Comments on: Forum Suggestions [Archive] - Page 2

pemidato

March 7th, 2006, 8:01 am

Sorry for cutting in front of you, I quoted you so people don't possibly skip you.

:lol: It's okay, I think they'd scan everything anyway before answering (I hope).

I'm pretty sure that's on the To Do List but it's finding the time these days.

Ah, good to hear :) We can wait.

Warnings are a private matter between the member and the staff. It would be an invasion of this privacy and unnecessarily cruel to mock somone publicly for something they did wrong.

Not that I'm a staff, but just to put in my opinion.. :) It might actually encourage some dudes to do things on purpose so that they will get banned. You know, get some fancy usernames and send yourself to Azkaban. Kinda like sending hate mails to Emerson for the sake of appearing in the Mugglenet Hall of Shame..

rich_505

March 7th, 2006, 8:04 am

Not that I'm a staff, but just to put in my opinion.. :) It might actually encourage some dudes to do things on purpose so that they will get banned. You know, get some fancy usernames and send yourself to Azkaban. Kinda like sending hate mails to Emerson for the sake of appearing in the Mugglenet Hall of Shame..

I agree, people will misbehave just to get attention; I think this could cause a lot of extra headaches for the staff who are already busy.

lanifiel

March 7th, 2006, 9:14 am

CoS Forums will never highlight trouble makers by giving them a "jail". We just ban them and like to forget about them. Thats the admin final word.

62442al_Man

March 7th, 2006, 1:11 pm

Okay thanks. I'm awake now:D Hehe,it seems stupid now,too...

Thanks

pemidato

March 9th, 2006, 3:27 am

I have a proposal (again). Being a regular in the DoIMC, I have come to appreciate the tact, tolerance, respect and level-headedness that some of my opponents practise, eventhough I can never agree with their opinions. There are even potentially really controversial discussions ending up quite mild and mellow. Having been on the minority opinion more than once, I can definitely tell you it is sometimes almost a joy to disagree with these people. The debaters I mean are people like katsumi, midnightsfire, Bonta Kun, Morgoth, Wab, purplehawk, Amaryllis, IamMoose, and obviously loads others, even some newbies (I'd put in some more names but people'd probably think I'm biased :D).

I was wondering if you guys can make a sort of "Hall of Fame" or "Debater of the Month" sticky thread in the DoIMC to honour those debaters who are examplary of the type the forum and staff would appreciate. Then other frequent debaters can nominate their "favourite" debaters to be honoured there.

Four reasons I can think of why this thing should be initiated is that, firstly, fellow debaters (even opponents) and even the staff can have a visible way to show appreciation to the level-headedness of these debaters. This is all to celebrate the spirit of good debate and since there are no prizes, we can at least honour them by plastering their names in an exclusive thread. Secondly, it can highlight those debaters whom the newbies can try to emulate at least in their mellowness (and not necessarily in the length of their replies). I used to think that all the avatared debaters were good ones, but that is not really the case as some can deliberately turn a debate into a fight. Thirdly, it will set a sort of standard as to how debates in the DoIMC should go (ie not in an aggressive, non-productive and tactless way, causing hurt and offense). Then we can all happily dream of a day when all the debaters in the DoIMC will have their names in that hall of fame. Lastly, when debaters can nominate their opponents, it would at least dispel any hostility between debaters and project the idea that debates in the forum are not wars but more of a matter of saying your opinion out loud and then agreeing to disagree with your opponents.

I just thought this would go great with the set of tips lanifiel is said to be drafting. And if this is a bad idea, please at least provide some explaination as to why it is so, because this is quite a long post :D

rotsiepots

March 9th, 2006, 6:33 am

No, I'm sorry. We don't show favouritism at CoS.

pemidato

March 9th, 2006, 6:45 am

Okay, short explaination understood :lol:

Thanks!

Beefy

March 10th, 2006, 4:57 pm

I had an idea the other day, and ment to ask abou it the other day.

Sorry if this has been suggessted Before, But what about a Weekly/Montly Official Compitition? For example, ask people to write and Chapter from the last book? Or Create an Original Character? Then the best (judged by the Prefects/Mods determine the Top 5, then everybody else votes for their Favourite. The winner then gets an Icon (like a crown or something) Next to their name, for the week.
I just think that something like this may encorage more people, to use more of the forums! I See quite Regularly some Sub-forums have 60 people viewing them whilst others don't get above 20!

Just a though. I understand that would require a fair bit of work, and you guys already do a lot of that!

rotsiepots

March 10th, 2006, 11:23 pm

We do have competitions at CoS, but they happen only occasionally. Usually they coincide with special events (eg the release of HBP).

We don't have the resources or the patience to hold them regularly.

62442al_Man

March 10th, 2006, 11:54 pm

Well, this has a bit to do with what Pemidato said, but not about a Hall of Fame.

How about debate teams?

I can set it all up so you guys need not worry at all.

A group of members come together, make a debate team and their own thread. Here is more about it:

Let's say five members come together and call themselves an official name. We will call our five person team right now "Debate Team One". Now Debate Team One opens up a new thread, possibly a sub-forum branch with the title of their name. These are the five deabeter's thread, it is their "treehouse". Through the OWL system or email, Debate Team One can invite a team such as Debate Team Two. In the thread, they open up a Topic. Say Debate Team One opens up a topic called called Bush Administration. Debate Team One will then say in the post with the topic what side they are on. A short explanation will do; whether they think he needs to resign, whether he has the right ideas the way he runs things etc. If another team is against Debate Team One's ideas, they OWL them and if Debate Team One accepts, they are allowed in the room for the debate. After that debate cools down or it is closed by Debate Team One, another one can be made on a different topic. Then, perhaps another team like Debate Team Three can ask if they can join ntheir debate.

You guys can decide on how many players per team, etc. I think it would be great fun.

I would say that it should be made a sub-forum in the Ministry of Magic. How about a title such as "The Official Dueling Debate Club".

I have more ideas for this but I have wasted enough of your time. I hope you like my idea:)!

rotsiepots

March 11th, 2006, 12:20 am

We used to have a serious debate section, but it failed miserably, I'm afraid.

62442al_Man

March 11th, 2006, 12:48 am

How about another go? Teams will have to ask an Administrator to form up and the rules will be very strict. If anyone disobeys, they are banned from the Debate Club.

I have it all pictured in my head and it is tough to let it go, you know? How about a poll to see if people will be willing to participate in the Debate Club? I know many people would love to contriute.

You see, not all or any people on a team have to agree with what they are debating for. My school Debate Team is cool, but I think this would be awesome.

Why did it fail? And can we see if anyone else would like to reform a similar Debate Club Forum?

Jessica

March 11th, 2006, 12:54 am

Word to the wise, if an Admin says no it's best to drop it :)

62442al_Man

March 11th, 2006, 1:13 am

Okay, so sorry. I thought that maybe I hadn't explained myself well enough. Hoping to change her mind:)

It sucks to get a good idea dried up, I was hoping for a second chance. Oh well, I plan to get an idea soon that you guys will like:D. You can bet on it.

I was hoping to give the debate section that faile miserably another try...But I'm done.

Cadia

March 17th, 2006, 2:44 pm

SageThyme

March 17th, 2006, 3:29 pm

Here's a question: Why is it that the starter of a thread can't delete their own thread if no other users have posted in it?

I would have thought that would be a good feature to have. Sometimes you just want to get rid of a thread of yours that hasn't done anything, without bothering the staff about something so trivial.

-Cay
Well Profs and Admins are the only ones who can close an open thread.

If you send an owl to any of the staff about wanting a thread closed, it will be done in short time.

The Staff absolutely do not mind getting an owl about closing a thread.

mystic_22

March 17th, 2006, 3:51 pm

We used to have a serious debate section, but it failed miserably, I'm afraid.

