Category: Zone BBS Suggestions and Feedback
There's 60 pages of suggestions on the boards which amounts to roughly 3000 ideas, bugs, rants, etc. If you had to pick one of these or perhaps something different to be improved, perhaps something that you've been screaming for for the past couple of years or longer, what would it be?
I'm sure you'll get just about as many different answers as there are suggestions. Lol. Having said that...
Personally, if I had to pick just one, I would say that comments should be required when rating audio profiles, or at the very very least, a subject. People can select any random number in the combo box without even having to think about why. if you're going to give someone a 1, 5, 10, that's completely fine, but I care more about the comments than the number, personally.
Lol. I didn't mean for that post to turn into a rant. I'm sure you've got a lot of work ahead of you no matter what the results on this topic are, and I greatly appreciate everything you've done so far.
Hmmm, if I have to pick just one, it would be about dealing with the whole points system. Sure, it's fun to earn points, even if they're not all that useful. Some people just get in to the idea of working their way up the ranks and getting to the top, (having the most points,) but it's pretty hard to keep a positive game spirit when someone has 53 billion points only 2 days after the points have been totally reset.
I know that this is a minor issue, and that there are lots of other ideas which should probably take priority, but this was the first thing that popped in to my head.
seeing who logs in and out when public qns are off!. saves people scrolling down the list if they are playing anagrams etc. would be good if maybe there friend logs in.
so there's mine...
there's mine//
The log in thing is one I've been thinking about for awhile, since it's been mentioned a lot on here. I'm trying to imagine the best way to do this and here's what I came up with.
1. We would separate Quicknotes from other alerts like logins, Z BP, dice rolls, 8-ball, etc.
2. Turning n and off quicknotes would not effect seeing alerts.
3. We'd add a new QN command /alerts along with an identical account setting to toggle alerts. So the positive of this is that you would have more control. The only potential negative is that you'd need an extra command to turn off quicknotes and alerts, but perhaps that's a minor deal.
What do you think of this approach? Would it work? Is there a better way?
I honestly don't know how people managed to get that many points that quickly after the most recent reset. Everyone has a bet max, now. Even on my most useless of days when I spent hours playing trivia and got almost every question right, I only managed to get to a hundred million or so.
Being able to delete your own board posts.
as has been said on numerous occasions, deleting posts would mess with the actual count. however, having the ability to edit one's posts may come in handy.
as for a suggestion: I'd love to see the option to make blog posts private.
All blog posts, or a specific post? And what do you mean by private? Thanks for clarifying.
Hmmm, the idea of being able to see who's logging in and out when public quicknotes are off is a mighty fine one, and especially if we had a choice as to whether we saw them or not, maybe a checkbox under account settings? I'm not even a beginning coder, so I have absolutely no idea of how to proceed. A big thankyou though for all the work that you admins do.
I was specifically thinking having an option to make all blog posts viewable to logged in users only.
Post 11, let me check on that.
Perhaps making your posts on the boards only visible if someone is logged in.
Sure that would make boards look somewhat scattered but one could have a "Log in to see ..." link below that user's name, and any posts around it would still be there. Then, any user may set their board posts to private.
I infrastructurally understand not being able to delete posts, based on how this site is designed vs. Facebook and other structures set up quite differently. However, opting whether or not one's posts go to Google could be a good thing.
I don't think those of us who grew up before the Internet can possibly appreciate how hard this may be for young people who may have posted thing at age 15 and are now 23 or so, quite an age difference. I don't know how I would feel were I to still have any writing from the mid 1980s when I was 15.
Just a thought.
I can't see that editing board posts is a good idea, as you might go and edit a post because someone has ridiculed something you've said. then the subsequent post which ridiculed you is no longer valid and makes no sense to those reeding the board afterwards.
I would rather have had the opportunity for the creator of a topic to have the option to lock it rather than it automatically being done after 12 months of inactivity, though this is not abad compromise.
I'd personally like to be able to opt out of points. they mean nothing, and I'm somewhat OCD about them, and so hate interest for logging in, and being awarded weird stupid numbers of points by staff.
There may be a use for points in the very near future. Just sayin. Hmmm.
You should only ebe able to edit your posts if a reccord is preserved in my opinion. Its just a fact that people will take complete advantage of such a feature if their is no way to insure the origional post still remains.
As to the one thing I'd like to see, I'll have to get back to you on that.
when I mentioned editing posts, I was talking about posts you've made...not being able to edit those others make.
I like the fact that topics not posted to in at least a year are now blocked. Some of the people who made those old posts aren't even coming on the zone anymore, eithe because of being banned or just because they have better things to do, so having their old posts keep coming up is stupid.
