Suggestions for the next version :)

[bira]

First of all, congratulations to John, James, Ed, Freddie, Kier, Stallion, Jim and the rest of the Jelsoft family for an awesome job well done. I am a very very proud owner of your product.


Looking into the future, here are a few suggestions of additions. Some I have mentioned in the past and would like to bring up again; some others have suggested and I would like to reiterate; and some are brand new (I think).


Private Messaging Suggestions

* Preview PM before Sending.
When sending a PM, I am often regretting the lack of a preview button, like in posts.

* Search in My PM Folders.
With some 200 PMs regularly in my various PM folders, the ability to search for a word or by user within my PM folders (all or a specific one) would be immensely helpful.

* Administrator Option: Send PM to All Members if a Specific Usergroup.
I would like to be able to send one PM to all admins, or to all moderators, or to all 'Paddock Club Members' etc.

* Integrating Tracking with the Regular Folders
I've mentioned this before in a long thread, so I won't go into it again.

* User Selectable Default Options Status
The checkboxes at the bottom -- 'request read receipt' and 'keep copy of sent item' -- as well as the "view number of days" AND the default entry folder (currently inbox) should be user selectable.

I, for one, would prefer the number of days viewed to be different than my showthreads default. I, for one, do not want a receipt for most of my sent PMs and it annoys me that I have to check that box off every time.

* Threaded View of PM Exchanges
ping-pong exchanges between myself and another user can be displayed in a thread-like view, whereby the PM exchange is displayed in chronological order. Makes it sometimes easier to fully remember and understand what each user is saying, rather than having too many inline quote tags.

* Mass Download of PMs
While I myself wrote and use a small hack for this, I am sure you guys can do a much better job than me and present a better option as such, integrated with the BB.


Calendar Suggestions

Mostly suggestions that were made before:

* Multiple Days Events
Entering events that span over more than one day are currently a major hassle, having to re-enter it ever per every day.

* Annual Events
Events that occur every year at the same date are now needed to be re-ented per each year. This applies to holidays such as Christmas, or Celebrity birthdays, or other such events.

* Private Event Reminder
Would need a cronjob-invoked script, no doubt, but would be enurmously helpful in making the calendar also a personal appointments calendar for the users, something which makes your BB's stickyness appeal to users even bigger. If your users depend on your services, they stick around.

* Events Visible to Specific Usergroup
Semi-public events, that are visible only to members of a specific usergroup. Eg, events that only administrators can see.


Polls Suggestion

* Multiple Options Polls
Ability to run polls where more than one option can be selected (eg, which websites do you visit most? Click one or more)

* Better Graphic Presentation
0 results should have 0 graph bar; the graph bar should be more accurate (it is bothersome because in some cases the difference between x votes and y votes is not very clear. And, for some reason a few of my posters have complained about it).

* Ability to post a poll AFTER a thread had started
If a thread doesn't already have a poll, then there should be no reason why a poll could not be added to it after it was started, either by the original threader starter or maybe even by a different poster.


Members Options Suggestions

* Subscription to Threads/Forum WITHOUT Receiving e-mails
Right now, subscribing to a thread means you get e-mail updates to it. Well, what if I just want to concentrate all the threads I am interested in, in my User CP, but NOT get e-mails about them? I cannot do that, I believe. There should be a separation between gathering those threads/forums you want to track in the User CP, and between getting e-mail notifications about them via e-mail.

* Option to have Buddy List as a Small Pop-up-like Window
Right now, my users hardly use the Buddly List because it involves 'leaving' the forums/threads and going into the User CP to view it. It would be better if they had the option of "click here to open the Buddy List in a separate window", whereby they could have that small window at the corner of their screen, auto-refreshed every 60 seconds.

* Option to Include A Picture of Yourself in your Profile


Administrative Options Suggestions

* Option to Select Whether E-mail Verification will be done by the current method, or by sending out a random password
As I myself have written this kind of hack and have seen it working flawlessly (sorry if it comes off arrogant, heh), I don't understand why this kind of option isn't included with vBulletin to begin with. It has been a VERY frequent request from the very first days of vBulletin. Look back at threads a year old in this BB, and you will see myself and others asking about it and complaining about it many times.

* Option to Create a Different Design Per Forum Without Having to Redo ALL templates
The current method is simply not good enough, sorry to say. If I want a different look and feel for my forums, I need to create a new template set. Then, I need to edit the relevant templates from scratch (granted, I can copy/paste first but either way it's a lot of needless job).

* More Precise Administrative Options
Again, I already have these working as hacks but I'd like you to consider adding these as integrated options in the product:
-- Split Thread Into Different Forum In One Go (select the posts to go into the new thread, and the destination forum at the same page)
-- Multiple Editing of Posts In One Thread ("click here to Edit Posts selectively" in the "Edit" page, allowing you to edit several posts and hitting submit once. Works just like the "click here to Delete Posts selectively" in the "Delete" page).
-- Delete Redirect / Mass Delete Redirects
-- Place User Under Moderation

* User gmdate() and NOT date()
:) Won't repeat my arguments again

* Extended Moderator Activity Logging
Love the hack overgrow did; it can be further expanded to include the information you already have logged in the admin logging and in the threadnotes.

* Keep Avatars as Files
The hack is there. You got the hacker. Do the math :D


Miscellaneous Suggestions

* ARCHIVING!
Please, please, please find a way to archive. I do NOT want to prune and with BBs that are moderately big (I think mine is moderately big. We have about 45,000 avg. posts per month) I think eventually I might have to, if I want to improve performance.

* Members Listing Improvements
-- View members of certain usergroups only
-- exclude certain usergroups from appearing in the Listing (eg banned users)

* Ability to Receive Copy of E-mail Sent To User E-mail Address
Again, I got this hacked and it's incredibly easy. It also seems elementary to me to have this option.

* Allow Moderators/Admins to Select Whether They Want to Receive Notifications of Posts By E-mail or by PM
When a user clicks on "report this post to a moderator", the mod should have the ability to have chosen whether that "report" will go to him by e-mail or by PM. My moderators would have preferred to receive a PM rather than an e-mail.



That's it for now :D

I must have forgotten half a dozen other ideas, so I welcome everyone and anyone to add more ideas here. In fact, I would love it if there was an 'official' "Post Your Suggestions Here" thread where we can all contribute our ideas to the development team, in an orderly fashion.

In any event, these are only suggestions. Nothing can take away the fact that your product is already super awesome, and I am extremely grateful to all your hard work and fantastic support over the past three months, since I downloaded the first beta. I can only wish and hope that you receive the success and recognition you so deserve.

Cheers,

Bira

[Chris Schreiber]

Thanks for the great suggestions Bira.... I already know a few of these items are on the todo list... we still need to organize and decide what the priorities are going forward with 2.1 development.

I will stick this thread and would encourage others to post your "wish list" features so the development team can refer to it. :)

[bira]

Thanks Chris!!

By the way, here is a constructive suggestion: the developers could edit my post, and any other post made here, and add in a different color (say, in blue) On the ToDo List . This way, people looking at the thread will know which suggestions are already on the list of the developers and it will save repetitions and make a lot of people more "relaxed" as to which ideas are being accepted by the developers.

Anyway, just an idea :)

[water]

At this point the two things i would love to see in version 2.1 is :

[list=1]
ldap support
This should be an option to use ldap an existing or new ldap db as the user and auth db for vbulletin. This feture would really improve vbulletin in regards to single sign on and integration with several other systems.
regular vs. advanced templates
Vbulletin is loaded with great fetures, and as much as i love them I also see how they scare a mayor part of my users. (among other things I use vbulletin as an internal help desk system)
I would love to see a pop-up meny where the users on the fly could change between the regular (stripped down) templates and the advanced (loaded with features like today) templates. There should also be a setting for this in the user cp.

Something along these lines has also been discussed in this thread http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14989
[/list=1]

and as has been said so many times before on this board, thanx for an incredible product :D

[Nicholas Brown]

* Option to Include A Picture of Yourself in your Profile


That can already be done by editing a few templates and using a custom user field

[Mas*Mind]

here's my little list :)


Previewing when editing
HTML-email
Ability to send PM's with an attachment
Ability to specify the default styleset
Ability to let users automaticly fall into a certain membergroup when they reach a certain postnumber. This can be usefull in some cases; For example: I've hacked my board that only members can open new threads who have posted 50 replies in order to let them get used to the forumpolicy first. It would be realy usefull if you could specify a new usergroup with also new topics right where users with min. 50 posts automaticly fall into.
Selective mass delete, move, close, edit posts
Icon-sets per style
Smilie-sets per style (currently you can define custom icons/smilies by using the { imagesfolder } var, but it would be great if you can upload a new set per style)
Option set per style. There are some options that also change your layout (like the nr of smilies per row). In some cases it can be usefull to let some options be dependable by styles. Eg: When you wanna create non-images board or something you should be able to only disable message-icons/smilies etc..for that style
Instant messaging would be great!
Ability to also export images with your style
global ignore feature
Some sort of inbuilt karma-hack
More intelligent install routine. Make some sort of install routine that first checks your vb-version number and then automaticly decides which install file to use...