I know you've said no but couldn't you just consider it once again.
Maybe it failed miserably then because there weren't enough people who were actively interested in debating.
But there are loads of us who mainly post in DOIMC and would love it if we could have a proper debate section with debate teams.
Please..:rolleyes:

Hes

March 17th, 2006, 4:02 pm

I know you've said no but couldn't you just consider it once again.
Maybe it failed miserably then because there weren't enough people who were actively interested in debating.
But there are loads of us who mainly post in DOIMC and would love it if we could have a proper debate section with debate teams.
Please..:rolleyes:

I used to be a debate leader at the Formal Debate area. Only a small part of the members that frequented the DOMIC participated. There were a lot of members that prefered the normal threads, because in there more people could participate. The rules of the debate area might have put some people off too.

The debates were restricted to a maximum of 12 participants per debate. A big problem was the lack of different opinions. After a while nobody seemed interested anymore except some hardcore debaters and the lack of fresh blood and new topics made the Debate area die.

Cadia

March 18th, 2006, 12:41 am

Well Profs and Admins are the only ones who can close an open thread.

If you send an owl to any of the staff about wanting a thread closed, it will be done in short time.

The Staff absolutely do not mind getting an owl about closing a thread.
Oh, alright. *shrug*
Thanks :)

62442al_Man

March 18th, 2006, 12:48 am

SilverArrow

March 18th, 2006, 3:58 am

You know how, in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, your new threads get sorted through before being displayed?

Well, i would appreciate it if the person who sorts them would owl me when they delete a thread that i have submitted.

Just an idea. Thanks.

rotsiepots

March 18th, 2006, 4:31 am

Are you talking about your thread on Paintball? Because that's still in the mod queue. :huh:

Deevo

March 19th, 2006, 12:29 pm

I don't know if this would affect too many people here but might it be worth placing announcements on the main page rather than the respective forum indexes?

I say this because I generally go straight to either the 'Magical me' or to my subscribed threads list and made a bit of a goose of myself because I didn't see the announcement regarding the Emma Watson drinking pics. Fortunately another member was kind enough to point it out to me and I immediately removed the picture I had thought of using as a siginature. :blush:

Anyway, that's all.

Nicole

March 19th, 2006, 1:34 pm

I didn't see the announcement It would be wise to check the Notice Board area before beginning to post. It rarely changes and checking it takes only a small effort.

62442al_Man

March 19th, 2006, 10:09 pm

This will be my 9th idea, I believe, and I refuse to give up:).

Okay, you know how seventh year is the last upgrade? Well, how about adding "Graduate" or something like that. One they reach maybe 4,000 posts and haven't been made either a prefect, professor, or possibly an administrator, they can get this title instead of staying a seventh year forever. I think that if people don't already look up to a long-time user, they sure would look up to a Graduate....

Jessica

March 19th, 2006, 10:12 pm

62442al_Man

March 19th, 2006, 10:15 pm

Someone suggested that a few weeks ago and Morgoth promised to think about it so I'm sure he is :)

Ahh, thanks.

All the good ideas are taken:(...

Jessica

March 19th, 2006, 10:20 pm

Ahh, thanks.

All the good ideas are taken:(...

Well we do have a pretty good staff. ;)

You really don't need to worry about coming up with new ideas for the forums. Just enjoy the forums and have fun :)

JAMD

March 21st, 2006, 8:42 pm

Lash Dresden

March 21st, 2006, 8:47 pm

suggestion:

a praise and smite feature

- if someone says something u like, posts up something funny, posts up artwork , or just amuses u in a post, u can boost reputation

-if someone says something nasty, ignorant or w/e, u can take points away

alot of other Vbulletin forums have it and i think its a great feature....
Making negative remarks about others' posts, opinions, artwork, etc. is a violation of CoS forum rules, so I don't see something like that working here. :)

And please don't use text speak in your posts (this is also a violation of forum rules).

rich_505

March 21st, 2006, 9:17 pm

I think I know what you mean, lots of proboards forums use it; it's just like a 'vote' option for each user where you press praise or smite :p I find it rather pointless personally.

Jessica

March 21st, 2006, 9:20 pm

We used to have a rating system for fan fics and we had to disable it due to people abusing the ability to be overly critical of other member's work.

So, yeah, I don't think that would be a good idea here.

Dinky_Diddydums

March 22nd, 2006, 2:11 am

Can we have a Poll about people's favorite characters? I know there is a thread but can we have that one so we know by quick glance instead of having to read the 400+ posts?

Tanx

Lash Dresden

March 22nd, 2006, 2:12 am

Polls take up a lot of band width, so probably not. Sorry.

62442al_Man

March 22nd, 2006, 2:38 am

What is band witch?

snape1101

March 22nd, 2006, 2:45 am

What is band witch?

The drummer in an all-female rock group who is simply impossible to get along with.

Vita

March 22nd, 2006, 2:46 am

Its like the amount of space a website has each day dealing with people logging in and actions around the site. Thats the best I can describe it

SageThyme

March 22nd, 2006, 3:37 am

"What is band witch?"

The drummer in an all-female rock group who is simply impossible to get along with.

:rotfl: I like this definition better :rotfl:

silver ink pot

March 24th, 2006, 5:37 am

I posted this idea on the Signatures Thread, and a few others thought it might make a good forum suggestion. :)

There were several questions about "seasonal" smilies, such as easter eggs, from other websites counting as an additional image in a person's signature. Believe me, I understand why you have that rule, since people would have huge signatures otherwise. I've been warned myself once when I put Christmas Lights on Snape :lol: and had to take them right back off.

But I'm wondering if the Forum would ever consider adding 3 or 4 seasonal smilies now and then. I've been on other forums (non-Potter) where the Mods would add some winter smilies or Halloween smilies just for a few months.

I've always thought it would be fun to have Halloween smilies here. :) A ghost, a witch, a dementor, or a pumpkin. People could then use them in their signature without a problem because they would be officially sanctioned.

I have no idea how technically difficult this would be, and just wondered if it's ever been discussed?

62442al_Man

March 24th, 2006, 1:25 pm

pemidato

March 24th, 2006, 2:04 pm

I too, do not understand the band witches that may be involved, but I found this with some Harry Potter smilies. You have to scroll down to Harry Potter. They are pretty cool. There are also some Holiday ones; I will continue to look for a dementor, though...

Since others seem to have forgotten to correct you, the actual term is "bandwidth" :) It's what Evita82 described it to be, but you can find a more elaborate explaination by googling. The bandwidth you want to know of is an internet term.

Or, well, a slightly more confusing explaination can be found on Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth).

Ali

March 24th, 2006, 3:09 pm

For those who want to undersand what bandwidth actually means, here's a good analogy which'll help with the explanation: http://academic.udayton.edu/streaming/2_StreamingAtUD/analogy.htm

Dobby_615

March 25th, 2006, 12:10 am

I am new here and dont know if this is the right place, but I have a sugestion for a thread, and if its already been done, I again apologize. I have been trying to see everything before posting and I havent come across this yet.
But I would like to know what everyone thinks about Micheal Gambon's version of Dumbledore compared to Sir Richard Harris's Dumbledore.
If this isnt the right area to suggestion this, could one of the admins owls me and let me know where to go?

Vita

March 25th, 2006, 12:12 am

The Best Albus Dumbledore (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=84195&highlight=dumbledore) may be a thread that suits you :)

Dobby_615

March 25th, 2006, 12:28 am

Thank you! See I knew it had to have been done before. I will check it out.

62442al_Man

March 25th, 2006, 2:46 am

Since others seem to have forgotten to correct you, the actual term is "bandwidth" :) It's what Evita82 described it to be, but you can find a more elaborate explaination by googling. The bandwidth you want to know of is an internet term.

