Forum Changes

[Cav.]

I second that.

[MP]

Okay, so there have been some requests on having a mobile friendly forums website developed, and after some research, I have found that (fortunately) SMF already has these inbuilt protocols.

If you're looking to have a minimal version of DWL working for your phones, simply direct your mobile browsers to 'http://www.desiwriterslounge.net/forums/index.php?wap'. I'll try and see if we can have an m.desiwriterslounge.net sub domain pointing towards the same URL to make it easier, but meanwhile you've got that. Sigh.

Joomla (the platform used for our main www.desiwriterslounge.net site), unfortunately, does not provide the same service or if it does, it doesn't come by default. Will look into that, however.

So, that's an update for you!

[Omer]

MP: Good news is that the WAP version works. It's very simple, minimal, and fast. Bad news is that it's read only. You can't comment or make new topics etc and it does not tell you if there are any new replies in a particular board. Also, you get stuck in a loop, e.g. if you browse to The Poet, you can only go back by pressing back on your phone browser. This can be a problem if you view multiple threads in The Poet and then want to go back to The Writer. There are no links out. You would have to reload the main page again.

[Darth Noor]

Nothing opened when I tried the link above, but the main site opens on my phone when I use desiwriterslounge.net/forums

[MP]

Hmm. Technically, SMF's WAP protocol is by default; it picks it up automatically depending on your browser and I haven't had a problem when I've used it. Sigh. I'll look into porting it for mobile usage as in a complete port but it's not going to be easy and will take time.

Meanwhile, the good news is that the main desiwriterslounge.net page can be ported for mobile usage relatively easily. So will be looking into that soon.

[As|D]

ahhh... this is finally happening!! Good stuff.

[MP]

*bump* Are there any other things that you guys are looking for in the community, that aren't available? I'm thinking of linking to an external gallery so pictures can be uploaded there, and remove some of the load from our servers.

Meanwhile, if you guys have any suggestions, put them forth.

A mobile friendly website is still going to take time and outside development, but it is on my mind.

[toK]

Maryam, I had a suggestion about people who sign up and never post/login or post for a while and then disappear, permanently.

How about incorporating an automated email to members who haven't logged in for, say, a couple of months. The automated mail could be the standard 'DWL misses you' or something fancier. If they don't return after 3 reminders, maybe you can de-activate their accounts (or not, as you see fit)

Edit: Just noticed this, of the featured writers, so many have disappeared too. Maybe we can harass them into returning as well.

[Hafsa]

Actually, that does happen Kazmi; the automated mail thing. It even says almost the same thing as you've described; something like: we've missed you at Dwl.

I think the deactivating accounts thing is a little cruel, no? I mean, maybe people are extremely irrevocably busy. Take JC for instance. And Obi. These people are the core of Dwl prose and poetry respectively but they are unfortunately dealing with a lot of stuff besides the 'Lounge. Sad, but true.

[toK]

True, that. But don't you think that someone who joined in 2008, never bothered posting and hasn't even logged in for over a year deserve deactivation? For members like Obi and JC, I inserted the comment at the end, harass them into making a return.

And I didn't know about the automated mail thingy, curious.

[Hafsa]

Try disappearing for a couple months or so and you will see for yourself!

I have been a victim of the irrevocable business myself and hence a reciever of the said mail.

[MP]

Yup, that is already very much in place already and we did indeed delete the accounts that were reminded...we once shaved 200 members from our member count. This was about 1.5 year ago.

Trust me, the desertion of our members is a very important concern for us...we are not beyond deleting those accounts...

[toK]

Good to know that we have a system in place, already, yay!

Secondly, I was wondering if this was possible to create different titles for people with over 500 posts. Not custom millenial titles but 3 predefined titles and not just the est. writer. Can't we have 2 or 3 such titles where everyone can be 1. An established writer (if they have written and posted a lot), 2. Sabertooth critic (Anton Ego clone?) (if they have painstakingly read every piece posted on the forums), or 3. Constant babbler (if they have just rambled, and rambled, and...you get the drift)

Maybe, we can even automate it. Although seeing as how so few people get to 500, that would hardly be worth the effort. Do I make sense? Time to stop, methinks.

[MP]

Interesting idea, K, but that would require constant vigilance for who does what because unfortunately, that can't really be automated. But cool idea!

Will definitely look into the possibilities of incorporating it at a later date...maybe when we update the forums to a much newer platform, which is still under beta testing right now.

Keep the ideas flowing, peoples!

[toK]

Errr,what I meant by its being automated (or even semi-automated) was keeping a check on the posts count in the Statistics page. Like my stats page shows that more than 50% of my posts have been in Everything Else and Poet, so I could be a babbling poet
Taking a look at other people's stats, Hafsa's come out to be skewed in the same direction (poet, everything else), Asid has posted only in the poet section so he can be just a poet, Mo has posted in the everything else and prose predominantly so he can be a prosesting babbler.
I'm not very sure about web technology but checks like this would require at most a 100 or so lines of code on a desktop application. Maybe later, then, if we are updating the forums to another platform.