Open Letter - how can we make Calguns.net better?

[artherd]

Now that GeoVario is involved in Calguns.net, we have the unique opportunity to leverage both our own technical pool, and the vast resources available in the Calguns community as well.

To that end, I would like to hear, from a technical perspective, new features, ideas and even dreams and goals, for Calguns immediately, in the next year, and beyond.

I can't promise all or any of your ideas will see production, (it's not my call this is Kestryll's site) but I can promise you your ideas will receive audience; Kestryll and the rest of the Calguns staff will review this thread and consider your ideas!

Best!
-Ben.

Since it seems to be needed, here is the
link to the list of acronyms, TLAs and other abbreviations frequently used at Calguns : http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...hlight=acronym

// Librarian

[Johnny Diablo]

Stability in the form of a reliable forum.

[CSACANNONEER]

Free beer?

[Patriot]

I would like to see SSL support for forum browsing (I think this was demoed in the past?).

[Vectrexer]

Originally Posted by artherd

Now that GeoVario is involved in Calguns.net, we have the unique opportunity to leverage both our own technical pool, and the vast resources available in the Calguns community as well.

To that end, I would like to hear, from a technical perspective, new features, ideas and even dreams and goals, for Calguns immediately, in the next year, and beyond.

I can't promise all or any of your ideas will see production, (it's not my call this is Kestryll's site) but I can promise you your ideas will receive audience; Kestryll and the rest of the Calguns staff will review this thread and consider your ideas!

Best!
-Ben.

Establish a California Firearms auctions board to suck away business from Gun Broker. Income for CG and Kali gun friendly at the same time. Plus GB's forum management is a joke.

[sorensen440]

Originally Posted by Vectrexer

Establish a California Firearms auctions board to suck away business from Gun Broker. Income for CG and Kali gun friendly at the same time. Plus GB's forum management is a joke.

I really like this idea if it is doable

[Hopi]

-A search function that works a little better....more google-like if you will.

-An FFL information forum specifically designed to walk a less-sophisticated FFL through the processes and legalities of commonly requested Calgunner's "special transfers or purchases". Every FFL has an internet connection, but few have the patience to wade through multiple threads in various forums while you stand in his shop or talk on the phone.
This could be backed by the Calguns Foundation with direct contact (email or phone, etc) info if applicable or available.



-

[rivviepop]

I'd like to see 2 features:

- the ability to reset your last login date/time in the database so as to unmark-as-read older posts. I'm thinking a simple click from the main nav bar. Often you start to browse CGN thinking you have the time but get pulled away, and end up missing things - being able to click to reset your date/time to (N)-1x login would help a ton.

- the ability to have per-subforum keyword-and-PM-notify scanning upon post. Given a keyword to scan for, every post is compared and the user PM'd the URL to the post (or maybe once an hour en masse on another CPU/server). I could set my keyword "wilson combat" in the For Sale forum and get notified of any posts with that in it. (obviously this is not trivial and many safeguards have to be built in)

thx. can I get fries with that?

[motorhead]

faster refresh rate.
i like the auction thing too. gb has turned into a place to fleece noobs.

[M. Sage]

Originally Posted by Hopi

-A search function that works a little better....more google-like if you will.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=126816

Hey, does this mean I'm on the tech team? When's my first coffee break?

[Coffee]

Originally Posted by rivviepop

- the ability to reset your last login date/time in the database so as to unmark-as-read older posts. I'm thinking a simple click from the main nav bar. Often you start to browse CGN thinking you have the time but get pulled away, and end up missing things - being able to click to reset your date/time to (N)-1x login would help a ton.

Ben you are the tech guy and I assume you want feedback on things that affect your servers. Might want to set the Thread/Forum Read Marking Type to Database (automatic forum marking)


On a forum as large as cal guns it may put more of a strain on your servers though.

[aplinker]

Here's what I would consider perhaps the #1 thing I'd like to see:

A means to pay for items bought online that:

1.) doesn't require Paypal
2.) is gun friendly
3.) has acceptable fees (3% or less)
4.) is EXTREMELY easy to sign up for

[thedrickel]

Originally Posted by uclaplinker

Here's what I would consider perhaps the #1 thing I'd like to see:

A means to pay for items bought online that:

1.) doesn't require Paypal
2.) is gun friendly
3.) has acceptable fees (3% or less)
4.) is EXTREMELY easy to sign up for

Yep. **** paypal. Every time I sell something and take the money in thru them I'm afraid they are going to steal my $$.

