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So, uh... how attached are you to this here forum?

GuerrillaGuerrilla789 HelsinkiPosts: 2,865Administrator
edited May 2022 in Site News #1
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Ok, that sounded a little ominous, but hear me out. :p

TLDR: Looking into different forum software, since future of Vanilla Open Source is looking a little iffy at the moment.

The development of Vanilla Forums open source has slowed down considerably enough for me to look into a few other options when it comes to forum software. I threw this setup together just by going with what I think makes a good forum and my (surprisingly lengthy) history of being part of the staff here. I figured I would actually ask you guys what you want in a forum this time around.

Now this is not something that will happen in a few weeks or anything. I need to do a whole bunch of prototyping and figuring things out. The 2019 migration was like two years in the making, but on the other hand I built this whole site myself, so I have more access and am quite a bit better at coding than I was back then, so it should be a lot quicker and might turn up a bit nicer.

For options I've been looking at Flarum, NodeBB and Discourse, since those look like forums I might be able to wrestle into a classical category based forums instead of some awful mobile-first timeline type of deal. Unless a slick modern forum is what you would like to see instead? Let me know. :p

I've also been thinking about the markup language we use. We're currently set up for BBCode since that's what the old vBulletin forum used, and I think it's a perfectly capable little language, but I've also been considering switching to markdown, since that's what Discord uses and it's quite a bit quicker to work with once you get the hang of it. Recent Vanilla updates have also made it very tricky to add new tags to the forum, which was the main appeal of BBCode for me. How do you like to edit your text?


Our Vanilla is pretty damn customized so I thought I'd make a quick list of the things I've added to it:
  • Custom theme (7 themes, technically)
  • Gamification (badges)
  • Liking posts and hooking that up to the gamification above
  • App icons in profile
  • Social icons in profile
  • Commissions open icon
  • Thread thumbnails
  • Thread prefixes (3D, 2D, Animation and so on...)
  • Tagging (Star Trek, Star Wars and so on...)
  • A whole bunch of user data improvements like autosave options for drafts, exporting your own data and deleting your account
  • Sketchfab and Marmoset embedding (kinda busted at the moment though :( )
  • Necropost tags and warning no one seems to read
  • Antispam measures
  • A bunch of little quality of life things

I guess the main question is, which of these features you enjoy and which you can do without? Are there ones you particularly dislike? Are there any absolute must haves for our potential new forum?

So, three quick questions for you:
  1. Which forum software would you like to see us use in the future? Stick with Vanilla? Flarum? NodeBB? Discourse? Something else entirely? The goal will be a classical forum setup in any case. None of these tagged timelines nonsense, if I can help it.
  2. Which markup should we use (ie. how do you want to write your posts? Stick with BBCode? Markdown (like Discord)? Some fancier WYSIWYG editor?
  3. Which features must be included in the potential new forum? Are there any features we're missing currently?
Post edited by Guerrilla on
Comco: i entered it manually in the back end
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JayruWarp Propulsion Laboratory

Posts

  • rojrenrojren2298 Louisville, Kentucky USAPosts: 1,970Member
    I like being able to link to images stored elsewhere, with a thumbnail image link. I like being able to 'like' people's work. I don't think I do anything else.

    I would say, since you're doing the work, go in the direction with software and languages that most interests you.
    Mustang13Camaro68Starrigger
  • McCMcC373 Posts: 704Member
    No strong attachment to the forum software. At the end of the day, the user experience is much more about how the site admins have customized the UI than it is what's going on under the hood, so whatever makes the most sense for you is the thing I support!

    Definitely would not like to see a "mobile-first" forum package, though! If I want to interact with the community on mobile, that's what Discord is for. I feel like forums should be aimed at the desktop experience first, possibly with support for a mobile experience, but not as the focus. Maybe that makes me a dinosaur, but there's definitely a clear demarcation for me between "stuff that's mobile" and "stuff that's not" and forums fall squarely into the latter category.