[eva2000]

one my mods want

1. report post to moderator can be sent to a mod via both email and PM - since getting a PM is quicker if the mod is on the forum and not with his mail app running :D

[bira]

Originally posted by Nicholas Brown


That can already be done by editing a few templates and using a custom user field

I'd be happy if you explain how. I have not managed to do that.

Also, if you are suggesting anything that has to do with even remotely hacking the script, then it's not a "suggestion". I know every request we make can be made into a hack, but this isn't what this thread is about :D

[Kier]

This is an edited version of bira's list...

Kier here - as bira suggested, I will confirm those suggestions here that are already on the to-do list, as that should prevent a whole bunch of posts requesting and arguing for these features. I will mark them in blue.

* Preview PM before Sending.
When sending a PM, I am often regretting the lack of a preview button, like in posts.

* Mass Download of PMs
While I myself wrote and use a small hack for this, I am sure you guys can do a much better job than me and present a better option as such, integrated with the BB.

The calendar is due for some upgrades, although we aven't really discussed what yet.

* Subscription to Threads/Forum WITHOUT Receiving e-mails
Right now, subscribing to a thread means you get e-mail updates to it. Well, what if I just want to concentrate all the threads I am interested in, in my User CP, but NOT get e-mails about them? I cannot do that, I believe. There should be a separation between gathering those threads/forums you want to track in the User CP, and between getting e-mail notifications about them via e-mail.

* Option to have Buddy List as a Small Pop-up-like Window
Right now, my users hardly use the Buddly List because it involves 'leaving' the forums/threads and going into the User CP to view it. It would be better if they had the option of "click here to open the Buddy List in a separate window", whereby they could have that small window at the corner of their screen, auto-refreshed every 60 seconds.

* Option to Create a Different Design Per Forum Without Having to Redo ALL templates [Kier - we have something special planned for templates, but we haven't really worked out how to actually do it yet...
The current method is simply not good enough, sorry to say. If I want a different look and feel for my forums, I need to create a new template set. Then, I need to edit the relevant templates from scratch (granted, I can copy/paste first but either way it's a lot of needless job).

* User gmdate() and NOT date()
:) Won't repeat my arguments again

* Extended Moderator Activity Logging
Love the hack overgrow did; it can be further expanded to include the information you already have logged in the admin logging and in the threadnotes.

* Keep Avatars as Files
The hack is there. You got the hacker. Do the math :D

-----------------------------

Please note, just because one of bira's list isn't included here, it doesn't mean we won't think about putting it in.

[Sven]

Originally posted by Kier

* Keep Avatars as Files
The hack is there. You got the hacker. Do the math :D


Kier, any chance you update the Hack Installation Guide for the final release?
(As rquested in the acc. Thread) ?????
I'd really like to implement that but can't due to differences in the php files (code snippets to find differ from the existing ones)...

Please......
*pray*

[water]

I've been looking at some old notes, and came over these to ideas that I would like to see in the next release

[list=1]
Finish post later
This would be a function where the user could choose to save his og her post and then retrive it later from the cp and finish the post before publishing it. Much like it email clients where you can save emails as drafts ans finish them at later stage.

I suspect that this is a feature that many people would'nt use, but I would really love it. Theres been many a time when I'd have later at edit, or save half finished post in a file and copy and paste back into vb for finsihing it off.

This would of course have to be an admin togle option in the cp

Export thread to pdf
This would be for saving and/or emailing threads as attachments.

I've often need access to threads when working offline in remote places. I just love beeing out reach from email and phonelines :D

Attach mulitple files
Allow admins to specify in the cp how many attachments are allowd in each post.

Threads apear in multiple forums
I would like mods & admins to make special threads appear in multile forums, where all of them are updated as yusers post to them.

When moving or delting them mods & admin should be able to choose if this should affect all several or just one of the copies
[/list=1]

[Martz]

Completely independant style sheets, allowing User Titles, avatars, smilies etc to be customised for each replacement set, or style.
The same with vB CODE, and also auto-updating of the vB CODE page to include the custom variables.
Expansion of the calendar mentioned above
As for new features:

Download/review feature for offering files
Links directory "Yahoo!" style
User tracking - stats on users patterens when posting and moving around the forums.

As everyone has already said, thanks for such a perfect product - and I'm sure you will keep up the good work since the demand is so high! :)

[MattR]

"Feature" suggestion:
Incorporate Wayne's "excerpt of message: $message" in new reply notifications and also in PM notifications.

[akiy]

Could I respectfully add the following which, although I have posted about it in the past, has not been addressed by any of the developers up unto this point:

I, along with a lot of people on my board, routinely use the "View New Posts" link at the top of the board to read the posts. Unfortunately, this search as well as all of the others do not show the thread ratings within the results.

Has there been any attempt at adding thread ratings to search results?

Thank you.

[Inzagi]

The most important thing for me is:

Moderator Style Option
(Moderator Control Panel)
I Think it's sure that this feature goes along with 2.1 isn't it ?
It's just that Moderators can edit the "complete" design like
background and text size completely to ther spevific forum.

The second wish I would like to see in 2.1 is:

Moderators can use Pictures in Signature
EVEN if the img Tag is forbidden for the rest of the people to
keep the trafic low, moderators and admins should get special
right to e.g. Post pictures in a topic and a signature.
If it's really urgent for a member to have a picture posted in a
thread he can request this from a moderator and he can do it
for the member.

[Freddie Bingham]

Ratings could be added to the search results without too much trouble.

I am working on some .pdf outputting for another project so I could apply that to vBulletin and the ouput of thread.pdf

[Wayne Luke]

Originally posted by water
regular vs. advanced templates
Vbulletin is loaded with great fetures, and as much as i love them I also see how they scare a mayor part of my users. (among other things I use vbulletin as an internal help desk system)
I would love to see a pop-up meny where the users on the fly could change between the regular (stripped down) templates and the advanced (loaded with features like today) templates. There should also be a setting for this in the user cp.

Something along these lines has also been discussed in this thread http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14989


Users can already select which Style they want to use in the control panel.

http://sitepointforums.com/forum-dev/index.php?styleid=1
http://sitepointforums.com/forum-dev/index.php?styleid=11 (very subtle changes)

[water]

Originally posted by wluke


Users can already select which Style they want to use in the control panel.



great :D

Originally posted by water


regular vs. advanced templates
Vbulletin is loaded with great fetures, and as much as i love them I also see how they scare a mayor part of my users. (among other things I use vbulletin as an internal help desk system)
I would love to see a pop-up meny where the users on the fly.



here i was picturing the pop-up as a feature on all pages, probably somewere in the heading. since it's already in the cp there's problably an easy of acompling this, i'll look into it.

[Dream]

adding to all great features listed here:

1. topic date under topic starter
2. number of visits (pegeviews) in front page
3. languages module (resource intensive?)
4. quotes in tables (border 1), like other software
5. cooler breadcrumbs (vBulletin Community Forum > vBulletin 2.0 > vBulletin 2.0 Suggestions and Feedback)
6. login/logout ability in all pages, with user/pass form
7. "Want to register?" and "Forgotten your password?" before user/pass form fields, for using tab
8. change username/display name/unregister
9. options for passwords for priv forums
10. poll ordered by most to less voted
11. change name to "vBulletin Community Solution Suite" ;)

good luck with the templates.

[SAWolf76]

Threads in subforum appear in parent forum:

It would be grate to have this feature. A lot of my users would love it and I beleve many vB owners would apreciate it....

[akiy]

Originally posted by freddie
Ratings could be added to the search results without too much trouble.
That would be great, Freddie -- I and the users on my site would greatly appreciate it.

[floleb7]

- each members can create own style that would be use only by themself

[chrispadfield]

Couple of things:

I know the subscribed threads thing is being re-worked by this is my suggestion for how.

VBulletin generates huge amounts of email. I think the options you have regarding email are:

i) new PMs
ii) replys to subscribed threads
iii) administrator emails

with more coming (from hacks) including

i) the community update hack

and future ones (hopefully)

i) new thread notification

etc..

So what do I suggest:

1. Have a page (ie tab) in profile that controls ALL email functions. You have a list of options there for all your email options and this is the next bit, you also have a list of threads you are receiving email updates to. This is the current "subscriptions" idea but moved to the email page. Also, people should be able to subscribe to FORUMS and if you do you then select whether you want a notification of every new post or every new thread.

NOW:

For usercp.php I think you should list "favourite threads". These would be ones you mark as favourite.

The top of each thread would thus have the option:

i) add this thread to my favourites
ii) receive email updates to this thread.

This is better than have a set of favourite threads with then an option for email because i believe people have less favourite threads than ones that want email from. I want email from any thread i posted in, say someone with an installation problem but i want hacks, chris' server installation guides etc as my favourite threads - seperating them entirley is not confusing (IMHO) andhas this advantage.


