Improvements and Additions to the Forum

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
So someone could perhaps use the forum to store all their Hacksaw Jim Duggin porn? Asking for a friend.
Unfortunately not. It has to still comply with the overall site requirements: no porn (even classy stuff like that) or illegal content. The difference is that you get to moderate it yourself, and can invite or boot as you like.
 

Annie H.

Egalatarian
That's kinda got nothing to do with it though - since it doesn't matter what Xenforo says you can do, if your Supreme Commander says no Jim Duggin Porn then it simply ain't going to happen.
Yes, sir, I know you are in charge but that's not my POINT! I found reading about xf, fooling around with the demo, reading the xf forum --where it says that Admins get to decide everthing BUT can confer those powers on others--informative. We all learn in different ways--even if we're not learning the same thing. Who would have ever thought I'd learn restraint, deep breathing, and various life skills on an MS forum? Unfortunately, I'm still struggling w/my addiction problem :)
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, sir, I know you are in charge but that's not my POINT! I found reading about xf, fooling around with the demo, reading the xf forum --where it says that Admins get to decide everthing BUT can confer those powers on others--informative. We all learn in different ways--even if we're not learning the same thing. Who would have ever thought I'd learn restraint, deep breathing, and various life skills on an MS forum? Unfortunately, I'm still struggling w/my addiction problem :)
You replied to a question asking a question about what content would be allowed, albeit one with a bit of a joke in there. I think it is important to remember that anything you read about what 'might' be possible is put into context. I'm not suggesting people don't look into things further, simply that your point is uncorrelated to the topic.
 

Annie H.

Egalatarian
I think it is important to remember that anything you read about what 'might' be possible is put into context. I'm not suggesting people don't look into things further, simply that your point is uncorrelated to the topic.
You're right and just to make it perfectly clear I am not advocating *.* hope that covers all the bases. Seriously.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Back on the improvements theme again, I have finally gotten around to building out the Destinations section:

http://saverocity.com/forum/categories/trips-reports-and-reviews.39/

For @smittytabb who brought this up marginally, and any others who want to chime in with thoughts... are you OK with it being like this, stacked under the Trips/Reviews/Reports Tab on the front page? I considered putting them directly out there but wasn't sure if that made the front too long, and too Travelly compared to the PF side which I am trying to build out.

I intend to extract the Hotel Reviews, Trip Reports, and Blog Posts and insert them into the Geo's here. I will then delete the Hotel Reviews forum.

Keen to hear any input on this. Also, if you aren't sure what to add to the conversation here, anyone can chime in on the list order of the Destinations - I'm not sure I like the current format. Happy to hear something with better flow, and if another region needs adding.
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Back on the improvements theme again, I have finally gotten around to building out the Destinations section:

http://saverocity.com/forum/categories/trips-reports-and-reviews.39/

For @smittytabb who brought this up marginally, and any others who want to chime in with thoughts... are you OK with it being like this, stacked under the Trips/Reviews/Reports Tab on the front page? I considered putting them directly out there but wasn't sure if that made the front too long, and too Travelly compared to the PF side which I am trying to build out.

I intend to extract the Hotel Reviews, Trip Reports, and Blog Posts and insert them into the Geo's here. I will then delete the Hotel Reviews forum.

Keen to hear any input on this. Also, if you aren't sure what to add to the conversation here, anyone can chime in on the list order of the Destinations - I'm not sure I like the current format. Happy to hear something with better flow, and if another region needs adding.
Well, your current list leaves out Central America for a start. And Canada *is* North America. Why not just use the continents? That makes it shorter too. If you want someone to moderate that section and move things to the correct continent if people don't have a clue, I am game for that.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Well, your current list leaves out Central America for a start. And Canada *is* North America. Why not just use the continents? That makes it shorter too. If you want someone to moderate that section and move things to the correct continent if people don't have a clue, I am game for that.
Ok
 

Domat

Level 2 Member
Probably not the right place but am I the only one having a lot of trouble with the responsiveness of the forum the past week?
 
R

RamboAroundTheWorld

Guest
Probably not the right place but am I the only one having a lot of trouble with the responsiveness of the forum the past week?
Not the right place but what troubles in specific are you having? And on what platform?
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Well, your current list leaves out Central America for a start. And Canada *is* North America. Why not just use the continents? That makes it shorter too. If you want someone to moderate that section and move things to the correct continent if people don't have a clue, I am game for that.
OK let's try again. I was willing to swap it around to continents, but then as I looked them up (because despite having lived on 3 of them and visited 5 (or maybe 6) I don't have a clue. I realized why I didn't pick em first time around.