    No strong feelings about Markdown vs BBCode. Both have their strengths, though Markdown does feel like a more widely-used option these days.
    • Custom theme: As long as there's something vaguley darkmode-like, with blue accents and not a lot of overhead, I'm happy. (Currently using the Blue Compact theme, for context)
    • Gamification: Don't care
    • Liking posts and hooking that up to the gamification above: Don't care (strongly). We've chatted about this in the past, and I kind of wish there was a way to sort of "bump" a thread with a "like" (in quotes because it needn't be an actual "like" mechanism) to indicate "Hey, this thread is active and something cool got posted that I wish to provide accolade to, which will count as activity in the thread" without requiring the user to post a one-sentence comment like "That looks great!" to achieve the same goal. But you very rightly also pointed out so big potential gotchas with this approach, so...not sure what the right answer is!
    • App icons in profile: I do feel like this is helpful, especially displayed near the user's avatar or actual comments, to provide context.
    • Social icons in profile: Don't care.
    • Commissions open icon: Not specifically relevant to me, so abstain.
    • Thread thumbnails: Definitely! Though a more automatic way of handling it might be handy? Having to specifically attach an image to the first post and all that, which one needs to keep updating, is by no means odious, but since I host my own images, it means I have to upload not just to my server, but also remember to go back and edit the first post to update what's attached there, which in turn cruds up your server. Perhaps giving the thread submitter some way of specifying the thread thumbnail in each subsequent comment they make, with a URL or an upload, and give the most-recent one precedence?
    • Thread prefixes: Definitely useful, but by no means a dealbreaker.
    • Tagging: Nice-to-have, but also usually self-evident from the post itself.
    • A whole bunch of user data improvements: No strong feelings
    • Sketchfab and Marmoset embedding: No strong feelings
    • Necropost tags and warning no one seems to read: No one ever reads warnings, but these are still good to have.
    • Antispam measures: Definitely good to have. Forums getting overrun by spamswarms is a real danger.
    • A bunch of little quality of life things: Entirely up to you, since they'd need to be enumerated to comment on! :mrgreen:

    Hope that's useful!
    lewisniven
  • count23count23361 Posts: 779Member
    Not too fussed on the software as long as the basic functions remain intact. The big issue I have is archiving the current content, there's a lot of older threads with content that's worth preserving in any migration.
    Formerly Nadesico.

    Current Projects:
    Ambassador Class
  • Lizzy777Lizzy7771249 PNWPosts: 754Member
    The forum is an excellent place to come and post stuff. The community here is smaller than the Discord server (or at least it seems that way). But the threads stay around longer and are more visible to viewers.

    Like, I doubt my WIP thread could last 12 years on Discord without being buried and hard to find like it would be in a chat feature. But I do get immediate responses on Discord, so both work well in tandem. Having that record here is an amazing achievement on its own!

    I haven't felt the need for basic forum coding beyond embedding images and basic text formatting. Though some of the gamification badges stuff could use a bit more explanation with a mouseover or page describing what they are. I still don't know what some of the badges I have are from. For example, Level IV? What is it and why do I have it?

    The notification dropdowns on the right-hand side of the screen appear mostly off of the screen so I can't read what they say. That's pretty much my only concern. Well, not concerned since I hardly use them and the notices pop up at the top of the page as well.

    I'm a PC user and mobile enhancements on other pages do nothing for me except compact content into the center of my screen. Oftentimes making it difficult to see what's posted while I have plenty of real estate to the sides of my widescreen monitor.

    BBcode, Forum code, basic HTML, any of it is fine for me. I really do like the click features where the forum adds it in for us, so that's a nice quality of life feature.

    Really, as long as things are simple on the user end and work as they should, I'm a happy camper.
    Comco
    "Cry 'Havoc!,' and let slip the corgies of war!"
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Not one who does a lot of coding, but I kind of like the forum as it is. But if it has to change, I will roll with it as I always have :-)
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • GuerrillaGuerrilla789 HelsinkiPosts: 2,865Administrator
    McC wrote: »
    Thread thumbnails: Definitely! Though a more automatic way of handling it might be handy? Having to specifically attach an image to the first post and all that, which one needs to keep updating, is by no means odious, but since I host my own images, it means I have to upload not just to my server, but also remember to go back and edit the first post to update what's attached there, which in turn cruds up your server. Perhaps giving the thread submitter some way of specifying the thread thumbnail in each subsequent comment they make, with a URL or an upload, and give the most-recent one precedence?

