hmmm

[armerius]

wow...

i really kinda hate the main page right now.... cute cat though.

[jackrabbit]

wow...

i really kinda hate the main page right now.... cute cat though.

Thanks for the constructive criticism. I'll get to work on making the changes you suggested right away. I sure am glad I didn't put any work into it or your vague opinion would probably make me mad.

[Creole Ned]

Arm, that comment is worse than saying nothing at all. What do you "really kinda hate" about the page?

If you don't have specifics, your criticism is useless.

[armerius]

I suppose it's not the page i hate, I just have a general aversion to blogs... don't take it personally, it's the style you went for (i think).

Frankly, I just like the main page to be more informative.. announcements about smackdowns and whatnot... course, i have no idea when the page changed, as all my bookmarks take me straight to the forum.. went on a whim today.

hope you weren't offended, I meant no offense.. it's just been a rough weekend. my "constructive criticism"? add some informative bits for our visitors.. it's kind of vague as to what the MC are.

[Paladin]

Ok...

I have some suggestions...

First, I really miss Ned's semi-frequent main page news updates and silly quotes, plus the Smackdown announcement and results, which now that we are having regular Smackdowns again would be nice. Reading back some of the archived news from the QB site, I'd forgotten he used to start his posts with a quotation of some kind. It was neat, and I'd like to see them return.

Second, I'd still love to have a way for members who have their own websites/blogs to be able to RSS feed their updates from them onto our mainpage. That way we could find out about F7's motorcycle accidents a bit quicker than 3 months later. Plus I'd feel like someone might be reading my blog entries from time to time, which I don't now. :) And this would add forum discussion fodder.

Third, a RSS feed from Bluesnews or Shacknews would be nice, both to have game news on our site and also to provide more topic fodder for the forums.

Finally, and this will take some programming, getting the Who Be/Where Be pages moved over and combined, plus adding a games/systems/Live Nicknames database.

That should keep you guys busy through Christmas. :)

Remember, you asked for it. :) :spank:

[jackrabbit]

Pal, the news posts will return. We just wanted to be sure people would actually visit. The page doesn't even "officially" open until tomorrow, but I moved the link this morning so I wouldn't forget. WordPress already has news queued to post as the dates arrive. I should be able to add the quotes back, too. I just couldn't find a practical spot for them, plus the system was written in Javascript several years ago and it makes me feel dirty and low-class to use a javascript when the rest of the page is PHP and MySQL database driven.

The Smackdown announcements will also be making a comeback, as well as the Smackdown and Hall of Giants pages, new, improved, and better than before.

The Blog links can be added real easy. I'll move those over today.

The RSS feeds are a bit tricker as I don't know how to add them in WP or even if they are native or if I'll need a plugin, but I agree, it would be nice to have updated and current news to read.

The Who Be/Where Be pages will get updated and moved over. I'm working on a profile system that will allow Martians to show as much or as little about their games and profile as they'd like. It's on the list after the Smackdown and Hall of Giants stuff, so there's no telling when it will be done.

Arm, Ned and I both contributed to the FAQ that can be found by clicking "About" at the top of the page, under the logo. Most of it is just the same old stuff from the old site, some of it is new.

[Tai]

I think it rocks and keep up the great work!

[Creole Ned]

It's a work in progress. Using blog software is mainly to allow multiple people to more easily post news and updates.

Currently jackrabbit and I will be doing so. The cat entry was made back when I first installed WordPress and is not meant to be part of the live design. :)

[jackrabbit]

I was partial to that post, Ned. Plus a truer statement has rarely been spoken.

[Paladin]

JR, it's not just having links to our sites that I'd like to see on the main page. I'd like it if when I posted on my blog (or whoever posts on their blog), that it would feed the post to the main page. I'm running wordpress for my blog, and it puts out a RSS and RSS 2.0 page.

[jackrabbit]

Oh. I have no idea how that works. I've pretty much disabled all the "Talk Back" stuff.

[Paladin]

http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Feeds#WordPress_Built-in_Feeds

So, my RSS feed "should" be http://paladin.gamingasylum.net/?feed=rss

and F7's "should" be http://www.fseven.net/?feed=rss

[F7]

By the way JR & Ned, the work you are putting in to keep the site up and running and updated does not go without appreciation.

Kudos to you both. :)

[Patton]

I like it.

[jackrabbit]

On the subject of appreciation, a big thanks to Foe who has been hosting and paying for the Martian Cartel site for over a year now.

THANKS FOE!

(wherever you are.)

[Paladin]

And thanks to Ned and JR for keeping the website going, and plodding through all the code and graphics needed to make it look so snazzy.

Thanks Ned & JR!

[armerius]

ya know, i realize i started this thread sounding like a jerk, so i will use my amazing powers of thread killing to end it.

The front page now looks great! can't wait to see it continue to progress... you guys do amazing work and it IS appreciated!

[jenn68]

I keep thinking that if I click the martian at the top of the page that it will take me to the homepage - it won't :(

[Creole Ned]

I think that can be changed - it was the way we had the phpBB forum set up and it is my preference, actually. I shall look into it!

[Dg3Nr8]

I keep thinking that if I click the martian at the top of the page that it will take me to the homepage - it won't :(

Theres a link at the bottom of the page

[jackrabbit]

Theres a link at the bottom of the page

Haha... I remember putting that there and then forgetting about it until I read your post just now. :)

I shall now use it!

[Q]

While you're fixing stuff, make the forum display unread posts properly :P.

[Creole Ned]

That would require an act of god, I think.

Or vBulletin version 20.0.

[Creole Ned]

Addendum: we are playing around with options. Don't panic if everything appears unread.

Or if you prefer, go ahead and panic.

[jackrabbit]

Well, here's the thing. Q (whom -let it not go unsaid- has always had weird browser problems) was really the only one reporting this "Unread" behavior.

My method for checking the forum is as follows:
Got to forum
Click "New Posts"
All new posts show up on this page in bold.
Read new posts.
As I read them, they are unbolded, but still on the New Posts page.

When I am done I can:
Quick Links / Mark All Posts read
or
Leave the page alone for a while. Read posts stay unbold, new posts show up as bold, read posts eventually (15-30 minutes) disappear.

Following the change to the method the posts are marked read (from cookie based to database... er, based), the fact that this marks all posts unread (logically so, as this is the first time the database knows you've read them) notwithstanding, the method is now:
Got to forum
Click "New Posts"
All new posts show up on this page in bold.
Read new posts.
As I read them, they vanish forever from New Posts page.

Honestly, I liked it the old way and have a history of not caring a wink about what Q wants, but I'd be interested to hear what his experience is, what his expectation is, and what the common experience is for visitors.

[Tai]

Sorry, I'm busy panicing.

[Tai]

I prefer the 'old' way. I used the same method to check as you did. Occasionally, from the main forum page, it would show that some of the forums had unread messages even when they did not, but I just used the quick links "mark forums read" to fix that and really use the New Posts link mostly.

[Dg3Nr8]

JR, thats more clicks than playing Diablo 2 for 30 minutes

[Q]

On the old QB forum, I would simply click on any links to threads that were marked as having unread posts and as I read them, they would no longer appear as unread.

I'm trying to get into the habit of manually marking all posts as read, but I keep forgetting.

[Creole Ned]

Clicking on the logo at the top of the forum now takes you to the main Martian Cartel page. Note that this is currently only in place for the default mAria theme. For those who were using the logo to get back to the main forum index page, I recommend using one of the other 20 billion links available.