[Dartagnan]

TRY OFFICAL WARNINGS OF UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR BEFORE BANNING MEMBERS, WITHOUT POSSIBLE RE-INSTATEMENT. WRITTEN WARNINGS GENERALLY HIT THE MARK AND WILL ALMOST ALWAYS BE SUFFICENT PENALTY, RATHER THAN THE EXTREME,LIKE EXILE OR BANNISHMENT. ITS ONE THING IF A PERSON CONTINUES AFTER WRITTEN WARNINGS. THERE SHOULD BE DUE PROCESS TO EXILE,.

[Nefarious]

Originally Posted by Dartagnan

TRY OFFICAL WARNINGS OF UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR BEFORE BANNING MEMBERS, WITHOUT POSSIBLE RE-INSTATEMENT. WRITTEN WARNINGS GENERALLY HIT THE MARK AND WILL ALMOST ALWAYS BE SUFFICENT PENALTY, RATHER THAN THE EXTREME,LIKE EXILE OR BANNISHMENT. ITS ONE THING IF A PERSON CONTINUES AFTER WRITTEN WARNINGS. THERE SHOULD BE DUE PROCESS TO EXILE,.

Things like using all caps in posts
You using a Military keyboard?

[Darklyte27]

A free puppy!!

[bswp]

Originally Posted by Darklyte27

A free puppy!!

And a baby's arm holding an apple!

I think there are four areas to review or improve:

1. Server hardware - providing sufficient space, fast drives and pipes, stable backup strategy, fail-safe rollovers.

2. vBulletin forum optimization effort, and giving users more control over their configuration.

3. Open and transparent policy for enforcement of rules - stop with the arbitrary banning of members when moderators get their panties bunched in a wad. Along with this, a simple single listing of "the rules," as opposed to how it is now, scattered throughout the forums.

4. Review of new forums.

[Coffee]

Open Letter - how can we make Calguns.net better?

Might want to consider doing this so the quoted pictures show up as links. It appears attachments are not enabled on this site so sent an email to you with an attached file.

Edit the file includes/class_bbcode.php

1. Find the function called: handle_bbcode_quote
2. Right before the last line of the function I added the following lines:

//### HACK BEGIN - Turn [img] to [url]
if ($this->contains_bbcode_img_tags($html))
{
$html = preg_replace('#\[img\]\s*(https?://([^<>*"]+|[a-z0-9/\\._\- !]+))\[/img\]#iUe', "\$this-handle_bbcode_url(str_replace('\\\"', '\"', '\\1'), '')", $html);
}
//### HACK END
return $html; // <----- Last line of function

What's happening there is that function is acting on the quoted response. Early in the function it strips smilies, does some tweaking depending on the user's browser version, and then at the very end, I added code to detect if there is a quoted bb image tag and if so, it applies a regular expression against the bb image code to make it so only the url is displayed. It seems to be escaping the bb code so the bb parser doesn't turn it into real img tags.

[sorensen440]

Originally Posted by Dartagnan

TRY OFFICAL WARNINGS OF UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR BEFORE BANNING MEMBERS, WITHOUT POSSIBLE RE-INSTATEMENT. WRITTEN WARNINGS GENERALLY HIT THE MARK AND WILL ALMOST ALWAYS BE SUFFICENT PENALTY, RATHER THAN THE EXTREME,LIKE EXILE OR BANNISHMENT. ITS ONE THING IF A PERSON CONTINUES AFTER WRITTEN WARNINGS. THERE SHOULD BE DUE PROCESS TO EXILE,.

I see your new here.
People being banned here are given numerous warnings unless what they have done is really really really bad.

[rynando]

The forum's HTML code is very, very broken. There're two complete sets of html and head tags on the top of the page that need to be cleaned up. I'm counting two body tags as well which look like they're nested. Not a big deal but, in the interest of making sure the forums are as accessible as possible, that should probably be fixed.

R

[bigchelis]

Far too often the right guns are in the opposite side of the state and the seller is not willing to ship. I would be good if the gun sales were seperated in N.CAl/S. CAL.

[sorensen440]

Originally Posted by bigchelis

Far too often the right guns are in the opposite side of the state and the seller is not willing to ship. I would be good if the gun sales were seperated in N.CAl/S. CAL.

But many are willing to ship
I would like to see the city added to the title though

[Blacky]

Originally Posted by Dartagnan

TRY OFFICAL WARNINGS OF UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR BEFORE BANNING MEMBERS, WITHOUT POSSIBLE RE-INSTATEMENT. WRITTEN WARNINGS GENERALLY HIT THE MARK AND WILL ALMOST ALWAYS BE SUFFICENT PENALTY, RATHER THAN THE EXTREME,LIKE EXILE OR BANNISHMENT. ITS ONE THING IF A PERSON CONTINUES AFTER WRITTEN WARNINGS. THERE SHOULD BE DUE PROCESS TO EXILE,.

