Mahz's Dev Journal

[Captain Jordan]

Seriously, guys. Circle. Jerked. To. Hell.

New topic, please.

[Awson]

Did you take away the ability to edit thread titles?

I'm gonna need that back, Mahzarino.

One of my very important Spam threads has a typo.

[whizzball1]

Seriously, guys. Circle. Jerked. To. Hell.

New topic, please.

@Captain Jordan

I respectfully disagree. We're holding an evolving, intelligent argument with new reasons that have not been stated before. Thus we are further enlightened on the subject and we (or Mahz) can make a more informed decision.

<Snipped quote by Captain Jordan>

I respectfully disagree. We're holding an evolving, intelligent argument with new reasons that have not been stated before. Thus we are further enlightened on the subject and we (or Mahz) can make a more informed decision.

@whizzball1

I respectfully disagree. We are repeating the exact same arguments ("this is stupid and will create more work" "no, not doing this is stupid, and it will result in less work" etc) over and over again, without any compromise whatsoever – the only attempt at such seems to have been largely ignored. None of us will ever agree on which is better, and we can theorycraft (or circle jerk, in this case) which is better for millennia. Both sides have said everything that can possibly be said on the matter, and it really is time to just move on and let Mahz do as he sees fit.

[Lillian Thorne]

I'm a little late to the "discussion" but was this feature being endlessly discussed even something Mahz said he was considering? I looked back a few pages and didn't see anything of the sort.

[LegendBegins]

I'm a little late to the "discussion" but was this feature being endlessly discussed even something Mahz said he was considering? I looked back a few pages and didn't see anything of the sort.

@Lillian Thorne

I don't believe so, actually.

@Lillian Thorne If memory serves correctly, then no. It was just a suggestion that this thread's regulars are split more or less right down the middle on.

[Lillian Thorne]

That's what I thought.

[Ellri]

To be honest, we can't remember. But we presume that@TheMaster99's theory is correct. We think this discussion/squabble/argument sprang out of a discussion on what powers GMs and CoGMs should have in RP threads, but not 100% sure.

Its an old idea we've heard mentioned many times in the past, but never from mahz as "This will be added like this: _____" He's wanted to have some sort of IC post whitelisting (these people can post). He has not wanted to give GMs the function to blacklist (this person cannot post). not a very great difference effectively, but its still very different.

pretty sure there's not much new to be added to the discussion at this point, @whizzball1. Even our last post in it was pretty much a refined phrasing of earlier posts by us and several others. All continuing it will do at this point is put hot coals under people's tempers until they do things they'll later regret.

[LegendBegins]

@Lillian Thorne If memory serves correctly, then no. It was just a suggestion that this thread's regulars are split more or less right down the middle on.

@TheMaster99

Us and some random not-so-regulars that happened to stumble across it.

[whizzball1]

pretty sure there's not much new to be added to the discussion at this point, @whizzball1. Even our last post in it was pretty much a refined phrasing of earlier posts by us and several others. All continuing it will do at this point is put hot coals under people's tempers until they do things they'll later regret.

@Ellri

I suppose it was. I concede, then--as it were, Mahz is likely not even considering it. It would only be a waste of time and a heating of tempers to argue further.

[Captain Jordan]

To be honest, we can't remember.

@Ellri

"It was the 23rd century
Mankind's darkest hour
The war had been raging for almost a hundred years
We had been fighting for so long no one could remember the reason why it
started in the first place
All we knew there were two sides...
The Coalition and the Alliance
For decades, millions died for the same piece of rock
Again... and again..."

[Ellri]

We may not end up agreeing in that discussion, @LegendBegins, but at least we won't fight over it, right?

anyways... to find a new topic... How about:

Goblins?

[Genkai]

I know you're still e still probably working on the Search Feature but could you possibly include an option to filter when a thread was started? I know looking through places like 1x1 can be hard when you're aiming to see threads you haven't seen in the past two weeks (new) when they're muddled with ones from months/years ago. Just a thought. ^^

[Syben]

- GMs of application-only roleplays can gatekeep users from posting IC until they are approved.

I'm not really ready to brainstorm this feature yet, but those are some ideas.

