vbulletin neighborhoods

[!!!]

When I suggest things that are to be done (should, could, can, will, etc.), I say this in the event that God is willing. That being said, let me continue this post:

Instead of forums, or solely forums, why not make neighborhoods? It should be divided into countries (made up or based off of real-life, it doesn't matter), counties, cities, streets, and then lots, etc. Houses could even be divided into rooms, areas, etc. so, users can settled into houses, and areas.

If users are friends or even family, they can occupy rooms to a house. Owners (whatever they own, be it a room, a house, a king of a country, an overseer of a county, a council of a neighborhood or street, a governor of a city, etc.) can then decorate and manage areas. Then, this being done, if lands (be them local or large) can be amassed to different things, such as their quality, topics, popularity, etc.

Statistics would be done for all of them in LOTS of VARIOUS, INTELLIGENT ways in order to figure out how to rank them. So, suppose a certain house is constantly posting spam. Obviously, for that neighborhood (the neighbors) it will not be good...and even for the country.

So, as a result, perhaps that person would be kicked out of that community or even put in some sort of prison and restricted so that the quality will be better. Essentially, if done right, the entire forums would be run by the members, and not necessarily an elite group of moderators and administrators. With this in place, it should make navigation and the overall appearance and flow of the forums, the management, and quality improve. So then communities can be separated also by interest. Suppose a country named A is constantly discussing evolution. Pretty soon, that country should evolve to being a strong discussing community in evolution.

The influence, choices, etc. should be governed based off not only statistics, but people's own influence. So, suppose a member spams frequently, his rating/influence would be lower than somebody who spams next-to-none. As a result, the statistics and whatnot should give the member whose track record is better much more leeway.

Members could even design their specific areas...so, suppose if someone is walking through (browsing) a neighborhood street, members can design and spiceup their yards (which should be some sort of table which indicates their house, their name(s), an address or something, perhaps some interests, statistics, information about the owner and possibly other people who live in that house, etc.) with maybe some avatar(s), altering the colors, playing around with various styles--like a signature.

Within a house, members can even decorate their rooms and whatnot...and perhaps house rooms are the various areas of the forum (notice I say "forum" and not "neighborhood", so I mean the FORUM is separate from the community living) where members can post. So, maybe the order, some information and statistics displayed, etc. of those rooms (tables) can be altered and changing and whatnot. So, suppose a member is very active in a forum discussing "Gaming", and is doing well there or something...they would earn "money" which would allow them to decorate their rooms and areas more and whatnot. Therefore, if someone has a high rating in the gaming forum, perhaps there should be some sort of way to show this. Likewise, if they post new threads in the gaming forum, based off of their current statistics, that will be how the thread appears (the table of the thread). So, suppose a blue background indicates that the user who posted it is usually a very good poster (with well information, educational, etc.), then the thread listed would have a background appearing "blue" when someone is browsing the gaming forums.

Essentially, the forums should, over time, evolve into very orderly and productive communities.

So, then, players can move and live in areas (sort of like the RPG Hack) where they fit best. Likewise, it makes navigation for forums easier. This way towns and countries and areas can be established (settled) by users, governed by them, and then managed to allow for nice navigation. If someone gets along with another person very well, perhaps they would both then take interest in living closer together so that when "Neighborhood Watching" (which sorts and allows navigation based on statistics and whatnot so that things which would most interest a person would be listed primary, and this is based on their interests and activity, where they live on the forums, their neighbors and their neighbors' activities, etc.) people can easily find topics and stuff that they like.

I don't know, I'm sure other people can come up with better ideas for such a system, so feel free to addon.

[BigIke]

Wow that would be a HUGE undertaking, but I like the idea. It would definetely the biggest vBulletin hack ever. However, I don't think anybody would be up to it.

[jugo]

I think that hack is called "life". And if you are willing to spend THAT much time on the internet, maybe it's time you find a hobby or two.

EDIT: And a couple of friends as well.