I personally have no interest in seeing who logs in and out unless I have public quicknotes turned on, which is not often. I come on to play games and read the boards and don't want to be distracted by alerts as to who is coming and going.
One thing that I do wish could be taken care of is for profiles of former zone members who have died to have a notice saying that this zone member is deceased. I also wish their birthdays would not show up on the birthday page. It just is painful for me to check birthdays and see that so and so is turning 32 and knowing that the person is dead and will never turn 32.
great point, Becky.
I knew this was in relationship to only the posts you have actually written. I still stand by my point that I don't believe most zoners have the capacity to use such a feature wizely.
You want to edit your post? then check the "preview message" check box before you post it. There is no reason whatsoever a user should need to edit their post after they've already posted it. Just make a new post in the topic if you forgot to include something and be like "yo peoples I forgot to include this, that and her". The end.
I agree with Kev though. I think whether or not points become a useful thing in the future, I'd not mind being allowed to opt out of having them if possible. I mean lately all I ever do when I log in here is read the boards, then log off again, and most of my friends who come on the site are sensible enough to know that points are worthless and there's no sense in me gifting them to those people.
Other than that, while there are people who can't see and stuff, I'd still not mind the added feature of pictures in zone profiles. If the totally blind want the pics described, I'm sure that they can find a partial or ask a sighted person to help them out.
I'm going to have to agree with what's been said about opting out of points. I only come on here to read and reply to board topics, so I don't care about points.
post 5, / alerts.. what an awsome idea for a command!
with you totally on that one
just to clarify, I wasn't recommending they emplament the ability to edit one's posts; it simply crossed my mind when reading the suggestion about being able to delete board topics.
If points will actually have a use soon, then I say by all means keep them, but if not, then why the bet max? In a way, it makes the games more fun because if you bet all your points, there's actually a risk of losing them all, and if points have no use whatsoever besides something to bet with, what does it matter if someone has a billion or trillion?
I also agree with the suggestion that those zoners who are no longer with us should have something in their profile that says as much, and to have their birthdays removed from the birthday page.
So many really good points here. It's really difficult to know which one to go with as far as the one I would pick myself.
They very well may. Hmmm.
I've heard for the five years I've been on here that points are gonna have a use soon. lol. just sayin.
hmm. what would I suggest?deffenetly not editing a topic you've made. I agree someone would make a comment that the topic creater didn't like so they'd go change it and it wouldn't make since to later readers.
I no you prob can't make people do this but it would be nice if people had to at least fill out a little of their profile
It would be nice to have the option to set all your posts private, e.g. Members Only, in case someone wants to.
I still am thinking not of people who were adults when they joined, but in particular teenagers who joined: most people have said things without thinking, but if one was to have said something at 15 which at 25 they no longer hold true (wouldn't we hope?) you talk about the small town phenomenon of not being able to get away from a past mistake: it would be searchable from Google.
I don't mean to come off paternalistic to young people: I have just pondered this a lot having a daughter who is a teenager, and showing her how to manage privacy options on websites / their importance. And I certainly remember my teenage years before the web when at most you may have written something down, but it could be destroyed.
I don't get the whole "some people would take advantage" sort of thinking, a tool is there to be used. But I understand editing posts raises some problems. But kids can radically change in a month, and having what a fiteen-year-old posted on a board be now indexable by Google forever seems a bit much.
A safe and viable alternative would be to allow a user to privatize their posts, but they could not edit them. In fact this still isn't fully realistic: I could, and did, destroy writings I wrote one month and found completely obtuse or immature a month later, when I was a teenager. In what we call real life, everything we've ever said in a given context is not in fact indexable by a search engine.
I see young people on Facebook making and removing posts on their walls or in groups all the time, the proverbial 'I take it back'. That doesn't mean they imagine the effects of what was said aren't real: Of course they are. It just means Mr. Google can't forever index what they said, attach it to their name, when they are grown up a little bit and maybe trying to get a job / know enough to not be such a spazz.
Granted, on here everything is done by username so that does help. But the forever-indexable status is a lot to ask of young people I think, and it is not realistic. Those of us who grew up before the Internet had a real-life opportunity unlike what is on here, but similar to Facebook and Twitter. If a user can write to a prior board topic (provided it's not a year old now), and say 'I was wrong' 'I stand corrected' or whatever, that has the real-life equivalent of doing so which we all grew up with. And that is fair. But I for one am extremely pleased that not everything I did in a public forum at age 15 is indexable by Google: in fact nothing is.
