Submit an Article | Bookmarked Articles
Viewing Site News Posts - Page 5
| Have yourselves a good one. | December 24, 2008, 8:05PM |
 by: eon |
|
I think I would be remiss as a webmaster if I did not wish the entire site a wonderful and joyous holiday season. And since I live in unmitigated, abject terror of the possibility of being remiss: Have yourselves a wonderful and joyous holiday season. I hope your Christmas is the best fucking Christmas ever and that your New Year ain't too shabby either. All I ask is that you find yourself a mistletoe to share with someone or just do something really nice and unexpected for someone for whom you might otherwise not. One or the other, it's your choice. ILUGUIZE, be good and be safe. | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [18 comments] |
|
| A few small things. | November 23, 2008, 1:46PM |
by: eon |
|
Just a few small updates to the site today: 1. Image uploading. a. It is now possible to upload an image from a URL. For example, if there is a picture you have already uploaded to photobucket or some other site, you will now find a place where you can enter the address and it will be copied over to your gallery on DarkStarlings. This saves you the step of having to download and then re-upload images that you find on the web. b. Previously, there was a 2 MB limit on the file size of the images that you could upload. In consideration of growing file sizes (and lazy people) I have upped the limitation to 5 MB. Note, this will have no effect on the final image which appears in your gallery. This simply makes it easier for you to upload images if you have large file sizes. (Normally, you'd need to resize or compress a large image before uploading, now you may be able to upload it directly.) 2. Friends. a. You will now receive a notice in your comments when someone has added you to their friends list. In the notice, if you have not already added that person to your own list, you will have links to easily add them back or (if they're really gross and ugly) to remove yourself from their list. b. When browsing your "friends of" list (the list showing people who have added you to their friends list), you will now have a convenient link to add people back if you haven't already done so. This will make it easy to quickly scan for people who have added you, who you haven't added back and allow you to easily add them or remove yourself from their list. As always, watch out for any creepy-crawlies and enjoy... | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [7 comments] |
|
| Forum and Group Updates | August 2, 2008, 7:51PM |
by: eon |
|
I've made a series of small updates and refinements to the forum / group platform. While small, some of these changes will make things a lot easier or more interesting to use. Updates: 1. Video posts, BBCodes and you: It is now possible to display YouTube, Google and MySpace videos directly inside of forum and group posts. Previously, if you tried to do this, the embed code would be stripped out (for security reasons) and the video would not appear. Well, if you use an embed code it will still be stripped out, but I've introduced new BBCodes which will allow you to do this safely (and more quickly and easily). It's as simple as taking the address of the video page and putting it inside of the correct BBCode tag. As an example, you could post a YouTube video with a code like this: [tube]Address to YouTube video page goes here[/tube] In addition, when you post videos this way, a 5-star rating icon will appear, allowing viewers to rate the video. These ratings will be unique to DS (separate from the video site where the video is hosted). To view the guide to the new BBCodes, click the New Post link and then click the link for BBCodes. Or just edit any post and scroll down a bit. There are other newly added BBCodes which will make it easier to add links, images and other things to your posts. 2. Search functions. Searching in forums and groups has been updated to include two new fields. One will limit the age of posts you search (so you can narrow down your results if you only want more recent posts). The other will let you display search results as either 'Topics' or 'Messages'. Previous search results have all been in 'Topic' format. That is, when you search for a certain keyword, you just get a list of topics containing posts which match, and you need to go hunting through them to find whatever you're looking for. Now, if you set results to 'Messages' you'll get to see a preview of each individual post which contains the keyword you searched, as well as a link directly to that post. In most cases, this makes it much easier to find what you're looking for. Try it! 3. Andromeda signatures in forum and group posts. The optional 10 rotating signatures that are available to Andromeda members will now appear in forum and group posts. This is significant because images are allowed in these signatures (they are not allowed in regular signatures). Previously, my concern here was that I didn't want the forums cluttered with too many large or obnoxious images that are repeatedly posted in sigs. To help keep our forums and groups from being cluttered this way, I have set a limit on the size of images which may be posted inside of these signatures. That limit is 400 pixels wide by 100 pixels high. 4. Refinements and bug fixes. I've made a number of other small refinements and bug fixes to the forums and groups. For example, signatures and "updated by" notices are now stored separately in the database from the actual messages. What this means is that when you quote posts, the sigs and "updated" notices will no longer appear in the quoted text. They will also be absent from search results. This will reduce clutter overall and make things easier to read. I fixed quite a few pesky bugs as well, many of which were long standing. So if you had any favorites, they are probably gone now. (Sorry.) This is all a part of my overall plan to modernize our forum/group platform to increase it's features and ease of use. There will be more to come in this department (eventually). For now: Enjoy... | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [4 comments] |
|
| A Bunch of Updates | June 29, 2008, 11:19PM |
by: eon |
|
I've completed work on an assortment of little updates to the site which I will detail here: 1. Polls: You now have the ability to post polls both in the site forums and in groups. To post a poll inside of a group or forum topic, click the 'New Post' link and then click the 'Post a Poll' link. As some have suggested, this may change the social dynamics a bit. I'm going to see how this goes and I may consider adding in some controls to help keep things from getting too crazy (if indeed they do.) 2. Easier group invites: You can now invite someone to your group by clicking a link directly from their profile. To find the link, scroll down to the section of their profile where you normally find links to see what groups they are a member of, add them as a friend, etc.. I have also upped the maximum group invitations to 30 per day. 3. Blog comment notifications: You will now receive a notification when someone posts a new comment to your blog (in the same place as the 'New Comments' notification). When you click the link, you will have a display of your blog entries where only the entries with new comments will show up. You will also find some new links to toggle between different ways of viewing your blog entries. 4. Only display pics with new comments: Similar to the new viewing options for blogs, when you click your 'New Pic Comments' notification, you will now see a page which only shows your pics which have new comments. You'll have links to toggle between these views. This should come in super handy for you Andromeda people who have like 80 pictures and have to go hunting for which ones have new comments every time you get a notice. 5. There is also something new in the forums which you may or may not find. If you do find it, I hope you like it. As always, be on the lookout for any bugs which have been introduced. I've tested everything pretty well, but a few always sneak in somehow. And: Enjoy... | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [7 comments] |
