Updates

[Gio Takahashi]

I'll post all updates and significant changes here.

*I've been tweaking with a few settings, mostly attachments and sessions related to "View new post" (you might probably noticed that it NEVER shows any new post and that you'd have to click on "view threads updated in last 24 hours"

*I've been having trouble attaching today, did anyone else get Internal Server Error upon that?

*I added a new game to the Arcade: Hungry Blocks. it looks fun.

*Added Jungle Monkey and MarioGlide.

[Gio Takahashi]

Added another new game: Zelda minigame.

[Jasmin Jaquine]

TONTIE! TONTIE! TONTIE!

Can we please add Tontie to the Arcade?

[Gio Takahashi]

Yeah, it was in the old arcade, I need to figure out how to transfer it. There are a lot of games I want to transfer to this arcade. Give me a few days to figure it out.

[Gio Takahashi]

A whole lot of updates this morning.

you can now specify a description for threads.

DPSAMS (Double-post-seek-and-merge-system) has been put installed.

You can now see who has visited the forums in the past 24 hours.

Permission settings has beensetup for Board of directors and The Pit.

Board of Directors can only be accessible by Moderators, Super Moderators, and Administrators.

Another Minor changes:

Chatbox archives wasn't accessible (they would get permission denied page) for some people. It should work for all admins, supermods, and people who have 10+ posts.

Admins will appear as dark red and Supermods will appear as dark green on chatbox, by default.

[Killer_Man_]

TETRIS!?!?! WHERE ART THOU?!

Gio, you make me sad. ;_;

[Gio Takahashi]

TETRIS!?!?! WHERE ART THOU?!

Gio, you make me sad. ;_;

You Fail! (http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/arcade.php?&act=Arcade&do=play&gameid=3)

[Killer_Man_]

I know, I didn't see it at first. :|

And you fail at quoting. You broke the box.

[BillmasterZ]

Any chance you'll be adding the Shop again?

I concur.

[Gio Takahashi]

Yes, it will happen. But wait on this.

[DoomKitty]

When Bill stops spamming and causing crap, We'll add new stuff.

Please Bill, think off the people. :)

[Jasmin Jaquine]

TONTIE! TONTIE!! TONTIE!!!

[Gio Takahashi]

When Bill stops spamming and causing crap, We'll add new stuff.

Please Bill, think off the people. :)

Olol good tactic.

[Gio Takahashi]

And that tactic is right as rain. not really.

Anyway, I added in a lot of behind the scene changes, things that only Admins and super moderators will know. MAKE SURE YOU READ ABOUT THEM IN THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

further more. SET YOUR GENDER, AND YOU BETTER SET YOUR GENDER RIGHT. ANYONE ABUSING THIS WILL BE BANNED FROM BOTH FORUMS, AND THE PIT!.

The gender specific forums has been made, and selecting your gender SHOULD automatically (in time) put you in the right section.
Double Post
FYI, Jasmin and I will be keeping an eye on such abuse.
Double Post
FYI, Jasmin and I will be keeping an eye on such abuse.

[Jasmin Jaquine]

I'll be keeping two on all you abusers! O.O

[Gio Takahashi]

Okay, the automatic system doesn't seem to want to work, so this may have to be handled manually.

[Gio Takahashi]

I will be adding on various cosmetic changes, to prepare for the style, but this will take time, so expect things to look somewhat messy, as this will mostly involves graphical changes, rather than style overall.

[Gio Takahashi]

Yep. XP Bars. Since they don'tmake the RPG stats anymore.

This one has a twist, EVERYTHING YOU DO ON THE FORUMS WILL BE TAKEN IN ACCOUNT.

I will be tweaking with how they will display, so right now it's not permanently.

[Gio Takahashi]

I've been told my a few people that they had trouble uploading pictures to the album, so I've made a change to the way pictures are stored (this is same for attachments as well, and will do this to the avatar storing as well.).

Someone go try it now, and see if it works better.

[SomaticCorpse]

Still a no-go, chief :(

[Gio Takahashi]

what happens if you try to upload a picture?

[Gio Takahashi]

I made a small change to the way the forums connect to MySQL database, if anyone feels that this forums is running faster, or runs into any error, please post it here or let me know.

[Gio Takahashi]

I just installed the blogging system.
Double Post
I'm experimenting with a few things regarding the chatbox, including where and when it can appear, etc. As it stands now, it will display in threads, forum home, and forum display.

[Gio Takahashi]

Blogging system has been added, and along with webtemplates system. Comics can now be published.

On the separate note: The Chatbox can be turned off through User CP > Edit Option, it is near the bottom.

[Bloodcinder]

Thank you for the latter update. It's convenient to be able to disable that.

[Gio Takahashi]

Several smiles has been added. All of them from old UEF save a few duplicates.

:goodwork:

:cute:

:crowd:

[Bloodcinder]

Didn't I make those last two?

[Gio Takahashi]

Yes you did.

Several of the smilies were taken from UEF long ago.

long. long ago.

and you gave the okay too :P

[Bloodcinder]

Oh, even if I hadn't given the okay I wouldn't care. I just wanted to make sure my d?j? vu was justified.

[Seegtease]

I'm a little surprised you barely remembered. I remember being the one to suggest the crowd one, if not more. Good stuff though, too bad I don't really use smilies.

[Bloodcinder]

Remember, I don't remember anything that needs remembering. Remember?

[Gio Takahashi]

I'm going to stab Jelsoft for this stupidity.

I spent a half an hour looking for album moderation, and they put it in my user cp rather than in admin CP with the OTHER moderation. What the fuck Jelsoft.

Anyway. All pictures should be able to be uploaded without having to wait for moderation. Secondly, I added this in:

http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/all_albums.php

Really feels like Jelsoft slapped this one together in a lazy fashion.

[Gio Takahashi]

Sure, if i can find it.

[Gio Takahashi]

MOAR UPDATES!

While User CP will show the last 10 karma that's been given to them, now it has a link (http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/repreport.php) that is called Reputation Report.

Go check it out.
Double Post
the chatbox has been updated, and given several enhancements, including the /me commands. People can use that now. Go /me to your heart's content!

