OccultForum.org

How about like buttons for individual posts and options to rate threads. If you want you can throw in chat room and/or a shoutbox. And posting on this forum will become more convenient if there are easier options to post pictures and videos. Thank you.

I like these ideas...

There was a chat room when I first arrived. Unfortunately no one ever bothered.

I think the forum would greatly benefit from some user generated ratings. It wouldn't be too hard to build an entrance page where I can see latest submissions and trending topics all in one place.

A shoutbox would probably get a lot more attention than a chat room with this crowd, but it also might turn into a troll-pit.

I've never seen a forum where user rating worked out for the better. It usually only leads to more infigthing.

A Metaphysics subforum.

Desecrated wrote:I've never seen a forum where user rating worked out for the better. It usually only leads to more infigthing.

Sounds like poor moderation and even worse user generated content to me.

Take this forum for example. Left untouched the frontpage would be mostly "What are you listening to now" and new users asking questions like "Can someone cast a spell for me?"

Its up to the moderators to decide what goes on the front page and what doesn't. When the moderators choose to put the communities best foot forward, then followup content generally falls in line with the image portrayed.

Right now this place is very chaotic and vulnerable to weak user generated content and moderation.

At the very least the moderation team could use something like "props" or thread ratings to gauge the communities opinion without resorting to threads like these... http://www.occultforum.org/forum/viewto ... =1&t=38425

Even if these ratings aren't public.

We have report buttons that work just fine, in case you want to "down vote" a thread.

cyberdemon wrote:We have report buttons that work just fine, in case you want to "down vote" a thread.

Yeah.... that didn't work out very well last time.

Desecrated wrote:

cyberdemon wrote:We have report buttons that work just fine, in case you want to "down vote" a thread.

Yeah.... that didn't work out very well last time.

I wasn't around. I'm still trying to find out how that saga concluded.

Napoli wrote:How about like buttons for individual posts and options to rate threads. If you want you can throw in chat room and/or a shoutbox. And posting on this forum will become more convenient if there are easier options to post pictures and videos. Thank you.

Like buttons are not a good idea. Never have been, never will be. This place isn't a popularity contest.
The "Like Button" is a convention of mainstream science to make every aspect possible of the "free" net into a social contest between one-liners.

A shoutbox would be cool, as long as it was nicely spam moderated. Maybe an IRC channel instead? With Kiwi, it's easy to set up and embed.
Shoutboxes get cluttered and spammed quickly, and a site-wide chatlog would be impossible to read. Perhaps have an IM feature between individuals and groups in personal message.

Also, totally add better ways of linking photos and videos. General better text-editing capabilities would be appreciated. Rich-Text editors are wonderful for this, just make sure you add a source-view option as well. If you go that route.

If your server has enough space, it would be cool to have the ability to upload photos directly to your posts. As long as you kept the upload limit under a good amount, it shouldn't cause a lot of clutter.
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Just my twocents in response.

Shoutbox tends to kill the discussions. I would advise against it.

EternalReturn wrote:Shoutbox tends to kill the discussions. I would advise against it.

And then research would be lost to shoutbox. I agree. Keep it forum.

Napoli wrote:How about like buttons for individual posts and options to rate threads. If you want you can throw in chat room and/or a shoutbox. And posting on this forum will become more convenient if there are easier options to post pictures and videos. Thank you.

I'm another one against 'like' buttons, not sure why a discussion forum needs a 'chat room' and I've never heard of a 'Shoutbox'. These things might be desirable on a high traffic site, but I think OF is fairly low traffic, which is as you might expect for a minority interest.

Shoutboxes are used for normal conversations, like saying "Hi" or asking questions that does not require the inquirer to open a thread. Chatroom can also be used like seminars exchange ideas real time. I know of a forum that has both these options and they have measly number of members. This will add to the friendly atmosphere.

I agree that if rating and liking systems are used it may produce bias. But I suggested it more as means for encouragement rather than for popularity. I guess everything can be misused.

Reporting differs from down voting. We need reporting, but reddit clearly shows that down vote options are counter productive. However, a like button would be fantastic. On other forums it greatly adds to the community and conversation. Stronger relationships.

Positive and depth psychology folder?

I know we dive off into it and it might be neat to have a place for that.

There will be no 'like' button.

That just encourages cliques and affects who posts here and what gets posted. It leads to an unofficial kind of censorship and we also don't care about popularity contests.

We had an IRC chat but it was extremely underused, however if enough members want it back then perhaps Vashta might consider it.

I believe we discounted having a shoutbox previously also, as it's not really conversant with the set up of the forum.

I wasn't around for the last flood of reports either, but the matter was attended to as soon as possible and staff have since dealt with it, so we would appreciate no more public references to this.

The report button is there for good reason, please use it.

Also please remain aware that staff members have lives outside the forum and we can't always attend immediately, should problems arise.

And if you see a problem thread, don't fan the fire, don't join in and don't make things worse.

I have a busy few weeks ahead of me IRL, but I'll make sure I'm here anyway and from here on in, I'll be watching this place like a hawk, no matter how busy my offline life gets.

Moderation will be enforced, if necessary. Please do not doubt this.

@ Cybernetic_Jazz, please use the reasoning and logic folder for Psychology related posting. [thumbup]

I hope this answers all and any questions raised.

I wouldn't mind a "like" button, as long as it isn't accompanied by a "dislike" button. With both you tend to end up with drama and popularity contests, but a simple "like" or "thanks" type button can be a good way of acknowledging that you've read a post and appreciate or agree with it's content without getting bogged down in redundancy.