So to clarify my proposal:

i) new tab for ALL email options and function of vb (which will probably be extended by future hacks and releases)
ii) subscribed threads moved to this email section, subscribed threads are simply ones you get email updates from
iii) create favourite threads (similair to freddie's hack).

The only thing to consider is what you do with usercp.php. I think some of my members delete all their email then come to the forum and go through the threads they got email from from usercp.php. In that sense, it would probably be a good idea to have "favourite threads" and "subscribed threads" both listed if there have been new replies.

Obviously an easy link next to favourite threads to set it to receive email notifications will be good. I imagine most people will set their favourite threads to receive email from as well, the reason for this system is being able to have email from threads that are not special (or favourite) as opposed to the other way round.

Congratulations if you read all that waffle, comments?

[chrispadfield]

other generic things:

1) ability to restrict "view new" to certain forums and groups of forums. Not sure best way to start this but would be mega useful for me.

2) take headers out of template set. I want the ability to have one template set + replacement set (ie style as current) but this style to have 50 or so headers. I think that a style should be made up of:

i) template set
ii) replacement set
iii) header/footer/head include type thing.

whether the header and footer can just be placed in the replacement set i don'tknow but pretty sure the header include could not.

3) This is a selfish thing as i doubt many people need it but can we make the forum thing work like the template set, ie you click on a top level category to display what is beneath it. (of course one click opens the whole lot out for those that want it that way). One look at my forums (try books or films) and you will know why i want this :)

more will come ... ;)

[chrispadfield]

oops, one more don't think it was listed.

Enable forums to have more than one parent.

[Wayne Luke]

Originally posted by SAWolf76
Threads in subforum appear in parent forum:

It would be grate to have this feature. A lot of my users would love it and I beleve many vB owners would apreciate it....

Only if it is optional and a way is provided to turn this off. This has been mentioned many many times before and I still don't see the benefit of this. If you want everything in one forum, don't create subforums.

I create subforums to provide outlets for more specific topis and to provide a way for things to be categorized better so they aren't lost. Showing them all in one "General" forum was the problem to begin with.

[MattR]

Suggestion:

For extensibility's sake they could implement multiple parent forums like this:

create table forum as (
everything but parentID );

create table sub_forum as (
parentID,
childID
primary key parentid, childid );

And then make it software-based in the control panel as to whether or not multiple are allowed (e.g. check for that parentID and if so disallow).

The same thing could be done for threads with forums if you wanted them to be in multiple forums but I suspect that it would hardly ever be used so you could keep the thread table the same but outer join it to forum_thread and see if there are floaters around.

I would reccomend (if not done this way) to pull out pollid from thread (or post) and make it on a per-thread basis; e.g.
create table poll_thread ( pollid, threadid );

.. back to work ..

[Error]

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Martz]

Originally posted by chrispadfield
3) This is a selfish thing as i doubt many people need it but can we make the forum thing work like the template set, ie you click on a top level category to display what is beneath it. (of course one click opens the whole lot out for those that want it that way). One look at my forums (try books or films) and you will know why i want this :)

Couldn't this be achived with DHTML in the same way was microsoft.com when searching?

[SAWolf76]

wluke point taken but here is the idea....

Lets say ur into cars ok.... We could have a car forum... but lets say you just interested in Fords... Then we can have a subforum for Ford... If a person posts for ford it would appear in the parent forum... The idea is a person interested only in ford would go to the subforum directly insted of looking in the parent forum which has threads about different cars... while in the same time a person interested in all cars wouldn't have to check every single subforum to read about different cars... Its a nice consept and usful for a lot... and it makes it possible to have a less messy forum.....

I hope you got my point even though you might not like the idea..

Oh and I would love this feature to be optional.... As I would be using it some forums while not using them in others......

[chrispadfield]

yup, do go with Matt's idea. It was what i was thinking about, it is how categories are done inside other categories in links SQL. Would be very useful.

But also totally agree with wayne, having threads listed in the forum above as well seems completly pointless to me but i guess if someone wants it it could be an option.

[chrispadfield]

Originally posted by Martz


Couldn't this be achived with DHTML in the same way was microsoft.com when searching?

possibly, but part of the problem is the size of the html page from downloading it. I have about 700 forums i think so it takes a long time every time i want to make an update to anything.

[Wayne Luke]

Originally posted by SAWolf76
wluke point taken but here is the idea....

Lets say ur into cars ok.... We could have a car forum... but lets say you just interested in Fords... Then we can have a subforum for Ford... If a person posts for ford it would appear in the parent forum... The idea is a person interested only in ford would go to the subforum directly insted of looking in the parent forum which has threads about different cars... while in the same time a person interested in all cars wouldn't have to check every single subforum to read about different cars... Its a nice consept and usful for a lot... and it makes it possible to have a less messy forum.....

I hope you got my point even though you might not like the idea..

Oh and I would love this feature to be optional.... As I would be using it some forums while not using them in others......

I get the point and while you think it will be a good idea, I hope you have busy moderators because they are going to be the ones moving all the threads to the subforums... Your members will post in the first area resembling their topic with a "New Thread" button.

This is from experience.

[cdaveb]

I would like to see an option built into vBulletin to sort by last post on forum home. Although I can see the value in having the forums shown in the same order on the front page all the time, it actually is not the best method if your forum is mostly read in its entirety by most of the members. In my case I run a forum for a game clan- pretty much all the members read all the posts, and they are more interested in seeing which sections have new posts in them than perusing specific sections. In my case I just modified the ORDER BY command in the forum home page, but I suspect I'm not the only one who might find this feature useful, so it might be a good idea to make it a selectable option.

While I'm at it, I'm hoping to see a spell checker soon. At the very least couldn't there be some sort of addon based on pspell? I haven't used it myself but since the php module exists it might be a logical way to go.

[mrlister]

These below would be AWSOME! These are pretty much the main ones and would do lots of good.


Ability to send PM's with an attachment
Icon-sets per style
Smilie-sets per style (currently you can define custom icons/smilies by using the { imagesfolder } var, but it would be great if you can upload a new set per style)
Ability to also export images with your style
Preview PM before Sending
Search in My PM Folders
Mass Download of PMs
Subscription to Threads/Forum WITHOUT Receiving e-mails
Extended Moderator Activity Logging
Archiving Files
Finish post later
poll ordered by most to less voted
[/B][/QUOTE]

Some of these were also from other posts but these would be great. ;) But released as hacks because upgrading from board to board that often will kill a guy! :p

[Mas*Mind]

Another sug:

Strip inner quotes also in PM's

[Mas*Mind]

Another thing that would be usefull:

Display pollresults also in a poll where you didn't voted on...(see attachment)

[SAWolf76]

good point wluke and I agree with you..... However here is the problem with the curent system what you mentioned happens a lot and its anoying... But from what I was told and from what I saw in other forums people would be more willing to post in subforums if they knew that it would appear in the parent forum.... but now they don't use the subforum becaus they think no body would read them.....

As for my moderators don't worry either people post in the subforum or the main forum its up to them we aren't moving any posts... Its up to the person if he is more interested in a genral view or an expert view.... :)

Thanks for you point... and thanks for all of your help here and your chearing of experiance.....

[mjames]

I would like to see the option to make forums password-protected. Not sure if that was mentioned, but I like a lot of the already suggested features.

[sunit]

I have simple email related requests:

I had started a thread for it but since this thread has many responses and attention of all developers, let me repeat them here.

Ability to store a signature and apply to all emails sent by the admin

Title is self explanatory :;

Send an email "thanks for registering and welcome to blah blah" on user registration

Whenever a new user registers (after visiting the account activation URL sent previously by vBulletin) , I would like to send an email welcoming him/her. Admin should be able to store the email subject and body and signature.

I know there is a hack here, but please it would be nice to see it as a CP controllable feature.

Send an email reminding users to visit the activation URL

Many times users register and dont receive their activation codes email quickly due to many reasons. Many times folks just forget about it. I would like to see a feature where, I can store a standard reminder message (like the welcome one above) and configure when the email will be sent to such users, with activation URL included.

Say, I see a user with "User awaiting email..." for 2 days or more, then this email should go out to him after 2 days. This way, I wont have to wait endlessly for a user to register.

A nice report on how many such users were emailed in a week or a day will help me to decide which users are serious and which aren't. This way I can delete the users who dont care to activate their account after some days.

Hope you like these suggestions and do something about it.

Thanks in advance.. the vBulletin product really rocks.. Checkit out on my site at: http://www.echarcha.com/ where I have a customised main page

[steven]

Wow all these great options. I was wondering how many of you are looking to make your forums subscription based? I know that Bira just made Atlas F1 subsciption based and I know that Wayne is looking in to it. With the recent downturn in advertising, I think that one good way to make money is to charge for extra member features. Is there any way that we can incorporate some sort of shopping cart with VB?

[Myriad]

Improve Who's Online!

[ethank]

INtegrate "read" tracking using a database and allow per-forum marking :)

I still haven't finished the hack cause it effects a lot of different things. I should have it mostly done by the end of the week.

