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Forum features wishlist

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Any features you wish Polycount had? Let us know and we'll see if we can grant them.

This is for wishes only, new things to add, not bugs. If you find bugs please see Bugs! We got 'em!

Here's our current wishlist, in no order except by where they would appear on the site:

Site Features
  • Embed our twitter feed in a page that we can sticky.
  • Better job posting boards. Need clarification here.
  • Bring back the old rank system. (fixed 2016-06-03)
  • Forum skin chooser.
  • Recent Topics button. (added 2016-09-19)
  • Drafts button. (added 2016-09-19)
  • HTTPS support.

Search
  • Use quotes to search a string, use + and - to force/ignore search terms.
  • Sort the results: date of original post, date of last reply, number of replies, number of views.
  • Option to disable search term highlighting.

Front Page
  • Automatically post latest tweet to the News page.
  • A separate section on top of the main page for the latest monthly recap.
  • RSS feed for the news page.

Categories
  • Less dead space in thread list view. (fixed 2016-06-10)
  • Thumbnails next to thread titles.
  • Mark unread threads as green and read threads as gray. (added 2016-10-07)
  • Jump to a specific page in a thread, from the thread list.
  • Show the number of pages in thread titles.
  • Show the last poster's name. (added 2017-03-01)
  • Show the last post date. (added 2017-03-01)
  • List view rollovers are too jumpy. (fixed 2016-06-10)
  • Show if OP has replied to the conversation.
  • Show if you have posted in the conversation.
  • Filtering options for recent topics.  For example, a filter for General Discussion + 3D Showcase + Technical Talk.
  • Trending posts section. Maybe underneath the stickies.
  • Stickies divider above regular posts.
  • Subforums list should show the most recent reply in each. (added 2016-10-03)
  • Ignore list: hide all topics & posts by those users.

Comments - Features
  • <iframe> support in HTML mode. For example to control Vimeo options like width/height/etc. (Vanilla will not allow this)
  • Marmoset viewer embed.
  • Bring back the old Polycount emojis.
  • Anim gif avatars.
  • Ability to view artwork in full resolution.
  • Quick drawing overlay tool for art critiques. Freehand draw, lines, arrows, circles, text, etc.
  • Quote block shouldn't allow a backspace below it to enter inside it.
  • Quote a selection.
  • Reaction buttons "Like" "Thanks" etc. (added 2016-09-02)
  • Image size limit for uploading, to avoid WAYWO browsing slowdowns.
  • Add a new poll in a reply within an existing poll.
  • Polls should allow multiple choice, as an option.
  • "This post has been edited" indicator.
  • "Show original post" if a post has been edited.
  • View a single post.
  • Favorites list for tagging single posts.

Comments - Layout
  • Less dead space in thread view. (fixed 2016-06-10)
  • Ranks shouldn't be same font as usernames. (fixed 2016-06-11)
  • Ranks should be in the Online/SendMessage block on the right. (won't fix, all now in header)
  • Two-tier name, time they have been a member plus the number of posts, to create a two word title. This way, even lurkers will get 'promoted' without having to post a lot. (won't fix, too much clutter)
  • Offline/SendMessage moved to underneath avatar, or into right side of post header. (fixed 2016-09-09)
  • Customize the color for the yellow flash animated effect when you post.
  • OP avatar is way too large. (won't fix, they're fine)
  • User name in quote header should link to their Profile page.
  • Signatures limited. 3 lines max, no styling like bold or sizes, no colors only gray (unlinked) or white (linked).

Comments - Navigation
    • Option to view posts in a thread in reverse chronological order.
    • Previous Thread/Next Thread navigation at the bottom of every page.
    • Suggested threads list at the bottom of each thread, related to title or OP.

        Notifications
        • Threads should send one notification, then stop sending notifications until you look at that thread again.
        • Option to follow another user. Receive notifications when they post.
        • Option to "automatically favorite any threads I participate in" (Forum designers said they won't add this feature. Instead, disable the option "Notify me when people comment on discussions I've participated in" and manually click "Add To Favorites" when desired)
        • Notifications (bell icon) is redundant and should be removed. (Won't remove, some use it for recent posts, using "Popup" in Notification options)
        • Notification email should contain preview of what was said. PM notifications do this, why not thread reply notifications?
        • Notification email when you're quoted, as an option.
        • Notifications: option to be notified when OP replies.