  • Antarctica - love the notion of this place, never been there, on the Bucket List for sure. Does it warrant its own Forum? Hell no. Take a look at the Antarctica Forum on FT... I say chuck it in with South America since you need to go to South America to blag a cruise anyways....
  • North America AND Canada - because people are dumb. They will segment domestic US travel and Canada in their mind, so by adding it in you help them out.
  • Same reason I put Mexico and the Caribbean as a category - because if you are looking to Vacay in Aruba you wouldn't want to ask about North America because that is 'murica. You raise a fair point about Central America, so I chucked it in here too.
Regarding more or less categories, I think its the same - putting Canada into NA is simply a further detail and doesn't add anything, putting Antarctica into South America gives me 1 to play with, pulling out Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America uses that card up.

I'd like us to consider it as more of a weighted average approach to categories.

Still happy for you to moderate all that if you are OK with the bastardization of the zones... :)
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
OK let's try again. I was willing to swap it around to continents, but then as I looked them up (because despite having lived on 3 of them and visited 5 (or maybe 6) I don't have a clue. I realized why I didn't pick em first time around.

  • Antarctica - love the notion of this place, never been there, on the Bucket List for sure. Does it warrant its own Forum? Hell no. Take a look at the Antarctica Forum on FT... I say chuck it in with South America since you need to go to South America to blag a cruise anyways....
  • North America AND Canada - because people are dumb. They will segment domestic US travel and Canada in their mind, so by adding it in you help them out.
  • Same reason I put Mexico and the Caribbean as a category - because if you are looking to Vacay in Aruba you wouldn't want to ask about North America because that is 'murica. You raise a fair point about Central America, so I chucked it in here too.
Regarding more or less categories, I think its the same - putting Canada into NA is simply a further detail and doesn't add anything, putting Antarctica into South America gives me 1 to play with, pulling out Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America uses that card up.

I'd like us to consider it as more of a weighted average approach to categories.

Still happy for you to moderate all that if you are OK with the bastardization of the zones... :)
Ha, ha. What do we do with Greenland? Europe or North America? How about U.S. and Canada?
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Yes - let's do US and Canada, and if anyone has a Greenland question pints are on me.
 
R

RamboAroundTheWorld

Guest
Just make an All The Americas node and be done with it.
 

TheBOSman

Moderator
Staff member
Yes - let's do US and Canada, and if anyone has a Greenland question pints are on me.
I have some, which FFP is best for redeeming flights on Air Greenland? Does Air Greenland partner with Ultimate Rewards? Ideally, I would like to fly TATL via YOW, YFB, GOH, and KEF, is this available for reward redemption? Don't judge me, I like the long way and the scenery, and who wouldn't want to cross the Atlantic on all propeller planes?

:D
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
I have some, which FFP is best for redeeming flights on Air Greenland? Does Air Greenland partner with Ultimate Rewards? Ideally, I would like to fly TATL via YOW, YFB, GOH, and KEF, is this available for reward redemption? Don't judge me, I like the long way and the scenery, and who wouldn't want to cross the Atlantic on all propeller planes?

:D
4 pints
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
I have some, which FFP is best for redeeming flights on Air Greenland? Does Air Greenland partner with Ultimate Rewards? Ideally, I would like to fly TATL via YOW, YFB, GOH, and KEF, is this available for reward redemption? Don't judge me, I like the long way and the scenery, and who wouldn't want to cross the Atlantic on all propeller planes?

:D
Hey I really want to go to Greenland. Still kicking myself for not going when I was in Iceland....next time!
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
But I had the original Greenland question, unfortunately I won't be at the DO to get the pints!
Hey I really want to go to Greenland. Still kicking myself for not going when I was in Iceland....next time!
No pints for yoou!! I did set you up with Moderator powers so you could move threads around there, I'll be pulling in threads from around the various areas today, which you are welcome to do too, or just correct my Geo errors on :)

Greenland is pretty neat, we did both from that 30 days cruise from Boston.
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
No pints for yoou!! I did set you up with Moderator powers so you could move threads around there, I'll be pulling in threads from around the various areas today, which you are welcome to do too, or just correct my Geo errors on :)

Greenland is pretty neat, we did both from that 30 days cruise from Boston.
Ok, so I just went into the new area. Here is my first dilemma: Turkey. Istanbul is definitely Europe (well, most of it at least, but not all). Izmir is in Asia (technically). So, seems to me we need to have all of Turkey be in one or the other, but which one? And this is why categorization is always tricky and often contradictory.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Ok, so I just went into the new area. Here is my first dilemma: Turkey. Istanbul is definitely Europe (well, most of it at least, but not all). Izmir is in Asia (technically). So, seems to me we need to have all of Turkey be in one or the other, but which one? And this is why categorization is always tricky and often contradictory.
Europe.

