[13/10] Site Improvements and General Updates Thread

[Daz]

Whoops, it seems somehow i managed to delete my existing updates thread so I've created a new one.

So to back pedal a little this thread is here to state what changes have been made since we went live with V.2 and to get feedback on them.

So here's an overview of recently made changes to the site for your reference.

• Added Youtube and Video include buttons in WYSIWYG
• Added Icons to Forums
  
• Created Sliding Phone Selector
• Added Thank You button to posts
• Added Post rating options for each post
• Added enhanced anti-bot scripts (which really seem to work well)
  
• Created a Twitter Account for MGP
• Created a Facebook group (soon to be replaced with a Facebook page)
• Added a news feed to News Forum
• Added Translations option (right sidebar) for all pages

All future updates will be posted in this thread as an when they are added.

[Daz]

New update: Individual forum and sub-forum RSS feeds

You may notice that today all forums (and sub forums if you drill down) now have an RSS icon next to them.

This means that you can now take a feed from any particular forum or sub forum only for your iGoogle, RSS feed burner or any other syndicator. Just click the icon to be taken to the feed and then copy the address in the address bar.

Here's some examples:

LG Viewty:

http://www.mygreatphone.com/forum/ex...l=0&fulldesc=0

Announcements and Info:

http://www.mygreatphone.com/forum/ex...l=0&fulldesc=0

Try it for yourselves.

You could even use one of our feeds for content to your own site, or as a widget etc.

In fact if you now check the front page, above the Tag cloud you will see we're now syndicating a feed for the entire forum to there.

I hope this is useful to you all.

[Daz]

New Update: Changes to Tabs

OK guys, after reviewing site statistics for the last few months it became evident that something needed to be done about the tabs at the top of the screen.

Reviews:
Nobody had used the review tab for over a month, and I will be adding reviews to the general articles front page area of the site and so it seems stupid to duplicate content.

The reviews system has been retired, reviews are now a part of the main site where they will receive more views. See the main category listing under headline.

Wiki:
The wiki has also been mostly unused since KU990.co.uk, it is also not scalable as I cannot personally keep it up to date for all handsets, and I received no offers for assistance and so it has been permanently retired (although all previous existing links will continue to work.)

New tab - Articles:
The Articles tab will be helpful to those entering the site via links to the forum as it will advertise the fact that there is a front end to the site, that does have current articles.

Home link:
The home link logo has had a home icon added in it's off state to also reinforce that there is a front-end to the site.

Fear now, that space will not be there for a great deal longer, there will be 2 new sections added to the site over the coming months.

[Nazaroth]

Hmm I wonder what they could be??

[hittingray]

We know one of them now..... The wallpapers section wonder what the next one will be

[Daz]

New Update: Separate Stickies

I have become frustrated at how hard it is to see what posts are stickies and what aren't on viewing the forum, the word sticky just isn't enough of a separator.

To solve this issue I have now grouped the stickies together at the top of each page and added a blue separator.

I feel this makes the forum much easier to use.

If you know of any posts which should not be a sticky or others which should please send me a PM.

[RossDuggan]

Looks great, now its easier to see updated threads.

[Daz]

Hi All,

Some of you may notice today that your user title or rank has changed and may be wondering what the hell it's all about, well hopefully this will shed some light on the subject.

_________________________________________________

Special User Ranks

Administrator

Me, Myself and I. I own, build, run and write for the site. It's my evening hobby and daytime procrastination.

I'd say I was addicted if I knew what it was to now be addicted. lol

Moderators

These are the guys that keep the forum clean and stop things getting out of hand. They're handpicked by me for their extraordinary commitment and contributions. Nobody that has ever asked to be modded has been modded so don't ask. It's like an MGP OBE: be nice, work hard and it will come.

VIP Members

(Formerly Tech ambassadors) These are the members who make tremendous breakthroughs on handsets or provide fantastic levels of support. VIP members deserve a group unto themselves and should be shown the upmost respect.

_________________________________________________

Site Team Members

These are the guys that help me every day in one way or another. Without them the site would be very hard work. They have access to an additional forum in which to discuss non-general public issues or deals. They're split into 3 groups.

Site Team Contributors

These guys add to the site, content wise. Whether it be images, posts or gallery wallpapers they help enrich MGP and so they are rewarded.