        Profile & Messaging
        • Drafts should be created for Conversation replies.
        • Remove redundant profile buttons "Edit My Thumbnail" and "Remove Picture", they exist inside "Change My Picture". (fixed 2016-06-10)
        • Drafts: how delete? Add a way to selectively delete drafts via Profile. (fixed 2016-06-16)
        • Edit a private message after it's been sent.
        • Badges for milestones & awards: Recaps, Banners, Frontpages, years as a member, Posts, contest awards. (added 2016-10-04)
        • Show why an account was banned. (only shown to moderators)

        Replies

        • Shadownami92
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          Shadownami92 polycounter lvl 7
          Bringing back the Lastest Posts/Recent Activity button so I can see new posts across all threads at a glance.
        • sziada
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          sziada polycounter lvl 11
          Gif Profile Pictures

          Better job posting boards
        • AtticusMars
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          AtticusMars greentooth
          I just wish quoting text in replies worked better :\
        • StephenVyas
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          StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
          A identifier on the thread heading, which indicates that the OP has replied to the conversation vs.. a bunch of user comments
        • Eric Chadwick
          This is all great stuff, thank you, added.

          Bringing back the Lastest Posts/Recent Activity button so I can see new posts across all threads at a glance.
          There's this: http://polycount.com/discussions  But agreed, a button for it would be nice. 

          I just wish quoting text in replies worked better :\
          Can you give me some detail about this? What exactly doesn't work. I think I know but I don't want to guess.
        • Magihat
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          Magihat ngon master
          Not really forum related but I would suggest having a separate section on top of the main page for the latest monthly recap. Right now it just fades away really quickly when it used to be the front page highlight with the old design.
        • Konras
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          Konras polycounter lvl 12
          I miss ability to view artwork in full resolution. I always drag an image onto the address bar in browser to see it in full glory. If this would be somehow integrated I would be in heaven.
        • nyx702
          Number "10. Threads should send one notification, then stop sending notifications until you look at that thread again" would be great. In addition to that I also really miss the preview of what was said in the notification email. If it's just a "Looks good!" comment I don't need to come and check it out. 
        • Eric Chadwick
          Yeah. PM notification emails do this, why don't thread notifications do it too?
        • McGreed
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          McGreed polycounter lvl 15
          This is just an idea in the future, mainly for the "Art Showcase & Critiques" sections. A way to mark images to help pointing out issues, for example someone posting work in progress and you can then click on the image and do basic edit on it, like create red outlines on it, to help marking up the areas you are talking about, without having to open an external paint tool and having to upload image. I know its possible to do some kind of CSS overlay on images and create the shapes just with JS and CSS, so you wouldn't actually create a new image, but just save the information in database and create the shapes on the fly.
          Just wanted to post the idea somewhere before I forgot it. ;)

        • GhostDetector
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          GhostDetector polycounter lvl 10
          @McGreed

          You can do that with Lightshot and ShareX .  Although you would still need to upload the image.
        • AtticusMars
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          AtticusMars greentooth
          I just wish quoting text in replies worked better :\
          Can you give me some detail about this? What exactly doesn't work. I think I know but I don't want to guess.
          The biggest problem is that if you quote a post, then backspace the first reply line, there's no easy way to get out of the quote box. You have to delete the whole thing and start over or edit the HTML.

          You can see this problem in action occasionally when people reply because they won't bother starting over so their whole reply will be inside the quote box.

          I also wish it were easier to just quote a certain block of text, perhaps by highlighting it then hitting the quote button. Instead right now you have to quote the whole post and then delete the sections you don't want.

          Edit: Also it may have been mentioned already but users should get notifications when they are quoted in a post similar to if they had tagged a user with the at symbol.
        • PyrZern
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          PyrZern polycounter lvl 11
          I just wish quoting text in replies worked better :\
          Can you give me some detail about this? What exactly doesn't work. I think I know but I don't want to guess.
          The biggest problem is that if you quote a post, then backspace the first reply line, there's no easy way to get out of the quote box. You have to delete the whole thing and start over or edit the HTML.

          You can see this problem in action occasionally when people reply because they won't bother starting over so their whole reply will be inside the quote box.