Also, a few commands has been added for staff usage, staffs will see them in the board of directors.

Ban
Announce

are the two main commands.
Double Post
I can't find the /me code hack, and have requested for it to be made.

[???]

this is an anonymous post test.

Anyone that thinks that this is fake, and bans this user will be demoted.

If you can't figure out that this is an update, than I will bvan you.

[Bloodcinder]

You should use the testing forum, right, Gio?

[Gio Takahashi]

It's a subtle hint that it's a new update.

[Bloodcinder]

I wonder what good anonymous posts are. For the Emergency Forum?

[Gio Takahashi]

I have plans for it, it's more of a testing run. Right now it only works in 3 places. Testing Center, This Bulletin Board, and Role Playing Realm.

[Seegtease]

Make ??? rep me up. Actually it probably wouldn't do anything.

[llama_egg]

I want some of that rep -_-

[???]

I have no karma altering power.

[Gio Takahashi]

Z and Rondo are our new super moderators, and I'll have to say, I'm quite surprise at the responses I've been getting, it wasn't an easy decision, actually, because many of those who applied, would've done great job at being a super moderator.

Since so many applied, I've had each staffers to pick their top two choices.

[Z]

I just realized RonDo just left to see Batman so he won't find out about this til he gets back. This is going to shape up to be a damn good day for him, hehe. :D

Thanks, all in involved, for a chance at the position. ;)

[Bloodcinder]

I voted for Pat Buchanan!

Good choices, Don.

[The Moody Ronin]

...you mean RonDo wasn't already staff...?

...*shrug*...

Z on the other hand, was no surprise at all.

[Gio Takahashi]

Yes, he was, for a bit. Then he disappeared.

[SpaceProg]

Next time... next time....

[Arainach]

Next time... next time....http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/screen/7219/7.jpg

[Seegtease]

Didn't get any Nazis. If you had picked me I think there'd be an overkill of Nazi-ism with Charlie around.

[SpaceProg]

<3 Claw and Madcat. :p

[RonDo]

Yes, he was, for a bit. Then he disappeared.

Yes, in the previous version..I was green and red at one point. And I did poof for awhile..those were some interesting times *cough*.

And Z was exactly right too. I saw the Dark Knight and I was happy (I had not seen such a busy theater since SWIII).

And also a thanks and I hope to be the best wittle Super Mod I can be.

[llama_egg]

Congrats on the positions, though I didn't think you where going to pick them so soon, I was getting ready to throw in my application today, you know, after the work/Dark Night/Work/Sleep combo D:

But anywho, once again, congrats

[deathofcheese]

Congratulations, both of you!

[Gio Takahashi]

I've decided to make some changes to the forum tables, some based on the feedbacks I've received. this means I listen to people, so keep those suggestions coming

The following forums have been deleted and why they were deleted:

Quiz Forums - No Activity
Billboard - No Activity
Testing Thread - Irrelevant, more on this below.

Other changes:

Emergency Support has been moved United Empire Networks forum category.
The Want Ads has been moved to United Empire Networks forum category.
The Gender Specific forums are now deactivated until further notice.



Ideas in consideration:

Merging The Audiobox to the Video Games Central.
Moving The Check-in as a sub-forum to Community Center
Merging Artist's Studios and Writer's Desk to Creator's Office
Merging Ground Zero into Community Center.
Moving The Headlines as a sub-forum to Mediator's Hut.


And more to come.

[deathofcheese]

Why not move The Audiobox subforum to Audiovisual Club? And by that, I guess I mean merge it. Having said that, can we split Audio and Visual?

I can see why you would move welcome threads into Community Center, but I like where it is now. Its current placement makes it easier to find (should we get newcomers) and sets it off from everything else we talk about in Community Center.

I also don't see why Ground Zero would better belong in Community Center. Maybe just move individual threads to and from would serve the purpose better. And why move Headlines to Mediator's Hut? Most discussions eventually devolve to arguments or debates, but it's still just discussion of the original thread topic. If the debate gets epic, then maybe we should have an unofficial rule for the mods to split off the argument to an official debate thread in Mediator's Hut.

Why is the Testing Thread irrelevant? You didn't say why (although I think I know).

Why did you get rid of the Gentleman's Lounge? Now where is our He-Man Woman Hater's club going to go?

[Gio Takahashi]

Why not move The Audiobox subforum to Audiovisual Club? And by that, I guess I mean merge it. Having said that, can we split Audio and Visual?

Well, this is true, but Audiobox = video game music. Since a lot of us enjoy listening to video game music, and this was suggested ages ago, I felt it would be better to keep it separate, but seeing as almost no one post in it...

I can see why you would move welcome threads into Community Center, but I like where it is now. Its current placement makes it easier to find (should we get newcomers) and sets it off from everything else we talk about in Community Center.

It will be a sub-forum under community center, should I decide to do it. It will not be PART of community center, but a sub-forum UNDER community center. Maybe I didn't word it clearly in my post.

I also don't see why Ground Zero would better belong in Community Center. Maybe just move individual threads to and from would serve the purpose better. And why move Headlines to Mediator's Hut? Most discussions eventually devolve to arguments or debates, but it's still just discussion of the original thread topic. If the debate gets epic, then maybe we should have an unofficial rule for the mods to split off the argument to an official debate thread in Mediator's Hut.


Again, I am refering to it being a sub-forum under mediator's hut, but I'm debating on this one. your reasoning is one of it.

The idea is to expand the entertainment area (since it's the main focus of UEF) and to reduce the other sections and the cluttering as well.


Also...

I will be experimenting with reducing the cluttering on the front page, including fixing various issues that keeps stretching the forums table.

hard to word it. you'll see.
Double Post
I did a bit of change to the Last Post Column, originally it came out as:


Vacation
By Z
07-21-2008 18:22

Now it's:


Vacation
By Z 07-21-2008 18:22


What are the thoughts about it?
Double Post
Addendum:

As you may have noticed, I'm going to be working on the layout/design of the forums, by making it look more simple.

If there are any questions or feedback or suggestions that you may have, please drop me a private message. I'm interested in hearing ideas.
Double Post
Addendum:

As you may have noticed, I'm going to be working on the layout/design of the forums, by making it look more simple.

