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Home › Forums › The Usual Stuff › General › The obligatory “what will I be doing with the site” thread
- This topic has 15 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 1 month, 2 weeks ago by
dogwomble.
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July 3, 2024 at 9:08 pm #429
OK, so I should really get a thread like this going so that you guys know what I have planned going forward for xGeek. Also, it would be nice to get some feedback from you guys to see what you guys might want. It’s all early days yet, but I think it would still be good to try and keep everyone engaged in what’s going on.
So first up, I’ll cover what we’ve got already. So obviously, we have forums, and we have a front page news feed. We also have a way for users that have an account and are logged in to submit material to the front page, subject of course to moderator approval. There is a small selection of games for those that are inclined. We also have a points system which gives you points for engaging with the site, either by logging in, or by having content posted. The latter is really for posterity in a way – I’m hoping it will help improve engagement, but it doesn’t really do anything yet apart from giving you bragging rights.
There are a few things that I plan to add. Firstly, I’m looking at adding the ability to private message other users. This will allow people to send messages to each other privately, and shouldn’t be too difficult to set up. A somewhat longer term goal is to add possible merch – it’s a bit cliche, but in saying that a collection of GeekShirts and other such things can be a good way to bring in at least a small income to help with hosting costs and the like. The site isn’t expensive to run by any means, but it would also be nice to have at least some level of self-sufficiency.
Finally, if the games go well I’m considering adding a few more. It’s not the main focus of the site but they’ve been added because I was going to use them for something else, but ended up not using them. They’ve already been paid for, so I may as well put them to at least some use. But if they’re a hit, I may look at adding a small number more.
Of course, half the reason for this thread is to gauge what you guys want as well. If you guys think the forum is missing something, I’m open to suggestions. It might not be immediate – the priority will be to fix up any bugs that surface now that the site is open, and to work on the stuff I had planned first, but if the idea is at least somewhat reasonable I can add it to the list of things to get done.
Site Admin of xGeek
Also Site Admin of GeekJabber
Links in sidebarJuly 4, 2024 at 2:12 pm #446July 6, 2024 at 4:48 pm #520Ok so just to add to things I’ve managed to achieve today.
- We now have a messaging system! If you are logged in, you will now notice you have a “Messages” menu item which you can use to message each other!
- We’ve always had a points system. You will now note that you have a rank listed against your profile name here in the forums. As you post more content either in the forums or on the front page, your rank will go up, and I’ll be adding more ranks as the need arises. So keep posting stuff!
I have also investigated whether we can use the same system to allow people to vote up/down responses in the forums so people can engage in “rep whoring”. The system I use doesn’t seem to support that natively, however it does allow you to create custom hooks. This may allow someone with a bit more knowledge of PHP to create such a thing, that might be a little beyond my ability though. If you know somebody that might be willing to take on the challenge, I’m happy to work something out!
Site Admin of xGeek
Also Site Admin of GeekJabber
Links in sidebarJuly 7, 2024 at 8:48 am #535July 7, 2024 at 9:51 am #543REP WHORING We need it. We want it.
It’s something I’m keen to add, it’s just a little bit more challenging because it’s not something the system I’m using does natively, so it’ll need to be custom code. If anyone knows something that can help with that, I’m happy to discuss it with them 🙂
Site Admin of xGeek
Also Site Admin of GeekJabber
Links in sidebarJuly 7, 2024 at 2:23 pm #554OK so I’ve crossed off something from the “I forgot I had to deal with this” list.
Some of you have noticed some of the earlier forum posts had weird HTML tags in them. It appears I forgot that by default, the permissions on the forum are tighter than a fishes arsehole and what a regular participant can include in terms of HTML in posts is very restricted. This meant that only some of the buttons that you could click on in the reply box actually worked properly, and some of the other buttons that people were (perhaps accidentally) clicking on were being converted to display as normal text rather than be interpreted as HTML.
IT does appear from my testing that I now have this fixed 🙂
Site Admin of xGeek
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Links in sidebarJuly 7, 2024 at 6:14 pm #561July 7, 2024 at 6:48 pm #563Zgeek introduced me to Dark mode and pretty much since I only use Dark mode… Default white screen sites hurt my eyes…and sensibilities…
That’s something I haven’t given much thought to – but looks like it could be possible. Let me have a play over the next few days and I’ll see what I can come up with.
Also…animated gif avatars pl0x, I miss my avatar winking at me
I haven’t actually tested this but it may work already. You can go to User Profile and scroll to the bottom and you should have the ability to change your avatar. See if that lets you do it.
Site Admin of xGeek
Also Site Admin of GeekJabber
Links in sidebarJuly 8, 2024 at 6:46 pm #579OK two changes I have made today.
For the more observant amongst you, you will notice a nice orange flame icon in the top right hand corner. This will let you change between the default colours and dark mode, courtesy of a suggestion by MarchPig. It’s kinda a cheat way of doing it – it seems to do a “colour opposite” type thing. This means that some of the colours when you switch look a bit funky, but I don’t utterly hate them – but may fine tune things based on user feedback. It just means that any change I make will affect both light and dark mode, but it works and it’s easy.
The other change I’ve made is that I’ve adjusted some of the spacing when you quote-reply, so that it’s a bit tidier. The only hitch I’ve had is some people may need to clear their browser cache to see it properly. But once done, replies with quotes should look a bit tidier.
Site Admin of xGeek
Also Site Admin of GeekJabber
Links in sidebarJuly 9, 2024 at 8:45 pm #619Another day, another new feature!
I was asked about enabling bbcode a few days ago. bbcode allows you to insert codes into a comment on the forums that allow for formatting and making your text look all pretty. I wanted to make them work both here in the forums and in the comments on the front page posts before I enabled them proper. Well, I’ve found a way to make it work!
The following codes work between here and the front page. You will of course need to remove the extra spaces to make them work.
[ b] and [ /b ] to make text bold
[ i ] and [ /i ] to make text italics
[ s ] and [ /s ] to make text have a line through it
[ ul ] and [ /ul ] to start a bulleted list
[ ol ] and [ /ol ] to start a numbered list
[ li ] and [ /li ] to add an item to a listMore codes might be added based on user feedback.
Site Admin of xGeek
Also Site Admin of GeekJabber
Links in sidebarJuly 9, 2024 at 8:47 pm #620July 9, 2024 at 10:07 pm #624July 10, 2024 at 5:32 am #630Include [ hide ] please. It’s the best one.
That one should be easy enough to do. I’ll work on it when I get home tonight.
Site Admin of xGeek
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Links in sidebarJuly 10, 2024 at 6:59 pm #651Include [ hide ] please. It’s the best one.
OK I’ve had partial success with this.
Because the comments section on the front page is being done as a custom plugin, I’ve managed to write something in there that allows you to use [ hide ] [ /hide ] as a comment on the front page. In the forums though – because that’s being done using its own BBCode processor, it doesn’t seem to support this tag.
If I can work out how to add it, I will – but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it if it doesn’t work.
Site Admin of xGeek
Also Site Admin of GeekJabber
Links in sidebarJuly 23, 2024 at 8:54 pm #777 -
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