[BigIke]

I think that hack is called "life". And if you are willing to spend THAT much time on the internet, maybe it's time you find a hobby or two.


EDIT: And a couple of friends as well.
Lighten up, it was just a suggestion. A good one at that

[jugo]

OK..I'm lightened.

I never said it wasn't a good idea. If he took the time to detail it as much as he did, I think it's a GREAT idea. But my opinion is that it may be overkill for most because it encompases too much and requires you to constantly spend time on such a "neighborhood" in order for it to be an effective undertaking.

[amykhar]

The one flaw I see with the idea is the allowing the users to decorate their "houses" or rooms which would essentially be forums. A similar hack was found by jelsoft to be a violation of the license agreement.

[!!!]

When I suggest things that are to be done (should, could, can, will, etc.), I say this in the event that God is willing. That being said, let me continue this post:

It's not necessarily "not having a life", but it would be a real, interactive, evolving community. When areas start to die off, the statistics will notice it and perhaps, depending on the previous "binge level" and the now "withdraw" will be a reaction.

Essentially, if there are members who don't even use some forum areas, in their house those areas would have maybe some spiderwebs or something on them and their colors would be darker, dimmed, and further at the bottom (maybe a black background with light text to indicate the lights are out). There would be lots of variations, allowing for lots of possibilities and a strong, evolving system.

When people log on, they can be taken directly to their house and then see a "bulletin posting" or some sort of "flyer" which details the recent activity/activies. They can view statistics of members in their own neighborhood, in their house, their town, country, and so on. So, basically, people can get a bird's-eye-view of the place.

This way people can view the forums based on the community, and not necessarily some built-in or personally defined settings...so, yes, I guess it is sort of like life, but at the same time, that doesn't mean people need to treat it like it's their life, investing all their time on the forums just because they're so nice and revolutionary. Rather, it's a whole new light in online communities and message boards.

So, now, members can have houses (sort of like blogs) and whatnot, and decorate their yards which will be seen by passer-bys and guests, etc. They can, apart from their rooms (maybe there will be something like an "inner room", or "living room") and apart from their activities elsewhere, they can, in their houses, post threads and personal things, sort of like their own sub-forum. Then, they can moderate their own houses--they can deem some members as "burglers" or something, or "intruders", they can require that threads be approved before they show up, etc.

Then, they can (with limited access/power) also post and be active in their own neighborhood, then also in their town, then their county, country, planet, galaxy, and so forth--whatever. Basically it's like a community road-map, and who knows, maybe there could be some sort of interactive graphical map which has routes and roadways and whatnot that display the communities graphically so that you can view them all on a single page. Then, there could be flashing red dots or something on individual houses when someone who lives there is online...and, a watcher can click on that house, or dot, or whatever, and then be taken to that local area (and, when they go to different areas, the environment, statistics, activity, etc. will all be unique, as the communities evolve and settle in, because of the unique characteristics, personalities, etc. of everyone in real life who operate the areas).

So, basically, this gives online communities relativity...taking forums to the next level. Communities should be built on interests, as well.

Yes, it would be a lot of work and it would require lots of graphics, thinking, and innovation, but if someone is willing to jump start the project, perhaps I and other people can help them build on to it to help make it even more complete--because I am aware that this is a big system and idea, and would require lots of different options, statistics, and all sorts of things that would need to be conceived (thought up) and figured out, worked out, and created in order to make it all useful, better, and worthwhile.

But, when all is said and done, the hopes are that it would, indeed, lead to a real, evolving community (a democracy of some sort) by which would make the old ways of forums (particularly intensely involved forums) obsolete, and at the same time all of these capabilities should not be confusing to anyone, nor may it difficult to navigate. Why? Because with a roadmap that gives it all unique environments and habitats, there should be still a forum (a gathering area) which brings it all together.

