Forum improvements?

[TerrorDæmonum]

Whoa, was that a punishment in some schools? That job was pure prestige when I was a kid.

If one were to leave class and do it, it would be a reward.

But in schools that had a lot of erasers, they may make it an after-school chore for the miscreants.

[GiftOfGod]

Actually I've gotten into debate on the prayer boards a few times (and once had to be moderated) because I didn't know that I was in the prayer board.

Were you skimming the page of the "Most Recent Posts" link and reading the posts in isolation?

You do seem to post debates on odd posts sometimes (well, oftentimes). That might explain why.

The only posts I read in isolation are very old posts that I trawl in chronological order from the beginning of the forum (and I don't post in those due to their age).

[TerrorDæmonum]

I sometimes read the forum that way and have the impression that it is fairly common.  If that is so, some sort of warning like the one Gift suggests could be helpful.

I don't know how it would be done specifically actually. It isn't a board option as far as I know. I made a "very big effort" improvement suggestion recently, and this one is a "just add Philosophical and in the board title in the board settings and eventually set a post sticky someone else wrote" suggestion. I don't want to be a "big ideas" man around here with constant grand schemes on total reorganization efforts.

Also, the most recent posts page does have the board name right by the title of the post, so one can see it. That is why I wrote "skimming", because it was there the entire time before one would post.

We don't want to get into "Cutting Edge Is Sharp" and "Contents Might Be Flammable" warning territory (lighter fluid containers say "contents might be flammable"). That would be patronizing.

[TerrorDæmonum]

Suggestion: Enable editing of one's posts in Buy/Sell/Trade to make it easier to browse, more clear about what is available.

The board would need to be modified with a different permission profile.

EDIT: Added bonus: excess image uploads could be removed after the item was otherwise not available, saving storage on the server.

[Prayerful]

Someone, even myself could copy paste the Bp Williamson Eleison Comments into that. A bit too conspiracy minded, but Bp Williamson has great gifts.

[GiftOfGod]

Someone, even myself could copy paste the Bp Williamson Eleison Comments into that. A bit too conspiracy minded, but Bp Williamson has great gifts.

Eleison Comments doesn't need to be its own child board. It could just be a sticky with links to other websites that host Eleison Comments. I understand that KK likes them (I do too) but Eleison Comments are not going to disappear off the Internet. Even if +Williamson's web site goes down, the Internet Archive won't. If someone really wants to, they can copy and paste every one of the Eleison Comments in the sticky.

[Philip G.]

Here is a forum improvement that many have at the very least commented about.  Disable the ability to change a thread title mid thread at the very least by one who is not the OP.

[Jayne]

Here is a forum improvement that many have at the very least commented about.  Disable the ability to change a thread title mid thread at the very least by one who is not the OP.

Can you explain why you think that would be an improvement.  In general, it is considered a good thing to change the subject line to reflect changes in the discussion.  I imagine this is why the feature exists.

[TerrorDæmonum]

Here is a forum improvement that many have at the very least commented about.  Disable the ability to change a thread title mid thread at the very least by one who is not the OP.

It changes the Post Subject, not the thread title. It is part of the post as far as SMF is concerned.

And this would not improve the forum when there are people who spread anti-Catholic nonsense and personal views on any thread which they target.

[GiftOfGod]

Here is a forum improvement that many have at the very least commented about.  Disable the ability to change a thread title mid thread at the very least by one who is not the OP.

What is the point of even allowing it to be changed? And why do people change it?

[TerrorDæmonum]

What is the point of even allowing it to be changed?

Post subjects, message icons, and the post itself can all be edited.

It is part of the post and how SMF works.

It is not "allowing it to be changed" any more than it is "allowing members to post comments and make new threads".

And why do people change it?

Because it is part of the post and editable. In other words, because we can.

But "why" beyond that:

• Some subjects are objectionable (blasphemous, heretical, vulgar, etc) and one may not want it on one's post
• Some subjects are malformed, either too long, inaccurate, or poorly formatted and one wants a correct subject
• The newest post on a thread will show up on the front page as the newest post along with the subject. And creating a subject that allows it to be read in full can be helpful.

You will see that I (in particular) try to make it so that what would be visible from the front page is descriptive, even if the subject is longer than would could be displayed.

For example, the thread on the front page in Ask a Traditionalist says:

Last post by GiftOfGod
in Re: Has anyone ever conv...

is not descriptive. It is about Jews, but no one could ever see that without going deeper.

Now, if it were titled "Converting Jews?" or something, people would have an immediate idea of what it was without ever clicking on anything.

[TerrorDæmonum]

There is also no profile permissions option to disable that as part of the ability to post a new comment or topic. It is part of the ability to post (or edit).

[Philip G.]

It creates confusion because via some search methods it makes finding responses to the thread difficult as a result of a new title.  Sure, if I directly go into the subforum, and click on the thread it is not a problem.  But, you may be looking for responses in "most recent posts on the forum", or other shortcuts the forum has constructed, which will show he renamed title, as opposed to the title that one is specifically looking for. 

[TerrorDæmonum]

It is confusing because via some search methods it makes finding responses to the thread difficult as a result of a new title.  Sure, if I directly go into the subforum, and click on the thread it is not a problem.  But, you may be looking for responses in "most recent posts on the forum", or other shortcuts the forum has constructed, which will show he renamed title, as opposed to the title that one is specifically looking for.

Alter your approach to searching. Scanning "recent posts" is very limited, as you noticed. It shows the posts in isolation, along with the board they are in.

That is just what "recent posts" are: the posts.

It lacks a lot of context beyond just the subject of other posts on the thread.

[Philip G.]

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