Or, well, a slightly more confusing explaination can be found on Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth).

Thanks alot!! I was just joking about the witches, though :lol:!!

For those who want to undersand what bandwidth actually means, here's a good analogy which'll help with the explanation: http://academic.udayton.edu/streaming/2_StreamingAtUD/analogy.htm

Thanks, I'll check these two out!:) I don't know the fine points.

redwall_hp

March 25th, 2006, 11:29 am

Hes

March 25th, 2006, 11:35 am

I think a new category should be added called "webmaster chat" or something like that, so people can ask for help,advice,urls for webhosts, talk about webdesign, etc. People used to do this before the rules were changed, prohibiting the posting of non-thread-creators. After all, the Potter Police can't answer everything.

There is a thread in the Leaky Cauldron Official Help Thread for Aspiring Webmasters (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=24242), that could cover some of the help that people need.

DarkDaysAhead

March 26th, 2006, 12:58 am

Flannery07

March 26th, 2006, 1:14 am

What's the Buddy List feature for? I can add people but I can't seem to view my own Buddy List. Am I missing something? If not, would it be possible to add a way to view Buddy Lists? There could even be a way of making them private or public, kind of like our images and such.:)

I'm not sure its purpose, but you can view it by going to the topic of any screen and clicking on the "Quick Links" tab, on the CoS Forums Tool bar (upper right hand corner is where it should be found). In there, click on "open buddy list". Your buddy list should appear. If not, you may want to refer to the Technical Dificulities thread.

DarkDaysAhead

March 26th, 2006, 1:37 am

Ah, there it is! Thanks Flannery07!:D

rich_505

March 26th, 2006, 8:57 pm

I think a new category should be added called "webmaster chat" or something like that, so people can ask for help,advice,urls for webhosts, talk about webdesign, etc. People used to do this before the rules were changed, prohibiting the posting of non-thread-creators. After all, the Potter Police can't answer everything.

We at TPP do try though ;)

CoS has an addequate webmaster thread as it is, I don't think the moderators and administrators would want the hassle of a fully feldged webmaster area. Also I suggested something similar a month or so back and it didn't get through ;)

lanifiel

March 30th, 2006, 9:50 pm

In regards to suggestions made we have a new area in the Muggle Studies area of the forum: The Actor as Their HP Character (http://www.cosforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=142)

It is for the discussion of the actors who play the Harry Potter Characters, in their performance.

Happy posting.

62442al_Man

March 30th, 2006, 11:42 pm

Thanks Lani, good job!

Besanamo

March 30th, 2006, 11:46 pm

Thanks Lani, good job!I'll second that. It's nice to have all the threads in one place. Thanks a bunch!

Snivelly

March 31st, 2006, 12:17 am

Originally Posted by 62442al_Man
Thanks Lani, good job!

I'll second that. It's nice to have all the threads in one place. Thanks a bunch!

Third from me!;) It's much easier and better now...thanks a lot!:tu::)

62442al_Man

April 3rd, 2006, 11:33 pm

Okay guys, this is my last one I promise. I know you guys might be sick of me, but one more chance?

Here we go. Instead of "The Daily Prophet" forum, call it:

The Newsstand
The Quibbler
Games, RPG's, Quizzes, Puzzles, etc.

Transfiguration Today
Projects, Fanart, Music Composition, etc.

Daily Prophet
Forums only! (cosforums, as an example, would go under here)

Which Broomstick
Other. . .

The Daily News (This is a Common British Newspaper, but if someone knows a better one, please request:))
Fansites, JKR Rowling news and events, etc.

You see where I am leading? I think that is it and that pretty much covers all of the 8 pages of the Daily Prophet and organizes them neatly into five easy sub-forums so that if a person is looking for a peticular type of site, they can just click on which one they are looking or bsed on the explanation under the heading:).

Good?

Edit: 8 pages, not 18 (my bad)

Also, we could possibly have another section for forums unrelated to HP. Though, I think I remember reading that it is against the rules to post a site about anything other that HP related, so nevermind.

extremegreen

April 3rd, 2006, 11:58 pm

That's a great idea! Very organized!

Lash Dresden

April 6th, 2006, 11:25 pm

Is anyone having problems with the way it's set up now that there would be reason for major changes?

SageThyme

April 7th, 2006, 1:47 am

It's been working quite well (for well over a year) the way it is, so, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

62442al_Man

April 7th, 2006, 2:01 am

You are absolutely right!:) I just thought it was cool, you know. The Casting Couch wasn't necessarily needed; I mean to say, Muggle Studies wasn't broke. But the Casting Couch really helped, right? I see now that it really isn't a top priority:). Forget I ever mentioned it.

Jessica

April 7th, 2006, 4:58 am

RaspberryJam

April 8th, 2006, 6:52 pm

unconvinced

April 8th, 2006, 9:06 pm

Hi all,

I was wondering, is it possible to have a "Favourite Thread" option in our profiles? What I mean is, you can tell people your favourite, or even couple favourite threads. For new member, they wouldn't have to put a thread (optional feature) until they posted more, and realised their favourite places.

I think this would be a good thing, becuase it would allow people to look someone up using the "Marauders Map", and then easily find where they post alot. Also, it would help new (or old) members find some popular threads, maybe with people they know posting a lot in them.

Is this such a terrible idea? :)

That sounds similar the thead subscription tool, exept it's public. I like the idea though, I'd use it.

cazzaranda

April 9th, 2006, 4:34 am

SageThyme

April 9th, 2006, 5:01 am

I hope you don't mind but I would like to add my two cents about "the casting couch"...unless you are looking for it it's easy to pass by. I haven't seen nearly so much traffic in the thread I like there since it's been moved. Maybe it needs a big red "important" next to it for a while until people get used to it. I know the first time I went to look for my favorite thread I couldn't find it and I was nearly heartbroken that it had been shut down.

I agree that it's nice to have all the themes together in one place, but as I said, when you go to Muggle Studies, you can pass it right by without even knowing it's there.

The Casting Couch was given its own sub-forum classification. Placing the word "Important" at the beginning is not done with the Titles of the forums. Only certain threads within a forum area are stickied and given the red preceeding title: "Important".

It may take a little getting used to, but it was easier to have all the Actor/Character threads in one area.

62442al_Man

April 9th, 2006, 5:02 am

It's just that HP areas are much higher priority than non-HP areas so obviously they get the bulk of our effort :)

I understand:).

leenielou

April 10th, 2006, 9:47 am

I hope you don't mind but I would like to add my two cents about "the casting couch"...unless you are looking for it it's easy to pass by. I haven't seen nearly so much traffic in the thread I like there since it's been moved. Maybe it needs a big red "important" next to it for a while until people get used to it. I know the first time I went to look for my favorite thread I couldn't find it and I was nearly heartbroken that it had been shut down.

I agree that it's nice to have all the themes together in one place, but as I said, when you go to Muggle Studies, you can pass it right by without even knowing it's there.

To add a little extra, if you are wanting to find your most posted in threads more easily, just take a look at your subscribed threads in Magical Me. That way you can find them no matter where they've been moved to.

ComicBookWorm

April 10th, 2006, 4:39 pm

RaspberryJam

April 12th, 2006, 12:37 am

Sorry to be a bother, but I posted this a little while ago, and didn't get a response. :)

Hi all,

I was wondering, is it possible to have a "Favourite Thread" option in our profiles? What I mean is, you can tell people your favourite, or even couple favourite threads. For new member, they wouldn't have to put a thread (optional feature) until they posted more, and realised their favourite places.

I think this would be a good thing, becuase it would allow people to look someone up using the "Marauders Map", and then easily find where they post alot. Also, it would help new (or old) members find some popular threads, maybe with people they know posting a lot in them.