Sorry for babbling on and perhaps suggesting such a complex idea...but, hey, there has been more complexly scripted things before (even if they aren't for vbulletin)--and vbulletin itself took a lot of work, so it's useless to refuse to take things to the next level if they can potentially improve things drastically just because hard work is involved. But, at the same time, I am not much of a scripter, so far be it from me to judge (lest I too be judged).

The one flaw I see with the idea is the allowing the users to decorate their "houses" or rooms which would essentially be forums. A similar hack was found by jelsoft to be a violation of the license agreement.

Really? I'd like to hear more on that. And, besides, if people can have their own signature, avatar, and caption (and their own username, posting style, etc.), then what's wrong with allowing them to change the color(s) of the tables' backgrounds?...and, also the fonts and whatnot? I'd like to know more.

[twoseven]

!!! the hack was vbhosting(i think) was a good idea. its still out there on the net. the code was bulky though and alot of it. was def. a huge hack. and you have in mind even more, which is a crazy size. jelsoft would probably say that if they can decorate that area themselves its a breech of the EULA (just a guess there). the houses could be seen as subbing out your forum. aka you could resell those areas and only run 1 instance of vb. just would open a can of worms

[!!!]

Again, I speak as if God is willing:

I thought people were allowed to post comments and blogs with their accounts on vbulletin forums? It doesn't necessarily have to be a forum, and things can be compromised to suit the rules.

Basically, there has to be some sort customization...so, if a person has a house (which, in a neighborhood, exists as a table with some displayed personal information, such as statistics and other personal stuff) and someone sees it, they should be able to decorate their table (their "lot", or "area", or "yard") somehow--to personalize it. If they can have personalized profiles and whatnot, blogs, comments, and personal messages, what's wrong with simply making things more visual and realistic, mapping everything together? I do agree, however, why vbulletin would think members having their own subforum is a breech of contract...but then again, perhaps if the hack is made, there would definitely be some way of getting around it by making also a terms and agreement(s) for this hack.

That way, before someone downloads the hack, they must agree that they will not start selling lots, neighborhoods, houses, etc. (or, sub-forums). As such, I see no reason why vbulletin would have a problem with it then...and, I am sure there are ways of doing what we need to do without losing any essence.

That being said, let me say some more ideas: there could be windows or something to people's houses (outside in their yards), so when someone is in a particular street/neighborhood, if somebody is currently working on their own house and content, posting in their personal areas/blogs/personal messages, a light will be turned on in the window, and their avatar will be visible or something...and if somebody is visiting somebody's house, then their avatar could be seen in some sort of "guest's window", or a link to their house/profile and whatnot.

Essentially, what we will do is take ordinary life and turn it into the vbulletin forums so that even a child would be able to understand...and, also, this would be educational, useful, and a big improvement...and allow for many more new, bigger, and better things.

[tnguy3n]

I speak as if God is willing
:alien: :alien:

anyhow, it's an interesting idea.

[Tekton]

What I want to know, is what the problem with Jelsoft is? Why would they care?

[Paul M]

The one flaw I see with the idea is the allowing the users to decorate their "houses" or rooms which would essentially be forums. A similar hack was found by jelsoft to be a violation of the license agreement.How did they manage to work that out ...... :surprised:

[amykhar]

The hack violates the license because it is considered leasing out the forums, from what I remember. You can't run something like ezboard allowing people to run their own forums off your vbulletin license, using their own look and feel.

You CAN allow your users to set up private subforums and use member groups as long as they can't change the style, logo, etc. It has to appear to be one site.

At least this is my understanding of the rules.

[Tekton]

What if you make the style for them?

[mholtum]

What I want to know, is what the problem with Jelsoft is? Why would they care?
Maybe you should ask them and get a real answer instead of a bunch of educated guess's?

