Forum feedback / improvements / suggestions

[WardNL]

Comments and suggestions on improving the forum can be discussed here.

- I'd like to have some more smilies... like the thumbs up one!
- Would it be possible to include YouTube video's in forum posts?
- Enabling the avatar function would be nice.

[Ecuadorian]

Rather than having a thumbs up smiley, I'd prefer a "thumbs up" button, so below a post you could see something like: "The following users gave a thumbs up to this post:...". This would help keep the Signal to Noise Ratio of the forum in a healthy level, as there would be less posts just to say "Thanks!", or "Good job!", and more posts with actual content. This would make it easier for both users and moderators to keep up to date with new posts, especially as the community grows.

Avatars... I have mixed feelings towards avatars as they can force the mods to make hard decisions when people decide to use questionable images as avatars, or load big, heavy ones. An avatar-less forum looks more professional and people can browse it at work without it being obvious that they're browsing a forum.

Youtube BBcode would be cool for inserting tutorials, tech support explanations, and of course, videos rendered in Twilight. But some forums prefer not to enable it for the same reasons I gave above for avatars.

[Smiley]

Rather than having a thumbs up smiley, I'd prefer a "thumbs up" button, so below a post you could see something like: "The following users gave a thumbs up to this post:...".

"The following user gave a thumbs up to this idea"..

[admin]

A bit like this?

[Frederik]

A bit like this?

I'm sure it's exactly what they're looking for...

[Ecuadorian]

Wow, thank you!
If it was there before, I had not noticed it.

I will give a thumbs up to your post... wait.

[Gareth]

Hi Miguel,

Thought I'd pop in and say hi....!!

[Ecuadorian]

Hi, Gareth. Welcome aboard.

Today I visited another render-related forum which I will not name and was shocked with some of the avatars... So please, moderators, whatever you do, don't enable custom avatars here!

[Fletch]

no worries, avatars are not likely in the near future.

[Phil Meadows]

I agree with the no avatars as well, even though I have a nice one.

The real reason for this particular post is to agree with the "thumbs-up" button idea. I am probably one of many here who visit often and read every post on every thread—but don't feel I have a lot to say. I avoid writing posts that only say "good job" as much as possible. If an image really affects me, I'll take the time to mention it. But it does take up a lot of space on a forum page.

So do wordy signatures. When forums were brand new things, signatures got way out of hand, and I participated in that. But I'm older now