NEW: New Forum Emoticons and summary!

basilmarket.com forums : Site talk | 16 posts archived

thread starter mrbasil Feb 05 2010 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Greetings Basilers! You might notice some new emoticons when looking at the various list of threads in the forums. They're not just for show though, each one has a meaning directly associated with the icon. For example, if the poor icon is crying that means the thread is a day old and has very few replies, why not show the TS some love? An 'F6' / wow icon means the thread has over 45 replies! If you don't know what an icon means, put your mouse over it and the explanation will show up. Enjoy!

My Characters: mrcurry - 90 Broa Crusader

taleko + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Thankyou for re-introducing the Reply Counter. I'll happily ignore the faces if you keep the reply counter and last replier there.

My Characters: Talekah - 108 Scania Crusader

JoonDashBug 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Very interesting (: Way to go Mr. B!

My Characters: DarkSwampy - 81 Bera Hermit

Nuwen 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

What happens if we get suspended for necroposting? >_>

My Characters: GIaceonLy - 56 Windia Gunslinger

Biotype 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Yay reply counts are back! :] I also like the preview of what's in the first post of the thread.

My Characters: OutIaw - 146 Windia Shadower

sawworm 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Now this is so cool :D

My Characters: DalarBuAran - 101 Broa Aran in Misery

Eeveepony 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I really like the summery thing. The icon's however make the forum look much too busy and cluttered.

My Characters: Eeveepony - 70 Windia Wind Archer

IImaplers 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I like this idea better than the medals next to thread topic idea. Go Mr. Basil!

My Characters: iweenana - 143 DemethosGMS F/P Arch Mage

Alalme 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Both the new summary, these new faces (athough those are a neat idea), and the medal icons are cluttering up Basil, and are unessacary. I do not approve.

My Characters: Alalme - 129 KradiaGMS Bow Master

RedValentine 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Hey, why are the new threads are not highlighted while the old/no new post threads are highlighted? It's kind of confusing.

My Characters: IshuffleXD - 28 Khaini Magician

Fade2BlacK + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I like the idea of those icons, but not the icons themselves. I don't like the summary posted underneath the thread title. I think it's more efficient if the summary shows up only when we put the cursor on thread title likee the Ultimate-guitar forum and others.

XXuzumaki2XX 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I dont really like the face all that much.

My Characters: XXuzumaki2XX - 92 Bera Dragon Knight

BurninDavyn + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] RedValentine : Hey, why are the new threads are not highlighted while the old/no new post threads are highlighted? It's kind of confusing. [/quote] I noticed this as well. Also, a suggestion: Instead of making the icons automatic based on number of posts, make it so the thread starter has the option to place a face next to their thread title on the forums list that actually relates to the thread. Examples: [sad face] My girlfriend broke up with me today. [F6 face] Check out this video, this guy does an awesome trick on his bike! [No Icon/Strait Face] This is just a thread that the Thread Starter chose not to put an icon next to/none of the icons relate to the feeling shown in this thread

My Characters: XO347 - 85 Broa Hermit

tuffghost + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

The forum is so cluttered now. It was better before, you know with a reply counter and without all the other unnecessary junk. Thread titles should give you a summary of the thread. Summaries will be abused.

My Characters: theredplanet - 89 Khaini Ranger

LimusocoBobo + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] Fade2BlacK : I like the idea of those icons, but not the icons themselves. I don't like the summary posted underneath the thread title. I think it's more efficient if the summary shows up only when we put the cursor on thread title likee the Ultimate-guitar forum and others. [/quote] This is exactly what I was gonna suggest. The summaries should not display by default... it's just too much for a simple thread listing page. It would be far more efficient if the summaries would only show on mouseover. Either that or have them not display at all. It's just too much now. I can live with the faces, I guess. But please change/remove the summaries. The emoticons idea sounded great in theory, but the below poster is correct that some emoticons/faces distract from the topic of the thread by giving the thread a "mood" of sorts. Like, if it's a thread about the death of a loved one, and it has 15-44 replies... there will be a LOL face displayed. That's just weird. Sorry folks. This was the best compromise we could get with him on the reply count. We wanted reply count back, and we got it. Just got a little more than we bargained for, I guess. .__.

My Characters: LimusocoBobo - 88 Bera Crusader

Smarmor 02/05/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

It's far too cluttered, in my opinion. Now each thread has 7 attributes: -Thread name -Thread description (or first line of TS Post) -Emoticon -Page number -Number of replies -Last person who posted -Potential medal status of TS I like the thread description a lot as a feature on a forum, and I'm glad that was implemented, though. While I'm on this topic, what exactly is the purpose of the "last person who posted"? What does this really serve? Honestly, I think it'd be more helpful if that area of the thread information box was replaced with the name of whoever made the thread, so you can have a rough idea of the maturity of the person that you're talking with. "Going on a date" could mean "and you guys aren't ahahahah losers" or "I am looking for some ideas as to activities on said date." It depends on the thread starter. But I digress. It's too cluttered, and it takes too much time to scan for possible threads to respond to. I don't like the emoticons. If I start a thread entitled "Best day of my life, Basil! I got a new pad!" I don't want an unhappy face to convey this. I think it distracts from my topic, and I think the entire idea is unnecessary. If people want to post in my thread, they'll post. An emoticon urging them to post because no one else is won't really do anything. Indeed, they serve mainly as a distraction, I feel. The medals on the side of the thread also serve as a distraction. I'm not going to debate the use rewards for people with medals here, at least not in great detail, but this one seems more harmful (especially with the emoticons now) than "cool feature"ish. Finally, I would like to close with a suggestion. This is another site change that is causing controversy, to say the least. I know unveiling new features and such is interesting and exciting, but why not make site-wide polls from time to time? Perhaps make a poll, "How would you feel about a medal system, similar to Maple, where users get medals based on Basil accomplishments?" and then "Assuming a medal system, how would you feel about certain users getting small (and relatively harmless) visual benefits on their threads and such?" This solves a few problems. First, it gives a less skewed idea of what people think of a system. To be honest, some people post in these threads with the sole intent of praising (or complaining about) Mr. Basil['s updates]. Ironically, when considering the rule "No spam; make posts interesting and explain WHY you feel what you feel about something," I think a larger percentage of posts in these threads are positive posts that add little to the discussion, than posts like this one, that critique the new update and are largely negative. Don't get me wrong, there are still "I think this idea sucks" but I think there are far more "Awesome new features!" Second, if the reaction is strongly negative from the poll results alone (i.e. 80%+ would not like the idea), then the idea can be scrapped before valuable time and energy is put into feature

My Characters: Smarmor - 41 Bera Hunter