    Doesn't need to be attached actually. It just grabs the first image tag it finds in the first post and uses that. Attached images get auto-resized for the index to save some bandwidth and page load times, but other than that attachments and hotlinking work the same.
    Comco: i entered it manually in the back end
    Join our fancy Discord Server!
  • ashleytingerashleytinger1998 Central OhioPosts: 1,232Member
    The simpler to post images either as hotlinked or attachments the better. Formatting the text is...eh? I mean I paste or just type my posts in as is and go without a lot of fancy formatting anyway.
    Starrigger
  • GuerrillaGuerrilla789 HelsinkiPosts: 2,865Administrator
    edited May 2022 #9
    Lizzy777 wrote: »
    I haven't felt the need for basic forum coding beyond embedding images and basic text formatting. Though some of the gamification badges stuff could use a bit more explanation with a mouseover or page describing what they are. I still don't know what some of the badges I have are from. For example, Level IV? What is it and why do I have it?

    It's just a bit of fun and games, and a number you can increase. It may also tell a casual observer who has been around a while and who is just starting out on SFM. Basically there's a running score (think of it as reputation or XP) next to your profile. You get points mainly from people liking your posts, although there are other badges for anniversaries and post count milestones that net you a couple of points. Level IV just means you have reached over... *checks notes*... 600 points.

    From what I'm reading though, the gamification maybe isn't really adding much to the user experience from an average user's point of view, so maybe that's a feature that can be dropped or at least reduced somewhat. I was going to use them as rewards for challenges, but we haven't reached the critical mass of people and interest to run any yet.

    Also, technically @MadKoiFish already won Scifi-Meshes, since he hit level X a while ago. :p
    Post edited by Guerrilla on
    Lizzy777ashleytingerWarp Propulsion LaboratoryJayruComcoscifiericStarrigger
    Comco: i entered it manually in the back end
    Join our fancy Discord Server!
  • seanrseanr1097 Brooklyn, NYPosts: 594Member
    Regarding Markdown, I'm fine with that (use it all the time at work as it is).

    In terms of overall functionality/features, I would hate to stray any further than necessary from what we currently have. I like it as is, though I might modernize the design a bit. ;)
    Starrigger
  • paulbhartzogpaulbhartzog345 Posts: 31Member
    I'm not a hardcore user, really more of a casual hobby guy, so it's fine if my input doesn't count for as much as the rest of y'all. I can't speak to the software side, but I do find "tags" to be the most useful, and possible essential, thing on any collection of information. This presupposes, of course, that a Search feature exists and that it can search those tags. Search against titles and content is also handy, but tags for sure.

    Just my 2 cents :-)
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    Hey. Overall, I recall using NodeBB on forums I used to run or work at. It's fairly simple but effective. Discord seems like a good alternative, though I do feel that the Vanilla we have now is also pretty solid and workable.

    As per your questions:
    Custom theme (7 themes, technically): Always good to have alternatives.
    Gamification (badges): Meh....
    Liking posts and hooking that up to the gamification above: Liking is good, gives another level of interaction.
    App icons in profile: Can be helpful for quick browsing
    Social icons in profile: Could also be useful.
    Commissions open icon: I suppose so.
    Thread thumbnails: They are quite vital I feel.
    Thread prefixes (3D, 2D, Animation and so on...): Not necessarily something I'd regard as necessary or needed, but I can see their use.
    Tagging (Star Trek, Star Wars and so on...): Oh yes, please!
    A whole bunch of user data improvements like autosave options for drafts, exporting your own data and deleting your account: They are these tiny little things no-one notices until they're gone....
    Sketchfab and Marmoset embedding (kinda busted at the moment though :( ): Well, I've no use for them so Iabstain on a comment.
    Necropost tags and warning no one seems to read: Yea, good idea, but you know how warning labels work... Never observed, hardly recognised...
    Antispam measures: Yea, you can never have enuff of them.
    A bunch of little quality of life things: Go on. :)

    Which forum software would you like to see us use in the future?: To be perfectly honest, Vanilla seems the best bet right now. You know, don't change something that isn't broken... IF a switch is needed, I'd feel NodeBB or Discourse be viable.
    Which markup should we use?: Keep it simple but effective. Not everyone wants to bother writing the codings of BBCode to get their posts look the way they envision it. Embedding images and whatnot are easier done in more WYSIWYG-focussed editors.
    Which features must be included in the potential new forum? Are there any features we're missing currently?: None come to mind for me, but then again, there are always things that only become a valuable addition and necessary tool of life-quality until after they were added....
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