If there are any questions or feedback or suggestions that you may have, please drop me a private message. I'm interested in hearing ideas.

[Bloodcinder]

I already like how much more compact the front index is. However, could you consider changing it from

By Z 07-21-2008 18:22

to

by Z on 07-21-2008 at 18:22

maybe? It would take slightly more width, but height is the problem, not width, and it would make it a little clearer to read. (And the leading capital "B" kind of has always annoyed me, heh.) Just my two cents.

***

Sechoes, part of I think why some of these mergings and subbings would be worthwhile is that, as it is, it's kind of hard to find threads. Whether there's such a thin line between certain forums (Audioviz/Audiobox, Headlines/MH, GZ/CC) it can create an artificial dichotomy. (Yeah, there's a search feature, but it shouldn't take that much effort to find a thread that's been posted in in the last week.)

Also, by subsuming certain General Discussion forums into others, it makes the Entertainment section appear larger, which is the UEF focus. The more that focus is made apparent, even if only through relative resizing, the more Gio can target new members.

***

I also notice you took away link underlining in favor of hover underlining. I like that.

[Bloodcinder]

Dude, I love the drop-downs for the subforums on the main page. That's a great mod.

[Gio Takahashi]

Yeah, I'm not done with it. I'm trying one more thing.

trying to get from this:

Video Game Central (http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=14)
Sub-Forums http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/images/misc/menu_open.gif
Videogames and Watercoolers

to This:

Video Game Central (http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=14) http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/images/misc/menu_open.gif
Videogames and Watercoolers

But it's driving me bonkers, I can't find out how it's done.

Where clicking on "http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/images/misc/menu_open.gif" would display the sub-forums as a pop-up.

[Bloodcinder]

I'll PM you the changes for your markup.

[Gio Takahashi]

Thanks! With that help, It worked.

[Bloodcinder]

I WIN iCOOKIE

EDIT: YAY I GOT iCOOKIE'd

[Gio Takahashi]

Hahaha.... you're tempting me to change "Karma" to "iCOOKIE" now.

The next project I'll be working on will be the navbar, I'll probably add-in a pop-up link to put in the 'extras' to reduce the clutter and improve the appearance of the navbar.

[Bloodcinder]

That is a great ideer.

Do the arcade awards really need to be in the postbit?

[Gio Takahashi]

Probably not. Postbit will be a major project to work on, in the near future.

[Z]

All the changes look great so far. :D

[Gio Takahashi]

Yeah, I'm quite satisfied with how it looks now. I've always been annoyed with the way things seem to be stretching the forum table's height, compared to other forums which seems to be more simple.

Graphic updates are also on the board as well. I don't like a lot of vbulletin's default icons, and it needs to be changed.

[Bloodcinder]

Might I suggest the Fam Fam Fam Silk icons package (http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/silk/). They're free, transparent PNG's and you see them all over the place, because they're good looking, they conform to de facto standards, and they cover almost all needs. Anything you can't actually find in the package can probably be made by combining separate icons or performing small recolorings or other modifications.

[Seegtease]

I've decided to make some changes to the forum tables, some based on the feedbacks I've received. this means I listen to people, so keep those suggestions coming

In that case, I suggest fixing the Karma system so I can karma who I want when I want.

[Gio Takahashi]

You're never gonna give up, are you?

[Seegtease]

No, I'm not. If I can't karma people who deserve karma without karma-ing people who don't deserve karma, the system is broken.

[Bloodcinder]

Yeah. QUEEFTOR.

(Watch as Zeit complains that he can't give me karma for calling you Queeftor.)

[Gio Takahashi]

Do I want to know what that is?

and I bet none of you noticed that I increased the number of time you could give karma out.

[Z]

queef?tor Audio Help /ˈkwɛftər, ˈkweestər/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kwef-ter, kwee-fter] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun Roman History.
1. a common name for a dyslexic rabbit.
2. a mythical goblin famed in Roman literature for making areas smell of fish and eggs.

[Bloodcinder]

I love you, Zac.

[Seegtease]

Do I want to know what that is?

and I bet none of you noticed that I increased the number of time you could give karma out.

No, I can't get to that cap until I can get past the "karma random people in order to karma the ones you want" cap.

[Gio Takahashi]

I'm going to be working on the navbar today, but I'd like to know, what links in the navbar do you use often, what links do you never use? what links do you want to see in the main navbar?

These answers will help me design the navbar (even though I got a great suggestion from Blood), I'd like to know the general forum's answer.

[deathofcheese]

User CP, All Albums, Blogs (not so much, there are better links for me), Members List, Search, Quick Links (Mark Forums Read)

[Bloodcinder]

Gio, I noticed the increased karmability. I just didn't say anything. I think I karma'd fifteen different people yesterday.

[Arainach]

The only Navbar button I use is "New Posts". Which appears to be gone, although no one knows why. "New Posts" is a hell of a lot more useful than "Unread posts", especially since it shows unread but not new posts as well.

[Gio Takahashi]

big update on the Navbar, spent a few hours (about 4) working on it, it's a lot cleaner and better looking now.

Some of us (me) have grown quite used to the location of "New Posts" that used to be in the navbar. For those that don' tknow, it's now under "Search" (might change this), and you can click on "Unread posts" as well to get new posts.

Mark Forums Read in the user info bit will probably be changed. I don't like how it is now.
Double Post
I removed "Mark Forums Read" from the login bit, I didn't like it there. you can find it under "Search"

[Gio Takahashi]

Minor update:

I quietly italicized those who just registered and have not yet made ten posts, (Aka given "UEF Access clearance").

[Z]

Nav Bar looks really great, Gio. Huge improvement. +1 ;)

[Seegtease]

Put New Posts back where it was, please. I use it a lot.

[Gio Takahashi]

Click on "Unread Posts" it's the same thing.

[Bloodcinder]

Yes. I confirmed that it's the exact same thing. The URL for both New and Unread Posts is exactly the same. So, Ary, Zeit, y'all can achieve the same functionality using that.

[Killer_Man_]

I didn't even know we had a 'new post' link. I always used the unread posts up by the PM messages links.