Is this such a terrible idea? :)

lanifiel

April 12th, 2006, 1:58 am

I'll ask Ali how feasable it would be...

RaspberryJam

April 14th, 2006, 7:10 pm

Okay, thanks :)

lanifiel

April 15th, 2006, 10:34 pm

Hi all,

I was wondering, is it possible to have a "Favourite Thread" option in our profiles? What I mean is, you can tell people your favourite, or even couple favourite threads. For new member, they wouldn't have to put a thread (optional feature) until they posted more, and realised their favourite places.

I think this would be a good thing, becuase it would allow people to look someone up using the "Marauders Map", and then easily find where they post alot. Also, it would help new (or old) members find some popular threads, maybe with people they know posting a lot in them.

Is this such a terrible idea? :)

In order to have another option on the profile page something else would have to be removed to ensure the profile page continued to work in an efficient manner. As it stands now the profile page is pretty good, so we wont be changing anything. Thanks for the suggestion though.

RaspberryJam

April 16th, 2006, 6:54 pm

Okay, thanks for the consideration.

unconvinced

April 16th, 2006, 11:16 pm

Would it be possible to have an icon similar on threads similar to the one which takes you to your last post but for taking you to the last person to quote something you've said?

Paul

April 18th, 2006, 1:18 am

Is it possible to in the daily prophet change it so that only people preselected at the creation of the thread can post in the thread. Because as I am sure that the Admins of CoS are aware that more then one admin would like to have the ability to post site updates and make requests for help. Which is the case with something I just tried to do with the thread for my forum. Which was created by one of my Admin that I went to post an update in. So really this can only lead to negative measures being taken; either the website creates an account shared by the websites staff, or multiple threads are opened. I understand why these measures were put into affect, but the positive aspects of it come at a steep price to the websites staff.

DarkDaysAhead

April 18th, 2006, 2:01 am

I would like to ask, pretty please with sugar on top, that double-posting gets appended to the prior post without nagging us each time. It used to combine them automatically, but now we get a lecture. I always used it as a convenient way to add thoughts to my post. If another poster commented in between, it would then stand as its own post. However, if I opened my post for editing the additional thought, it could get buried if someone posts in the interim.

That's a good idea, I'd like that as well.:tu:

I don't know if this has been suggested yet but, would it be possible for us users to be allowed to float some of our favorite threads? I just noticed, about a day or two ago, that one of my favorite threads had been...what's the correct term? "Un-pinned"? "Un-floated"?:lol: Another site I frequent allows each user to float threads they want to keep at the top so that only they can see them. If they don't want to track them anymore, they can just unfloat them and they'll go right back to where they're supposed to be on the list.:)

RaspberryJam

April 18th, 2006, 8:59 pm

I don't know if this has been suggested yet but, would it be possible for us users to be allowed to float some of our favorite threads? I just noticed, about a day or two ago, that one of my favorite threads had been...what's the correct term? "Un-pinned"? "Un-floated"? Another site I frequent allows each user to float threads they want to keep at the top so that only they can see them. If they don't want to track them anymore, they can just unfloat them and they'll go right back to where they're supposed to be on the list.
I personally would love that! :)

Lash Dresden

April 18th, 2006, 9:13 pm

Are you using the thread subscription feature?

DarkDaysAhead

April 19th, 2006, 12:54 am

What's that?:huh: :lol:

I've heard of it but I've never really fooled around with it.

Cadia

April 19th, 2006, 3:49 pm

Whenever I go to The Leaky Cauldron I find myself sifting through all the threads on TV programs. There are so many, and while alot of people probably enjoy them, to me they just seem to be swamping the place. I wonder if it is possible to make a sub forum for all of them, sort of like what was just done with threads on actors as their HP characters?

Thanks in advance! :)

Zina_x0

April 19th, 2006, 4:22 pm

What's that?:huh: :lol:

I've heard of it but I've never really fooled around with it.

You can subscribe to your threads, then when you to go to your pensieve in Magical Me, all the threads you subscribed to come up and you look through them. Also, what I found helpful was setting it so that every time I posted in a thread, I would get subscribed. Very helpful :)

Puchula

April 19th, 2006, 10:39 pm

You can subscribe to your threads, then when you to go to your pensieve in Magical Me, all the threads you subscribed to come up and you look through them. Also, what I found helpful was setting it so that every time I posted in a thread, I would get subscribed. Very helpful :)
:agree: Also when you go to Magical Me it will show you all the threads with new posts. I usualy keep a window open with my Magical Me so that I know when someone posts something and can answer right away.

inahans

April 20th, 2006, 8:12 pm

I have a suggestion for the staff...why not club all the 'country' threads together in DOIMC...like you guys have shifted the India- What do you think of the country thread to Great Hall where it hardly gets updated...kindly shift it back to DOIMC. Why not rope off a new section about various country threads...together in DOIMC...where they all truly belong?
Just a suggestion...decision rests with you guys...as always. :)

lupislune

April 25th, 2006, 4:11 am

I was curious if the spelling tool is going to be setup to work with Firefox as well as IE. It would be great if it did.

Rastaban43

April 25th, 2006, 5:05 am

I was curious if the spelling tool is going to be setup to work with Firefox as well as IE. It would be great if it did.There's a spelling tool with IE? How come we can't use it with Firefox? I just know I could use the help with spelling.

lupislune

April 25th, 2006, 5:12 am

The IE one came along with the last upgrade, but when it doesn't seem to work with Firefox.

pemidato

April 25th, 2006, 8:00 am

Why not rope off a new section about various country threads...together in DOIMC...where they all truly belong?

I would love that too :agree: Right now some country threads are either scattered in the Leaky Cauldron (last time I looked, which was quite a while), the DoIMC and maybe some in the Great Hall. Maybe a sub-forum?

Morgoth

April 25th, 2006, 8:38 am

anabel

April 25th, 2006, 12:57 pm

There's a spelling tool with IE? How come we can't use it with Firefox? I just know I could use the help with spelling.Has your Firefox got a built in Google Toolbar? Because my Google Toolbar has a brilliant spellcheck that works really well on CoS posts, livejournal entries, etc.

Download it free here (http://toolbar.google.com/)

Rell

April 25th, 2006, 2:49 pm

I want to know if unsubscribing to a thread could be made part of the "thread tools"?
Thanks

lupislune

April 25th, 2006, 3:31 pm

Has your Firefox got a built in Google Toolbar? Because my Google Toolbar has a brilliant spellcheck that works really well on CoS posts, livejournal entries, etc.

Download it free here (http://toolbar.google.com/)

I will have to give that a try. When I downloaded firefox, I told it not to install the toolbar as I think toolbars, in general, are evil.

Thanks for the answer though! :D I'll give it a try :grumble:

Paul

April 26th, 2006, 1:58 am

lanifiel

April 26th, 2006, 3:07 am

62442al_Man

April 26th, 2006, 3:37 am

I know I said that I was done, but I had another thought that I have been thinking of for the past couple of days:

Flourish and Blott's Bookshelf

This would be the section for all the finished fan fictions. I think it would help tremendously and would allow people who wanted to read a story from beginning to end to do so.

How the stories are entered is, of course, your choice. All the people who wanted their finished stories could send a moderator the link to their story or something and it could be moved there.

Another idea I had:

The Diagon Alley Reading Club

I understand that clubs are not allowed at CoS, but this is not a club. It is for everyone to share their thoughts on a perticular story. We would pick a story, probably a finished story, and share our thoughts on it and sort of debate how things are happening, should have been done, how the author needs to improve, techiques, etc.

What do ya say?

Then, we would pick another story and repeat.:)

lanifiel

April 26th, 2006, 3:42 am

ComicBookWorm

April 26th, 2006, 4:22 am

I like the first idea. I know I've gotten disappointed a few times when fanfics never got completed.