Being banned for a week or 10 days works fine and sends the message home. If it ain't broke don't fix it. How about animated gif avatars instead?

[Inkman]

Originally Posted by bigchelis

Far too often the right guns are in the opposite side of the state and the seller is not willing to ship. I would be good if the gun sales were seperated in N.CAl/S. CAL.

I agree with Big in part. Either seperate the regions or make it mandatory to have your location in the title. Nothing irks me more than to read a for sale that ends in "FTF only" in whatever town 400 miles away from me. By far most of the sellers are in the Bay Area/Sac or LA/further south.

A simple N Cal, C Cal or S Cal would suffice in the header. That way those that want to deal with FFLs and shiping still can if they want the item bad enough.

Al

[aplinker]

I've often thought a programmed set of questions to post in the firearms section would be helpful. An automated box of required questions (rifle or pistol, location of seller, willing to ship, price or trade only, C&R eligible (y/n/uncertain)). It would probably require each firearm to be in its own post within the thread.

Then, once these are answered, every new posting has a box that lists these. It would eliminate rule breaking and make it much easier for people to size up the situation.

[sorensen440]

Originally Posted by uclaplinker

I've often thought a programmed set of questions to post in the firearms section would be helpful. An automated box of required questions (rifle or pistol, location of seller, willing to ship, price or trade only, C&R eligible (y/n/uncertain)). It would probably require each firearm to be in its own post within the thread.

Then, once these are answered, every new posting has a box that lists these. It would eliminate rule breaking and make it much easier for people to size up the situation.

Awesome Idea !!

[sorensen440]

Would it be possible to personalize what sub-forums show up when using the "new post's" funcion?

It would be nice to have the option to exclude sub-forums your not particularly interested in.

[DVLDOC]

Ability to check who replied to your post/thread from the last time you log in with a sigle click of a tab/button...

[Blacky]

It looks like a lot of ideas are vBulletin related, I think Ive still got 2 or 3 dvd's full of vBulletin mods and programs that I have acquired over the years. If anyone that knows about that stuff is interested I can make copies.

[bswp]

Originally Posted by sorensen440

It would be nice to have the option to exclude sub-forums your not particularly interested in.

This capability is supported in the vBulletin software, I've seen it used to good advantage on other sites.

[sorensen440]

Originally Posted by bswp

This capability is supported in the vBulletin software, I've seen it used to good advantage on other sites.

I would still like to see the off topic when I'm in the mood but most of the time Id rather see gun related threads
does it let you still see the off topic section ?

[Kestryll]

Just to mention it, I am following this thread and I've seen some interesting suggestions so far. A few of them I want to look more in to, they've got interesting potential.

[jlh95811]

Originally Posted by Darklyte27

A free puppy!!

Get Outta My HEAD!!!

[motorhead]

i think the warnings here are very fair, hell i've gotten enough of them to be an excellent judge. sometimes the dark side follows me here.
howzabout a forum just for noob questions, ESPECIALLY "is this legal/illegal?'

[Coffee]

Open Letter - how can we make Calguns.net better?

Not really technical per se but it is possible to be selective of what is archived in google by only allowing logged in members to view certain sections of CG.

Google a political topic and CG may be in the results and people join just for that reason. The election forum might get deleted, I'm just trying to convey the general concept.




Another low priority idea is enabling mutiquotes - again not really technical, more of a general policy decision.

[sorensen440]

Originally Posted by motorhead

i think the warnings here are very fair, hell i've gotten enough of them to be an excellent judge. sometimes the dark side follows me here.
howzabout a forum just for noob questions, ESPECIALLY "is this legal/illegal?'

The issue I worry about here is who is going to monitor it to insure they get the correct answers?
I could see a real issue if newbs are answering newbs on legal questions

[Coffee]

Originally Posted by artherd

Now that GeoVario is involved in Calguns.net...

Best!
-Ben.

How is it going Ben?

[N6ATF]

Originally Posted by sorensen440

Would it be possible to personalize what sub-forums show up when using the "new post's" funcion?

It would be nice to have the option to exclude sub-forums your not particularly interested in.

YES YES YES!

[Glock30]

About a multi-quote function?

It will eliminate on post whoring and having to copy/paste every single time you want to quote multiple people.

[artherd]

Originally Posted by Coffee

How is it going Ben?

Great! Busy deploying new equipment, rest of the team is busy taking in new customers. GV has some very exciting projects in the works, that I can't reveal anything else about just yet How about with you?

Originally Posted by Glock30

About a multi-quote function?

It will eliminate on post whoring and having to copy/paste every single time you want to quote multiple people.

Tell me more about this - is this a vB enhancement you've seen elsewhere? This one I had to do manually!