Implemented Just a few plugins that may be worth looking into

As staff appear to be able to install plugins with relative ease in comparison to a couple of years ago, and because I recently discovered the plugins forum of vBulliten, here are some plugins I found.

AutoPM
In a nutshell, it automatically notifies a user if any of their posts are moved, deleted, etc, by staff. Previously, this suggestion was denied due to it being a chore for a staff member to notify a user for every post deleted. This appears to be automated, removing that problem.

Time spent online
Adds a section showing total time online. A good suggestion for social lives, but a horrible idea for the site, as it'll scare members away when they see how long they spend online.

Moods
Because I miss them, and we may want them back.

Canned replies
This was brought up a while ago, but since I saw the plugin, I thought it may as well be thrown in here for discussion again. Many members use custom text, etc. This would allow members to insert all of that with a single press.

Members can change their own usernames
Delays and the like can be set, so it'll be similar to the current setup. The difference is, Misty and RvR won't have to manually change them.

Bring back the 'Go' button
Revives the 'Go' button that was removed from the quick navigation menu in v4. I noticed the difference without it when we upgraded, so others may want it back.

Who Quoted Me?
Displays a list of your most recently quoted posts.

I don't really mind about most of these, as I either don't use the features, or use workarounds, such as a plugin for a web browser to do the canned reply thing, or manually checking subscribed threads to see whether I've been quoted. I'm mostly posting these for others to have a look. Pick and choose as you please, reject all of them, etc.

 

I remember a few of these like the mood one I liked that though it isn't really an important feature though it is fun.... and Auto Pm would be great

 

Well I got no problem with them (even though I think the moods are a little ugly for v4 lol), but too many plugins are not good for the server.

 

The time spent online one DOES seem a little weird, and the name change wouldn't REALLY make much difference, I don't think. I know people like to change their usernames a bit, but it doesn't seem like there's THAT MANY people doing it. The Go button doesn't seem to have had that much impact in its disappearance, and the Who Quoted Me one just seems a little superfluous, really. The others seem pretty useful in some way or another.

 

I like this. It may spawn some "why did you delete my post?" complaints at first. but ultimately I think that it will help us learn the acceptable posting habits and decrease the number of posts that need deletion.

Pretty pointless to me. I don't really see it helping or hurting anything. Just an interesting quirk that we'll look at from time to time.

A bit more useful than the clock, but this is not a feature I've missed at all. I would tend to be in a set mood for weeks, if not months, and the look at it again and go "when the heck did I say I was drunk?"

I like it. On top of being useful for people that like like formatting general posts, this will be helpful in the RPs where people code thier characters up.

I like it. It supports user groups so we can even keep the rule change from prems easily. It keeps a change log so if there are any issues with a member that should make it easier on staff (and possible open viewing so we can keep track of who is who?). And obviously frees up a bit of staff time from having to do these

I never used it but it is useful to some and it is inconspicous to those that don't want it. I would say go for it.

I'm really not sure on this one. I could see this ending up as useful or just ignored. I doubt that it will go wrong at all though.


So AutoPM, Canned Replies, and Username Changing stand out as useful. The rest I am pretty neutral on.

 

I agree completely. Not only did two of my threads get deleted, I didn't even know. While one was "inappropriate," the other was an RP which I think was deleted accidentally, but it would have been nice to get some message.

I don't really think it's a big deal to see how much time we've spent online. To me, it'd just be a fun little fact so I'd support it. Especially since I usually leave KHV open in a tab and am constantly logged in.

Yes, please<3

Definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely.

Just checked it out. You can make it so only certain usergroups (Premiums). I wonder if it'll have the same limitations, though (someone can't get Darkwatch because it's been used in the last year) as when admins currently do it.

I used this rarely so I don't really miss it, but it would be nice to have it back.

This seems somewhat nice.

So yeah, I support all of these.

 

Canned replies !

Please. Please, please, please. As of now, I have to use a Word document listing the codes I use for VMs/PMs/Posts and every single role play. It's tedious. ; ;

Oh. And AutoPM sounds cool. I've had a post deleted recently for...no apparent reason. Lol. It tripped me out because I couldn't figure out if I had really posted there or not until I saw someone quoted me.

So long as moods don't look the same way that they did, I'm good with it. Because I do miss it. Brings back memories.

Who quoted me would be awesome for conceited people like me who check that kind of stuff.

