Site Upgrades & Features!

Tyler · 10-07-2006

Last week I was very busy upgrading the site. There are now a ton of upgrades and new features. In fact, there are so many additions that in order to write about them all here, I'd need to take up probably 15 posts.

I will therefore only list the highlights. Note that these are merely a tiny fraction of the new features available. (For a complete list of changes, you can view the developer's changelog here.)

Note: I am using screenshots from the default skin, not our custom skin, so don't be confused - the main elements are still the same.

That being said, here we go!

Fight Bookie!

We now have a Fight Bookie feature! You can access the Fight Bookie by either clicking on "Fight Bookie" at the top menu, or by clicking on the individual Bookie Thread on the forums.

Each member starts with $500 in Fight Betting Cash. This is just for fun, of course, but can definitely be used for bragging rights. I may... may... even add a feature in the future where you can trade in your fight cash for actual stuff (MMAForums t-shirt, pride/UFC dvd's, etc.)

Only administrators and moderators can create events, for obvious reasons, but everyone can bet on the fights. Enjoy!

Mark Forums Read with AJAX

If you wish to mark a forum read, you can simply click its status icon on the index page and the change will be processed without a reload. You can even mark individual sub-forums as read in the same way.

Quote Tags Link to Quoted Post

When quoting a post, the ID of the post is automatically included with the [quote] tag. When the quoted text is viewed in a thread, a small icon links back to the quoted post.

Auto-Resize Oversized Image Attachments

If a user attaches an image that has dimensions larger than the administrator allows, the image will automatically resized to fit. This is similar to the auto-resizing of avatars that vBulletin 3.5 performed

Infraction System

Note: I will be setting up the specific infractions and posting a new thread reminding members of them in a day or two. I will also notify and inform moderators of this new system.

The infraction system allows me and my moderators to flexibly reprimand problem users. We can create as many types of infractions as we want to represent any type of rules violation on your board. Each infraction has a controllable weight (points) and an option to allow it to be applied only as a warning, which alerts the user to their violation but doesn’t give them any points. Additionally, the points given to a user for a violation can be automatically removed after a specified amount of time via the Scheduled Tasks system.

The points are used to remove permissions from users that reach specific thresholds. To be more flexible, the existing user group permission system is used. You can see in the screenshot that “Registered Users” who have more than 15 points will have permissions from the “Infractions – Moderate All Posts” group applied, and any user with more than 30 points will get permissions from the “Infractions – Banned” group.

When an administrator or moderator wishes to apply an infraction to a user, he or she clicks the infraction icon on a post, and is presented with a choice of infractions and an option to send a private message to the user with more information. It is not a problem if a user has disabled private messages but that is a feature for another day. If private messages are disabled globally and email is available, an email will be sent to the user instead.

A user may also be given an infraction from their profile. The profile is also where a user's infraction history can be seen. Active infractions may also be reversed by users with appropriate permissions.

In addition to receiving a PM about an infraction/warning, users are alerted to new infractions in their User control panel.

Tyler · 10-07-2006

Signature Permissions per User Group

I can now control exactly what users can put in their signatures on a per user group level.

This is one of my favourite new features. I won't be modifying this yet, but if I start to see some pretty obtrusive signatures I will.

Controls include basic character count limits (including or excluding BB code), effective line count limits, and limits on individual BB codes. See the screenshot below for a full list.

The majority of the permissions are displayed to the users while editing their signatures

If a user edits their signature and contravenes any of their signature permissions, they will be shown an error describing what they have done wrong.

Uploadable Signature Image Support

Additionally, I can now allow users to upload a single picture with their signature. If I combine this with limiting access to the [img] tag, I can completely control the dimensions and file size of the images your users place in their signatures.

Signature pictures are controlled with the [SIGPIC] bbcode allowing them to be placed anywhere within a user's signature.

Improved Image Verification (Captcha)

This is an extremely important addition. Previously, we were getting dozens upon dozens of automated spambots register and spam on our site.

The previous version of Captcha was 'mastered' by these spambots and a lot got through. The new one is much more difficult to break through, and since upgrading the forum, I've already noticed a greatly reduced number of spambots.

The image verification system can now be customized extensively by the board administrator. Options allow me to control the difficulty of the image by allowing you to select whether each letter can have its own font, font size, slant, and color.

Additionally, administrators may upload custom backgrounds and TrueType fonts to be used in the images. The background image and font will be chosen randomly for each verification image.

Receive Private Messages from Buddies Only

You may now select to receive private messages only from users on your buddy list. If a non-buddy tries to send you a message, they will receive an error saying that you do not accept private messages. Administrators and moderators are automatically able to bypass this restriction.

Give Reputation Using AJAX

Reputation can now be added to a post without leaving the page. When you click the reputation icon on a post, a box will appear and allow you to choose whether you approve or disapprove of the post and provide a reason.

Private Messages: Quota Warning

Once you have reached 90% of your private message quota, you will receive a warning telling you that you have almost reached your quota.

Private Messages: Admin Quota Override

Administrators send private messages to users whose inboxes are full.

Full BCC Support in Private Messages

A number of you have discovered this by now. Like in an email, BCC (blind carbon-copy) allows you to hide the full list of recipients from each recipient. In previous versions of vBulletin, the “to” field acted like a BCC field. Now, the “to” field acts like the field in an email; each recipient will see all the names in the “to” field.

Thumbnail Display Options

You can now display additional image data around a thumbnail. You may choose to display a border, image dimensions and size, or both. When dimensions are enabled, the type of file (JPG, GIF, PNG, etc) will also be displayed if room permits.

Well, that's all folks!

Jason · 10-07-2006

Wow! You weren't kidding when you said that you had added alot of new features.