[suggestions] the site
 

ok forgetting about the forums for a second i think we should enhance the actual site, i think we should do more to promote vb3 hacks (i.e. removing the vb2 hacks from hottest hacks)

adding a bit of personality content (dunno how)

adding something like HvBotM (hacked vB of the month) to highlight how somebody managed to bring a community together with hacks.

a highlight on HoTM is should have it's own table on the index show the 12 preview winners, with a link to an interview with the winner about their hack and the thought that went into it (personality content)

something for the non-hackers wouldn't go a miss so Hack Request Of The Month, i know in my years here, i have thought up some awesome hacks.

also on vb they've got something referring to support (how long between support requests and answers on average and last 30 support issues. (this idea would require the splitting of support threads, and adding a new sub-forum named testimonials (i'm sure you could hack it so that the testimonials thread was made automatically along with support thread. infact sorry to confuse you, it would be better if the release threads were for testimonials i.e. "awesome hack" and then set up a sub-forum for support made automatically.

ok now the hacks database, i think this needs to come back, with this it's easier to review hacks, it shows what the hack was and what it would work on, also a few extra check boxes would be nice i.e. converter from previous version, add-in's available, etc, etc.

also i would suggest making another style the default as Dark Blue is horrid on 1280*1024 it has additional borders and don't look too professional, a default vB white or grey would let it look like it tied in with .com further.

it would also be good if we could use the main site to have a FAQ of questions in regards to hacking, i.e. how do i set up a blank vb page, how do i refer to info in the post table, etc, etc.

something nice might be the ability to get vB-Dev's opinions and interviews from time to time referring to hacks and hacking, getting them tied into the site a touch more.

add tickbox's as to what the hack requires you to do.

// run queries

// edit templates

etc

Define "run queries": to install the hack, or adds queries in the natural course of the hack's use? Remember that many queries can implicitly be executed without the hacker's knowledge depending on how the code is written.

to define: i mean queries you'd tradionally enter via phpMyAdmin.

There will be some changes to hack support threads and hack release threads, now that Logician will help me with some codings.

We just wanted to wait for gold before starting to hack this site in a bigger way.

As for the HotM thing: sounds like a good idea to me, so we could add it to the front page.

As for extracheckboxes for addins or such: we've planned another way to better support addons and such, just give us some time.

For the Dark Blue Style: Well, i don't like it myself, that's why i use the traditional plain green.
We will post an end for the style contest soon, which will replace DB as the main style

while u on it - we need a better setup for the way hacks are posted as a lot are posted in this format

[vB 3.0.0] Title

the new gold uses vb3 as its name and its confusing as half of these hacks dont even work on it even though hackers are working on ironing out problems.But to those who dont know they will naturally assume these do work as they are listed for vb3 same as their board if they upgraded.

Also dont disown vb2 users as not everyone will upgrade to vb3 as their not a lot to upgrade to if u like a hacked forum as most of the best hacks are still only available for vb2 so its still a popular format.

Oh and kill pharses as well as i get arm ache typing em in :)

Hmm, to my knowledge the code didn't change that much, so there should be just a handful of hacks which don't work with Gold.

So i don't think this is needed, but if you could mention, that there are a lot of not working hacks, i'll add a vB3 Beta - RC option as well, and change all the entries which were vb3.0.0 :)

As for vb2: we'll keep that things that way as long as there is enough traffic in these forums :)

another suggestion would be a "subscribe to post" feature, now that we have threaded mode, i could subscribe to my post in a support thread and get to be notified to responses regarding that as opposed to the whole thread and all the other clutter therein.

Not sure that would allways work out well. Obviously not knowing how the majority reply I would require them to click Quote in your post, use the QRB icon or work if your post was the first/last on the page.

yup you'd have to turn back on the QRB to post but if people were using it properly it would be great, as i know theirs a few times i just wanna know what's happening in reference to my help request rather than the whole thread.

I've now updated our portal

The last 6 Hotms are shown on the left col

on the right column, i'Ve devided up between vb2 and vb3 hottest hacks

Also, removed 4 queries from it :)

lmao, Nice :p

In my honest opinion...the way the hacks are set up now is horrible. Back when I was on the darkside using IPB...the official hack site for IPB (ibplanet.com) had an phenomenal system set up for releasing hacks. I would suggest taking a gander at that to get some ideas...just my thoughts.

This site used to have a hacks database aswell when it was on vB 2.x.x

which i'm trying to get ressurected, it seems(or atleast seemed at one stage) to be the wish of the most of the browsers.

Just a suggestion, but I think the 'HotM' box on the frontpage should be put underneath the 'Latest Hacks' box.

