*NM*

I think we need to do something about the *NM* situation. Others may not agree, but I'll make my case anyway:

Currently when someone makes an *NM* post, replies by default retain the *NM* in their subject. This is very confusing, and makes it harder to parse which posts warrant a click and which ones don't (on HBO, replies to *NM* messages drop the *NM* from the subject).

If we deem this as something requiring fixing, could it be done by altering the forum software? If that's not possible, could we establish some kind of forum etiquette to ameliorate this condition, e.g. encouraging people to manually remove *NM* from the subjects of their replies if their post contains text? That seems like it'd be a less cumbersome rule than encouraging people to drop *NM* posts altogether and to put their message inside the body.

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Good point. I'll start removing the *NM* from all my replies… well except this one. :p And if the software could it do it for me even better. :)

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Besides encouraging others to be mindful of their subject line, the preview button allows you to see if there's anything of value in someone's post before clicking the actual link.

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A workaround for the moment is the preview button. But I agree, it seems as though stripping *NM* from posts with text can't be that hard.

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Man! I was goin to be clever and post without a message. But my phone won't let me. (Comes up with an error and won't let me send it)
Forum Fail.

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lol

But yes, I agree with Schooly. Except on such cases where we put *NM* but cleverly (?) insert messages in them, it shouldn't be too troublesome to make a script, if the engine allows scripts to be made.

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There are JavaScript files associated with the page. If I was on my desktop then I could list them. Most browsers have built in developer tools that let you read them.

I imagine that these files are somewhere on the server and could be edited to do almost anything.

My preference would be to drop *NM* or replace it with a bitmap that replaces the preview button when the msg has no contents. So you would either see nothing (no preview speech bubble) or see a *NM* bitmap where the speech bubble would be.

I'd have this be automatic. If a message has no non-blank non-comment text when the post button is pressed then the JavaScript sends an empty msg to the server. When the server delivers the page, the php script will check to see if there is any text in the msg - if it has then it adds a preview button for that msg - if it's empty then it adds nothing or a do nothing *NM* bitmap label.

So you need JavaScript changes on the client side and php changes on the server side.

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It's a trade off - client side means more text sent (unless JS is cached) - server side means more work for server (PHP)

And it's not just non-blank text that should be ignored we should also treat bold tags and their ilk as blank text (white space).""

Quote this message to see the tags in the quoted string above.

-PS I would probably do it on the server side because we only get a few hundred msgs posted per day. That wouldn't be a great load on the server. Though I expect that modifying default behaviour makes life difficult when the base software is upgraded. There is a maintenance cost. (I suppose)

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I'd have this be automatic. If a message has no non-blank non-comment text when the post button is pressed then the JavaScript sends an empty msg to the server. When the server delivers the page, the php script will check to see if there is any text in the msg - if it has then it adds a preview button for that msg - if it's empty then it adds nothing or a do nothing *NM* bitmap label.

But then we would lose the "NM on purpose" hidden messages...

I quite liked your idea otherwise, though. I'll look into it, if Arithmo isn't already.

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You could quote a line from a very long msg and have a title that says: wrong for reason.

So just do *NM* flag if msg genuinely empty. Easier to code.

How do you test your changes? Is there a secret test forum?

Thinking about this stops me thinking about Destiny :-)

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You could quote a line from a very long msg and have a title that says: wrong for reason.

So just do *NM* flag if msg genuinely empty. Easier to code.

I think that was more an issue with HBO which auto-quoted the previous. so if the posted msg compared to the quoted message was identical, it would consider it NM. DBorg defaults to empty msg, so if someone manually adds the quote, I don't think it should still consider that a NM.

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It would just be two ways of showing "*NM*" on the subject;

One is server-side - an empty (white-space/blank only) message has PHP append *NM* to the subject on display - replying to one then wouldn't include the *NM* in the subject.

The other is front-end - you can still manually add *NM* to the subject and it would appear exactly the same when you read the forum, and it would show up when someone replies.