[llama_egg]

I didn't even know we had a 'new post' link. I always used the unread posts up by the PM messages links.
Heh, same here. D:

But for that matter, so far things are looking alot cleaner, me likes it.

[Bloodcinder]

Yes, Gio, I approve of the changes.

[Seegtease]

No, I know how to get to it. I don't like having to bring a sub-menu to see it.

[Bloodcinder]

Why do you have to use a sub menu, Zeit? Just click Unread Posts. It's the exact same thing and it's up front and present on every page.

[Seegtease]

Oh crap, I didn't even notice that. Well, I did, and it's obviously a link, but I've never used it before for some reason. Just never occurred to me.

[Bloodcinder]

Well, my job here is done.

*Jet pack escape.*

[Bloodcinder]

There is now a link to the Chatbox under the Community drop-down of the navbar at the top of the page. This allows access to the Chatbox even if you have it disabled in your options. That is, you can access the Chatbox without having to show it at the top of all of your pages. The Chatbox will load in its own window akin to the Who's Online view.

[Bloodcinder]

The gender-specific forums are back. Please see these (http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/showthread.php?t=897) directions.

[Gio Takahashi]

Due to popular demand, I've decided to add the quote-it! feature after all. It still needs a lot of work, so bare with me.

If you run into any bugs, or having problem submitting quotes, let me know. I'm still working on ironing out a few things.

[Gerrymander]

Hurrah!

\o/
= \o\
/o/ =

[Seegtease]

bare with me.

Bloodcinder, Gio's going to be mad that you hacked his account.

[Gio Takahashi]

The forums has been upgraded to 3.7.2 Patch Level 1, and apparently it went flawlessly.

If anyone finds any issues, let me know or post them here or bug jar, thanks.

[Gio Takahashi]

Guests were able to find themselves able to add to the new quotes, and for that, they had to suffer with that ability, because it was naturally wrong of them. Well, no more of that.

[Bloodcinder]

Frozen_Man_'s gonna be upset you... well.

[Gio Takahashi]

That was written, as it is, entirely on purpose.

[Bloodcinder]

Karma pips are now condensed in the postbit.

http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/images/reputation/reputation_cluster_positive_1.gif = 1
http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/images/reputation/reputation_cluster_positive_5.gif = 5
http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/images/reputation/reputation_cluster_positive_10.gif = 10
http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/images/reputation/reputation_cluster_positive_50.gif = 50

The way the pip counts are calculated has changed slightly, but everybody should have roughly as many pips as they had before. There was previously an 11-pip limit, which several of us already reached. There is now a 50-pip limit corresponding with 100,000 karma. That means that soon those with 11 pips will be able to continue on. Those with fewer pips have probably received a small boost.

Negative pips operate similarly to positive pips. Also, anybody between -10 and +10 karma will have a single neutral pip, although nobody is likely to see this for anybody except a zero poster. Nobody will have red or green pips until they exceed either negative or positive 10.

This was done to decrease how wide the pip strip is in everybody's postbit. The images may be altered eventually when Gio redecorates the rest of the postbit. It had gotten to the point where the pips were uncountable at a glance. Now they are with some getting used to. Even without some getting used to, it is apparent how much relative karma someone has based on not only their karma points but also the size and count of their pips.

[Z]

Going by the key, though, wouldn't that mean you only have KP of 11? (A 10 value plus a 1 value) despite your KP being displayed as 105?

I'm sure I must be reading into it wrong.

EDIT:

There was previously an 11-pip limit

Nevermind, I are teh tarded, hehe :D

[SpaceProg]

LOL, now Karma Peen can be established in longer and thicker ways!

[deathofcheese]

Scwheet. I think it'd be easier to tell with a simple color differentiation, but this looks pretty good nonetheless. Great job!

[Bloodcinder]

Going by the key, though, wouldn't that mean you only have KP of 11? (A 10 value plus a 1 value) despite your KP being displayed as 105?

I'm sure I must be reading into it wrong.

EDIT:

Nevermind, I are teh tarded, hehe :D
I think you answered your own question, but to prevent the confusion of others...

The pips have always represented Karma Points, not Karma Power. That the pips are on the Karma Power line is probably an oversight/accident which I will bring up with Gio. (EDIT: Originally Karma Points wasn't displayed in numerical format. Only Karma Power and the pip representation of Karma Points was. It's stayed that way. Whether or not that is an oversight I am not sure.)

Scwheet. I think it'd be easier to tell with a simple color differentiation, but this looks pretty good nonetheless. Great job!
Both the theme and the cluster sizes may be modified by Gio later on when he gets around to the postbit. I'm sure that design demos would be appreciated from anybody.

It took two hours and one of my mathy friends from college to find the proper power regression to fit the points/pips curve. Hehe.

[Gio Takahashi]

The postbit design (which is the mini profile you see to the left side) is only temporary, when it's finalized, it will be made more clear.

[Bloodcinder]

We recently switched from MySQL Fulltext searches to vBulletin's own searches.

Now... there may be a slight improvement in what words you can search for. Some common words are still filtered out, but the minimum word length is now a set 3 instead of a fixed 4.

We've yet to decide how this is affecting performance, either positively or negatively. And, quite honestly, I don't know if any of you will notice a difference in searching.

However... we're trying.

[deathofcheese]

I'm not really sure where feature requests should go, so I guess I'll just put it here. Would it be possible to get a multiple-columns feature in the text editor?

[Bloodcinder]

Do you mean some kind of bbcode or formatting that would allow you to partition your posts into columns? That would be fairly infeasible. Yes, it's possible, but not cleanly and not safely.

[deathofcheese]

I was thinking of a button to be had in the advanced editor, but I guess there needs to be bbcode behind it for it to work. Ok then, no columns.

[Bloodcinder]

Well, the thing is, it would have to be implemented at the software level in order to account for all the regexp's it would need, and, even then, it would be hard to manage it in such a way that it wouldn't be specifically abusable. I like the idea, but I can't think of a competent way it can be done without too much drastic restructuring. So I don't want you to think I was breezing over your idea.

[Gio Takahashi]

There's a lot of possibility with BB codes, since it involves some html coding, of course. I can look into it, see if someone did it for vbulletin, but I can't see it being possible.