          I also wish it were easier to just quote a certain block of text, perhaps by highlighting it then hitting the quote button. Instead right now you have to quote the whole post and then delete the sections you don't want.

          Edit: Also it may have been mentioned already but users should get notifications when they are quoted in a post similar to if they had tagged a user with the at symbol.

          Auto tagging/notify sounds awesome. Is it not a thing yet ? I mean; I could add the '@' manually, like I did above. Did that notify you, AtticusMars ??
        • Eric Chadwick
          Hmm I get notifications when I'm quoted. Check your settings?

          All these suggestions are great. Added them to th OP, and will add to our tracking system.
        • AtticusMars
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          AtticusMars greentooth
          Hmm I get notifications when I'm quoted. Check your settings?
          Are you sure they are from people quoting you and not from them responding to your thread or discussions you've participated in?

          I don't see any option to enabled quote notifications. All of my notifications are enabled except "Notify me when people comment in discussions I've participated in" because I don't want to get spammed.

          @PyrZern Didn't work. Don't know if that is always the case, I've tried that before as well, not sure anyone else gets them.
        • AtticusMars
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          AtticusMars greentooth
          @Eric Chadwick Also could you bring back the ability to delete drafts? 

          I remember a while ago looking at my profile there was an option to see all the drafts I had saved and to delete them, but I don't see it anymore. Maybe I'm just blind?

          Not that big of a deal I guess but I have accidentally replied to multiple threads because I am clumsy and had a draft saved -____-
        • Eric Chadwick
          You can see all your Drafts here, along with a few other tricks. 
          http://polycount.com/discussion/63361/information-about-polycount-new-member-introductions/p1#forum

          Deleting drafts is not so easy, only way I've found is to replace each with a space character, then Save Draft.

          I'll add quote notifications to the list.
        • Eric Chadwick
          How would you guys feel about limiting signature height? I just saw one that's 12 lines tall, wtf man. I'm trying to minimize dead space with a new layout but some of these sigs are crazy.

          Is one line for sigs good enough? Or do you need it to be two, or three?
        • Magihat
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          Magihat ngon master
          How would you guys feel about limiting signature height? I just saw one that's 12 lines tall, wtf man. I'm trying to minimize dead space with a new layout but some of these sigs are crazy.

          Is one line for sigs good enough? Or do you need it to be two, or three?
          Two is probably more than enough.
        • Makkon
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          Makkon polycounter
          That's pretty much everything, other than some nicely working PNGs.
        • sziada
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          sziada polycounter lvl 11
          not sure but  also is the polycount rank system working, I just wanna level up, because I find it fun :)
        • AtticusMars
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          AtticusMars greentooth
          Search feature is also pretty useless in its current state, there's no way to filter or sort results, you can't even search specific forums anymore from what I can see.

        • Shadownami92
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          Shadownami92 polycounter lvl 7
          This is all great stuff, thank you, added.

          Bringing back the Lastest Posts/Recent Activity button so I can see new posts across all threads at a glance.
          There's this: http://polycount.com/discussions  But agreed, a button for it would be nice. 

          Thanks! Bookmarked that link, having a button that's easy to find would definitely be a huge plus for sure though.
        • m4dcow
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          m4dcow interpolator
          How would you guys feel about limiting signature height? I just saw one that's 12 lines tall, wtf man. I'm trying to minimize dead space with a new layout but some of these sigs are crazy.

          Is one line for sigs good enough? Or do you need it to be two, or three?
          I think one is fine, there is a decent amount of horizontal space.
        • Eric Chadwick
          Hmm we don't have a control for height of the sig field. But we could set a limit on the number of characters. Will have to play with this, try to find a good middle ground. Unfortunately that would break a lot of existing sigs. Hmm.

          Better search, noted.

          PNG handling is in the bug list.

          We can re-enable the old rank system. That was very Polycount. Will take a look tomorrow.

          Maybe we should bring back the old red/blue/green skin. Ha. Adam would kill me.
        • McGreed
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          McGreed polycounter lvl 15
          You could add it as skins option, so people could choose themselves which skin they prefer.
        • GhostDetector
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          GhostDetector polycounter lvl 10
          Would it be possible to have filtering options on recent topics?  For example only seeing posts from General Discussion, 3d Art, and Technical Talks.