|
| A Few Updates | May 18, 2008, 10:40PM |
by: eon |
|
A few small updates have been added: 1. In the forums, you will now be able to see a list of the last 10 people to view any thread. To find the list, just go to any thread and scroll to the bottom, where you will find a table with the spiffy new info. 2. In groups, a feature has been added allowing you to block specific people from your group. Previously, to block people from your group, you had to set the group up to require an application and then not accept anyone who you didn't want to allow in. This works fine as long as you want to require applications/invites. If you wanted to run an open group, however, there previously was no way to keep the troublemakers out. This will also come in handy for blocking people who pester you by repeatedly applying to your group despite repeated rejections. Look at the 'manage members' section of your group control panel to find the new feature. 3. Andromeda members will now be able to see a list of the last 20 people to view any picture in their pic gallery. To see the list, just view any picture and look for a table with this info. If there have been any viewers, the table will appear above the picture comments. Keep in mind, since the featue has just been added, the lists haven't had much time to accumulate views, so it's likely you won't find much right away. I may add the same feature for Starling members (with a reduced number of people saved on the list). Currently, I am testing to see whether or not this is practical and what limitations I'll need to set. Find out more about Andromeda Thank you. And, Enjoy... | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [8 comments] |
|
| New Feature: Site Themes | February 20, 2008, 6:23PM |
by: eon |
|
Check out your Control Panel under 'Edit Profile' for a new option: Site Themes. It's pretty straight forward. Pick a color you like and all of the site backgrounds, links, borders, etc., will be changed to suit your taste. This is good if you'd like a break from the site layout we've had for the past... oh... 3 years or so. Currently available: Original, Green, Blue, Orange, Pink and Grey. You might find some sections of the site that are not covered by the themes. IE, you might select the 'Green' theme and at some point find a page somewhere on the site that has not been changed to green (it would still have the original look). If you find such pages, let me know. There are quite a few I've had to link up and I've covered most of them but I'm sure I've missed a few. Thanks and... Enjoy. | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [27 comments] |
|
| Site Poll: Tools or Rules? | January 13, 2008, 3:40PM |
by: eon |
|
The poll I'm going to link here addresses an issue that has come up many times in the history of this site, starting with the introduction of our forums and then continuing with the addition of Groups. Although this poll asks a question about the way groups and forums are used, the answer could have an impact site wide. So I'd like everyone to please take a few minutes and help out in settling this long time, hotly debated issue. The poll pretty much explains everything, so please carefully read the background section of the poll and give it some thought before voting: Take the poll: Tools or Rules? Again, I think this is something that could effect everyone, so I would encourage you all to vote! Thank you for making your voice heard. | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [5 comments] |
|
| CSS Changes Affecting Groups | November 18, 2007, 12:21AM |
by: eon |
|
In working on new features for the site, I'm having to update the CSS a bit. Some of these changes will affect those of you who have done customized group layouts. I'm going to keep an ongoing log of my changes in the following forum thread: CSS Changes Affecting Groups In the end, I hope this will make the CSS a bit more flexible and also a bit more organized. I'm not for sure how long I'll be making changes which will affect groups, but the above thread will be the place to go if something changes in your layout and you want to get a quick idea of what to do about it. Thank you for your patience . . . | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [3 comments] |
|
| Happy Halloween... and stuff. | October 31, 2007, 11:36AM |
by: eon |
|
I believe the recent server troubles have finally been resolved, as we've held steady for a few days now. *knocks on wood* As a side effect of all the work I did in tracking down the glitch, some helpful refinements were made in the code and in the way the server is set up. Ultimately, this has resulted in slightly smoother operation of the site. So smooth, it's scaaaaaary! Eh hem. So I hope you guys have a great Halloween. Have fun, keep it safe and watch out for the zombies and rabid chipmunks which are almost certain to be on the prowl tonight . . . Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!! | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [10 comments] |
|
| Outages | October 14, 2007, 10:21PM |
by: eon |
|
The site was intermittently accessible and extremely slow for much of the day, today. This was due to a network failure at our webhost that has been addressed. They've informed me that we should no longer be affected by the issue. However, this issue was not related to the series of outages we've had over the past few days, which have run anywhere from a few hours to many hours in length. These outages are due to a problem actually somewhere on our server that I am still tracking. Basically, something is hanging the server up at random times, seemingly every 24 hours or so. I'm addressing this by setting up log files to monitor different things that might be related. After each crash, I'm going back through log files, looking for the cause and potentially setting up new logs to track other potential causes. Unfortunately, since the crashes happen without warning and at any given time, there's always the chance one will happen while I'm away. In which case, the server will be down for X amount of hours. Bear with me, I'm trying to check more frequently to reduce downtimes (though I do have to sleep occasionally!) and hopefully I will be able to track down the source of the failure soon. I'm also looking into some automated process to monitor the server and automatically reboot when it crashes. Additionally, I will be running some maintenance soon, sometime in the next few days. This will tie things up for hopefully no more than 2-3 hours. Thank you for your patience. | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [6 comments] |
|
| pages: back 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 next |