[Gio Takahashi]

After the database has been fixed, I decided to start the process of upgrading to php5, you will notice some extension having php5, that is so the files would load in php 5.2.5 engine, rather than the very old and outdated 4.8.4, why globat choose to do this is beyond me.

Anyway, the forums has been upgraded to vbulletin 3.7.3 as well. If things are broken, please post in the Bug Jar thread.

[llama_egg]

Whee, new and (possibly)improved version! Now with extra filling!

[Gio Takahashi]

Great Taste, less filling!

[Gio Takahashi]

More smilies:

:qft: and :portal:

if there's anything else you'd like added, let me know.

I had a field day when I saw that stargate smilie. definitely the best smilie out there.

[Z]

http://mmsgraphics.homestead.com/files/Woot_Emoticon.gif

[Gio Takahashi]

Although it won't appear so obvious, people who host mafia type threads will be made temporary moderators so they would be able to control the said threads until the game finishes.

For the record, they will not get any special access, only user with ability to moderate RPG forum.

[RonDo]

yar yar, updates...well, this is actually a test of sorts...(could not find the test bed for threads that I remembered from the past)

Ok, the shifty image that posts doesn't look the same as the one show in the initial post window...eh, that was what I was testing.

w00t

[Gio Takahashi]

Registrations are temporarily switched to moderated while we sort out the wave of spammers.

In order to be registered, they must contact with at least a staffer to be approved.

[Bloodcinder]

I update the file size limit for ZIP files to be the same as that for RAR files.

[Gio Takahashi]

Bloodcinder has been re-assigned to Super-Moderator from Development.

[SpaceProg]

Oh the power, how can he handle such absolute power? I shudder to think. Yay.

[chefTENGU]

New User Moderation has been disabled by yours truly.

I nearly shit a brick when I noticed that our old pal Forte-Chan had registered BACK IN OCTOBER and nobody noticed. Commendations for Z on being the first to sound the alert.

[chefTENGU]

Hear ye, hear ye:

With RonDo's prolong?d absence, there has been a bit of a void among UEF staff. After a discussion, SpaceProg is hereby appointed to the position of Super Moderator.

May she strike terror into the hearts of bots, spammers, and other such miscreants and ne'er-do-wells.

[Z]

W00T! Gratz!

[SpaceProg]

Thanks. It kinda happened like back in the ancient days of FFH. I didn't know it until I was congratulated for it. I'll try to do what I can. I'm a bit rusty but I'll more than likely pick it all back up with time.

[Gio Takahashi]

the access to Community center is no longer public, it is now required with the same level to that of Accessing the Pit, Downloading Attachments, using avatars and signatures, etc.

This is due to the privacy situation with Duo.

Community Center is pretty much the forums where people talk about themselves or other, including posting pictures about themselves.

[Gio Takahashi]

Couple of things.

User titles can now be 64 characters long, originally it was 25.

Threads can now be considered as "Hot threads" if it contains more than 100 replies, originally it was 25. (By default option, that would be exceeding 4 pages in threads.)

In the same sense, a thread will be considered as "Hot thread" if it receives 500 views, originally it was 200.

also, I'm planning on bringing back the user "rankings" to the forums, and add in second slot for custom title.

[Bloodcinder]

also, I'm planning on bringing back the user "rankings" to the forums, and add in second slot for custom title.
I dunno what either of these things is.

[Gio Takahashi]

When you don't set a user title, you would see a user ranking: "Junior Member, Senior member" etc (which is default).

the title you set is a custom title.

[Bloodcinder]

Doesn't that just mean that everybody will be some kind of Senior Member except for the one or two new people we might have at any time? Hmm.

[Gio Takahashi]

That will be changed before I change the options. Going to pull the original user rankings from 3.5 to here, but seeing how long the list is, it'll take time.

[deathofcheese]

Just make the non-officer default title be something like "member-at-large". Having "Senior Member" or "Junior Member" would feel a little imposing, despite practically every regular poster becoming a "Senior Member" before you even implement it.

[Gio Takahashi]

The new user ranks will be done before I even make the change to the user title/ranks.

It'll be based on user's posts, and there are tons, and I mean TONS of ranks. (I'm thinking... 50? I can't remember the exact number.)
Double Post
I'm on a roll today.

As said in the notice message (did anyone even notice this?!) that I need a testers to test out a project. If you want to see this project I'm working on (and you definitely want to, AND I need people to work with to get this out faster), then Let me know. Here, Chatbox, private message, anything! Sooner I know, the better.
Double Post
Oh, and.

Some of you probably already noticed the new forum: UEF R&D Division, and probably did not noticed the new usergroup: UEF Testers, which is in related to the previous post, and only that group (along with admins, super mods, and mods [If I ever use this]) can access UEF R&D Division.
Double Post
And for those that didn't notice, it is a subforum under Bulletin Board.

[Seegtease]

Since reformation is in the game, how about that Trophy system? You know, to give trophies for game contests, RP winners, etc. It's nice that we can see the arcade winners, but it'd be nice if we could have other winners in there too.

You could put it in the same scrolling bar. Now in the case of it being too long (like if you are the champ of 9 arcade games), you could remove the text from the games. For example, instead of having the [ICON] Mahjong, Champion! You could just have: [GAMEICON][TROPHYICON]

So the scrolling bar would look something like this:

[GICON][TICON], [G2ICON][TICON], [FORUMCONTEST][TICON]...

...and so on. It would be condensed. There's no reason to clutter the arcade trophies with words, obviously words would need to be in place for forum contests... usually. I mean, you could make a Snowbound icon, and just put a number on top of the icon to indicate which one.

Hope that made sense.

[Gio Takahashi]

It does made sense, and actually, that used to be done back in 3.5, and will be done as the same.

I haven't changed the postbit (the sidebar column on the left side), is that I anticipated doing a total makeover on it anyway. that is being done soon.

[Seegtease]

I'd like to see some snowbound icon made, and maybe a musical icon with tiny letters (SNES) on top of it. I think everything in there can be iconized.

[Gio Takahashi]

This is very possible, I think Z can work on the graphic and I'll put them in.