Tiberius

April 26th, 2006, 6:00 am

Not that I read many fanfics myself, but I do like the idea of a place for all the finished fanfics. i vote for it. (Not that CoS does things like that with us lowly serfs...:p)

Paul

April 26th, 2006, 7:09 am

Sorry it is not possible to give people differing permissions for individual threads. I will suggest that you assign the responsibility of updates to one person alone, that way the problem is removed. We wont tolerate second accounts being made for members.

Thanks I'll discuss it with my Other Admin how we want to go about it.

inahans

April 26th, 2006, 7:47 pm

I'll put the suggestion to the staff, if nothing else to get a consensus on where these threads should belong. I can't promise a sub-forum will be created for countries only.
I think it would be cool and more organised...I mean if its in Great Hall or soemthing, people tend to make offhand comments like, "Oh, I don't know anything about this country". Thats a bit annoying.

catbird

April 28th, 2006, 2:06 am

It'd be awesome if there were more cool smilies. Maybe like this one:
http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/animal/animal0075.gif

inahans

April 28th, 2006, 7:37 pm

It'd be awesome if there were more cool smilies. Maybe like this one:
http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/animal/animal0075.gif
Its cute, but what emotion does it indicate actually? I couldn't figure out...I'm really bad when it comes to smilies.

catbird

April 28th, 2006, 10:14 pm

Its cute, but what emotion does it indicate actually? I couldn't figure out...I'm really bad when it comes to smilies.

Well it's not a face, so you can adjust it's meaning to whatever situation.

62442al_Man

April 29th, 2006, 4:22 am

What's the verdict lani?:)

lanifiel

April 29th, 2006, 6:18 am

What's the verdict lani?:)

We're still talking about it...

rich_505

April 29th, 2006, 5:18 pm

Well it's not a face, so you can adjust it's meaning to whatever situation.

I think CoS keeps to basic similies due to bandwith implications of having animated smilies or of basically having lots of smilies. Yes they don't take up much bandwidth but when you have a forum with 960001 posts I suppose all of the smilies in those DO add up to a decent amount.

Cadia

April 30th, 2006, 8:15 pm

rotsiepots

April 30th, 2006, 11:54 pm

Probably not.

We're not really that keen on subforums.

inahans

May 1st, 2006, 8:08 pm

You guys do need sub-forums...COS has become large.

Alfonzo

May 1st, 2006, 8:11 pm

You guys do need sub-forums...COS has become large.
You could just use the search engine ;).

lupislune

May 2nd, 2006, 4:44 am

You guys do need sub-forums...COS has become large.

I agree with Alfonso. I am a member over at TLC's forums, and it is really draining to try and find what I want to talk about while going through sub-forums after sub-forum. I like it here at COS where I can merely go to the Search tool, put in what I am intererested for that day. It puts me right where I want to be. I can then go out to that forum where that thread resides to see related topics. TLC's seach tool is similar, but it doesn't work as smoothly. Those are my two pense anyway.

Rastaban43

May 2nd, 2006, 5:03 am

I really like the forums the way they are. Too many sub-forums confuse me (and maybe other simple minded folk.) The search funtion is nice if you know exactly what you want, but a lot of people just browse randomly. Too many sub-forums might discourage people from posting on a wide variety of topics.

Alfonzo

May 2nd, 2006, 11:36 am

The thing is that there's no need for them, so I don't think that they're even an option, as Rotsie hinted. You can either search for what you want or you can browse; it isn't difficult to find what you're looking for. COS hasn't become too large yet ;).

Deevo

May 2nd, 2006, 12:21 pm

A bit of a silly question here, what exactly do you guys mean by 'sub forums'? I kind of figure the way COS is structured with it's various areas (like Divination Studies, Muggle Studies, History of magic and the like) is a form of sub forum anyway or does the term have a more technical meaning than that?

lanifiel

May 2nd, 2006, 12:26 pm

DarkDaysAhead

May 2nd, 2006, 12:42 pm

Just curious...think we'll ever get a black background option?:)

Deevo

May 2nd, 2006, 1:02 pm

Breaks down like this:

Master forum page
Forum sections: Main sections of the forum where the majority of threads exist. EG, Divination Studies, Muggle Studies, History of magic

Subforums: Subforums exist within a Forum section. EG, within the DoIMC exists the Spirit Division and Muggle History. Sub forums exist to fulfill a specific purpose within a Forum Section.
So it's really just another layer in the structure then. Naa, too complicated for a geezer like me. :D

Anyway, seems like we've already got that in some areas as it is.

62442al_Man

May 2nd, 2006, 11:19 pm

Just curious...think we'll ever get a black background option?:)

You mean like a skin type? I think that the CoS Forums default one is black background. Not sure, though.

RaspberryJam

May 2nd, 2006, 11:25 pm

The actual background is a dark, dark blue I think, and the foreground is navy. Am I right?

Alfonzo

May 2nd, 2006, 11:31 pm

Correct. It's navy blue.

inahans

May 3rd, 2006, 7:50 pm

I agree with Alfonso. I am a member over at TLC's forums, and it is really draining to try and find what I want to talk about while going through sub-forums after sub-forum. I like it here at COS where I can merely go to the Search tool, put in what I am intererested for that day. It puts me right where I want to be. I can then go out to that forum where that thread resides to see related topics. TLC's seach tool is similar, but it doesn't work as smoothly. Those are my two pense anyway.
The Search Tool will still remain very effective even if there are sub-forums. ;)
I was just saying that all the country threads should go into DOIMC...and it would be neat if they all go into a sub-forum over there. Full Stop.

snape1101

May 4th, 2006, 3:38 am

The Search Tool will still remain very effective even if there are sub-forums. ;)
I was just saying that all the country threads should go into DOIMC...and it would be neat if they all go into a sub-forum over there. Full Stop.

Maybe my little vote means nothing, but...

Here's to voting for a specific area for all of the "country" threads. I always find myself wading through them in DoIMC.

Sherlock Holmes

May 4th, 2006, 3:37 pm

inahans

May 4th, 2006, 7:36 pm

We only do subforums if there's a very strong reason for them. The Spirit Division, for example, is part of the DoIMC and often covers similar topics, but is intended to be a discussion area for discussion without debate. In other words, there's a clear delineation between the parent forum and the subforum, and a specific purpose that the parent forum can't meet.

We do take notice of subforum requests, but keep in mind that we need some very good reasons for creating them.
I understand. But at least keep all the "country" threads in one place. Like the "India" thread was moved to Great Hall but the "China" thread contiues to remain in DOIMC..other can be found somewhere else. I simply think all of them belong to DOIMC...because, at the end of the day, they are "International" threads, aren't they?

pemidato

May 5th, 2006, 5:19 am

lanifiel

May 5th, 2006, 5:32 am

I'll take the staff's final word for the final decision, but since there isn't any yet, here's my bit to vote for the grouping of the Country threads in one place idea (not necessarily in a new sub-forum). Here are some of the country/international-themed threads I've found scattered in the forums :

Great Hall

Questions for the British (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=82808)
Anyone from New Zealand here? (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=88821)
India - What do you think of the country? (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=57810)
Aussies (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=75633)
What languages can you speak? (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=81665)
Questions for Americans (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=82809)
Have you ever been in Spain? (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=86488)

(At least these are the ones in the first three pages I looked through)

DoIMC

Britain in the Eyes of Non-Britians (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=80385)
What is your vision of France and French people? (ttp://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=88799)
English as a Global Language (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=50303)
China - What do you think of the country? (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=87645)
Canada - what do you think of us? (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=54913)

(only in the first page of the forum)

And then there's the multiple language threads in the Leaky Cauldron, and the countries survey here in the Wizengamot.