Ethan

[Jake Bunce]

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14684

...freddie said this would be in 2.1 :D

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by ethank
INtegrate "read" tracking using a database and allow per-forum marking :)

Per-forum is one thing. "Read" tracking in general (meaning per-thread) would create horrendous amounts of data in a database, and I can't see that happening.

[chrispadfield]

yeah, read per forum would be nice.

In fact i like the way that wwwthreads does it, not sure if by default but it is how it works at www.gossamer-threads.com

Say you come to the forum, on the forum home page it tells you how many "new posts" there are since you came inside each forum. If you click on that forum, then that forum is marked as read by you (i guess in your profile but not sure) and if you then closed your browser and came back later that forum would have had its number of new posts reset.

The cool thing, however, is that the other forums won't have been affected, ie instead of the current timestamp used for last visit, the timestamp is on a per forum basis.

This would be cool :)

[Wayne Luke]

I remember a while back that a bunch of people said that with all the features in 2.0, it would be impossible to find new features for future versions.

[chrispadfield]

lol wayne, i remember that thread and the correspoding cry of "no chance" as this thread proves!

[Chris Schreiber]

Originally posted by wluke
I remember a while back that a bunch of people said that with all the features in 2.0, it would be impossible to find new features for future versions.

Yes I remember someone saying that too! LOL

[Kier]

I read that thread and laughed... you should see ~my~ list of things to add to 2.1 :D

[jmm]

I am not sure if this has been mentioned before. But, what about restricting access to certain forums based on age group.

If I have a forum with explicit language (adult content), I sure won't want members younger than 18 years to have read/write access.

Whacha think?

[Kier]

There would be problems implementing that, as it is currently optional to enter your year of birth in your profile, and there would be no way to verify a valid age anyway...

[MattR]

Just assign them to a different usergroup if you know they are young and disallow that usergroup access to those forums.

[jmm]

I see!

[sunit]

Originally posted by sunit
I have simple email related requests:

I had started a thread for it but since this thread has many responses and attention of all developers, let me repeat them here.

Ability to store a signature and apply to all emails sent by the admin

Title is self explanatory :;

Send an email "thanks for registering and welcome to blah blah" on user registration

Whenever a new user registers (after visiting the account activation URL sent previously by vBulletin) , I would like to send an email welcoming him/her. Admin should be able to store the email subject and body and signature.

I know there is a hack here, but please it would be nice to see it as a CP controllable feature.

Send an email reminding users to visit the activation URL

Many times users register and dont receive their activation codes email quickly due to many reasons. Many times folks just forget about it. I would like to see a feature where, I can store a standard reminder message (like the welcome one above) and configure when the email will be sent to such users, with activation URL included.

Say, I see a user with "User awaiting email..." for 2 days or more, then this email should go out to him after 2 days. This way, I wont have to wait endlessly for a user to register.

A nice report on how many such users were emailed in a week or a day will help me to decide which users are serious and which aren't. This way I can delete the users who dont care to activate their account after some days.

Hope you like these suggestions and do something about it.

Thanks in advance.. the vBulletin product really rocks.. Checkit out on my site at: http://www.echarcha.com/ where I have a customised main page

Any inputs from the developers??? These would be good features...

[Kier]

We're just watching at the moment.

[Freddie Bingham]

Considering v2.0 has just been released, it is a wee bit early for us to be delving into what exactly will be done for v2.1 or not.

[Chris Schreiber]

We're getting some good ideas though thanks to your feedback :)

[MattR]

Any idea of a release date yet? :D:D:D LOL!!! I wonder how many times you'll hear that before it's out? :)

[Chris Schreiber]

Originally posted by MattR
I wonder how many times you'll hear that before it's out? :)

LOL I've counted about 583 times so far :D

[chrispadfield]

i think the longer you are here the more and more you accept "it will be done when it is done" :)

[eva2000]

Originally posted by chrispadfield
i think the longer you are here the more and more you accept "it will be done when it is done" :) some nice hacks for vb 2 would tie us down for a while :D

[chrispadfield]

most of the hackers are now developers, we need to pursuade overgrow to install vb2 :) although there is still a lot there, usenet is my big one for the week once i have sorted out my vb2 style set.

[eva2000]

Originally posted by chrispadfield
most of the hackers are now developers, we need to pursuade overgrow to install vb2 :) although there is still a lot there, usenet is my big one for the week once i have sorted out my vb2 style set. true :)

[MaSTaKiLLaH]

Here is my little list, of things i would like to see in 2.1 :

Polls
Three new options for the pollstarter to choose :

(i) User must reply to the thread before he can vote
(ii) Users can choose more than one option (multiple votes)
(iii) Users can see who voted for which option (public vote)

Calendar

(i) Users can subscribe to events (set their status : "I'll be there", like a Warplaner)
(ii) Ucan comment the events and e new thread is started in a specified forum

Any comments on my stupid suggestions ? :D

[Fquist]

A forumselectbox(like down the thread, the combobox) on each page.. it's quite handy for selecting subforums. Less clicks.

[JamesUS]

There is already a forumjump box on every page.

[brookelyn]

would be REALLY great if you could do a view new posts ONLY on forums you are subscribed to ... like the "view all new posts" link on the front page, but in your my vB page

this would be an AWESOME feature

[Mika]

I have only one wish.. err, well two wishes :)

1) Make it easier to translate templates into another language.

Templates are a great thing in vB but I think that vB should absolutely have some kind of language-spesific thing so that it would be, for example, possible to upgrade without losing translations.

2) Integrate fastforward's Usenet-gateway-hack into vB

It is an awesome hack, but nearly impossible to install unless you are fluent in php/mysql etc.
(There is always that fear around if you install such a complicated hack that it breaks something during vB upgrade)

[Dream]

how about changing these "[ << < 3 4 5 > >> ]" for images?

[leadZERO]

At the risk of sounding self-indulgent I would like to suggest my Post Order Hack (http://www.ravingaming.com/hacks/postorder.txt). I originally wrote this for someone that liked this functionality on another board, I didn't think I would like it. However, the more I used the Reverse Chronological posting the more I thought how logical it was, why scroll to the end of a thread when you can just put the most recent at the top? Now, when new versions come out I cringe until I get it installed. I have updated the hack and it is compatible with v2.0-RELEASE.

I know everyone likes the chronological "recommended" method, but just try it and I'm sure you too will see the benefit from it. With this hack though it leaves it up to the user. My question is why not? Why should it be a site wide setting when it is open to individual preference?

Other then that I don't have any wishes that aren't on the current list.

[Wayne Luke]

Originally posted by leadZERO
At the risk of sounding self-indulgent I would like to suggest my Post Order Hack (http://www.ravingaming.com/hacks/postorder.txt). I originally wrote this for someone that liked this functionality on another board, I didn't think I would like it. However, the more I used the Reverse Chronological posting the more I thought how logical it was, why scroll to the end of a thread when you can just put the most recent at the top? Now, when new versions come out I cringe until I get it installed. I have updated the hack and it is compatible with v2.0-RELEASE.

I know everyone likes the chronological "recommended" method, but just try it and I'm sure you too will see the benefit from it. With this hack though it leaves it up to the user. My question is why not? Why should it be a site wide setting when it is open to individual preference?

Other then that I don't have any wishes that aren't on the current list.

Why is a hack needed for this?

From the control panel....

Order of posts within a thread
The standard (recommended) way to display threads is chronologically from original topic to the latest reply. You can reverse this, if you prefer, to have threads displayed in reverse, from latest post to oldest post.

[Joe]

Wayne: I know everyone likes the chronological "recommended" method, but just try it and I'm sure you too will see the benefit from it. With this hack though it leaves it up to the user. My question is why not? Why should it be a site wide setting when it is open to individual preference?

[Mas*Mind]

Another sug:

Make in the search form also two options (with radiobuttons). One for: Basic query and one for: Advanced query. Because when I wanna search for my name (Mas*Mind) I don't get very good results because of the * in my name (vb sees it as a wildcard)

and you may wanna search for the words AND OR etc...sometimes (when you search for a large chunk of text)

And something else that would be very usefull:

A timeout config for redirects, so you can config through your options how long redirects would be visible.

[Fquist]

Originally posted by JamesUS
There is already a forumjump box on every page.

Not on the index. :P

[Vinnie]

Avatars as files is fine and dandy, but make sure it is an OPTION.

I'm going to be running a load-balanced cluster of IIS boxes for vBulletin, and storing Avatars as files would introduce more problems than it solves.

I like the fact that vBulletin stores ALL of its information in the database including the templates - this makes load balancing so much easier and also provides a single point of fail....err I meant a single place to back up all of the forum data :)

[Vinnie]

vBulletin is totally fat, nice job.

I can only think of two small problems that I would like to see in the next version:

1) Improved handling of marking messages as read

Ideally, the board would associate every message with a read/unread status on a per-user basis. There would be no timeout. So threads/replies that were unread would always remain unread, and would always change to read status after the user views them. It would also be useful to have a "Mark forum as read" that applies only to a single forum or category rather than the whole board.

