New Feature: Thread Prefixes

[Mindi]

I've added Thread Prefixes for forums and subforums. When you create a thread you can now add a prefix to the thread which will display similar to how stickies are displayed. Based on feedback from moderators the prefixes you can choose are as follows:

In main forums:
FAQ
Wishlist
Bug
Tutorial
Tip
Guide

In subforums:
Map
Mod
Scenario
MP
Utility
AAR

Please use the appropriate prefixes in the appropriate forums only. You *should* be able to go back and edit in these prefixes into existing threads as well if you so desire.

[Herode]

Fine addition. Thanks :)

[Mindi]

FYI, you can also search via prefixes in the advanced search.

[sector24]

I responded to your post in the Dom3 forum, but I thought I'd post here too. I edited the Magic Path Booster Guide in my sig and was unable to edit a prefix into an old post. I pressed "Edit" followed by "Go Advanced" and didn't see it anywhere.

[Edi]

I responded to your post in the Dom3 forum, but I thought I'd post here too. I edited the Magic Path Booster Guide in my sig and was unable to edit a prefix into an old post. I pressed "Edit" followed by "Go Advanced" and didn't see it anywhere.

It'll be right next to the thread title, a small dropdown menu with the various options. I added it for you.

[lch]

FYI, you can also search via prefixes in the advanced search.
That's awesome, by the way. In case it is tagged in the right way, by this prefix, I can specifically search for MP games, bugs, maps, mods, etc. that interest me. Now all we need is that everybody prefixes his threads... :)

[Edi]

Mindi, would it be possible to make all of the prefixes available in all of the forums? The color codes are distinctive and several of the prefixes are, at least in the Dom3 community, useful in both the main and subforums (e.g. utility, wishlist, bug, FAQ, tutorial and guide ones.

[Mindi]

The list of what was allowed where was originally based on moderator feedback and how the forums are structured. I have added utility to the main forums and wishlist for the subforums, but there really isn't a reason to put a map, mod, scenario or AAR in the main forums, etc. I don't see a reason bugs should be in the subforums as if it's a bug for a specific mod, etc then it should be posted in the thread for that mod...not posted for a new thread. And unless their are actual threads on how to do a map, mod etc, then there shouldn't be a reason for FAQ or tutorial either...and really those should be stickied instead Now the guide ones need to be in one place or the other. We can add a subforum specifically for guides if the users think its necessary, but I don't want content such as this scattered in different forums.....it makes it less user friendly to newbies.

[Ballbarian]

I have been tempted to use my
:mean:(((awesome moderator powers))) :mean:
to put prefixes in some of the map threads myself, but I haven't done it.



Bad Ballbarian. Bad. Mustn't use our buttons precious. Only when we needses them precious. *gollum* *gollum*
:hide:

[Mindi]

Well, since thread prefixes can be searched it would probably be beneficial to make sure useful threads are categorized. :angel

I'm sure most people would not mind your help.

[Edi]

Thanks! The utility and wishlist things were the most needed ones, all the otehrs I can well live with as is. :D

[lch]

I'll get to work on this. Only thing that I want to know: will people get notifications from the forum if I edit their top post because of this, or won't they? I wouldn't like it if they do, for something like this.

[Ballbarian]

From what I have seen, no. They won't get notifications if you edit their post. (The first post of the thread at least.) Edi made an edit to my map list post and I received no notification.

[lch]

I have added prefixes to the threads in the first three pages of the Dom3 Mods & Maps subforum. Only for the first post, so maybe using it during searches isn't too reliable, but at least you can easily make out what is what when browsing the forum.

I noticed some kind of problem which seems to have occurred during the site transfer, I'll report it now.

I fear the task of adding MP prefixes to the threads in the MP subforum. Maybe it would be easier to write a bot that does it everywhere to all the threads and then remove the prefixes again for stuff that doesn't qualify, by hand. :P

[lch]

I added prefixes to three more pages. Only looked for threads with attachments this time to speed up the process, so I might have missed one thing or the other.

What would help make this easier, either a button for Moderators to directly set thread prefixes, or a possibility to directly go to advanced edit mode without the simple edit mode (where you can't edit titles) in-between.

Oh, and also, the order in which the thread prefixes appear seems to generated randomly every time. They're not at fixed positions in the list. Very strange.

[Mindi]

My comments were for Ballbarian who had an itchy trigger finger and wanted to help out. ;) Please don't consider my comments a mandate to go through the whole forum gettting everything prefixed. That's way too time consuming for any one person to do.

[lch]

Nah, it's manageable if I do three pages per day. We'll have the whole things prefixed after some time. I'd clean up stuff by moving it into appropriate subforums, too, if that wouldn't generate notification mails.

[Kristoffer O]

AAR's are mainly in the last posts. And they might be more interesting to people than most MP threads. So you could start at the end going forward :)

Edit: sory, it was the mods you were tinkering with, not the MP thread.

[lch]

To correct myself, it's enough to tag the first post so that all the replies carry the same prefix, too. About a third of the mods&maps forum is done now, I noticed that Edi has joined in with the prefix tagging.

[Edi]

To correct myself, it's enough to tag the first post so that all the replies carry the same prefix, too. About a third of the mods&maps forum is done now, I noticed that Edi has joined in with the prefix tagging.
Yeah, I did. The Mod List in its current form is pretty hard to use, so I figured in redoing it and turning the old one to a reporting thread so any new additions can be linked there and then added to the actual list. The original is WAY over the character limit and thus uneditable.

[Kristoffer O]

Hmm, perhaps increasing the limit on the original post would be good for mod and MP threads.

[Edi]

Not needed, imo. The current limit is 25,000 characters and that's plenty for most purposes. The only post I've ever seen that has been longer than that has been the mod list and a lot of that has been the old shrapnelcommunity links. We'll see just how much it gets cut down when the links are updated.

[Kristoffer O]

Oki