Just take the NM handling straight to the server, and don't do any subject field altering. What someone puts as the subject stays as the subject. The *NM* is just appended like it is part of the subject, but for display only. I thought that's how HBO already did it :P

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and don't make the bitmap act like a button. In other words don't display the preview box on an empty message.

I don't know if the image should be *NM* or {} or something else that suggests no message. I suppose that no image at all would work but peeps might think that the absence of bubble was a bug.

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and don't make the bitmap act like a button. In other words don't display the preview box on an empty message.

I don't know if the image should be *NM* or {} or something else that suggests no message. I suppose that no image at all would work but peeps might think that the absence of bubble was a bug.

Seems they went with that.
I didn't suggest that because it takes away the fun HBO had with the *NM* in the subject :) (ie the ability to add side-thoughts to the subject which really was the primary message)

Now we know *NM* is always manually added. *shrug*

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I skipped over this post multiple times because I thought it would be blank. Great title, haha

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I think something could (and should) be done for convenience and clarity. I'm not worried though, it's a new site and tweaks will be made!

Personally I love the layout and many of the new features of this forum! Good job Wu!

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Personally I love the layout and many of the new features of this forum! Good job Wu!

I agree. They took the good stuff from modern forums and threw out the bad stuff.

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If possible the way it used to work should be restored.

OTOH I would like to have the first non-blank non-comment line set as the message title. That way you have a good idea of the msg contents without having to press the preview button. You can also get a good idea of how the discussion is going just by scanning msg titles.

The two ideas conflict but I would choose the second behaviour over the first.

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Meh. I like custom message titles. They let you indicate what you want to talk about and make it more obvious when a thread change course or splits off in a new direction Besides seeing "No Cody, you're wrong." or "Great work Levi" repeated all the way down the page might get a bit boring. :p

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Bug - Quote message didn't work for me.

You find long lists of repeated titles really boring.

So do I.

We already get lots of those because msg titles are inherited from the msg that they are the replies to.

If we had a system whereby msg titles are generated from the first non-blank non-comment line then such boring runs can only happen if all posters were constantly unoriginal.

I think that my suggestion would lead to more varied and informative msg titles.

I'm not just guessing here; I have seen this work well in other threaded message systems (Virtual Access).

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If entire msg fits in title then just don't display preview button.

So... To get a *NM* msg either just type in title box or just type something very short in msg box and let JavaScript fit it into the title and send empty msg when user clicks post.

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NM

NM

NM

NM

NM NM Fail

Re: NM NM NM

Re: NM NM

JavaScript and php changes needed

Or it could all be done on the server side

JavaScript and php changes needed

We'd need another way to separate the in from the out crowd.

I see what you did there NM

Need to allow quote only msgs

Need to allow quote only msgs

JavaScript and php changes needed

Just have server send NM bitmap instead of speech bubble

Just have server send NM bitmap instead of speech bubble

NM

But for Realz

But for Realz

NM

NM

NM

remove NM?

DBO Forums

*NM*

*NM*

*NM*

*NM* *NM* Fail

Re: *NM* *NM* *NM*

Re: *NM* *NM*

JavaScript and php changes needed

Or it could all be done on the server side

JavaScript and php changes needed

We'd need another way to separate the in from the out crowd.

I see what you did there *NM*

Need to allow quote only msgs

Need to allow quote only msgs

JavaScript and php changes needed

Just have server send *NM* bitmap instead of speech bubble

Just have server send *NM* bitmap instead of speech bubble

*NM*

But for Realz

But for Realz

*NM*

*NM*

*NM*

remove *NM*?

NM

NM

NM

NM

NM NM Fail

Re: NM NM NM

Re: NM NM

I see what you did there NM

Just have server send NM bitmap instead of speech bubble

Just have server send NM bitmap instead of speech bubble

NM

NM

NM

NM

remove NM?