2) Fully nested "expand threads" view

This means displaying the subject line for a thread and ALL of its replies directly on the forumdisplay template (if the user activates the option). Each reply would also have a message icon that denotes read/unread status. Unfortunately, this would require some extensive changes to the database in order to make it fully hierarchical and idented (i.e. a reply is indented relative to its target, with unlimited levels of nesting/indentation).

[Wayne Luke]

Re: ForumJump

Originally posted by Fquist


Not on the index. :P

It isn't on the index because usually the forums are already listed and making the JumpBox is fairly resource intensive.

However if you really want this open up index.php.

Scroll to the bottom and just above the last line of code which is something like:

eval("\$forumhome=dooutpout(\"Yadda, yadda yadda


Above that Put:
makeforumjump();

Then put $forumjump in your ForumHome template somewhere. This could dramatically affect performance and the display of the forumhome page though.

[Kaya]

Calendar Suggestions

Mostly suggestions that were made before:

* Multiple Days Events
Entering events that span over more than one day are currently a major hassle, having to re-enter it ever per every day.


Without this feature, the calendar is no use for me. Most of the shared events for my forum (like exhibitions, holidays, seminars, etc.) are multiple day. This is the first and only feature I am dearly missing so far.

[jordantlclive]

I think it would be really nice to add the ability to send a private message to all users or multiple users from the control panel.

[jucs]

USER activity tracking. My mod's I don't need to track, but tracking a troublesome user would be useful.

Moderation of posts for select individuals ( I believe there is a current hack).

Option to Send Report Post to admin/mod's PM.

Kier's pop up box for who posted in a thread.

[Streicher]

hmm. I have posted this suggestion yesterday in this thread, but it seems that it was deleted:

So, once again:

time a poll is open

Instead of asking how many days the poll should run after beginning, please make an option similar to the announcements:

From dd--mm-yy hh:ss To dd--mm-yy hh:ss

[Nicholas Brown]

I asked John to include this for 2.0 gold - he said he would but didnt, so here goes...

When you have posted in a poll - you can go back to the thread and see the results.

A Few weeks/months later - you go back to it and think, "Hmm, which option did I vote for?" - well, I suggested to John to make the voted option in Bold. I do this a lot on busy forums - vote and forget who I voted for.

[Sharg]

Kier, don't forget this one:

[Release] Email Activate Code:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15195

;)

[Jujubee]

How about uncoupling the Cookie Timeout so that different values can be used for the "auto marking of posts from unread to read" and the Active users.

For example, I'd like the Active users timeout to stay at 5 minutes, but don't want the posts to be automatically marked as "read" for 2 hours.

Doesn't make sense to me why the two are related - it's very difficult to find a suitable middle ground for the current Cookie Timeout option. :)

[jucs]

PM Stats (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=14724)

[Mas*Mind]

One important feature that would be really usefull is some sort of checkbox next to each login-form: Do you want to save a cookie on this computer? in order to be able to not store your information when you're browsing a forum on otherone's computer

[leadZERO]

I have an addendum to my previous request...

I would like to see thread moderation seperated from post moderation.

I would like to allow users the ability to reply to the posts in my "News" forum, but I want to moderate their thread creation.

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by Jujubee
For example, I'd like the Active users timeout to stay at 5 minutes, but don't want the posts to be automatically marked as "read" for 2 hours.

I think you miss the idea here - the cookie timeout is after x seconds of inactivity, not just a time in general. If you don't click for 15 minutes, posts are marked read. However if you are actively browsing the forums, it isn't too difficult to make one click every 15 minutes (or however long you have your cookie timeout set).

[klisis]

MIME type e-mail capability.

[Mas*Mind]

Sorry for my scattered suggestions, but here comes another one:

inbuilt browser check

Some sort of utitlity so you can define different headInclude templates per browser in order to try to make your layout browser independent.

[thewitt]

Originally posted by Mas*Mind
Sorry for my scattered suggestions, but here comes another one:

inbuilt browser check

Some sort of utitlity so you can define different headInclude templates per browser in order to try to make your layout browser independent.

You are really asking for something to make your layouts browser dependant. A browser independant layout does not care which browser is being used...

-t

[Mas*Mind]

It's how you see it; What I mean is that your layout would be the same, regardless which browser you use.... That's browser independent imo. Now I have a javascript function in my headinclude to determine which .css file would be included, but now I have to rely on javascript while that could be disabled...

[CdoG]

Well here's an idea for avatars, since no one really paid attention to the thread:

While I was filing my avatars a couple weeks ago, I was thinking about how much easier it would be if only vBulletin would:

1. Have an option to add the title of the avatar based upon the filename (i.e. if a file was called Final_Fantasy_8_-_Squall.gif, then vBulletin would automatically name it Final Fantasy 8 - Squall)

2. Have another option to be able to put avatars into series (i.e. have the series be FF8, and the avatars be Squall, Rinoa, etc...take a look here for an example of what I mean)

The first option would make my job of giving titles to the avatars much, much, easier, while the second option would allow my forum members to be able to browse through and pick their avatars easier.

Please take these ideas into consideration for either vBulletin 2.1 or some type of hack.

[Freddie Bingham]

There will be categories created for v2.1 for avatars. I can also consider some type of naming format that can be picked up from the filename. I will also (or maybe Kier since javascript is his thing) will see if we can have an option for a javascript pulldown for selecting avatars but I would like to keep the current method as an option as a lot of users do like to see a set of avatars at once to pick from.

[CdoG]

Sounds good, having an option between both ways never hurts :D

[bira]

Another suggestion:

Make the "Views" count a unique one. Meaning, if I viewed this thread 100 times I would still only count for one unique view. That makes the "Views" column more meaningful, as it indicates how many people read that thread. Right now, the "Views" column is meaningless imo.

[Dream]

i remembered a couple...

1. ability to choose "all # A B C D E"... in memberlist

2. maybe the user's post count could decrease when the user deleted his own post, to prevent users from posting/deleting to achieve more posts on the board.

3. make the category subscribable (is that a word o_O?). you can do that today you know, its just missing the link (example (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/member2.php?s=&action=addsubscription&forumid=24)). just a matter of placing the link and changing the lock image http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/images2/onlock.gif to C or something.

4. making the preview post template exactly as the table in the post will be; with avatars and stuff (and the real table post cell size).

5. administrator created polls in front page.

this one is more like an "add-on"..
im aware not everyone would use that

1. links section divided in categories, for users to submit their sites for the aproval of the administrator (clans and game sites, in my case).

thats it. cya

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by Dream
2. maybe the user's post count could decrease when the user deleted his own post, to prevent users from posting/deleting to achieve more posts on the board.
It already does.

4. making the preview post template exactly as the table in the post will be; with avatars and stuff (and the real table post cell size).
Not quite sure what you mean here, but if you're talking about "topic review", I disagree. I think the intention of it is to provide a brief overview; if you start adding all that stuff back in, you might as well just add a box to reply at the end of the thread page (a la that one forum that I can't remember the name of...).

[inFeSt]

no star hacks, just a stars enabled, disabled feature...

[cdaveb]

It would be really useful if there was a clear marking on the threads separating the new posts from the old posts.

[John]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 'clear', but look at the little yellow/grey box immediately to the left of the date - this is yellow when a post is new, and grey when if is old.

John

[robertusss]

Originally posted by Mas*Mind
Another sug:

Make in the search form also two options (with radiobuttons). One for: Basic query and one for: Advanced query. Because when I wanna search for my name (Mas*Mind) I don't get very good results because of the * in my name (vb sees it as a wildcard)

and you may wanna search for the words AND OR etc...sometimes (when you search for a large chunk of text)

And something else that would be very usefull:

A timeout config for redirects, so you can config through your options how long redirects would be visible.

"AND" and "OR" are not indexed anyway (badword.php and too short) but I think the search feature lacks one thing:

As default I would like it to search only in the forum I hit the "search" button in.

Just two minutes ago while I was reading through the first postings of this thread, I though "well, maybe somebody already suggested this".
My first idea was: "I would like to search only in that threat" - but then I realized, "No, I have to search the whole subforum". So I hit the search button. I entered "search" as the word to search for and then tried to remember what subforum I just came from to select from the dropdown list.

Maybe its better to have the subforum as default and then when displaying results giving a link "Showing results for Forum 'XYZ'. Click here to search for 'ABCDEF' in all open forums"


I think it would make the search feature more conveniend and intuitive. (we need a spell checker around here folks!)

[Dream]

Originally posted by tubedogg

It already does.
great :)

Originally posted by tubedogg

Not quite sure what you mean here, but if you're talking about "topic review", I disagree. I think the intention of it is to provide a brief overview; if you start adding all that stuff back in, you might as well just add a box to reply at the end of the thread page (a la that one forum that I can't remember the name of...).

im talking about the "Post Preview" box above the text area in the editing/posting screen, not the "Thread Review", to be equal to the table of your post inside a thread; the one in the image.

[tubedogg]

Oh. :o Sorry. :)

[Dream]

no prob :P

i dont have anything against the way "topic review" is today, i think its perfect.