And, of course, more of the country threads in the later pages on the Great Hall and the DoIMC.

It's good to look at this, and nice you've broken it up into these two categories. Allow me to express the staff view point:

The threads located in the Great Hall are basic question based threads. A thread asking "do you live in NZ" is pretty short and to the point. Not alot of discussion can come out of it.

The ones that are located in the DoIMC are slightly more complicated. Questions about what people think of certain countries explores a more debated styled approach. Esspecially in cases where the discussion is about controversial countries. This is also true of discussing English as a global language.

Basically what I mean is one type of threads are more generic in nature. Merely asking for specific question to be answered with little discussion. The other type of threads are more involved and induce a greater need for debate. This is why they are split up depending on what the staff believe a thread is about. The only one which should be moved, and I will do it now, is the thread about India in the first category. This all being said I think it wrong to group all the country threads together. As some of them are debate based and others are not. I hope that helps to clarify the situation.

pemidato

May 5th, 2006, 5:47 am

Yeah.. I did notice the debate/non-debate differences when I was doing that post, but just thought I'd post away anyway.

I hope that helps to clarify the situation.

Sure :)

guad

May 5th, 2006, 12:54 pm

62442al_Man

May 5th, 2006, 1:17 pm

Here at COS, there are many different font types:

Arial
Arial Black
Arial Narrow
Book Antiqua
Century Gothic
Comic Sans MS
Courier New
Fixedsys
Frank Gothic Medium
Garamond
Georgia
Impact
Lucida Console
Lucida Sans Unicode
Microsoft Sans Serif
Palatino Linotype
System
Tahoma
Times New Roman
Trebuchet MS
Verdana

I was wondering if we could have a "specials" font for writing stories in the Flourish and Blotts section. The specials would include that of:

Harry's handwriting
Sirius' handwriting
Dumbledore's handwriting
Hermione's handwriting
Ron's handwriting
and whoever else we are missing. . .

Perhaps not all of them, but a select few.

If we could have this, I think that it wouldn't be very good to have it anywhere else in the forums besides Flourish and Blott's and the Poetry Corner. Nowhere else. If it were alloweed everywhere, perhaps people would "abuse" it or something, I don't know.

I think it would be interesting and we would probably be the first and this site isn't even based on fan fiction. Could we do it? Is it possible?

Sherlock Holmes

May 5th, 2006, 2:23 pm

I was wondering (don't know if it's a good idea :) ) if it would make sense to open a thread about the mugglenet news in the common room. I mean, they update nearly daily and not all of their news are worth a whole thread, but I guess they are pretty good informed and just to have a thread to talk about the news (or other updates, except the editorials) that come up in mugglenet.

I would open it, but I thought I'd ask first :)

Well, there's nothing wrong with a thread to talk about the latest Harry Potter news. But I don't think it should be a "Mugglenet News" thread, instead I'd rather see "Book 7 title announced!!!!!" and so forth. In other words, when something big breaks regarding Harry Potter, feel free to start a thread about it if someone hasn't already started one, and link to the appropriate Mugglenet post (or where ever else you found out about it).

guad

May 5th, 2006, 2:30 pm

In other words, when something big breaks regarding Harry Potter, feel free to start a thread about it if someone hasn't already started one, and
Thanks. I will check if this already exists somewhere (strange if it doesn't) *flies to the search engine*

Jessica

May 5th, 2006, 7:39 pm

The only one which should be moved, and I will do it now, is the thread about India in the first category.

I think that answers your question.

inahans

May 5th, 2006, 7:45 pm

I think that answers your question.
Oh! Thanks- how come I didn't notice that? I'll go delete my previous post.

The_Hp_Princess

May 5th, 2006, 7:46 pm

Okayyyy

leenielou

May 5th, 2006, 10:38 pm

Okayyyy

?
Do you have a comment or question?

62442al_Man

May 11th, 2006, 3:08 am

lanifiel

May 11th, 2006, 4:09 am

We're happy with the fonts we have now. Thanks.

Rell

May 11th, 2006, 5:35 am

Would it be possible to put an option to unsubscribe to a thread under "thread tools"?

Alfonzo

May 11th, 2006, 2:09 pm

It doesn't take a minute to go to your subscriptions page and unsubscribe under there. ;)

Master_Feign

May 20th, 2006, 2:34 am

Paul

May 20th, 2006, 2:44 am

I believe I read somewhere that it is nearly impossible for a regular person to change there name; situations would include if the name was vulgar, or another major conflict. However, a regular like myself cannot request one. Now I would like to suggest something like a day where members can get their name changed, just one day. Now, I don't know how name changes are gone about, and how much work the require (espcially if there is a build-up), but for myself, and I would think others, a name change could be a nice change. Thanks.

Name changes are done by the Admin logining into the Admin Control Panel and looking up the user and simply editing the name. I think that is a good idea also, But I could see how it would be rejected because they already are pretty busy as it is and they'd probably get a couple hundred name changes. But that is a great idea because sometimes members just want a new name. Like I got mine changed before they stopped changing them because I noticed that my name was available. But that is a great idea, maybe it could even branch out to a full working calender system with special COS holidays.:lol:

Master_Feign

May 20th, 2006, 2:54 am

Name changes are done by the Admin logining into the Admin Control Panel and looking up the user and simply editing the name. I think that is a good idea also, But I could see how it would be rejected because they already are pretty busy as it is and they'd probably get a couple hundred name changes. But that is a great idea because sometimes members just want a new name. Like I got mine changed before they stopped changing them because I noticed that my name was available. But that is a great idea, maybe it could even branch out to a full working calender system with special COS holidays.:lol:

:lol: yeah, or when those that do this, aren't that busy...

lanifiel

May 20th, 2006, 3:01 am

No more name changes. We use to get like 5 people asking a day and we just got sick of it. Besides half the time it was the same person asking for another name...

Master_Feign

May 25th, 2006, 3:28 pm

You should make a competition to get one, that would be fun and exciting :D

But I've got another suggestion anyway:

Perhaps its just as easy with the search bar but for the forum "History of Magic Reference Books", threads are just placed there, from whatever forum they respectively originally came from. I'm just wondering if a form of organization would be made? Kind of like how the recent threads are, they are in their respective forum, and in the reference books section, the same thing, only they are closed threads.

Maybe this is easier with a search, but I notice that people tend to forget these threads, and continue on new versions... Old posts nearly gone forever...

Also I noticed that the reference books link is not on the very main page... It can only be accessed if you click "history of magic" or "hogwarts".

Thanks :)

Deevo

May 28th, 2006, 7:47 am

Just a brief suggestion, would it be worthwhile having a link to recent notices either on the forum front page or alternatively have them reflected on the Notice Board section? Currently the notice board link as seen on the front page states last post as being "Spam Owls Policy by CoS Forums Staff July 18th, 2004 11:36 pm" when there have been several notifications made since, most recently the change in Year rankings against post count notification.

I know that I mentioned this previously but the short discussion I had with one of the prefects at the time digressed into other areas (involving certain unflattering images of Emma Watson that were around at the time) and the original suggestion was never addressed.

Cheers, Dave

Edit: Disregard that last comment, blind Freddy here had the notification panel minimised.

Now I really feel like a goose, sorry. :blush:

lanifiel

May 28th, 2006, 7:56 am

Deevo

May 28th, 2006, 8:03 am

(I'm going to quietly mock you from my corner)
Mock away, you won't be the first. :p

62442al_Man

May 28th, 2006, 6:27 pm

Like all my brilliant ideas :no:, they come to me in the shower. . .

Assuming that you guys reopen after Book 7, I think that there should be one place to post new threads. In short, there should be a place where people open up threads in one place and we can call that like "The Fireplace" or something.