I think this can be done by messing with thread prefix system.

[chefTENGU]

Do you think we'll be using the old ranking system, the one that was sort of based on the seasonings/runes from Suikoden? I kind of liked that system.

Or hey, maybe we could make up a few that people could switch between if they wanted to. I could try coming up with some if you can give me an idea of how many ranks you'd like to include, in which order you'd like them, etc.

[Gio Takahashi]

Yes, Definitely.

[chefTENGU]

Make sure to re-read what I posted... I had a sudden idea after posting and I think you finished responding before I finished editing.[/paranoia]

[Gio Takahashi]

As mentioned in Z's Avatar/sig request, the new style is finally being worked on.

If you guys want a sneak preview to the style, and give input on it, feel free to ask me for access to UEF R&D development.

Nope. Far as I saw is regarding the old ranking system (especially with Suikoden stuff :p)
Double Post
User Ranks are setup now. It is now in scale from 0 to 10000, which a lot of new titles added and modified. :p

And find out the ranks yourself :p.

I'll give obscene amount of karma points to anyone who gets -all- of the title on the list, that is not admin or super moderator >.>
Double Post
Okay, now there's custom title field in User CP > Edit your details. I am going to remove the user title (old custom title) to apply the ranks in within the next couple of days.

[Gio Takahashi]

Say goodbye to the old Vbulletin Default, I am removing it as option as of 10:00pm.

[SpaceProg]

AIE MY BELOVED DEFAULT GEVALT!

[Gio Takahashi]

Actually, I changed my mind. there's still a few things I need to do before I apply the change.

[Gio Takahashi]

Upgraded the forums to the latest version: 3.8.1-PL1

There are many new features and improvements to existing functionality in vBulletin 3.8.0 over vBulletin 3.7.x. Here is a brief list of just a few of the highlights.

Social group discussions (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blog.php?b=2329)
Social group categories (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blog.php?b=2329)
Private message sorting and filtering (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blog.php?b=2332)
Private message history (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blog.php?b=2338)
Quick edit for newer types of content (visitor messages and picture comments)
Social group icons
Social group transfers
Private message quick reply
Private message throttling (limit messages sent over a time period)
Private message reporting
Profile privacy (limit blocks to a subset of users)
Lightbox navigation
Thread prefix permissions
Dismissible notices



Everything seem to be working, let me know if something's broken.

[Gio Takahashi]

I'm pretty sure that both new site styles is at the point that they can be used regularly, I've yet to find any issues with either styles, except for the lack of logo, which will be worked on by Z.

That said, I will be setting the new default style to New Silver II, and be sure to select one of the two new style for the forums!

I plan on doing this sometime tomorrow to give people fair warning on this!
Double Post
This is just one of those things that makes me wish that they put everything in templates, but then again, maybe not.

You won't be seeing texts by arcade game icons in your post bit (if you're the champion at that game!)

However, looking at the code, I doubt I can integrate trophies with it. I may need help with this for the trophy system.

[Seegtease]

Maybe I'm oversimplifying things, but can't you just replace the text with an image (of a trophy icon) instead?

I really don't know exactly how it works, but there has to be a way to add more things other than arcade games to that scrolling bar.

[Bloodcinder]

Gio: if there's a hook inside the scrolling bar, you can hook in other information to scroll with it. This information would have to come from a trophies profile field which would have to accept images.

As it is, even with just the arcade trophies cleaned up, it looks much better.

[Gio Takahashi]

As you can see, I installed a new chatbox, by accident.

The chatbox we used was quite old, and I wanted to upgrade it, I was thinking it's Cyb Chatbox, but turns out I was wrong and the old one we used was Magic Chatbox EVO.

Oh well. Now it's Cyb's chatbox, and seems to look WAY better.
Double Post
testing

[Bloodcinder]

I want to be able to disable the chatbox, not merely collapse it, and this version does not seem to provide that unless the option is hard to find.

MAKE IT BETTER TO PLEASE ME.

[Gio Takahashi]

that's up to the chatbox author, not me, but I'll ask.

Regarding vBExperience, eventually the bars has been reduced, but the variables has changed now. all the top users should be at least less than level 60.

[Bloodcinder]

that's up to the chatbox author, not me, but I'll ask.
Or you can go back to the old chatbox that did provide this very reasonable functionality.

[Bodomi]

Just curious, why the chatbox hate?

[Bloodcinder]

I don't use it, so if it sits there it takes up height at the top of every page, making it more of a hassle to use Who's Online, and it also uses up extra JavaScript refreshes that I don't feel like dealing with. It's just a hassle, even if it's collapsed. I'd rather it simply not be there at all, and I think everybody deserves the choice to hide it.

[Gio Takahashi]

Bloodcinder, can you do me a favour and go to #UEChat? I think I figured this out but I need you to test this with me.

[Bloodcinder]

I have the option set to "Yes" and I'll check it later. For now, I must go rest. I am sick today.

[Z]

Well, I disabled the chatbox just to see if it'd work and now I can't enable it again, hehe.

[Gio Takahashi]

Make sure that the Edit Option is set to NO if you want to see the chatbox.
Double Post
Chatbox should definitely be working fine now.

Even if you disable it, and you want to see the chatbox, click on chatbox link in community pulldown menu in the navbar.

[Bloodcinder]

It's fully functional now. Thanks!

[Gio Takahashi]

Double Post Prevention has been updated now.

Admins and Super Moderators are now excluded from Double Post prevention, also, all double post from now on will show a time stamp between each double posts. I'd like someone to test this out please.

[Gio Takahashi]

/me had finally found the / me code, as per suggestion waaaay back here (http://www.unitedempire.net/forums/showpost.php?p=10295&postcount=34%5C) and installed it.

[chefTENGU]

/me dies

Zounds!

EDIT: oh poo. It kills the space.

[Gerrymander]

/me tests
/me tests again

EDIT: Okay, the trick is to put two spaces between the command and the rest of it

[Gio Takahashi]

/me tests this once more.

[chefTENGU]

/me is content.

Thanks for adding the color and asterisk, by the way.

[Gio Takahashi]

I changed to a new one. Let's try this again.

/me smashes bob's face out.