[Mas*Mind]

"AND" and "OR" are not indexed anyway (badword.php and too short)

That's just a matter of configuration... My config is that I index words >= 2 characters (so that includes and and or...)

[tubedogg]

Yeah but and and or are in the badwords file so they're not indexed anyway.

[Mas*Mind]

ah ok...didn't know that :o

[Mas*Mind]

And another one:

Many users complain about other users stealing their avatar, so it might be a good option to built in an option to check for duplicate avatars.

[dons]

I'm against adding more bells and whistles to the system. I need some core functionality that is really important to my users.

I think the MOST important enhancement from my perspective is:

EMAIL DIGEST functionality - UBB has it! Making users come to the board is OK for some sites, but my users want to get email digests of the full message text....daily is OK. I have lost about 2/3rds of my activity since I switched from eGroups to vBulletin because of this AND the ability to reply to posts/messages through email. I personally think the system is seriously deficient without this key functionality.

I would like to see Digest mode first. If theres a way to cleanly add the ability to POST using email, that's important too...but I'd take simple Digest Mode in the meantime.

I also want to echo the concern stated earlier that the UI is getting complicated. My users are a mixed bag and many can't figure out how to use the system and are scared away by the complexity. For example, many folks out there have no idea what a thread is.....yeah, we technoids here chuckle, but it's true. Ther's beaty in power and simplicity.

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by dons
EMAIL DIGEST functionality - UBB has it!

Actually they don't. It was ditched in v6.

[nuno]

- Ability to choose between access masks and forum password
- Who's online(users location and last activity)
- Replace &gt and &lt per » and « :D

[thewitt]

Originally posted by Mas*Mind
And another one:

Many users complain about other users stealing their avatar, so it might be a good option to built in an option to check for duplicate avatars.

So how would you check for duplicate images? I can change a few bits in an image to make it unique. I can scale it up or down, add a digital watermark, slightly change the color etc.

Just curious if you have any ideas on how you would diff images...

-t

[JenniferS]

I wish the message icon section could act like the smilies, where you can click a button and peruse a larger library of icons than is available on the main posting page.

It would be nice if the system could "compile" pages before they are sent to the web server, where all tabbing and extra spaces are removed.

I think contextual help would be of assistance to novice VBoard users. You could turn it on or off according to preference. When on, the help system would plant little question marks everywhere which when clicked would explain that particular component of the system.

Another happy VB'er,
J

[Mas*Mind]

true, but most users just right click another ones avatar and fill in that url in their avatar text field. When they have to modify the avatar it will be more unlikely they'll steel it. (Apart from that most of the users (mines anyway) don't even know how to modify or scale an image) It won't be a waterproof function, but will prevent most users from doing it. For attachments there's a similar function btw.

What's up with the -t everytime? Just curious ;)

[thewitt]

Originally posted by Mas*Mind
What's up with the -t everytime? Just curious ;)

This has been my Usenet, BBS (dial-up type) and Online Forum sig for so long it's automatic. I'm one of those fossils who remember the Internet when it was all text - long before the World Wide Web. Limited sigs were very important. First name's Tim. I just sign -t.

-t

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by JenniferS
It would be nice if the system could "compile" pages before they are sent to the web server, where all tabbing and extra spaces are removed.

No idea what you mean by this...:confused:

[SneakyDave]

I don't know if this has been asked, but if you keep the referral system in place for 2.1, it'd be nice to be able to determine the list of userid's that have been referred to your site by a userid.

For instance, Joe has 5 referrals:
Jane
Dick
Mary
Tom
Eduardo

That way, they can be verified, otherwise a user may just be multiple ID's just to get referrals.

[thewitt]

Today I visit a number of vB sites, and my SOP is to press the View New Posts link, then cruise down the search results list reading the threads that interest me. When I'm finished, I go back to the vB home, down to the bottom of the page, and select the Mark All Forums Read link.

It would be nice to have this link on the bottom of the Search Results page template.

I know I can add this to my forum, but if it were on the default template, it might survive on more of the vB boards I frequent :).

-t

[Steve Machol]

Originally posted by SneakyDave
I don't know if this has been asked, but if you keep the referral system in place for 2.1, it'd be nice to be able to determine the list of userid's that have been referred to your site by a userid.

:confused:

You can already do this through the CP. Just bring up your referrals then click on the username. This will show all the referrals for that user.

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by SneakyDave
[B]I don't know if this has been asked, but if you keep the referral system in place for 2.1, it'd be nice to be able to determine the list of userid's that have been referred to your site by a userid.

This is already possible - Users > Referrals.

[SneakyDave]

Oh Jeesh! I thought it just showed the numbers! Guess you got this one done early!:p

[Skeptical]

What I'd really love for the next version is an integrated email system where users can send/receive/filter/edit/compose/delete emails.

I wouldn't mind paying a bit extra just for that feature myself.

[Omero]

Password Protected Forums

With the chance to turn them off for security reason if case. That's the ONLY thing i really miss from the old UBB.

^_^ But i SERIOUSLY need it cause i dont have the time to set access permissions for over 3000 guild/clans members... so i just give the password to the clan chief, and im done ^_^

[samtha25]

When you have a forum devoted to suggestions and feedback, why put all suggestions in only one, very long thread, where suggestions are intermingled with discussion and difficult to track. If each suggestion was posted to the forum with an appropriate, it would be a simpler matter to skim the titles, as well as track them, similar to the way bugs are done.

[tubedogg]

You are certainly free to post a separate thread if you wish. There were specific questions asked and answered, and others have just added on to this thread. Most of the suggestions here are not "earth-shattering" changes, e.g. none of them suggest have vB doing something extremely different, but instead they are suggestions that are doable in the next version as opposed to a version a ways down the road.

[ryansales]

Sorry if this is a repeat or dumb request, but I'd love to have the ability to set my board so that it keeps users posting counts as a total of how many posts, regardless of whether or not I prune posts or rebuilt counters. I like to prune my board, and we use our users TOTAL post counts for promotion purposes, etc.

RY

[dengel]

I'd love to see some sort od SDK. I need to integrade the vB on my site, and I'd love to require("vbsdk.php") and be able to do things like getthread(threadid, postid) and be returned a specific post on the vB so I can display it on my portal. Got the idea?

Also, I'd love to see more enphasis on translations and different languages. For instance, there is a group of people translating 2.0 Final to Spanish. It would be cool if a representative of that group be in contact with the vB dev team to update and hand back the translated templates.

d.

[petesmc]

How about being able to change the colors of the bars for the votes? Not essential, just a suggestion...

-Peter

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by petesmc
How about being able to change the colors of the bars for the votes? Not essential, just a suggestion...

[ whisper ] Those are images. ;) [ /whisper ]

[petesmc]

They are????????? I thought vBulletin might have used iunbuilt image functions to generate them

[MattR]

If they were that would limit compatibility; not everyone has the image libraries compiled into PHP.

If you look closely, each image is a little tiny one streched out depending on how many votes an option has. Pretty slick if you ask me.

[G0D]

My suggestion:

Don't make vbb 2.1 to complex! :p

[scotty]

reference thread: http://161.58.84.213/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19382

Hello John & Co.

Is it possible to integrate the following things in the
the CP "language section" or in templates?:

/admin/functions.php
- $notword (Forum Rules)

/calendar.php
- Name of the month in Calendar
- Navigation in Calendar:
"Calendar", "Add Public Event","Add Private Event",
"Edit Public Event", "Edit Private Event"

other places

By adding this, it would be much easier to translate the forum in another language.
At the time, I've still to make some "hacking" to translate it completely.

huba,
scott

[Wally Hartshorn]

Here are my suggestions:
Link forum messages to calendar: It would be nice to be able to post a message in a forum (announcing an upcoming conference, for example), then click on a checkbox that would cause it to also appear on the calendar. After clicking submit, you would be prompted for the date(s) where it should appear. After that, when someone visits the calendar and clicks on the link, they would be shown the message.
Calendar moderators: These would have abilities similar to forum moderators (e.g. optionally being the only ones who can post, optionally approving events that are in the queue, etc).
Preview button on all edit screens: Currently, when entering an event on the calendar, re-editing a post, entering a PM, etc., there is no way to preview the message.
Preview-safe attachments and multiple attachments: Currently, when attaching a file to a message, if you click on "preview", the file attachment field is cleared, apparently due to a limitation of the way the file upload HTML field works. If instead there is a check box, similar to that for polls, then the file attachment could be specified after the message has been completed and previewed. In addition, there could be multiple upload fields, or perhaps a check box that says "attach another file after this one."
No e-mail notification until approved: When someone posts a reply in a forum that requires moderator approval, the e-mail notification is immediately sent out to all who are subscribed to that thread. When they go to the thread to read it, they don't see anything because the message hasn't been approved yet. Furthermore, once the message has been approved, they don't know about it.

[Dartigan]

"Mark all forum post as read" link rather than just the "Mark all post as read" link on the main page. This would make it easier for my users to keep things sorted. Maybe it can be done with a template or something, I'm not sure... I'm still learning. :)

[MattR]

Oooh ooh, I thought of one!