Not tricky anymore.
 

janetdoe

Level 2 Member
Probably not the right place but am I the only one having a lot of trouble with the responsiveness of the forum the past week?
I was having problems, but I figured out it was due to the video ads loading, so I pm'd Matt about it. If you reload the screen until you get a non-video ad, it magically fixes the performance issues, at least for me.

I don't know how much of this is my fault, but I did ask for a way to just pay and not have to watch ads, and $5 a month works for me. :)

I think the nodes thing is a different idea. @Matt has had a lot of comment and debate over 'level 3'. So his solution is, hey, if you want improvements, I'll give you a sandbox. See what you can build, see what comes of it, and maybe there will be some killer ideas or subforums that come out of it. That's all a node is, it's just a subforum. It can have its own moderators, and you can set crazy detailed granular permissions if you have the time and energy for it. If you have an idea for an exclusive, trusted forum, make it happen. If you want your subforum to address a specific topic (maybe one you have expertise or need help with) and be completely open to everyone, you can do that too.

Maybe combining that sandbox/node concept with the concept of "premium supporter" is what is irritating everyone? Maybe some people just want to give $10 a month without having to fuss with managing anything? Does xenforo support the little icons like "Secret Santa" or "I voted" on flyertalk? Something a little more subtle than a banner? Personally, I agree with @Haley on the banners. I think $5, the benefit you get is no ads and a warm fuzzy feeling. Premium Supporter? meh.

I think this is really 3 concepts:
$5 - no ads and no acknowledgement
+$5 - badge or something that indicates you support the forum monetarily
+$5 - node rental. This could come with a banner that says Owner: Janetdoe Subforum. Or whatever. And if the node is good enough and provides a public benefit, Matt can waive your fees.

Technical question: Setting up a new node with custom permissions for existing members is non-trivial, really curious to see how it pans out and whether a 'node owner' can fully admin a node without having any other admin privileges. I didn't know xenforo had that capability.
 

Domat

Level 2 Member
is pushbullet working. when I try through settings here I get

Saverocity The Forum - Error
New registrations are currently not being accepted.

Though it may just be because of my troubles using this forum.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
I was having problems, but I figured out it was due to the video ads loading, so I pm'd Matt about it. If you reload the screen until you get a non-video ad, it magically fixes the performance issues, at least for me.

I don't know how much of this is my fault, but I did ask for a way to just pay and not have to watch ads, and $5 a month works for me. :)

I think the nodes thing is a different idea. @Matt has had a lot of comment and debate over 'level 3'. So his solution is, hey, if you want improvements, I'll give you a sandbox. See what you can build, see what comes of it, and maybe there will be some killer ideas or subforums that come out of it. That's all a node is, it's just a subforum. It can have its own moderators, and you can set crazy detailed granular permissions if you have the time and energy for it. If you have an idea for an exclusive, trusted forum, make it happen. If you want your subforum to address a specific topic (maybe one you have expertise or need help with) and be completely open to everyone, you can do that too.

Maybe combining that sandbox/node concept with the concept of "premium supporter" is what is irritating everyone? Maybe some people just want to give $10 a month without having to fuss with managing anything? Does xenforo support the little icons like "Secret Santa" or "I voted" on flyertalk? Something a little more subtle than a banner? Personally, I agree with @Haley on the banners. I think $5, the benefit you get is no ads and a warm fuzzy feeling. Premium Supporter? meh.

I think this is really 3 concepts:
$5 - no ads and no acknowledgement
+$5 - badge or something that indicates you support the forum monetarily
+$5 - node rental. This could come with a banner that says Owner: Janetdoe Subforum. Or whatever. And if the node is good enough and provides a public benefit, Matt can waive your fees.

Technical question: Setting up a new node with custom permissions for existing members is non-trivial, really curious to see how it pans out and whether a 'node owner' can fully admin a node without having any other admin privileges. I didn't know xenforo had that capability.
I was meaning to get back to you on this, you really nailed a lot of important points - I'll see what I can do about the banners - I do want acknowledgement, but maybe there is a way to do it differently. Re the nodes, yeah, it is a serious thing indeed to set up, but I think I finally have it.
 

thorax

Level 90 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Warlock
I'd looked at it passingly and thought it was for trophies rather than user groups?
Nah, trophies are different. I believe this allows you to use your graphics to make medals/awards.

edit: Installed on my test board. Seems to work great, but the awarding is a manual process.
Those definitely aren't more subtle than the banners.
You don't have to use those graphics silly.
 
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Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Nah, trophies are different. I believe this allows you to use your graphics to make medals/awards.

edit: Installed on my test board. Seems to work great, but the awarding is a manual process.

You don't have to use those graphics silly.
Thanks, will look into it. Might take me a while to get through the list, but I appreciate the help.
 
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