Better. Much better.

[SpaceProg]

I don't understand what "True Water" means. I thought I was a S-Mod. Ron is Sun and ... Gerry's Tomato?

[Z]

/me tests this out

[chefTENGU]

It's suikoden-y. "True Water" means true water rune (your rank), Ron's rank is sun rune, and Gerry is a tomato (ingredient), heh.

[Gio Takahashi]

Reference to Suikoden. Pretty much all references to Suikoden :p.

Somewhere in the thousands (3 thousand ish) you'll start hitting True Runes.

[SpaceProg]

Ahh... Never played Suikoden, so thanks for explaining :)

[Bloodcinder]

I really don't think it's a good idea to exempt smods and admins from the double post prevention. Some of the biggest offenders are... me. It still bumps the thread, so why should double post prevention not be standard for everybody?

[Gio Takahashi]

I'll think about that one.

By the way, Chef Tengu pointed this out to me: the social group has been completely overhauled through the upgrade. if you have created social groups, you may want to look over it.

[Z]

Biggest change (to me) seemed to just be that the newest post in discussion has been moved to the back whereas before the newest post would be the first one at the top. I preferred it the other way but we hardly use the group discussions these days anyway so it doesn't matter.

[Gio Takahashi]

You guys may want to do something about the "names" of the groups, and appearing in social group main page.

[Gio Takahashi]

Okay. Fixed the social group issue. I didn't see those options originally.

Social group owners can now specify whether outsiders can see the groups stuff or not (messages, content, etc).

Likewise, this applies the same whether outsiders can post message within certain groups. Group owners can set option to prevent this or not.

both of these were disabled, and now they're not.

Edit: Okay. I see why they look fucked up. If you don't post a group picture, it will, instead, show the full description. I'll see if I can fix that by making a "default" group picture.

[SpaceProg]

As an OCD-type person.... I find all this change making me feel... Ambivalent. :( :) :/ >:( :O

[Seegtease]

I really don't think it's a good idea to exempt smods and admins from the double post prevention. Some of the biggest offenders are... me. It still bumps the thread, so why should double post prevention not be standard for everybody?

Agreed. It doesn't really apply to me, but if I were a mod, I'd want it to merge and bump.

[SpaceProg]

That would definitely come in handy, the Merge/bump.

[Gio Takahashi]

Good points. this is done.

---------- Post added at 19:06 ---------- Previous post was at 19:06 ----------

And since no one would test this...

[Z]

That looks much better than the original Double post function

---------- Post added at 18:06 ---------- Previous post was at 18:06 ----------

Much MUCH better

[Bloodcinder]

And since no one would test this...
Well I couldn't test it before!

That looks much better than the original Double post function

---------- Post added at 18:06 ---------- Previous post was at 18:06 ----------

Much MUCH better
Totally agreed. Now I feel comfortable using the double post rather than using it and then going back and adding in spacing, hehe.

That's cash money.

[Gio Takahashi]

How would you guys feel if I were to add a modification that would show Social Groups as forums?

Basically each social group would act like a total forum, with threads, etc. Only visible to members of the said group.

[Z]

I think Social Groups are okay as is. I mean, I think Forum Games is the biggest one and we hardly ever use the discussion board on there.

[SpaceProg]

I don't see a problem with that.

[Seegtease]

Impartial.

[Z]

The discussion board for Forum Games is actually gone now... Not sure where it went, heh.

[Bloodcinder]

I agree with Z and add: we have plenty of forums and discussion areas as-is.

EDIT: Z, I disabled it because we can just use RPG Talkfest and the OOC threads.

[chefTENGU]

would making the groups more forum-like make it so that new posts in discussions would show up under the "find new posts"? If so, please do make the change.

I tend to forget to check in with my groups.

[Gio Takahashi]

Tengu, I'm not really sure about that.

[Z]

chef -- there is actually a function (In Discussion Options, I think) that lets you subscribe to the group so that you will be notified any time a post is made in there ;)

[Gio Takahashi]

I added some enhancement to speed up the forums overall loading time, although the load time seems negligible. Anyone noticing that the forums is loading faster?

[Bloodcinder]

Seems the same to me.

[Seegtease]

Seems slower to me. (and starving)

[SpaceProg]

Same to me.

[Arainach]

Am I the only one who thinks the new theme reminds me a LOT of NHF?

[Gio Takahashi]

One of the new theme is based on NHF's old theme, and the other one is based on UEF's old theme.

[Z]

I believe that was Gio's plan.

http://web.archive.org/web/20050415035008/www.nhforums.com/forums/index.php

Here's the link to the style that i'll be working on.

[Arainach]

I totally missed that post. Whoopsies. All I know is I saw that shade of blue and my brain jumped into full-out nostalgia mode.

[Gio Takahashi]

I don't think that was in a public area anyway (that post), though I thought I mentioned that somewhere in this thread. if not. woops.

[Gio Takahashi]

Okay. In order to fix the chatbox issue where it's not showing for everyone (unless they set the option off and then back to on), I ran an update to fix the userfield (apparently it's SUPPOSED to set the option to No when undefined, but it doesn't want to).

Course this will mean that everyone's option will be set to no. Though I can know only one person that had it on to yes anyway. Fixed!

[Bloodcinder]

Mine was still "yes" when I woke up, so it doesn't look like there's a problem.

[Gio Takahashi]

That's because I manually set yours back to yes after I ran that that query.

[Bloodcinder]

Bless your little heart.

[Gio Takahashi]

FINALLY, www.unitedempire.net portal page now links to this forums, rather than the previous one!

[Gio Takahashi]

From here on, all update announcements will take place in the new subboard: Site Announcements.

This is so that all the announcement will be posted to the front page.

[Gio Takahashi]

disregard what I said earlier. This thread will be used for minor announcements.

That said, I moved R&D forums to the Vault, now that I don't need it at the moment.

[Bloodcinder]

Nice. I approve.

[Gio Takahashi]

This was discussed in the shoutbox, but some people don't use it, and others will miss it.

You will now see "Mark all forums read" in all search results page, at the bottom, thanks to Drifter for doing this.