[Princeton]

the problem with that hack was that it enabled anyone to lease a 'house' ...
it enabled renters to change everything -- roof, basement, add rooms, remove rooms, who can stay, who cannot stay, etc ... essentially, giving a member their 'own' house for free

there is nothing wrong with changing the paint of a house ... the problem lies when you give authority to someone to add/remove new rooms when you don't even 'OWN' the house


allowing the display of picture frames and/or paint per user/post is a good idea -- doable
allowing users to change their 'house' colors is a good idea -- dooable, although this should be a personal choice (ala style changer) ... another alternative is to give a LEADER (renter) rights to a specific 'paint' for his house -- I'm not suggesting to give him rights to add/remove the roof, basement, rooms, etc--just their choice of paint and maybe some picture frames, their own choice of custom furniture, etc :)
etc, etc..

my 2 cents ... I can't afford more ... time is money.

[sabret00the]

What if you make the style for them?
apparently you can't even brand your subforums with another sites feel and force that without breaking the license agreement, i think it's bollocks but it's what Zachery told me once.

what is intersting though is that you can actually apply hacks to give each individual user license over their experience, you're just not allowed to let them share their experience.

i.e. i could surf your forums in a red theme i made in the usercp with css and as long as it's not an option in the stylechooser or forced in a forum, it's legitmate.

:confused:

[!!!]

the problem with that hack was that it enabled anyone to lease a 'house' ...
it enabled renters to change everything -- roof, basement, add rooms, remove rooms, who can stay, who cannot stay, etc ... essentially, giving a member their 'own' house for free

there is nothing wrong with changing the paint of a house ... the problem lies when you give authority to someone to add/remove new rooms when you don't even 'OWN' the house


allowing the display of picture frames and/or paint per user/post is a good idea -- doable
allowing users to change their 'house' colors is a good idea -- dooable, although this should be a personal choice (ala style changer) ... another alternative is to give a LEADER (renter) rights to a specific 'paint' for his house -- I'm not suggesting to give him rights to add/remove the roof, basement, rooms, etc--just their choice of paint and maybe some picture frames, their own choice of custom furniture, etc :)
etc, etc..

my 2 cents ... I can't afford more ... time is money.

Good ideas, and for the record, we don't have to allow members to change the styles of the forums and whatnot (leasing out the forums). That's ridiculous, and not what I had in mind. However, there is indeed some degree of customizability and personalization that is required (such as, a persons own tag board, which would be their house or something), changing styles of their table (which is a table, such as the many tables listed in a forums' thread listing which vertically falls down the page with the links to the threads), displaying some information about that person, their "address", their name, who is inside their house at that time (guests/visitors), and perhaps even a "garage" (which is a storage room that could be used for something like the attachment database and whatnot and it lists the users' attached files, uploads, and other items...and this would be good for that RPG hack which gives members items and such).

It can show members of that household, if a household (for whatever personal choice/reason by the individuals involved) is occupied by more than one person. Perhaps a particular street is occupied by extremely skilled graphic artists who have designed their yards (or, let's call it "landscaping") so beautifully that one particular yard has been designed and maintained by more than one person (two graphic artists). Okay, then, there is a chance that they both want that house then. So, two people should be able to live in a house (or, a family).

People can then give out "house keys" and whatnot to people if they want to lock their houses but still allow people in.

Personal messages would be the person's "mailbox". A house can have more than one trash-can for suspended items (such as read mail, removed threads that the user hasn't destroyed or "burned" yet, so it it's in the "trash bin"), etc. Basically, we take home living and implement in online so that things are much more user-friendly and allow for much nicer navigation and options.

Wanderers/homeless people/bums would be people without a house yet (and perhaps in order to have your own house you must first start posting and being active, or "working"). Then, as someone earns money, they begin to purchase things. Also, people can earn donation money...and this is money that the users cannot spend for their selves, they must give it away. So, when very active, involved members have charity-money and a bum comes on the forums who has great potential but has not had enough time and whatnot to build up their own "life" on the forums, people can donate money.

