted user wants to start convos with 10+ people and all 10+ people are down with that (i.e. it's not abuse), then the system should let them do that. - New members are considered untrusted. They can only create a convo every 60 seconds (or some duration). They can only create a convo with 1 other participant. This is to put the final nail in the coffin of a special class of PM spammers. - As a member participates in the community, they become more trusted and unlock more privileges. - Gaining trust needs to be slow enough to punish people that get banned (they have to start from scratch), but it shouldn't feature-starve new users from basic functions. - Trusted users should be able to expedite the trust process by "vouching" for users. Vouching for someone will boost their trust a fraction of your trust and put you on their vouch list that mods can see. If done right, this system will be simple and nearly invisible. Current users will notice nothing different but enhanced privileges, mods will have a better toolkit for evaluating bad actors, the system will be harder to abuse, and new users will unlock more features as they get acclimated to the community. As the guild rapidly climbs back to its pre-guildfall activity levels, I'd like to get this sort of system in place sooner than later. (I spent a lot of time hacking similar countermeasures into oldguild's vBulletin)

[Mahz]

<Snipped quote by LegendBegins> My bad. I appear to have missed page 45 until just now. I came in at page 44 from a notification and once I reached the end I failed to notice that there was another page, so I just replied to page 44.

@BBeast

This is something that bothers me about forum pagination in general. I think the unread-post tracking system will help out. For one, you'll be able to jump to "latest unread post" and I may be able to expose how many unread posts you have on previous pages to let you know you may want to click "Prev Page".

[LegendBegins]

<Snipped quote by BBeast> This is something that bothers me about forum pagination in general. I think the unread-post tracking system will help out. For one, you'll be able to jump to "latest unread post" and I may be able to expose how many unread posts you have on previous pages to let you know you may want to click "Prev Page".

@Mahz

I believe the "Last Unread" feature should appear on the subscriptions screen. If it's on the topic itself, it would need to be rather small. I also believe it should come with an "ignore" option.

[BBeast]

<Snipped quote by Mahz> My avatar is exact-dimensions and I had no trouble.

@TheMaster99

Mine too. Maybe the trouble only happens for exact-size animated gifs?

<Snipped quote by Mahz> *snip* I also believe it should come with an "ignore" option.

@LegendBegins

You mean like a 'Mark as Read' button?

<Snipped quote by duck55223> I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm going to implement a trust system so that I can give trusted members more privileges while restricting the privileges of potential spammers (i.e. new users). *snip*

@Mahz

That sounds like a very interesting idea. It would definitely make the Guild stand out. I would support such a feature. Of course, I can't imagine that the implementation would be simple, especially since balancing it properly would be important, but that doesn't stop it from being a good idea.

[Mahz]

Latest push: - Roleplays remember which page you were last viewing on each tab:

[BBeast]

Latest push: - Roleplays remember which page you were last viewing on each tab:

@Mahz

I just popped over here to say I noticed that. That's a nice feature.

[LegendBegins]

<Snipped quote by TheMaster99> Mine too. Maybe the trouble only happens for exact-size animated gifs? <Snipped quote by LegendBegins> You mean like a 'Mark as Read' button? <Snipped quote by Mahz> That sounds like a very interesting idea. It would definitely make the Guild stand out. I would support such a feature. Of course, I can't imagine that the implementation would be simple, especially since balancing it properly would be important, but that doesn't stop it from being a good idea.

@BBeast

Essentially, yes.

[Mahz]

<Snipped quote by Mahz about the trust system> That sounds like a very interesting idea. It would definitely make the Guild stand out. I would support such a feature. Of course, I can't imagine that the implementation would be simple, especially since balancing it properly would be important, but that doesn't stop it from being a good idea.

@BBeast

I'd keep it simple by just targeting a few obvious improvements over what existing forum platforms provide. Forum systems (vBulletin, Xenforo, phpBB, etc) generally implement this sort of thing with "usergroup escalation": - New users are placed in a "New Member" usergroup that has limited privileges. - After (50 posts OR 5 days) they get auto-moved into the "Regular Member" usergroup that has some more privileges. - After (1000 posts OR 100 days) they get auto-moved into the "Senior Member" usergroup that has full privileges. It's pretty limited, but it gets the job done. My proposal is similar except that I have more granular control over how users gain trust and that trusted members can expedite the process (vouching).

[BBeast]

A limitation of "x posts to graduate" is that someone could spam out posts and graduate, in which case they'll have privileges until they are caught out, at which point it may be too late. Of course, I'm sure you have already considered that. How about a minimum time AND post requirement (not just OR)? This means participating members of the community who have been around some time would be promoted. Of course, you'd include your more sophisticated factors too.

A limitation of "x posts to graduate" is that someone could spam out posts and graduate, in which case they'll have privileges until they are caught out, at which point it may be too late. Of course, I'm sure you have already considered that. How about a minimum time AND post requirement (not just OR)? This means participating members of the community who have been around some time would be promoted. Of course, you'd include your more sophisticated factors too.

@BBeast

Or only allow 'New Members' to post once per x minutes, and if they keep posting exactly x minutes after the last it's very likely they are a spammer trying to game the system, and it can be detected and handled appropriately. EDIT: Or maybe require that everyone does a captcha before being graduated into the next tier, or at least for the first graduation. That would filter out all the bots, at least.

[UltikanaRe]

Question about signatures: I use my scrollbars responsibly and put things in hiders, mostly to spread world about my ICks. Now, it is ruined. What should I do? I do not want to delete my beautiful sword, but now you can't even see the credit!