Turn off e-mail notification for users whose e-mail address is invalid (that is to say, if you get X number of bounced e-mail messages back from a particular e-mail address, obviously something is wrong).

We get somewhere between 1 and 2 thousand bounced e-mails a day from people who have set e-mail notification to a thread but with invalid e-mails. It would be nice to run a script every so often to read through those and if bob@aol.com shows up more than 10 times in the last 2 weeks, then assume they are invalid and remove their subscriptions (also turn off their account since somehow they got through the forced signup).

[Duster]

I know of several features necessary for a forum I frequent on web hosting. The ability for the administrator and moderators to selectively (by user name) disable avatars, signatures and VB codes (especially in signatures). Avatars and hyperlinks in sigs were disabled because of a dozen or so violators who simply would not comply with the rules. Adding selective disabling could prevent this.

Also, adding the ability for polls to be held pending review and approval by mdoerators would be helpful. We had a rash of really stupid and senseless polls right after the feature was enabled. It would be nice to be able to prevent a recurrence.

[Black Tiger]

I don't know if mentioned but I've got some too.

[activitylights]
1.) When posting/replying a thread, the little yellow enveloppe before it (unread) turns into blue (read). If all threads are read, the On.gif still keeps burning and one has to put all to off.gif with the "mark all forums read" button.
Is there no way to automatically turn on.gif to off.gif when all threads are read/reply'd to in a forumtopic? Just as automatically the yellow enveloppes turn into blue?

[moderated forums]
2.) Moderated queues. Before the on.gif was displayed and a username. Now you don't see if anyone has posted something new in to a moderated forum. We have some, but they're not often used, now we've to check everyday. Should be nice if somewhere someway, at least to the Admins/moderators there was an easy way to notice if a new post was made there or not. Could be done like in previous versions or in some other way.

[registration]
3.) Admin possibility to enable or disable any option they like for the registration form without having to hack the templates every time.

[admin options]
4.) Implementing the Starhack, you've got it, why not implement it? Eventually with possibility to use or not use (in CP), if people do not want to use it on they're board.

5.) Implementing the little admin email hack, so activation links can be send again to new users (so admins can use $bburl/register.php?a=act&u=$userid&i=$activateid in admin emails).

And then some mentioned already by others. Could give a huge CP, but so what, we Admins should have something to do.:D:D:D

[Freddie Bingham]

Stars or Ranks will be part of v2.1 though I will probably not refer to any current hacks when I sit down to create it.

[chrispadfield]

Originally posted by freddie
Stars or Ranks will be part of v2.1 though I will probably not refer to any current hacks when I sit down to create it.

i hope you refer to your own hack! i love the easy of having different images dependant upon different usergroups. works a treat on my site.

[Freddie Bingham]

Yes you will assign each usergroup a set of rankings that are based on post count, or perhaps other things if anyone has suggestions about what criteria they would like ranks based upon .. Joindate? Some complex formula involving joindate+posts? I think it would be nice to have it this way and possibly the option to have a karma system though there has been no discussion for inclusion of that in 2.1

[Dream]

id like to see a karma hack like the ubb member ratings, that users can rate the members 1-5, but with the real average of all the ratings. (is that a karma hack?..)

[Skeptical]

I'd like a feature where a user could specify KEYWORDS to watch for and then whenever someone posts a topic with the keywords within it the user is notified via email/PM.

Another thing that'd be helpful is some way of ignoring threads with certain keywords. This is especially for forums where people keep on asking the same damn questions over and over again.

[robertusss]

Originally posted by MattR
...It would be nice to run a script every so often to read through those and if bob@aol.com shows up more than 10 times in the last 2 weeks, then assume they are invalid and remove their subscriptions (also turn off their account since somehow they got through the forced signup).

did anybody here mention:
kick inactive members

a member that
1.) did not activate the account within X days (default: X = 3)
2.) did not post anything ever after activating

-> send a email "if you don't reply to this Email within 5 days, your account will be terminated.

we would need a new link in cp "maintanance" and a daily cron job I guess...


a former active member that
1.) did not post since X days (default: X = 365)

-> your account has been deactivated. use this link to reactivate it again.

"deactivated" means: invisible in the members list, no emails send to him whatsoever, no link on his name, no profile, no avantar, no signiture

[Omero]

Originally posted by robertusss


did anybody here mention:
kick inactive members

a member that
1.) did not activate the account within X days (default: X = 3)
2.) did not post anything ever after activating

-> send a email "if you don't reply to this Email within 5 days, your account will be terminated.

we would need a new link in cp "maintanance" and a daily cron job I guess...


a former active member that
1.) did not post since X days (default: X = 365)

-> your account has been deactivated. use this link to reactivate it again.

"deactivated" means: invisible in the members list, no emails send to him whatsoever, no link on his name, no profile, no avantar, no signiture

Yes this would rock!!! Also include the "update user post counts" script in "update counters" section, that is REALLY needed ^_^

Any ETA for 2.1?

[Kier]

Originally posted by Omero
Any ETA for 2.1? 2.1 will be in development for at least 3 months.

[Omero]

Thanks kier, you always so kind.

Do u plan to put up a "planned features" list any soon?

I would like to so what i can expect from it and what not, and i guess im not alone wanting this. ;)

What i really miss from UBB forums is only that: a dev forum only for devs, saying "i've done that", "we've decided to do this", we'are thinking about this, we have succeded finishing that, currently have problems with this, etc... you only can post.

I think it would be a huge tool for communication staff-players and make us feel more involved in the wonderful work you do for us all.

[ToraTora!]

1) a personal member page that they could upload a pic to. Very simular to using a Avatar in a thread, or uploading a file in a thread, the user would have his "VB home" as a personal page that users could visit that would include a varible amount of last posts and a sort of "home page" feel to it that would be customizable by the user. Possible background choice on this page by the user, etc....

2) Image gallery. I know there is hacks for it, but I trust the guys that put this thing together more than the hackers. Plus, with loopholes in code from hackers, it can leave the door wide open.
In short, that is why i dont use the hack....

3) A menu for customizing the control panel. I read the "did you know" from Kier, however i think this could be a nice addition for the beggining user.

4) Color palets that go with the color choices for styles. When you click on the color bar, a pallet pops up. Another nice begginer option. I realize the hard work that went into the initial color choice in the admin area was a tedious task, but as human nature allows, we need more.

5) Fix the Adobe Template download area. I have not been able to get a complete copy due to numberous errors that occur when downloading it.

6) A Browser Sniffer at the front door that turns away people with substandard browsers, or redirects them to another style that could be set by the administrator of the forums with a older style of templates from VB's past.

7) The Who posted hack was (at least i thought) a good one. It would be nice to see that make it into the next version as well. I tried to use the hack, unfortunately it did not work on the newer versions after beta 3 or 4...so i scrapped it.

8) Buddy list pop up. (explained already)

9) Html/PHP/Java chat set up. I would rather see that than the IM set up due in part that the people who have IM, really dont need it on the forums. The people who have lack luster browsers could benefit from the HTML, or PHP chat, however Java is a problem.

10) Star Rating hack for amount of posts/sign up date. I seen this posted in another part of the forum, and I thought it was a great idea.

11) An option for Moderators or Admin, (off or on) that would redirect a authorized user to the mod control panel, or admin panel when logged instead of going straight to the forums.
Mods have been using the admin links to get to the mod control panel....kind of a headache.

Other than that, this is all i can think of off-hand. I think this is a great product, and I think it is a major strong point that you let the users voice their concerns or suggestions to improve it's already great features.

[ToraTora!]

I forgot one.

I recently visited a forum, that has a area that you can see where other users are posting, if they are active, posts since they have been on...etc...pretty neat feature.

I think it would be really beneficial to the mod or admin If you have a problem poster. This utility would make it somewhat easier to know what the problem poster is up to in advance, instead of waiting to mod his posts.

That, and its always nice to check out where everyone is at anyways..lol..

Ok...where are the hookers?

[ToraTora!]

One last thing. I seen this at that same forum...in the thread, or post itself, the time and date of the post, thread, is displayed where the subject field would go, with the icon rite behind it. (displayed thread) with what you entered in the subject feild below it.

I tried hackin around on that one, but to no avail. If that could be an option, or if someone would care to give me a general idea to the hack, i would appreciate it.

[Wayne Luke]

Originally posted by Omero
Thanks kier, you always so kind.

Do u plan to put up a "planned features" list any soon?

I would like to so what i can expect from it and what not, and i guess im not alone wanting this. ;)

What i really miss from UBB forums is only that: a dev forum only for devs, saying "i've done that", "we've decided to do this", we'are thinking about this, we have succeded finishing that, currently have problems with this, etc... you only can post.

I think it would be a huge tool for communication staff-players and make us feel more involved in the wonderful work you do for us all.

We have a developer's area where the developer's post their progress and ideas are posted for possible inclusion. However this is a private area at this time because there are things discussed that could jeopardize the viability of vBulletin and Jelsoft if our competitors got ahold of the information.