As for the Time Spent Online thing, I don't see how it's so scary. If you spent 20 hours on KHV everyday, you know you spend a long time on the site. You just don't want to see it? It might encourage me to get a life. Or manage my time better. ​

 

I'm not crazy about this simply because there doesn't seem to be the option for a user to choose whether they want it or not, which would lead to people's (limited) PM boxes possibly being flooded, and it just seems a little... pointless? That may just be because I'm one of the people doing the moving/deleting/whatever, but... yeah.

I just took a look and it seems like we have this (or something similar) installed. I haven't seen anything about it on anything but the page that lists what mods we have installed though, so we might have had it installed previously and then lost it when we upgraded. But again, I just kind of question what the point of this one is.

I really, really hated the moods thing on the old forum, I was glad to see them go to be honest. But I suppose they're not mandatory to use and if enough people want them.

I know that this has been one of the biggest requested features in the past, if it works alright I do like this one.

I don't like this one for two reasons:
- People could change to whatever they'd like, yes we can disallow certain terms in usernames, but we all know you all are crafty. c: It doesn't take that long to change a name and I try to do it rather quickly, it's not like it takes weeks for it to go through. At least with the way things are now we can, if we so choose, turn down a name change if it's inappropriate.
- When I change a name it can sometimes lag the site a bit, if we had users doing them I fear what that would do, haha.

This one is pretty little so I wouldn't mind readding it, I know little things like this always bother me too.

Eh, this is another I just kind of question how useful it is.

It's like Kubo said, having too many mods isn't good.

 

I'm all for the canned replies and AutoPM. They actually seem useful. Please don't bring back the moods they look too horrible. Please don't bring them back. They're an eyesore.

Even if they are optional, they're useless and just seeing them on a member's postbit would be hellish enough.

 

The only one that would be useful for me is the "Who Quoting Me?" I've been wanting that one for a long time

 

Speaking from the other side, I assure you, it's a lot less pointless when it's your posts and threads disappearing into the void without warning.

As for the PMs: If someone is getting their posts deleted so often as to have a flooded inbox, then it's all the more important that they are notified. Otherwise they'll never learn what they're doing wrong.

On moderation: You allow users to post without having their posts moderated first, and there's potential for far worse things in posts or usertitles than for names. It's easy enough to moderate names, or post a list of basic name rules. (e.g. No Darkwatch)

On lag: Is there a difference between you changing everyone once every two weeks, and everyone else changing themselves every two weeks?

...I'm not sure why I'm arguing for this. I don't change my name, and I detest the regular name changes. This'll make it even easier. Dx

Agreed. Most of these are useless unless enough users request it. It's why I posted them all in one thread. I don't expect any, or even most, of them to go through.

 

I will just say one thing, I'll come edit this tomorrow when I am less tired, but I just wanted to say, why does there always have to be a -need- or a -point- to a plugin that we have? Sometimes its nice to have something just for the fun of it. In my opinion anyways.

 

I was going to say this^
I mean, it's different if they will have a negative effect on the site (not sure what "not good to have too many plugins" means), but does everything have to have some big point?

 

Well I do definitely get where you two are coming from, a lot of things are just there for fun. The forums in general are really there for fun, all the site really needs is the cutscenes. But I also don't want to overload on forum features. We'd have to install with them, deal with them if there are problems, we could potentially be limited in upgrading for fear of incompatible plugins, and so on.

That's just me of course, if a lot of people want something I would definitely be swayed. I don't hate any of these ideas, there are the few I like and the rest I could really go either way with. I just look at them and think "could I see myself using this?" and if the answer is no, I do consider the rest of you all, but I can't pretend to know what you all want or use or whatever. That's why we've got a suggestions forum, so you all can tell us what you'd like. <3

 

Well the more you deviate from the original code the more unstable it becomes. The process can be compared to be somewhere in between installing programs on your computer and using codes in video games. The first few have little problem at all. Adding a lot however, makes glitches, lag, increased crashes, etc. So they don't need to have a great purpose, no. But they aught to have a fair amount of people supporting it so that we aren't just throwing resources away.

 

You forgot to add the DB errors part lol

 

Hope this isn't considered a bad bump, but I was wondering if anymore thought has gone into these plugins?
After all, I personally like the canned responses one etc :P

 

Bumping, because I think a fair few of my posts disappeared into the ether, and it would have been really nice to know why and/or confirm whether I'm just losing my sanity.

 

Because SPdude logged in. It's one of his effects. There are other effects like video portal isn't working, members can't login, image links broken, and his dangerous one, DB errors.