I'm so used to checking that area for any new hack releases, and then yesterday I saw the HotM threads and got rather confused.. Heh. ;)

I agreer 100% with Oblivion, also the hack database needs to come back :) Its what made the site stand out in my opinion, maybe a poll should be done on it

Ok, i've changed the order on the Portal :)

As for the HackDB: It was a redundant system, and when it was active, it wasn't used that often.
If you can come up what exactly you are missing on the way it is now, just tell us, i'm sure we could implement more feature in the current system as well.
But don't post things like: The sort order was better, as this has not changed, the old categories were the same as the new ones :)

agree LOL i came here yesterday and i thought hey up John has released a newer version of the arcade hack - took me a min before it dawned on me

But still good to see HOTM winners getting their own slot as it shows appreciation for the work they do on here.
Besides that i think vb.org runs fine.One suits one person wont suit another so its gonna be hard to please everyone.

Where is the new style Vb.org was supposed to be having ?

I always liked the way of when viewing a hack, you had info down the right hand side, and descrition on the left etc. And there was a link straight to the download and a link to the thread. It just seemed nice and different to me you know? Sometimes when people come to the hacking side of vBulletin they expect something different, which to me, that is. Would like to see it back really :) (Mainly because i didnt own a license when that was on this site and it always impressed me when i came here trying to download things lol)

Damn i knew i forgot something ^^

I'll post an announcement about that soon.
We're currently restructurising some more things ;)

@Mindtrix: well, all that could be made with two or three little template modifications.
(Different firt post and such)
I think i can come up with a way, that will pleas you, but as said, give us some time :)
(but feel free to suggest things :))

I disagree actually, at least I know I used it a lot when it was around, it was the first thing I went for when I came here. :p

Thanks Xenon.!

I agree with the HotM box, it's nice to give those hacks a little more awareness.

nice one Xenon

@Ryan: hmm, you would be pleased with a template modification then as well? :)

looks so much better :)

Depends on if it looks just as good. ;)

Xenon, if you can, i think it would be best to do the template change on another site, like a test site set up just for that, then screenshots posted here and let members do a vote on whether they would like it or not? If you need a test board set up i would be happy too set one up for you

i think you should just add it back, i mean bar coding it, it's hardly anywork to maintain and it's far more presentable than a thread.

Okay, while everyone is just talking, I will add some observations and I mean these in a casual way. I support this site and do not want to be negative.

I just spent a few hours reading through 46 pages of the vb3 modification request forum and it was extremely disorganized. I saw some requests repeated at least 25 times.

It would be best if people could organize their thoughts and post only essential ideas, but unless the vb.org posters suddenly become more intelligent perhaps the forum should be heavily moderated so things are merged or redundant threads are locked.

Some threads in that forum have actual hacks posted (as replies to the request) but it is buried in a thread...not released as a hack! A couple of nice gems are lost because of this confusion.

When there are a dozen threads requesting the same thing, in one thread a coder says he is working on it and in a different thread a different coder volunteers to do the hack. They might be disappointed when they find it was redundant efforts.

Other threads have people requesting features that are defaults in vb3. Other threads have people requesting hacks that already exist. I did not have time to point this out to everyone. But if a request is filled, maybe the thread can be closed or the title can be changed to add the [Answered] prefix.

I do not want to be negative because I know how much work it must take to keep this place going. There is so much to be done and everyone runs out of time. But the request forum is fairly important to match people who want to make hacks for fun with people who need help with problems. It was just disheartening to see it in such a condition.

@Catch: yeah, but where to steal that much moderators to get that forum ordered? ;)
well, we'll see what we can do.

@MindTrix: thx for your offer, but we have a Testboard with an old vb.org DB, so no need for a board by you ;)
Also we have a teststyle on this page, where i do all greater Templatechanges before adding it to the global set, so everyone can see ;)

but you all know, what informations are around in the postbit template, so feel free to submit template suggestions as well.

Hello Xenon,

You just added some new moderators and that should help make things better. You are trying to delegate and that is all that can be expected. No one demands perfection because we all know how difficult it is to manage a busy site. Good luck to everyone!

i think you're right, it would be great to have that place cleaned up a little and filled hack requests moved to another forum or deleted.

I may have missed it in another thread, but was there a reason for turning off the "Similar Threads"? I personally found those most handy for finding, obviously, similar results on what I was looking for. In fact quite a number of answer to searches I have run both here and on vB.com came from thread listed in those results rather than the thread itself I was in.

As the Serverloads are currently very high, we decided to disable that feature.
Also the experience showed, that the similar threads were not that similar as they should have been ;)

Yes, but adding an idiot moderator as myself makes Xenon's job even harder trying to fix the mistakes I will contantly be making. I think he felt sorry for me. Must have been all of the crying and begging I was doing at the time. ;)

Nah, just the 3000$ :)

People were also bringing up 2/3 year old threads from it so that's another reason why it was removed.

And you said it wasn't just the money. By the way, it was 5000$. Someone is holding out on you it seems. It's all becoming clear now, my friend. ;)

[high]* Boofo would start thinking what have I gotten myself into now if he could form a thought of some kind on his own.[/high]

the other 2000$ went to Logician, as he has had to agree ;)

ok, serious again: I'm currently very busy because of universitythings, but these are finished soon, and then i can continue adding features to this site :)