When we get closer to a release date, a list of major new features most likely will be released. However there will more likely be stabilization and enhancement of current features and technologies over radically new features in this next version. Remember vBulletin 2.0 was in development for a year and this will be a much shorter development cycle.

We will review everyone's suggestion and make a decision on whether to include them or not based on the long term goals of the company.

[Steve Machol]

I'd like to request a change in the way vB processes the email address ban feature. I'd like it to work like the Censor feature so we can choose to ban a certain string of characters within an email address. For instance,

yahoo

...should ban all email address with 'yahoo' in then, and

{yahoo.com}

...would ban just email addys with 'yahoo.com.

This would save me from having to ban:

yahoo.com.cn, yahoo.com.uk, yahoo.com.fr, yahoo.com.nl, etc.

[Sire]

I'd like User Profiles to be arranged better, and include member photo's if they wish to upload them.

I like the layout of Yahoo! Profiles, and EZBoard profiles aren't too bad either. vBulletin's might benefit from a layout that takes advantage of window realestate better.

[Mas*Mind]

Originally posted by smachol
I'd like to request a change in the way vB processes the email address ban feature. I'd like it to work like the Censor feature so we can choose to ban a certain string of characters within an email address. For instance,

yahoo

...should ban all email address with 'yahoo' in then, and

{yahoo.com}

...would ban just email addys with 'yahoo.com.

This would save me from having to ban:

yahoo.com.cn, yahoo.com.uk, yahoo.com.fr, yahoo.com.nl, etc.

Good idea, but why not use the following syntax: yahoo.*

This is where most people allready are familiar with.

[PDT816]

Just started installing my board today but couldn't resist the suggestion topic.

I have always wondered why the navigation menu (i.e. vBulletin Community Forum > vBulletin 2.0 > vBulletin 2.0 Suggestions and Feedback > Suggestions for the next version :) ) was not at the top and bottom of every page as a standard feature.

IMO, this would be invaluable for longer threads for people to navigate the forum without scrolling back to the top of the page. No big deal, but it would be nice.

[Steve Machol]

Originally posted by Mas*Mind


Good idea, but why not use the following syntax: yahoo.*

This is where most people allready are familiar with.

Either way - it doesn't matter to me as long as I can easily ban any address containing 'yahoo'!

[Hooper]

What I would like has most likely been mentioned.

1) Individual forum "Mark Forum Read"

2) Built in "Who's Online" complete with location, time, and autorefresh (see's you as you come in). Page deviding for large amounts of concurrent members. 1,2,3 etc.... so they are not all on one page. Control Panel setup to allow setup of specific viewing by admin, mod, etc.. and an off, on toggle that allows it to function in the same way as the PM's if you choose not to use the function. Hides in other words.

That's all. ;)

[robertusss]

I don`t know if it's a that good idea, but maybe as an option it would be helpfull to other:

Give a Topic Starter (the member that postet the first post and opened the thread) the right to close the thread.

[Mas*Mind]

Originally posted by robertusss
I don`t know if it's a that good idea, but maybe as an option it would be helpfull to other:

Give a Topic Starter (the member that postet the first post and opened the thread) the right to close the thread.

Allready possible, just edit the registered-usergroup and set 'can close own threads' to yes

[robertusss]

aah, that tells me we need another feature: "not allowed to ask dum questions / make useless suggestions" :D


sorry.:)

[s.molinari]

Added user profile fields need:

1. Different types of fields. i.e. blob,text,int,date, etc.

2. Different types of input should be available for the different types of fields. i.e. check box, textarea, etc.

3. And, I'd like to be able to send emails through the admin CP to members based on an added user profile field.

A good example:

Nowadays, permission marketing is starting to become the biggest type of marketing in the internet. Permission marketing means, the user gives his or her permission so that they can be sent adverstisement,company info, giveaway info, etc. per email.

So, now I would like to make a user profile field "Send me info per email". This field could be an integer 1=yes, 0=No. And it could be selected through a check box. Could be that is.

Just trying to make an already superb software even better!

Scott

[robertusss]

OK, hope this is really a suggestion (and not again a feature I haven't found yet;))


Some of the threads really get out of hand, like in this forum the Usenet-Addon Thread:
[RELEASE] Usenet gateway (http://161.58.84.213/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7100)

It has 35 pages! Noone (when he is new to the thread) will honestly read the whole thread and then post... Somehow I think we need something here, but I am not sure what...

In threaded forums, these discussions break up into branches, but vB does not have this possibility.

Does it make sense to have threads, that act like forums and are able to have sub-threads?
Lets say we have the thread from the link above. And a moderator decides that this thread is too long so he creates sub-threads:

===========================================
= name of a normal thread in the forumdisplay-view
===========================================
= name of another normal Thread
===========================================
= [RELEASE] Usenet gateway (this is the orginal name)
=- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
= - [closed] original thread (make sure you read this before you join the discussion)
=- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
= - newest version download link.
=- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
= - installation problems? post in this subthread
=- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
= - bugs? suggestions? post in this subthread
=- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
= - general discussion
===========================================
= bla bla name of the next normal thread
===========================================
...


of course it is not cool to have users opening up their own mini-forums so there should be a limited number of sub threads and no sub-sub-threads... ...and of course only moderators should be able to open subthreads.

...good idea? or anything good you can make out of it?

-r

[robertusss]

another *groundbreaking*;) suggestion:

we need a partnership of jelsoft with phpnuke and a php-shopping cart project - all three agree on one login/logout/cookie routine and a joint user database and a search routine.




...sorry, but every now and then I have to do postings like this ;)

[Balbanes]

I really like that sub-thread idea. Looks VERY hard todo tho.

I would like to see a "rate this person" feature, like UBB6 has.

What I would really like is a Spellchecker thing. It could be next to the [check message length] option. I saw a few PHP script sites that have free spellchecker scripts that the dev team could use.

EDIT- Also a "reset fields" option. There is a option like that in the edit screen, but not the post message or post topic screens.

Cheers.

[Wally Hartshorn]

Well, after reading all of these suggestions, I have one request: Keep It Simple Stupid. :) We don't want vB to collapse under too much feature bloat.

Just make sure you implement my requests, though. ;)

[Meli]

Sorry if this was mentioned elsewhere, I haven't been keeping current on the suggestions.

A very tiny thing, but it would make my life a little easier:
Options to "select all" and "deselect all" of the tables when picking which tables to backup via the Control Panel.

I only get one db from my hosting service, which therefore has both vB and non-vB tables in it. I like to keep the backups for these separate (for obvious reasons) and it would be great if I could switch all the radio buttons to one setting or the other with a single click, then reset just those I need for the current download.

Currently there's a lot of radio button clicking to accomplish that effect.

Thx.

[JonnyQuest]

Make the cobranding/template system easier to deal with. Being able to define a custom template (other than the vB default). Making it so I don't have to have an entire template set and an entire replacement set simply to change a few colors and the headers/footers.

We are slowly expanding our numbers of cobrands and the thought of making a change in one tiny template and having to copy it to every other cobrand is frightening.

One other: being able to pull keywords out of the page and into the header in order to serve ads accordingly. Right now, if I want to serve an ad only into our suggestions forum, I need to create an entire new style set with its own header. All I really want to do is be able to put the word 'suggestions' into my ad code and let the ad server do the work.

[tubedogg]

Originally posted by Meli
A very tiny thing, but it would make my life a little easier:
Options to "select all" and "deselect all" of the tables when picking which tables to backup...I only get one db from my hosting service, which therefore has both vB and non-vB tables in it.You shouldn't be seeing any non-vB tables on that list, no matter what you have in your database.

[Inzagi]

What about the rank "Super Admin" in vB 2.1.
The Super Admin would be naturally the highest rank, above the normal Admin.
The Super Admin could have pssibilties to determine what acutually the Admins can change in the control Panel and waht not.
Like the most important things you can turn then in a kind of "invisible mode" where the Admins can't see it anymore.
I think this option would be very cool and I would certainly use to give some work an responsibility in the control panel to other people without having to fear that the Board ist complety deletet on the next day :=

[Meli]

Quote from tubedogg
You shouldn't be seeing any non-vB tables on that list, no matter what you have in your database. Huh? You're kidding, right? I've always been able to see all the tables in my database from the CP, whether they are for vB or not.

If there's supposed to be code to only display the vB ones, it isn't working. And btw, all my non-vB tables are named prefix_tablename where prefix is my non-vB site acronym, so I don't think it's an issue of similar table names.

[Wayne Luke]

Originally posted by Meli
Huh? You're kidding, right? I've always been able to see all the tables in my database from the CP, whether they are for vB or not.

If there's supposed to be code to only display the vB ones, it isn't working. And btw, all my non-vB tables are named prefix_tablename where prefix is my non-vB site acronym, so I don't think it's an issue of similar table names.

It shows all tables within the database that vBulletin is configured for. So if you only have one database it would show all your tables.

A select all and a select none option would be a good idea even if it did only show vBulletin tables because there are some tables I would never backup.

[TendoGamers]

Yeah I think Moderators and A