This is sort of like a rating...if a very good and pleasant graphics person (a constructive person as well) comes to the forums, people can donate money to them. However, charity-money should not come quick and greatly...because it should be a collective effort that someone receives donations--that way we don't have a bunch of elitists who start building their friends up even if they are good or bad (we don't want a spammer to all of a sudden start rising to the top because one of their friends decided they would donate $1,000,000 to them)...and perhaps there could be taxes or limits and whatnot so that things don't get wildly corrupt and out-of-control.

We need things fair and righteous...

[!!!]

As always, I say this in the event that God is willing. That being made clear, let me type more:

It could be useful as well to permit the promotion of threads. Suppose somebody sends someone a personal message...that user could then have the option of promoting (hanging it) so that instead of being a thread addressed to that particular user (personal, private mail), they can post/transfer it to their wall (or, inside their house). Now, users can also stick threads in their yards, however, there are limits to the use of the yard (zoning laws). So, since it's a much more public area (a neighborhood), they should be able to stick one sign (post one thread) in their yard at a time. So, people ought to be picky about what goes on their lawn.

Now, people should be able then to promote threads likewise other areas. So, if someone browses through the neighborhoods and sees a thread out on someone's lawn, they know that this is a "selected thread" (sort of like a dean's list or something, so the threads on the lawn are like favorites/hotpicks). As such, the threads on the lawn are highly esteemed. People can then start to promote such threads. So, a thread from a person's house can only be promoted by other people if the owner allows it to (sticks it in their front yard or something).

Likewise, threads can spring up somewhere like a little sprout and then all of a sudden catch a lot of popularity and begin blowing everywhere. When people begin to "reap" other threads (promote them), then threads can, statistically, climb the charts. As such, threads can go from being in someone's front yard to being in somebody else's front yard--or their back yard. If a thread is in someone's back yard, that means it is supported, but it less of an esteem/promotion to that thread than if it were a select few that can go in the front yard.

The back yard should probably be a "secondary referral" or so, whereas the front yard is the more primary referrals. As such, secondary referrals can have perhaps a larger maximum limit, or even no limit at all, but of course then back yards would not be so publically displayed, but would be more of a "favorites" or "suggestions" area.

So, then, if a thread begins to become very highly esteemed (suggested and referred a lot, promoted a lot, etc.), then depending on how popularly it has been promoted, it can begin to show up in areas such as a "town's pick", and then furthermore towns are more apt to read "town's picks" rather than go searching through a particular person's front yard--since people are more apt to go looking for something based off of a larger preference rather than to go looking through hundreds of front yards.

So, as towns begin to spread the word, a thread can quickly jump up the charts to being the "top pick in the county", and then the "top pick in the state", the "top pick in the country", and then the "top pick in the planet".

This would be very useful, and would help forum communities and stuff grow, evolve, and improve. Instead of having to worry about moderation and whatnot, the forums will moderate their selves (well, kind of--the people will moderate them on a singular level and the statistics and popularity and whatnot will help everything grow).

This then can help communities grow and build. If particular trends come about, then such trends can be utilized (whereby the higher people in authority, such as an overseer of an entire country, can know what to offer the community to improve it).

So, as areas become grouped by their similarities and interests, etc., the entire forums can grow. Imagine two people share common interests (how frequently they view a thread compared to how frequently someone else views that thread, how frequently they reply to it, how frequently people reply to a particular person's posts and vice versa, commonly repeated words and other attributes, etc.), the forums would be more apt to link (see, people should have newspaper boxes as well which can display current events, announcements, and suggested threads and areas of interest for that person to check out based on statistics which would evaluate the best items to deliver to each particular user) and bring two people together who are similar than two people who are completely different--and there can be an "opposition" option as well, by which a user can rate another user.

So, if someone is statistically being linked and involved in someone else's "life", but they, out of their own human interest, are familiar with that person and they simply don't like them, they can then use an alternate form of rating.

So, if someone's primary rating is high, that means that they're statistically good for that person. However, users can then set manual "secondary ratings", which can interfere and override primary ratings. If someone gives someone a secondary rating of "0", that would be similar to putting that person on ignore--this means that they want the vbulletin system to keep that person away from them (SORT OF like a restraining order).

