Zenius -I- vanisher.com -5th style-

Suggestion: Custom HTML user layouts, that uses some code before and after the posting field to work.

Example: roxharis from Acmlm's Board.
My old layout, as well as SWR's. (He doesn't post here, but has an account. Also note my font could have been a bit smaller...)

To prevent use of really annoying HTML that makes popups or prevents your text from being visible, my suggestion would be to provide a layout test that allows the user to see what it would look like, with a "submit" button. Then, the actual layout (once completed) would not come into effect until you (al2k4) receive a little automatic message [Y/N] with the proposed layout, and hit Yes.

A system where a user can turn off layouts and individually block single layouts he doesn't like would be a good idea too, if the above was implemented.

One of my favorites was the Notepad.exe layout. Looked like the user was typing in Notepad.exe. *shrug*

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Here's a little idea...

I'm sure you're probably finished creating themes for v5 so this might be more of a suggestion for v6, but what if you were to make it so that there are certain themes that are only available to members with a high enough user rating, or maybe perhaps a high enough post count? For example, maybe something like a silver based theme becomes "unlocked" when a user reaches a rating of 100 and a gold based one is unlocked when they reach a rating of 150 or something like that.

It almost would make browsing ZIV feel like IIDX or lumines, where you unlock skins as you go along.

Maybe even motivate certain people who are like me and are crazy about unlockables be better posters.

Doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
This is also another potential hazard with people abusing the ratings system.

But as long as Dark is a default theme, I could care less!

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Possibly. But thats what giving out negative ratings are for.

I thought that motivating people to be better posters was one of the main points of ratings. Otherwise it's just an indicator of who is better than who.

Idk, it's fine with me if it never happens.

It does motivate people to post more, I'll agree with that. But then you'll have people people posting senseless crap like "I had a dream Nijiiro was there" and people repeating the same thing twice. ...and I guess that's when we give negative ratings! Nevermind!

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And what if your rating drops below the amount needed? That wouldn't be fun to see your page return to default skin.

If we want ratings to mean something more than just who's better than who, ranks based on ratings could be worked into the level system.

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Lol exactly, and if you go too far into the negative ratings, some of the regularly available themes also get taken away until you're left with only the default.

Themes should be a privilage, not a right!!!

How about the change your User Name option?

Though I kinda wish I could change my user name, they had that option at the doublejumpbooks forum and it was a catastrophie. I totally lost track of who used to be who lol.

Mods had that option on Acmlm's Board, and people could change their username. They could be identified by the same avatar or same post layout***, but custom post layouts are not implemented yet on this board, and people seem to change their avatars frequently. I don't normally read signatures either, so identification like that wouldn't work for me. I think unlockable site themes and changeable usernames would be bad ideas.

***(the question of customizable post layouts is still in the air!)

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The site works as it is. There is no need to pile crap on it until it breaks.

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How about, at the language select bar, you put all the words in their native language? So, to get to Spanish, instead of the word being 'Spanish', it'd be 'Español', and instead of clicking 'Japanese', you'd have to click '日本語'. Then it'd be easier to find the button. If I was on a Spanish website, if there was a link that said 'English', I'd assume it'd translate the site. I probably wouldn't get it as soon if it said 'Inglés'.

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Customisable posts sound like a pretty bad idea IMO and doesn't really help with getting the point the user is trying to get across. And I'll see about the language thing.

Actually, on second thought, I'd like to customise certain other people's posts so that they don't appear, is that doable?

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Like the GameFAQ's ignore user feature?

That would be good but I don't find anyone annoying to the point where I'd block off what they said... yet. Then again, I'm not you.

You don't want to ignore me would you? ._.

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Neither do I...

at least not any regulars.

While we're on the topic of customizing posts, how about highlighting friends' posts (just the info bar on the left, not the whole thing) like how their names are in green? Would that work?

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Where'd the edit button go? >_>

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Did it go missing?

Oops, never mind, I see what I did there.

What else have you been doing? I've been noticing some changes since last night (I think it started last night?)

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Well, all night for me. I changed the language names to their native languages.

Still figuring out what to do with the drop down menus without it looking like crap...

Also ... the mini-profiles on the left of posts, I moved that code to a function so that it will be consistent throughout the entire site ... which I'm still in the middle doing.