[Gio Takahashi]

While i'm not sure how it looks in New Silver II, Spoiler was coming out very hard to read in Dark Silver, as it was coming out white, on bright grey background. I fixed that to show black in white background. I think it should come out fine now.

---------- Post added at 19:21 ---------- Previous post was at 19:20 ----------

For testing purposes:

test

---------- Post added at 19:22 ---------- Previous post was at 19:21 ----------

Looks fine in New Silver as well.

[SpaceProg]

Huh... I'm on Dark Silver and when I push the button the word "Test" Is still white on a very light background.

[Gio Takahashi]

I had to change a CSS file to do this. You may have to hard update (CTRL+f5)

Also, what browser are you using?

[SpaceProg]

Firefox

---------- Post added at 19:58 ---------- Previous post was at 19:51 ----------

I did a hard reload and it works now. Thanks. :)

[Gio Takahashi]

Can someone verify if the User titles and custom titles look any different? position wise or anything? They should look different but they don't. wtf.

[Z]

Yes, it looks different, though probably not finished (They all say "TEST" by the user title). I think you have the positions reversed, also (with the rank at the top and the user title below the avatar) when we discussed doing it the other way around.

[SpaceProg]

User titles are on top, and custom title is under the avatar, right?

[Gio Takahashi]

Alright. For some reason it's taking time for the template changes to process. it should be done now.

User titles will be below the avatar, while custom titles will remain above the avatar.

[Bloodcinder]

Confirmed.

[Gio Takahashi]

Some people felt that the links in New Style II were harder to find due to text colours. Fixed for now, at least.

[deathofcheese]

Except now it's like "I'M A FUCKING HYPERLINK".

Just change the link color to bright blue and the vlink (whatever it's called) to another bright shade of blue.

[Bloodcinder]

Yeah, it's hideous now. Underlines aren't necessary. Turn it back the way it was only a bit brighter.

[Gio Takahashi]

I believe everything should look better based on the feedbacks I've received.

New Silver II is now known as Gemini Helix.

[SpaceProg]

WHERE'S MY TIEDYE THEME?!

[Gio Takahashi]

Tiedye your monitor, and you'll get what you want.

[SpaceProg]

Ron's going to love you for that.

[Killer_Man_]

I don't see the big stink about it. I notice little to no change, then again I'm using the old UEF colors.

[Seegtease]

Then you wouldn't notice.

I literally would always miss links unless it was obvious by context or I noticed by accident. Glad for this to be fixed.

[Bloodcinder]

I notice little to no change, then again I'm using the old UEF colors.
"I didn't taste the chicken in this sandwich. Then again, I was eating a hamburger."

[Killer_Man_]

"I didn't taste the chicken in this sandwich. Then again, I was eating a hamburger."

BC, you don't have to attempt to insult me every time I didn't notice any change in something because sometimes certain people pick apart things for no reason.

[Gio Takahashi]

KM I did say "In New Style II" which you should have taken notice of.

---------- Post added at 11:55 ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 ----------

I'm pretty sure Dark Silver II is fine as is.

[Z]

I'm not sure what we were trying to fix but me no-likey. It messes with my eyes.

I'm not even sure what's being highlighted in the bright blue color. Are those the vlinks? In any case, the bright blue links are currently the majority over my reasonable blue links by a landslide.

I will be switching to Dark Silver for now.

[Gio Takahashi]

hmm. the main fix was to fix the hyperlink and the text colours, this is why I told Seeg that this wouldn't be an easy fix. if anyone has any suggestion of colour that blends the best, I'd like to hear.

[Z]

/me throws a shoe at Seegtease!

---------- Post added at 13:34 ---------- Previous post was at 13:29 ----------

Is there a way to automatically make links bold/italic? If so (and if others have no problem with that) I'd rather go back to the colors we had and just implement that formatting.


The difference between seeing this (http://www.nothing.com) for the link in the middle of a sentence
And seeing this for the link in the middle of a sentence

Scratch that. I can see where that wouldn't work in a lot of places.

---------- Post added at 13:44 ---------- Previous post was at 13:34 ----------

Is there any chance we can restore the New Silver II layout and have this layout as a 3rd option?

[Gio Takahashi]

I could probably make a child style to make the links more appearant, I guess. I didn't plan on nor am I keen on making a third style selection, or a sub style child of Gemini Helix.

[Bloodcinder]

KM, I was only pointing out that you didn't notice the change because you weren't using the style to which the change applied... which you pointed out while simultaneously saying you didn't know why a change needed to be made. Which was silly. But I wasn't trying to insult you.

Gio, just take it back the way it was and make all the links a little brighter. There's no reason to distinguish link and vlink colors.

[Drifter]

I thought it was fine before? I don't remember it... but I never had any issues. Hate this. :(

[SpaceProg]

It didn't bother me before either.

[Bloodcinder]

It never bothered me, but I was aware of the difficulty myself.

---------- Post added at 18:40 ---------- Previous post was at 18:07 ----------

Scratch that. Change the link and alink colors to match the vlink as it is now, then change the hlink color to match the link color as it is now. Therefore, hlink is a little brighter, but the rest are as bright as the vlink is now, which is still brighter than the original.

[chefTENGU]

This just in from our Fearless Leader:

globat has updated the ip address of the name servers, and the servers are still propagating, and some users are not able to access the site

so far

only seegtease and I confirmed that they can't access the site

So, if you can't seem to get on to UEF, this might be the reason why. Give it try later, I guess.

[Z]

Hmm. Hope it clears up soon. I can still access it from my work. We'll see how it goes from my house.

[Drifter]

So is this (http://www.google.com)too dark for people?

(I can clearly see it and I'm partially color blind... not sure what other people think though...)

[Killer_Man_]

Sorry BC, I didn't read it. I thought he made a change to everything.

[Z]

So is this (http://www.google.com)too dark for people?

(I can clearly see it and I'm partially color blind... not sure what other people think though...)
It's current state works perfectly for me :D Thanks much!

[Gio Takahashi]

The name servers has been updated by globat, in their work to migrate their sites to their new servers. I'm only aware that only Zeit and I can't access (Though I can from USF campus)

[Bloodcinder]

Drifter, that's about as dark as it was before.