So, then, there can even be zoning laws. If a particular neighborhood has been settled for some time with a peaceful, active, and friendly community, if they share interests and whatnot, they can set zoning laws that forbid new people from moving in and disturbing it (and these zoning laws can be decided by polls and statistics and ratings). So, if a particular neighborhood has good neighbors who paint the outside of their houses and do nice artwork and nice landscaping, they certainly wouldn't want someone to come in and start posting threads on their front lawn saying, "LOLADASA!!! YOU PEOPLEZ R DUMB!!@$!!", painting their house black with red, anarchial and/or satanic lettering and messages, and burning gnomes on their front lawn.

No, zoning laws can be set to allow the forums to evolve like a real-time community and world. As such, particular areas can have higher influence. If a town known for their skills and professionalism in graphics are promoting a graphics thread, then such a town should obviously have more influence than an entire town promoting such a thread if that town has hardly any activity and interest in graphics statistically and whatnot.

So, as such, when people view the higher more established areas (like the planetary threads or the countrywide threads), threads should be more apt to be promoted to those areas based on REALITY, that way spam and stuff are more likely to remain more undersituated and local.

So, when people want to view spam, they'll be more likely to enter someone's house (if that that person has access, be it because the house has been made public or because the person has a key or because the owner has not banned that viewer as an intruder/burgler) than viewing a town's pick or a country's pick (and certainly more likely than viewing the planetary's pick, because the global threads are far higher up and more likely to weed out all the lower, less important and spam threads).

So, you see, it's a real evolving community, of the people, for the people, by the people.

[tehste]

you type too much...
It sounds like you are describing something quite complicated that would actually be a different community system than a bulletin board. From what I read I like your ideas. Maybe not as a vb hack but as a totally new system... Interesting...

[!!!]

you type too much...
It sounds like you are describing something quite complicated that would actually be a different community system than a bulletin board. From what I read I like your ideas. Maybe not as a vb hack but as a totally new system... Interesting...

Thanks, it really would be interesting, and new system or not, it could potentially revolutionize the online world. As such, the members make the discussions, the topics, and the members make the news. It would be quite versatile and creative, and allow for many new possibilities and creative input.

Perhaps I do type "too much", however, if someone's interested in the idea and willing to make it, the "too much" is better than "too little". It gives them reference writings.

...and as I read your p3tz site, I recognize just how nicely it would work with this hack. :) Having pets for houses and whatnot...and perhaps they could be integrated to perform a lot more with vbneighborhoods (which, for the record, still needs someone to make it!).

[Trigunflame]

apparently you can't even brand your subforums with another sites feel and force that without breaking the license agreement, i think it's bollocks but it's what Zachery told me once.

what is intersting though is that you can actually apply hacks to give each individual user license over their experience, you're just not allowed to let them share their experience.

i.e. i could surf your forums in a red theme i made in the usercp with css and as long as it's not an option in the stylechooser or forced in a forum, it's legitmate.

:confused:

Me having to pay $30 a year in addition to the $160 I payed when I bought Vbulletin "Should Break The License Agreement" or be considered robbery.

[red_baron2000]

nice idea however i also doubt this can be seen by jelsoft as an addition or a hack..

[!!!]

bump

[Hellspire]

Thanks, it really would be interesting, and new system or not, it could potentially revolutionize the online world. As such, the members make the discussions, the topics, and the members make the news. It would be quite versatile and creative, and allow for many new possibilities and creative input.


To this I can only say that your idea is flawed in respects that the "online-world" has already been revolutionalized in that sense. People if they want can create their own forums by either purchasing a good script like vBulletin, can create blogs, or can use a cheap board like phpbb which are free, or use free forum hosting.

Your ideas are spirited but the center of that idea cannot derive from a vbulletin framework because of the leasing bit.