        • Bluestemos
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          Bluestemos polycounter lvl 5
          - Being able to 'like' a post would be nice.
          - A 'HOT' section underneath the stickies which would showcase threads that spark lots of interest would be nice as well (like a 'trending' section?).
          - A small space between the stickied threads and the regular ones on the boards. Not too important, but it'd be a nice way to make the boards a bit more organised.
          - A size limit for uploaded images. Since some users upload dozens of megs worth of PNGs to the WAYWO threads they take forever to load with a slow connection.
          - A small list of suggested threads at the bottom of each page of a thread, which would give you a few threads that relate to the title or the OP of the thread. Would be helpful when you're trying to find information about a certain topic. 
        • xvampire
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          xvampire polycounter lvl 14
          Bluestemos said:
          - Being able to 'like' a post would be nice.
          :proud:
          me too want this :D
        • Eric Chadwick
          Why do you want to "like" posts?
        • McGreed
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          McGreed polycounter lvl 15
          Maybe when you don't have anything specific to add, but agree with the post/topic? I'm guessing...only agree on it, if there is an dislike option as well, because if there is one thing Facebook has taught me, is that you REALLY want that option at times. ;)
        • Eric Chadwick
          @Bluestemos some good ideas there.

          About "like" buttons. There are times I'm finding where I want to upvote someone's post because it's funny, or because it's Truth, or just to say thanks. Negative buttons are probably not a good idea. People tend to take downvotes too seriously.

          Not sure about how our built-in Reactions system works, will test it out. Some reaction setups show who clicked what, which is nice, like a mini-poll for that post. The ratings might also show up on your profile page too.

          More thoughts about like/dislike buttons?
        • walkonsky
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          walkonsky polycounter lvl 11
          I often find myself reading a whole thread and then wanting to add it to my favourites. For that, I have to scroll all the way up to the top of the page to click the button. Maybe add another one of the "add to favourites" buttons on the bottom of the thread?
        • Autocon
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          Autocon polycounter lvl 15
          Hmm I get notifications when I'm quoted. Check your settings?

          All these suggestions are great. Added them to th OP, and will add to our tracking system.
          There is no option to turn on "Pop Up Notification on Quote". You are probably getting a notification from "Pop Up when someone comments on discussions I've participated in". That will give you a pop up every time someone replies, even if its not related to what you said.


          Also really like the idea of a "Like" or "Thanks" button. There are a ton of times where I would like to thank/like someones post or something I see in WAYWO without having to take the time to write "cool image". Basically for those times I dont feel like writing out a crit but to let the person know what they did is cool.

          I have this on a Car Forum I frequent and its amazing how much I like the feature. Its great when you get Likes/Thanks for what you post without the need of EVERYONE having to write something. Great for people who just lurk as well.
        • Autocon
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          Autocon polycounter lvl 15
          I also personally liked when a thread had new replies it would show up Green as text. Now its always the same Grey color whether there are new replies or not. The only difference is there is a "NEW" button next to it. But that being in Grey as well seems to blend in and its not as easy when you are reading off the titles. Maybe if you didn't want to change the color of the forum titles make the NEW button green?

          Just a thought :)
        • Eric Chadwick
          Favorite button at bottom, good idea.

          Green titles for unread threads, yeah that's wish # 4. I want that as well.
        • Autocon
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          Autocon polycounter lvl 15
          Oh I should have read that huge wish list a little better ha >.<
        • Eric Chadwick
          Umm, are you carrying your card sir?
        • Makkon
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          Makkon polycounter
          I finally got my card, after all these years.

          Would the rank text look better lowercase or not bold? Maybe italicized? Just feels a bit odd being the same size and cap as the name.
        • stickadtroja
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          stickadtroja polycounter lvl 11
          - Being able to 'like' a post would be nice.
          - A 'HOT' section underneath the stickies which would showcase threads that spark lots of interest would be nice as well (like a 'trending' section?).

          im really against both of these. the first one because i dont see how that could nurture any will to give critic and thoughtful comments. if you want to farm likes, isnt there tons of options already? instagram facebook artstation etc.

          the second would in my opinion promote the threads already getting tons of attation, ie, not the ones that need it. you already have the front page that promotes stuff that is seen as popular and cool by the mods. this is the same reason i think thread-thumbnails is a bad idea. the less people need to engage in conversation and just simply scroll through images the more polycount becomes like instagram and such.