I am curious to read thoughts from people on this, especially teenagers now or people who started on here or similar forums sites as teenagers. For all I mock Facebook / kick it around like last year's fruitcake, I do believe they are right in their management of privacy options: that does in fact mirror a closer resemblance to our offline life (online is now every bit as real as offline). That goes for removing posts as well: naturally you cannot remove the effects but you can proverbially tear up the letter / keep it from Mr. Google and the YouTwitFace conglomerate.
I agree with you 100%, Leo. I honestly couldn't have said it better myself...and, as someone who was around here in her early teen years and had different views on things than I do now, I certainly would greatly appreciate such a feature.
The way I see it personally, if someone did or said something stupid in their teenage years or said something they wish they could take it back then stumbled onto that message like five or ten years in the future, they would be able to look back at themselves with a much more mature view. I've often been of the opinion that you shouldn't forget your ppast, you should learn from it. Props to the Lion King! It showed that it's bad to forget completely about your past.
In the same token as saying that people can remove or edit their posts in real life and on other sites like facebook, you should also consider something else: when you say something to someone or when that same someone might read your post, you cannot take whatever you said or wrote back, even if you erased the post or tried offerring an appology if whatever you said was offensive or was something you didn't mean. To my knowledge, technology hasn't yet advanced to erasing memories of people, so that's not an option either. I'm still on the "do not allow editing posts" side of the fence.
And you are either unemployed, employed by somebody who has not had occasion to surf the web and look at their employees' exploits online, or, as an interview, fallen to doing that yourself.
Your view is radically one-sided: So the person may not take something back, yes. However, no boss of mine, no potential client, no potential anything, has ever seen anything I wrote in my teens.
So now, especially with board topics being locked, you can't even amend what you said at age 16 when you're 20. What this has to do with the Lion King, I do not know, and I would love love love to have seen the looks on Congress's faces when Facebook in the U.S., Orkut in Brazil and other social networks were drawn before governing bodies to answer for similar privacy concerns, had said social networks responded like this.
Disney? Really?
This isn't about learning from one's past, it's about who can find whom on Google, and whether or not that is even a fair representation at that point. This doesn't affect us who grew up before the Internet much, but if you're just starting out in life, and you make wild bets on things, future people who Google can see your perspective. Imagine how some of these people would have reacted before the alleged Y2K 'fiasco' writing about the end of the world, consciousness, etc., and ... nothing happened.
Now you're an employer in 2011 and happen to surf the web looking at sites containing a potential employee - it's not that difficult to trace people to handles they use online, and now you come up with someone whose judgment you may not now want to put any confidence in: someone who swore everything would come crashing down. And you want this person making decisions for you?
I know people who shamelessly conned people out of money during that time, selling alleged y2k consulting services, who literally changed their name and identity afterwards. This example is extreme of course,
This privacy / data control debate is all over the Internet. And with the debate is what others can see. Nobody I've heard of in the discussion is at all referring to one learning a lesson from one's past: it is about what others can see.
to put this in perspective, it's not like we're the only website which has its forums available to the public. Most forums, in fact, are available in Google and other search engines. Why should this site be any different?
That is true: in fact I never would have found this site without a Google search, from which I turned up some information which came directly from here.
I only wonder if it were possible for an individual user to privatize their posts. Yes it would leave gaps in the thread, but I have seen some forums that do this.
And, perhaps my perspective is off: I am not one of those who grew up a teen in the Internet age, so who knows? Much of this we are all finding out jointly anyway. My only contention was someone being able to privatize their own posts.
Naturally, the next best thing is get a Premium and for $25 - small price all things considered - change the username to something unrelated to another handle you use online. And that requires nothing from the site.
I joined the site when I was 12 and completely agree with Leo. Even if one post on its own doesn't always say that much about a person, there are quite a few of us who have 1000 + posts on here - e.g. quite a lot, and I dread to think what some of those say.
Most forums that I'm on let google index my posts, but this is the only forum that I'm registered on where posts can't be edited.
Forums tend to append a "last edited" line to any post that gets edited, so if someone did edit something because they were getting stick for it, it would be quite obvious. Over time, people would learn who edits and who lets things stand regardless of what people might think, and those that edit would probably just stop being liked.
In this situation, I'm talking purely about those who might edit posts because people are disagreeing with them as opposed to those people (Like me if this gets implemented) who will edit posts to do a little bit of cleaning up of my pre adult postings.
Even if people were adults back in 2003 2004, the concept of information gathering has exploded since then and its quite probable that people will have posted things without thinking of what someone googling them may think.