Site Team Loyal Members

The guys that help keep the forum active. If you've been here for a year or more and have either a) made 100 posts or b) gained 1000 points in reputation ("Thanks" are worth 10 points each now) then you will automatically be rewarded as a Site Team member.

Site Team Sponsors

You may not believe it, but as it stands we get somewhere around 8 thousand unique visitors every day. That’s an enormous load on any server and what with all the content stored here it's obviously not all ran from a £5 a month shared hosting account.

In fact the site in ran from a dedicated dual core server and has a dedicated backup drive to ensure that the site is never down, and if it is it can be recovered.

We also pay for licenses to give you the best software Vbulletin, VBSEO not to mention accountants bills and all the admin overheads etc. it all costs.

We obviously recoup some costs through the advertising, which I like to think isn’t over the top of in your face, but it doesn't really cover everything.

If you like the site and would like to help keep the site running, as little as £5 every 3 months via PayPal is a massive help and you can become a Site Team Sponsor (which will in time give even more perks).

Just go to the subscription page to sign up. Thank you

_________________________________________________

Standard User Titles

New Users

As a way of combating spam and stopping unnecessary silly threads without searching new members are required to post 2 replies in other threads before starting their own.

Chances are their questions can be answered in an existing topic but if not you could always just introduce yourself and say hi to somebody else in "General Conversation".

Once the two posts are made please wait until wither on the hour or at half past and your account will automatically be promoted to a Regular member account. Welcome to the fun.

User Titles

OK as a bit of fun new Regular users’ titles are structured by order of Mobile Phone technology in a timeline view, starting with the basics and moving to modern technology. Here’s the new title with a nice titbit of info about why it's relevant.

< 25 posts : Landline Phone

So old school not even mobile yet.

25 - 50 posts : 2G Mobile Phone

Second generation mobile technology. First introduction of data services, namely, sms and confirmation messages.

50 - 75 posts : EDGE Mobile Phone

Short for Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution, basically a GSM upgrade giving a three-fold increase in both the capacity and performance of GSM/GPRS networks.

75 - 100 posts : 3G Mobile Phone

First introduction of advanced services including wide-area wireless voice telephone, video calls, and wireless data, all in a mobile environment.

100 + posts : HSDPA

High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol which provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink.

Of course once you've reached 100 posts and you've been here a year, hey presto you become one of the team, but if your that active before that time, it good to know you’re at the top of the mobile tech chain surely.

The forum will be undergoing lots of changes over the coming weeks / months and whatever happens it's always going to be that the more you contribute, the more you get. So stay active and thanks for sticking by us.

Any feedback on this or anything else, please just let me know.

Daz

_________________________________________________

Update 07/10/2009

Signatures

I was giving signatures a lot of thought, as in the past the rules have been muddled at best and was considering all kinds of rules and special permissions based on posts count etc... however I thought back to when I first joined forums and I loved creating great banners that showed off my art skills etc. In fact I probably spent more time doing that than anything else.

So.... I've decided that ongoing there are going to be no special rules, everyone gets the same permissions, and I feel they are more than fair. They'll give you chance to put what you like within your signature without cluttering the forum right up.

All members from Regular Users upwards now get:

• Up to 3 lines in your signature
• The ability to upload an image as large as a 700 x 100 pixel banner. (we'll even host it for you and have given more than enough in term of file size)
• The ability to add links to your signature

To keep the forum clean there are some limitations though:

• 3 lines maximum whether 1 of them contains an image of not
• For security no raw html, only BB code allowed
• No colour or size editing for text (there's nothing that makes a forum look messier)
• Maximum of 1 image (use it wisely)
• Signatures will only be shown for posts which contain more than 30 words. This will keep conversation flowing and stop the signature area being longer than the actual post content.

This basically means that the max size for any new user with a banner and 2 lines of text will be around 130 pixels in height. I feel this is enough to get your "identity" or "mojo" across without cluttering up half of everyone's screen with images and links etc.

Unfortunately I cannot retrospectively apply changes to signatures already in existence, however if I see any that are way over the top then I will alter them, and if possible I ask that you do your bit and edit your sigs to coincide with these new rules.

[Nazaroth]

I like this alot!!!!

[eoghan]

i like it to its funny lmao