Edit: Friend, the solution has already been found. It is called.. the internet, *gasp*!

[!!!]

To this I can only say that your idea is flawed in respects that the "online-world" has already been revolutionalized in that sense. People if they want can create their own forums by either purchasing a good script like vBulletin, can create blogs, or can use a cheap board like phpbb which are free, or use free forum hosting.

Your ideas are spirited but the center of that idea cannot derive from a vbulletin framework because of the leasing bit.

Edit: Friend, the solution has already been found. It is called.. the internet, *gasp*!Your opinion can be respected, however, I do not know a forum whereby the posts and threads are actually all ordered and promoted by realtime statistics.

There's a huge difference between forums, chat rooms, websites, and search engines. For you to go generalizing and attempting to negate the possilibity of further innovation is incredibly foolish.

People who constantly whine about how things are "already done in a sense" and "WE DON'T NEED ANYTHING NEW" are living in the past and offer quite destructive beliefs. I believe the future holds great things for this world, and so let us not linger like addicts.

[Borgs8472]

You've got a nice concept going, rather than working from the 'neighbourhood' theme and speaking in grand terms, why not work up with bits we've already got working?

Obviously there will be private threads, as well as 'jobs' which are usergroups, you have to have enough post count to get a high paid job, and get to the best forums etc. That's an idea by itself.

If you as admin design the jobs, you can design an appropriate skin in each case, have the 'boss' of that job send you agreed amendments.

A prison is an idea that many boards use to stop spammers already, give that its own theme of course ;)

I know you'd ideally want to automate the process, but really you'd just need several admins on hand to constantly make secondary usergroups.

To make the automatic system you've discussed, you'd have to make it a user (or regular user) power to make their own forum (build/buy a house ;) ), I don't know how to do that for starters.

Getting a user to edit their forums own CSS and images is a seperate task.

When a users builds/buys a house, they automatically start a new secondary use group (you'd have loads of them!) of which they are group leader and can let people join their group/house. Again, that's currently an admin function.

I feel 100 threads in one day with the word 'fire' in should burn the forum to the ground :D

Unless a fireman comes in who has only the power to remove threads entitled 'fire'!

Okay I'm getting silly here, but this idea needs to be broken down into its component pieces more.

[!!!]

I agree, and I wish I could give the idea up completely if necessary. However, there does indeed need to be some sort of "promotion"--as you interpreted it, getting a good position.

So, yes, if there are hundreds of members posting threads in their houses, they should be able to hang threads (as I said, putting it on their front lawn) which means that they're promoting them. Then, the threads so climbing the charts. If a bunch of users who have earned rights of "firemen", or whatever, begin posting in a thread, then because of the common denominator and its frequency of showing up, the thread would obviously start climbing the charts--so it'd be a "must have" for other firemens (it would show up in the "mail" of people's houses when it comes time that it reaches a boiling point and starts promoting itself in the mail for notices or whatever).

Essentially, it becomes like a living community. Sure, it might start off slow at first, but you have to consider the fact that there are less threads at first, so newer threads would obviously be hot-topics until the forums get more threads being posted, and then things begin to "weed out"--or, in other words, sort themselves out. It's sort of like a smart forum which is formed to meet the needs of the community.

It's sort of like a window into the world of e-mail. Users have the potential to turn stupid threads like, "Hi, my name is bob" into the forums' hottest thread if for some reason everyone starts viewing it a lot, posting in it, and/or promoting it.

So, users can even promote threads that aren't their own--but, users should seriously be cautious about what they promote, because what they promote has a limit on it. They can only promote maybe five threads--descending from highest approval to least approval.

Then, threads have new listing options: Overall Promotion, Promotion by Groups (so, if the overall community promotes a thread about growing trees but lumberjacks obviously are not promoting it, users should be able to, using the neighborhoods, use the "jobs" system to find threads popular by those who promote cutting down trees). The house should be like grand central for a user--it serves them like maids with a folder on a platter.