@Mahz

I believe the conversation stemmed from here. Just FYI. As for a new subject, How about:

What Mahz Really Asked Our Opinion On And Everybody Side Tracked Away From

I'd like to bring back the "user status" system that the Guild used to have long ago -- probably this weekend to take a break from whatever I come up with for the v1.0 search system. New forum platforms (like forums that use Xenforo) usually have this feature, and it's one of the most requested features since relaunch.

I often find it helpful myself. For example, I'd like to set my status to "Currently working on a search system" so people can see what I'm working on despite my activity in this thread.

Other examples of useful statuses:

- "I'm visiting grandma so I'll be away til mid-April" (3 days ago) -- Signal to your friends that you're away but will be coming back.
- "Currently writing post for <name of roleplay>" (12 min ago) -- Signal to your fellow players that your next post is imminent.

Statuses can be up to 140 chars.

So that people will actually read your status, I'm thinking of including it as a small button next to the "bio" button. When clicked, it can pop up a small window that shows the status with a small form that allows you to comment on it or rate it like you can a post. Perhaps the button even saturates into some color when you haven't read the user's latest status.

What do yall think? Any better ideas for how the status should be displayed on posts? It'd be possible to display the [possibly truncated] status directly on the post, but I'm reluctant to add clutter to posts.

@Mahz

I'm changing my title back to Keeper of Tomes for that, thanks guys :D.

[Genkai]

On that note actually...is it possible to hover your mouse over someone's username and see their status? I'd be thrilled to have them back, however they're implemented. I still assert that horizontal user headers would fix the space issue we have vertically. But if the hover (which might not work on mobile) or changing the style of the user's posts (vert. or horz.) then maybe it can be a small line at the bottom or top of the post itself, kind of where the whole "laugh, report, quote etc" is but have it a gold color so the status sticks out? Or...just scrunching it on the side works but either way, it's something that would be REALLY helpful.

[Syben]

I think the hover is a neat idea, it keeps it out of the way, but available if curiosity strikes you.

I feel it would also be useful to hate a date, IE: "Status was set on #/#/####" maybe on the profile page? It would make it simple then to just say "Gone for 7 days" etc. Though I'm just bouncing ideas around.

I'd like to see the return of the "color titles" rewards for participating in, and winning, the contests. But rather than just have a set colored titled, the user has the ability to freely customize the colors and change it around on a whim. Albiet I'm not sure how that worked in the first place (I never won :P)

[Genkai]

If the hover is implemented, it might be better to have it show when the status was updated, rather than the status itself? That way, it's not need to know information as much as the status itself?

[Shienvien]

So that people will actually read your status, I'm thinking of including it as a small button next to the "bio" button. When clicked, it can pop up a small window that shows the status with a small form that allows you to comment on it or rate it like you can a post. Perhaps the button even saturates into some color when you haven't read the user's latest status.

What do yall think? Any better ideas for how the status should be displayed on posts? It'd be possible to display the [possibly truncated] status directly on the post, but I'm reluctant to add clutter to posts.

I'd rather have it as hover-over tooltip for PC (disappears as soon as you move off the element) and tap-activated tooltip for touch-devices (goes away as soon as you tap anywhere but the button), also visible on profile above the bio; popup windows tend to be somewhat more annoying even when you can dismiss them with one button-press/tap/click. It being a popup-window rather than hover-over element will make me significantly less likely to actually ever look at those things, whereas hover-over statuses such as seen on Skype or the forum I'm thinking of below I occasionally do read them. (You can CSS-style tooltips, so appearances shouldn't be a problem.)
I've seen a quite functional forum-implementation of something very similar with the avatar working like the status not-button element described above - although the element being avatar rather than a thing with the word "status" written on it underneath the avatar tends to result in new people discovering the feature every now and then.
Uhh... But commenting and rating statuses? Don't like that thought. Far too social media gimmick for my tastes. (Whatever would even happen to these hypthetical comments and ratings whenever an user changes status - would they just get wiped with each and every edit, or would there be a graveyard of past statuses somewhere...?)

Shienvien

- Since my poor reply was a bit buried under everything else.

[BBeast]

I agree on a hover-over for status. If I recall, discussion indicated a button near the Bio button which would look like the Bio button but be a Statues button instead. I consider that a good idea.