Now, my explanation for this crazy sounding idea:

A forum is openened on the main page. I thought of "The Fireplace" and under it would be, "Any thread you want to open goes here". This is the only place where non-staff members can make threads. Since there will be (possibly thousands of members online after Book 7) a lot of people making tons of new threads without taking the time to search, there will be a massive amount of the same threads opened and this would make the forums 200% cleaner, if put into effect, and would completely eliminate thread spoilers:D.

I still feel like I am not explaining myself enough. Here is an example:

I open up a thread in the forum called "Snape was actually JKR in disguise". But this thread already exists. Now, you can just delete it. However, if that thread was not in existance, you can use "Floo Powder" or rather just using the supercool mod power to just move it to the right forum (History of Magic, Common Room, Muggle Studies, Divination?).

Everyone would, of course, be able to post in all the forums, but only open threads in that one little forum, which if suitable, would be moved to the correct forum.

Summary:

New forum where all new threads will be made
If suitable by staff, they can go through to the regular forum
People can still post in the threads in "The Fireplace" (or whatever you guys would want to name it)
Would keep forum 200% cleaner (I did the math) and would not let ANY threads go past the staff
Would minimize spoilers dramatically (Literally ZERO threads could be made spoiling the whole book)
Would be super cool

I think this is a good idea. Again, posting could be done anywhere, the only thing that would change is where you make threads. Plus, a lot of people make threads in the wrong places, this wold also eliminate that factor. If I have not explained well enough, I am very much willing to go over it again because I feel like I did a bad job of explaining this.

And on a completely different note, is the Flourish and Blott's Bookshelf for finished fan fics a "no"?

lanifiel

May 28th, 2006, 9:01 pm

You havnt been around for a book lauch, but we have our own plans that we use. Thanks for your suggestion though.

62442al_Man

May 28th, 2006, 11:37 pm

I understand. Didn't know you guys had a system already. Can't wait to see it.

SiriusBlack22

May 29th, 2006, 4:14 am

Yeah, CoS is great with handling it.

SageThyme

May 29th, 2006, 4:21 am

The Staff are currently perfecting their Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra curses.

You think Voldemort's curses on his Horcruxes were good?

Honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet. :evil: :lol:

SiriusBlack22

May 29th, 2006, 4:25 am

:scared: ... :lol:

prefectz03

June 5th, 2006, 3:13 pm

I request to have a contest sometimes, just for fun and enjoyment! ;)

Picko

June 5th, 2006, 3:15 pm

We try to do contests when possible :)

Right now we have a guess the title of book seven contest which you can see here (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=89345).

mugglesrock

June 29th, 2006, 2:13 am

62442al_Man

June 29th, 2006, 2:54 am

i wanted to suggest something for the fan fiction threads...hmm i know it may be hard to do but there are like more than 20 pages in the fan fiction (flourish and blotts) right? and it IS hard to find the kinda stories i want to read. so can you like characterize the stories into some categories???

And did you know that a lot of those are finished fan fictions? Even more, atleast half, are unfinished stories from people who have left and only made one post with a couple sentences. :p

like
1. ron/hermione luv story (all stories belong there)
2. harry vs voldiemort stories go here
so its easier to find which one...
or if not that can u like have categories such as:
1. the battle
2. humor
3. romance
plz let me know what u think! and it would really help...thanks again
i also have been told its not a priority and i agree but just a suggestion

You know, there is a thread just for looking for specific fan fictions. The staff don't like lots of sub-forums though. Ill get you the thread:

Here it is:

Official Fan Fiction Request Thread (http://cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=89117)

mugglesrock

June 29th, 2006, 2:58 am

thank you! i hope that site u gave helps...

SilverArrow

July 9th, 2006, 3:02 am

Um, I just wanted to register a complaint about the search tool.

I have had numerous threads closed lately because they were repeat threads.

I just wanted to say that I did sufficent searches on all of them, and my "new" subject didnt come up once. But then, after I had made a new thread, it got closed because it was a repeat.

It is highly embarrassing to have a thread closed, it makes you look like a greenhorn, if you get my drift.

Is there anything anyone can do about this? I have tried all of the tips the staff has given on using the search tool, but it just hasnt worked out for me.

Thanks for your time. :)

62442al_Man

July 9th, 2006, 3:05 am

We all have his problem. If you have searched and you know you've searched right, ask a staff member to see if it has been opened. They know all the threads here. I do it.

mugglesrock

July 9th, 2006, 3:13 am

i had the same problem but thn i used the advanced thing and it works for me everytime now...and i know how embarassing it is...because all my new ones used to be closed :(

Jessica

July 9th, 2006, 3:15 am

Are you using boolean search? Sometimes it's just a matter of knowing what the original thread is called. It's not always as easy as it looks.

I'll use boolean search and shorten what I'm searching for so I always search for dumble* for Dumbledore or vold* for Voldemort. Brings up more results.

Don't stress it if your thread gets closed. As long as you're trying we don't really tend to get mad. :)

SilverArrow

July 9th, 2006, 3:37 am

Thanks, ma'am. I appreciate the help. :)

storyteller

July 16th, 2006, 1:54 pm

I was just logging in and decided to click on my name in the marauder's map to pull up my profile. When put my cursor over the name it said I was a Hogesmeade student. I graduated a couple of weeks ago, according to the new title policy. I just thought there might be a way to tie in the titles to the display on the Murasuder's map, ie. unregistered animagi, Zonko's Employee.

Morgoth

July 16th, 2006, 2:26 pm

Tenshi

July 19th, 2006, 10:29 am

Sorry to be a pain, but like already suggested in the Ask the staff thread. What about a navigation tutorial? About the whole buttons (arrows etc) and what happens and where you will be leaded when you click on them. As it seems that even older member don't know what these mean. :)

elizabeths

July 29th, 2006, 5:49 pm

It is nice to have a plase to go this. I am now on ths board so i am lerning the way aroud it.I go to ather HP sit that are difrent and just as nice as thisone.

unconvinced

July 29th, 2006, 7:51 pm

It is nice to have a plase to go this. I am now on ths board so i am lerning the way aroud it.I go to ather HP sit that are difrent and just as nice as thisone.

Welcome to CoS elizabeths!

justme_33

August 2nd, 2006, 6:36 am

I'm pretty new to this board, but it seems to me that some of the threads are too long to get any sort of useful information out of them. For instance, posting a new question in the Little HP Questions answered thread is annoying, because you don't know whether it's already been discussed or not. If it already has been posted, but is buried in the middle of the thread, you can't comment on that question because the subject has already changed.

I think it would be nicer if there were seperate threads for each of these questions that were patrolled, updated, closed and archived more often in order to keep the average post count down to a readable level.

Thanks for your time.

FirefightingMuggle

August 3rd, 2006, 7:59 am

No one will be upset if you ask a question that has already been discussed. I remember the old Layers threads. There were times we discussed the same topic time and time again because discussion would just loop back around to it. Don't be afraid to ask your question...that is what the Little HP Questions thread is there for.

All threads are limited to a certain number of posts. Some of the more popular threads are allowed to stay open for a higher number of posts to prevent having to make a new version every few days.

Many topics and questions do have their own thread with discussion. The easiest way to find them is to do a search for what you are looking for. If you aren't sure how to search, check the tutorial, it should answer the questions that you have. If you're still stuck, ask someone, and you'll get help.

Have fun!

justme_33

August 3rd, 2006, 11:22 pm

Ok, thanks.

62442al_Man

August 7th, 2006, 11:27 pm

Suggestion:

Under Group Memberships in someone's profile, it states:

[username] is not a member of any public groups

Since CoS Forums does not use any group memberships or anything, I wondered whether you guys would think about putting something else in that position. I don't know, it just makes the Profile look better, to me.

