How can we improve the Earwolf.com forums?

[ToucheCostMart 20]

Just copy the Joe Rogan forum layout...

[Mr.Pete 79]

Post Preview button next to the Send Post button.

Also, by the BBcode hints below, a link to a page with more syntax help would be good. I've seen embedded youtube and images here, but they're not listed in the BBcode markup.?..

[Johnny Unusual 525]

So when should we expect an update?

[jeffullrich 652]

Hopefully mid-September. Andres has been working his butt off on this, but I pulled him off of the project today to work on something even more important. He'll keep making progress but not as fast. It's too bad to wait on this, but I think everyone will be excited by what else is coming. Details in the coming weeks!

[Julia 477]

Move over, Hitchcock. Jeff is the new Master of Suspense!

[ToucheCostMart 20]

DEETS!!!

[CrustyDustReceptacle 154]

This is more of a smaller suggestion, but I think it would be nice for all of the shows' episode topics to include a link to the actual episode page. It's kind of a bummer to have to go back to the Shows section and find the individual episodes (especially on mobile devices).

[Johnny Unusual 525]

We're getting to the end of September. Any news on the new forum front?

[Johnny Unusual 525]

I usually don't like to bump, but I was wondering when we could expect an update regarding the proposed forum upgrade.

[andreslucero 38]

The "even more important" project Jeff was referring to was the new Eardrop (http://www.earwolf.com/2011/11/eardrop-doubles-down/), which is now in the testing phases and should be ready to launch to the general public in a few weeks. Once that's done we'll have some time to finish working on the forums, but we don't have a specific timeline for it right now.

[BlanchotMG 6]

This might be too late to state, but for the sake of it.
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Sometimes it's just as important to talk about what features to add as what features NOT to add. While it's great to give us (as users) a wide array of options, ultimately we need to talk about the goals of the forum, and which features specifically relate to that goal.
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Reading through the proposed features, they seem to fit into a number a categories that promote a different kind of user experience. I'm sure that Andres already has this kind of thing in mind, but I'm looking for a specific kind of user experience that I would like to advocate for.
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Too many forums fall prey to information clutter because there are too many customization features. I don't particularly enjoy quote/signatures, emoticons, and some kinds of formatting features, because they turn a clean looking forum layout into a cluttered mess of features and identities.
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So while I would like to see some changes (namely some kind of reply funtionality), I would just like to advocate for a forum that respects the clean and functional aesthetic that we have all come to know and love from the Earwolf site. I realize that this is already most likely on the mind of the designer/developer, but I thought I'd throw my two cents in.

[Johnny Unusual 525]

Yay! The return of Ear Drop AND a new forum. Pretty swank. Looking forward to both, since I joined twitter for the express purpose of submitting would you rathers, topics to Doug Loves movies, retweeting and a few dumbass jokes that come into my head. I have exactly 1 follower. This is probably for the best.

[justin 38]

I would suggest running the forums with vBulletin (https://www.vbulletin.com/), which is pretty much the best forum software on the internet.

[Bucho 188]

Yeah vBulletin is one of the most user friendly things on the whole internet.

[SeveralCircles 426]

Whatever you do, I just hope you won't add the unnecessary features such as user sign-off line spaces that result in a lot of ugly gifs and ~~qUOtE QuoTE QUotE~~ being thrown around everywhere. The current forums are very pleasantly clean.

[Johnny Unusual 525]

Any idea if the new forum will be ready in January? I got something special I'd like to do on the forum that requires a bit more than is present (Primarily Private Messenger)

[wo 265]

I'm trying to upload a JPG for my avatar, but it says "Failed to set a new photo." Any thoughts on why?

[cyrus 81]

make sure it's exactly square?

[wo 265]

Yay, I'm a puppy again!

[Mar6647 0]

Now that I'm able to navigate directly to my profile from anywhere in the forums, I'd like to be able to navigate directly to my account from anywhere in the greater site as a whole. Because I always want more.

[justin 38]

I really like the new look.

[TigFansUnite 28]

Being able to delete your own posts forever would be nice. Also adding a thread for discussing "Earwolf Forums" alone would make it easier to find posts about the forum.

[Shannon 2953]

Thank you for the excellent suggestion TigFansUnite!!

 

I did just that!

 

introducing... The Forum Forum!!

 

 

Please feel free to post any problems or questions you have relating to the forums or specific posts there!

[jeffellingson 1]

I'm trying to upload a JPG for my avatar, but it says "Failed to set a new photo." Any thoughts on why?

 

Michael, looks like you figured this out .. I'm having the same problem. Any words of wisdom? I tried large files and even 300 x 300 px. Square and also not square.

[Shannon 2953]

I think the dimension requirements are less than either 200x200 or 150x150