To post 31:
You're assuming that these people have actually created with user names that are the same as their real names. In that event, not only would they have had to create with their real first name, but also with their real last name. I'd say the number of users who have user names with their first and last names both is probably less than 1~%. Anyone who has put in their real name and last name have only done so in profiles for the most part, and those can be set to be viewed only upon log in, so you can choose to hide that information if you really want to and are afraid of people digging into your past.
This discussion about editing posts and privatizing posts goes under the whole "we are not your parents" thing. If people are dumb enough to post opinions and rants that could come back to bite them some day, then at least they will have learned a valuable lesson. I really don't agree with the ability to edit our own posts. And in case you think I've never said anything in a board post that I wish I hadn't, you'd be wrong. I'd love to take back some things I said just because I was in a bitchy mood or for some other stupid reason. But I still don't think we should be able to edit our posts. We just need to read over what we have written carefully and then take an extra few seconds to decide if we really want everyone to see it.
All I can say to the last post that that opinion is certainly outside of the mainstream of the current privacy debate. I read a lot on systems and Internet privacy and not once have I seen word of babysitting and the like, as was previously presented.
The argument is not taking something back: it is who can see it?
It's just one of those things we'll see how things turn out, what with people's ability to data mine any number of places.
To the poster who said this only affects people who have used the same name as their real name: you've never tried to track down a person to their various handles they keep on the web? Getting an association between a handle and a name is often not that difficult, and what with social networks as they are now, is becoming less difficult all the time.
I'm not even sure this site should change: I don't have the answer, or I would no doubt rest assured my daughter's college education was paid for.
The debate really breaks down as follows:
How do you protect users' data and still maintain the usefulness of a publicly searchable online social environment? After all, I imagine there's a lot of the population on here, like myself, who would never have heard of this place except for a board topic that came up in a Google search. This is not uncommon, and is no doubt the real reasoning behind this network and others for the forums being public. And, privacy aside, it makes a whole load of sense.
Society-wide we are in a huge flux right now as to how to manage data like this: privatize too much and it's no longer publicly beneficial. Publicize too much and you have companies like Facebook and Google standing tall before the Man, showing up at hearings in Congress.
Whoever figures out the right balance will be a rich human being indeed. Ironically, the solution will most probably be crowdsourced as are solutions presented on here and other forums, and indexable to the world by Google and Bing. Privacy aside, that is one of the more amazing phenomena we have seen in our lifetimes, whose practical usefulness has not, and may never be, fully realized.
I really like the alerts suggestion. Think I might want at times to still see who comes on and not with the public quick notes off.
If they do decide to go with the alerts suggestion, I definitely think their should be an option in account settings to disable it.
I don't agree with being able to edit or delete one's board posts. I do, however, agree that users should have the flexibility to have them only viewable to people who are logged in.
Alerts would be a toggle, just as Quicknotes are. Right now, /togqn toggles everything including alerts. This would separate that.
Am I the only person who think that I wouldn't want to work for someone who would base whether I was hired or not, on the content of a board post I wrote in my teens? Let alone the fact that they would pass up all other qualities I have, simply because I posted something they disagreed with? I really don't think I've ever seen anything on this site in the years I've been here that would keep you from getting a quality job. Sure, it might get you thrown out of the most virginal contest, but that's about it.
I don't think you should be allowed to edit your posts either. I think you should say what you mean first, and not regret it afterwards.
As for what I'd change, I think I would either make it required that you must put something in your profile, or that you could see the quick note history as a standard member. that just seems something we all should be able to see.
I like the idea of being able to see who is logging in even with QN's off. But is I could choose just one feature I'd like to see, it would be something in the account settings or ignore page, where one can see which topics they are subscribed to as well as which ones they are ignoring. Each topic a person subscribes to and each Board they are ignoring would appear in a list of those things respectively, and there could be a radio button to unsubscribe to or un-ignore the topic or Board.
If I have read right, most of the young people responding don't mind things as they are when it comes to privatization or editing of posts. You are uniquely qualified in this area: after all you grew up with an online presence.
to post 42, we could have a subscribed topics in the list of boards.. topics with new posts, latest topics etc- 1 could be subscribed topics. go on that, and then you cann see your topics and the last reply made. also the check box would be there to unsubscribe if you wish
I think the answer wrt board posts is simple - if you don't want people to identify you, then don't put identifying information on the internet.
I post on other internet forums which frequently feature in the media, and they don't have an edit post facility.
And ultimately you have no idea who is reading your board posts even before you were to get to the stage of wanting them edited/deleted, so it is best just to stick to the principle of not posting publically what you wouldn't be prepared to say to someone's face.