I know of a few things we could fill that place with. What do you guys think?

Jessica

August 7th, 2006, 11:32 pm

62442al_Man

August 7th, 2006, 11:35 pm

Though this is not my area of expertise, there are some things you can do that would not be hard at all. :shrug:

anabel

August 7th, 2006, 11:39 pm

Maybe the effort involved would be less than the effort of answering all the n00** who ask what the groups are ...

or maybe not ...

lanifiel

August 8th, 2006, 12:23 am

Nah, we'll be leaving it as is... Who knows one day we may be using the public groups...

*DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN*

anabel

August 8th, 2006, 12:29 am

Nah, we'll be leaving it as is... Who knows one day we may be using the public groups...

*DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN*Woo hoo! Public groups!

62442al_Man

August 8th, 2006, 1:25 am

Sveet, now I'm excited.

While I'm on it, what's the verdict on the finished fan-fictions forum?

Tiberius

August 8th, 2006, 4:50 am

regarding the public groups, perhaps that can be used for some of the big threads, like the graphics contest, writing contest, etc. Someone who enters the graphics contest each week can join the graphics contest public group. Maybe. I've got no idea how they actually work....

62442al_Man

August 8th, 2006, 5:58 am

Might I add that that is a fantastic idea. :p

And come to think about it, there was an idea I had a while back about a thread or some sort of feature that allows certain members to make a type of announcement when a contest has posted a new theme or something. Maybe when voting has started or what ever else all of our CoS contests feature. :shrug:

potterslouth

August 10th, 2006, 7:22 am

How about re-doing the Daily Prophet description? Because you really can't get feedback anymore, afterall :P.

Tiberius

August 10th, 2006, 10:17 am

Are we still doing the thread rating?

62442al_Man

August 11th, 2006, 10:27 am

How about re-doing the Daily Prophet description? Because you really can't get feedback anymore, afterall :P.

I asked the same thing awhile back and they said that you can still give feedback via private message, email, etc.

guad

August 11th, 2006, 8:58 pm

I have a thread suggestion:

I have noticed that in the DoIMC there are a lot of people with different knowledge about international, economical and historica issues. (I have also noticed my own lack of knowledge :blush: )

I thought that it maybe would be nice to make some sort of 'Little Questions Answered' thread, where people can put questions about a country, a historical fact, etc, they have a doubt and they don't find it in internet.

(For example, I was reading today that Bhutan has some oil, but also that it's one of the poorest country in the world, and that intrigued me.)

Just an idea :)

pemidato

August 12th, 2006, 12:37 am

I thought that it maybe would be nice to make some sort of 'Little Questions Answered' thread, where people can put questions about a country, a historical fact, etc, they have a doubt and they don't find it in internet.

I second that! It would be pretty useful in asking the smaller questions, especially when I don't have to interrupt an ongoing debate (especially on political matters) to ask them.

Paul

August 18th, 2006, 11:54 pm

Since the Links to websites of old QP Threads (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=66797) isn't being updated with links to old threads to often anymore. I'd like to suggest that the first post of the thread be edited to form a list of all the links that have been provided, that way members won't have to scroll through posts to find the link to the one they are looking for.

Also on top of that I don't think it would hurt to add to each of the new Pitchside version the above mentioned list.

anabel

August 19th, 2006, 12:00 am

Is anyone else getting a sense of deja vu?

Paul, maybe you should owl a mod if you're not getting an answer here.

Alastor

August 19th, 2006, 5:16 am

Is anyone else getting a sense of deja vu? Yes.

Maybe the reason why no one has replied is that no one volunteers to do it? :D

The thread isn't even one full page long, not much work to scroll through it. But feel free to compile that list yourself and post it.

lanifiel

August 19th, 2006, 5:19 am

Yes. Feel free.

Paul

August 19th, 2006, 8:32 am

The list (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=94370) has been posted.

leenielou

August 19th, 2006, 1:21 pm

Closed & stuck.

Tiberius

August 21st, 2006, 1:51 pm

over at the Internet Infidels forums site, they've added the [wiki] tag that allows someone to link directly to a Wikipedia article. Is this something that CoS could get? I know we could do it using the usual [url] tags, but the wki tags could be easier....

leenielou

August 21st, 2006, 2:22 pm

Dedalus Diggle

August 21st, 2006, 2:28 pm

We have several threads which involve commenting on people's signatures, avatars, and locations - the sort of stuff that does not get picked up in a quote and which many people change fairly frequently for whatever reason. Sometimes, we will comment on some feature of the item, and within hours or days, it is gone and the comment makes no sense. Often other's comments make me wish I could see what they were commenting on. Is there a way to have either as an automatic or selected fature on those threads the ability to 'quote' the feature being commented on?

anabel

August 21st, 2006, 3:26 pm

You mean like this?
http://www.cosforums.com/images/customavatars/avatar7086_14.gifhttp://www.cosforums.com/images/img/708644e3589a38298.JPG

Now I wonder whether the pics will change if you change your sig and avatar?

I right clicked on your images to get Properties and copied the urls into IMG tags.

Tiberius

August 21st, 2006, 3:53 pm

Surely they're just the same as the [url] tags...?

No, they had the examples just as we do here at CoS, and the tags would be something like Harry Potter. it would give a link straight to the Harry potter article on Wikipedia.

Dedalus Diggle

August 21st, 2006, 4:15 pm

FuzzyMuffins

August 23rd, 2006, 2:28 am

I apoligize if this feature is already in effect and I am overlooking it, but if you wish to quote someone, and then while replying to the thread you wish to quote someone else, can there be a button on the posts in Topic Review to copy and paste the post with the quote tags into the textbox? It seems trivial, but I think it would cut down on time copying and pasting posts and then typing the tags.

62442al_Man

August 23rd, 2006, 2:32 am

Question: Is there a way of multi-quoting a post?
Answer: In the post you want to quote, highlight the text (if you want to respond to different portions of a post, you will do this as many times as it takes to separate the lines to which you wish to reply), hold the shift key down while clicking the mouse on the quick reply (the pen and paper icon to the right of the word "quote"; bottom right hand corner of each post). Do this in each post for which you want to add your response/thoughts. When you reach the bottom of the page, all the quotes should be in the reply box -- all labelled with the person's name, all with the proper tags, and now you can then insert your responses after each [/quote*] portion.

If you only want to reply to one portion of one post, follow the above steps without holding the shift key--you will immediately be taken to the reply box where your quote awaits, but make sure the marker is at the end of a quote before you start typing.

That was posted in Ask the Saff v3 :).

subtle science

September 9th, 2006, 10:30 pm

Dunno if this is the right place--but it's a suggestion, so...I'm giving it a go...

I've been a VERY casual skimmer of the "Assuming Snape is Working for the Order...."--formerly known as "Assuming Snape is Good....."

There seems to be a high level of nastiness on the thread, and, subsequently, a degree of aggravation for the moderator(s).

Why not change the thread into a simple poll?

The problems seem to arise from poster's wanting to discuss the ideas that Snape is good, or Snape is working for the Order--and the title of the thread makes it pretty clear that discussion is not warranted or wanted.

The "Implications for Book 7" part is pure speculation--no need for canon fights over ideas that have yet to come to fruition...It seems that part could be turned into simple poll questions, and no one need feel as if he/she has to tell everyone else why he/she thinks such-and-such is going to happen in Book 7. Why bother, since none of it has happened yet--and, besises, it's pretty obvious that some people's views of what will happen in Book 7 are based on interpretations that really, really offend others.

And so we end up with what seem to be fairly frequent warnings, threats to shut down, and actual closings.....

Why not eliminate the unnecessary, troublesome discussion altogether? Far less for the moderator(s) to attend to, in that case.