          obviously these are only valid points if you think polycount should primarily be about giving critique and growing as artists. if you think of it as a place to simply showcase art you made, i can see the reasons for these functions.
          eventough i personally think that the critique giving is WAY more important than the showcasing, i can see the need to have somekind of balance, to attract people here. i think the strength of polycount so far has been it has done both very succesfully. im just worried when it seems like we pushing to far into the showcasing part, hurting the balance. as i wrote, the is already places like this, maybe most notably artstation.
        • Magihat
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          Magihat ngon master
          I agree with everything said above. Getting a like or giving it is just minimum effort. Even when posting on facebook, getting one comment trumps 50 likes any day. Also, a "hotness" system would most likely act like it does on other sites - promoting the lowest common denominator of what is already popular. I have noticed in other forums where these kinds of systems have been implemented that the discussion climate have changed. Often resorting in shit posting  just to get likes rather than actually being poignant to the topic at hand. 

          I don't think Polycount need anything like that. 
        • Eric Chadwick
          This sentiment has also been expressed in our moderator chat. We're inclined not to introduce Likes. But we're interested in hearing the will of the members; you are after all the heart and soul of Polycount.
        • GhostDetector
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          GhostDetector polycounter lvl 10
          Would it be possible to add the ability to start a poll within a thread, rather than start a new thread each time somebody wants to make a poll?

        • Eric Chadwick
          Would it be possible to add the ability to start a poll within a thread, rather than start a new thread each time somebody wants to make a poll?

          I have to say this is unlikely, given how many other things there are to add, but it can't hurt to add it to the list.

          Can you give an example how this might be used?

          How would it work with the setup that shows each user's votes in their replies?

          In the meantime you could simply reply with a link to your new poll thread, and/or a link in the new thread back to the originating one.
        • AtticusMars
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          AtticusMars greentooth
          Somewhat unrelated but I wasn't sure where to post it: What does the "visits" number in the profile section mean? Is that the number of times the profile has been viewed of the number of times the user has visited the forum? 
        • GhostDetector
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          GhostDetector polycounter lvl 10
          @Eric Chadwick

          Well this probably could be used in community made contests, if it ever comes back.  For example,  when polycount had the dota 2 monthly competitions, everyone would always be replying their choice of theme in the thread, when it would've been easier just to open a poll for people to vote.  Or even in the general discussion, if people want to say they liked a movie or not.

          Setup:  Basically someone creates a reply, or a new poll button and starts a poll like any other poll thread.  The poll would be locked from editing after being created to prevent people from deleting it (except for admins).  As for the reply system, there could be a time limit to the polls so that replies after "x" amount of days/hours, would no longer show results.  That way people wouldn't have many poll results in a long thread.  Or maybe have that feature (user votes in replies) special just for the new thread polls.

          Having polls within replies wouldn't really be used on a regular basis like some other features.  I just thought it just be a little convenient rather than opening outside a thread.  Definitely a feature like this wouldn't be at the top list.  
        • Eric Chadwick
          Somewhat unrelated but I wasn't sure where to post it: What does the "visits" number in the profile section mean? Is that the number of times the profile has been viewed of the number of times the user has visited the forum? 
          I believe it's the latter. You could test it by making a new account, then never posting and never opening the profile page. Visit the forum a few times, across a few days. Then, check the profile.
        • Millenia
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          Millenia polycount sponsor
          RSS feed for the news page would be cool!
        • PyrZern
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          PyrZern polycounter lvl 11
          I want an expandable/collapsible wrap that I can put it around SPOLIER, (since we seem to talk about movies, tv shows and games a lot here as well), as well as to put it around big images.  That way it's not a pain to scroll down 10 big images if I don't care about them. (directed at someone else)

          Where's my RANK !?
        • Eric Chadwick
          Spoilers are in already:
          1. Type some text.
          2. Select it.
          3. Click the backwards P button.
          4. Choose "Spoiler".


          The biggest problem is it doesn't show the spoiler wrapper while you're editing (incomplete WYSIWYG editing is a known bug). Though you can click Preview to see it.

          We can't force spoilers on others' images. We thought about enforcing file size limits, but that doesn't stop people from using external image hosts with extra large files (or slow serving speeds).

          Rank is also a known bug, and being worked on. In fact you are example # 1.
        134
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