I still doubt points will ever be worth anything that is worth anything to me. So I still stand by the wish to opt out of them if possible. you're never going to make them worth anything in terms of them costing you anything, and as a premium member I still pay for what I want anyway, so let me pay for opting out of them.
also feel that the qn history if it's something everyone should be able to see, then everyone should pay for it. It's often the feature non premium members want, so that endorces the fact it should remain premium, otherwise fewer and fewer people may pay for the extra features.
I do agree about QN history. As for QN's you send and receive, you can always copy and paste them into a text file if you really want them. that method, of course, doesn't cost anything except time.
As for points, there are so many different opinions about whether they should exist, what they should exist for, value, bet max, and the list goes on. Maybe there could be an option in account settings where you can opt out of receiving interest points for logging in daily if that's what you want. then you can send any points you already have to someone else and stay at 0 yourself. I don't know what the use will be as of yet, of course, but I want to hold my thoughts on the value of points until that little piece of knowledge has been revealed.
To Poster 44: I like that idea. *smile* That would make things even easier than the idea I had, because it would be in the Boards area anyway instead of needing to go to your account or ignor settings to check your subscribed-to topics.
Blackbird you can opt out of points, in part: just give them to someone else. Find a young spazz that's entertaining or witty or whatever, and give 'em some points. No harm done.
I think what he doesn't like is that you still keep getting points upon log in even if you have 0 points. At least, that's what I don't like myself and I'd not mind being allowed to opt out of that, too. Unless as has been hinted, points become useful down the line for gaining certain advantages or whatevers.
I'd also like to be able to view what board topics I'm subscribed to. I honestly don't even remember now, and I'd like to be able to look at which ones those are at a quick glance.
I think the alerts idea is a good one, though on a personal level it's not hugely important to me as I rarely have my public qn's off.
As I've said several times in the past both publically and privately, I'd like to see points become a system that could be turned into something that could be turned in for certain things. (I remember wraith being the first to propose the way I thought it should be done but you'd have to dig pretty deep back into the boards to find the suggestion post.)
First of all, I'd like to thank JJ for creating this topic and showing support and listening to what we have to suggest. I think it's a great idea to have us pick the one thing we'd like to see happen. I personally enjoy coming on the Zone as it gives me a sense of connection with others who are visually impaired and I don't know a more vibrant community that I can be apart of that answers questions directly related to my situation. I've had some caveats over the years about the Zone BBs, namely the drama that goes on, but overall I love this site and really want it to continue to thrive.
If I had a choice of what I'd like implemented, it would have to be the ability to comment on written profiles. Almost like a "wall" of sorts like you have on Facebook that you can post a happy birthday, a "Hey nice profile" or a "hey, how's it goin'?" The PM's seem more for formal, email type writing and there are just times that I'm thinking of someone who's not on, and I just wanna drop them a "line." the purpose of this would also allow others to see it, and of course a checkbox could be available that allowed others to see comments and another that allowed/disallowed comments. This is also good for such occasions where, God forbid someone dies, we can write tributes to that person and show our condolences to their friends and family.
Not to be picky, but you can send a PM to say hi. Also, you can create a board topic to make a tribute to a zoner who has died. It's been done several times before.
But, having said that, a way to review written profiles would be nice. Maybe it would encourage more people to actually fill out a profile and keep the one they have up to date. I have to laugh sometimes when I visit a profile and it is very outdated because the person has aged a few years, gotten married, etc. since filling it out.
I think post 52 is talking more of a wall of sorts, like that one little site has, I forget the name. Thanks for all of the ideas and suggestions.
it'd be really nice, since we can now link to twitter on our profile, if we could either link to facebook or have more than one website link...
What would you like to accomplish by linking to Facebook? Areyou talking about posting status there, etc?
I think they meant that because you can get a custom URL with Facebook, we can put our Facebook URL in a separate edit box like we can with our Twitter username. I guess you could use the website field to do this, but what ifyou have a website you want to promote too?
I totally agree with post 41. I've said some stupid stuff I'm not proud of on this site. I joined when I was 15. But you know what? For the most part I look back and laugh at it. If a potential employer would really not take the time to look at the date the post was written, then realize it's been, oh, let's say 10 years (I'll be a college student in the fall, and i joined in 2004, so I may not get a job until 2014 or later, so that's a realistic ballpark.) I don't want to work for that person anyway. You would have to be incredibly closed-minded to think a person at age 15 is exactly the same at age 25.
@admin I was more talking about just a place to put our facebook username/link or whatever, like we can do with twitter.
ah thanks for clarifying.