Massive upgrade and add-ons coming.

[Dave A]

Do a refresh - you're getting cached (old) images.

[duncan drennan]

Do a refresh - you're getting cached (old) images.

Ah, thanks Firefox's aggressive caching has its ups and downs. Wrt the right hand nav bar on the forum pages, I think it may be a CSS issue that the centre area (forum list) has a fixed width, or something along those lines.

[Dave A]

Can you give me a screenshot of the problem - I'm not following you.

[duncan drennan]

Here you go. I seem the same in Firefox and IE. With the other pages when you make your browser window horizontally smaller, everything scales with it (except the headings and logo), while for that page the main content (forum list) does not scale. I suspect the CSS has some wrapper (e.g. main-wrapper) with the width value set to a fixed pixel value. Not 100% sure how to resolve it though....

[Dave A]

Thanks for that. It's caused by the Top 5 Stats info box near the bottom of the page. With my widescreen setup I don't pick up on stuff like that.

I've done some restructuring to reduce the impact - now just to fill in that gap below the navigation menu on the right hand side...

[Eugene]

Dave - saw you did an upgrade last night. The web pages seems to load in a flash now. Great stuff! Saw you added a "Reload this page" link at the top left of every page, but the icon does not seem to show.

[Dave A]

So far I've just done the core update. I've hardly started fixing up the place again. And right now the server is down for a program update I'm looking to download

I'll get there....

EDIT: I've fixed the missing Reload image - the reload works. If anyone is wondering what Eugene is talking about, it's this image near the top left hand side of the page.

[duncan drennan]

On the home page, there are some icons/links missing. The "Go to first unread post" is gone, as well as the thread icon.

[duncan drennan]

Dave, it would be great to get the "Go to first unread post" links back on the homepage - I often use them (or is it just me?)

[Dave A]

I loved them too. It was a piece of custom code I spliced in - and I've misplaced my record of the changes needed to get it back.

I'll find it (I hope).

[Ann Williams]

Daft questions?

Hi Dave

I know these may seem some silly questions after the reputation competition and questions etc, but here goes...

How much good/bad reputation is one given each time one receives a vote?

How does the reputation score that we see in the User CP correlate with the green bar/s?

Is there a 'log' of people with top reputation (so we know who be Confucius and can read their great words of wisdom)?

I have written 43 posts and have a reputation count of 47 with one green bar. From what I can see no-one has lambasted me for anything I have said (does that also show up?) How does this notch up in the greater scheme of things?

And, have you found that having a reputation system actually helps the forum?

[duncan drennan]

How much good/bad reputation is one given each time one receives a vote?

That depends on the "Rep power" of the person giving the reputation (see the right of the part where user picture etc is displayed for a users rep power).

How does the reputation score that we see in the User CP correlate with the green bar/s?

It seems that 1 green box = 100 (or part there of) rep points, i.e. 0-99 = 1 box, 100-199 = 2 boxes, etc.

Is there a 'log' of people with top reputation (so we know who be Confucius and can read their great words of wisdom)?

Look at the stats at the bottom of the forums page.

From what I can see no-one has lambasted me for anything I have said (does that also show up?)

I think all recent positive and negative reputation points show up in your User CP.

And, have you found that having a reputation system actually helps the forum?

Dave, any thoughts on this so far?

[Dave A]

Duncan has covered the nuts and bolts of the question very well.

I think the effectiveness of the reputation system is directly related to the number of members who use it from time to time. I admit I'm not religious about clicking reputation when I read a post... Being in a rush or being interrupted being my main problem (for example - I started this reply 20 minutes ago, but had to attend to something in mid stride).

In judging how useful the reputation system might be in the long run, I think it will (in time) help visitors who are not familiar with the overall personalities as to how "trustworthy" any particular person's comment might be. There are also modifications that could change the "pips" to a comment, such as can be seen if you hold your cursor over the pips presently.

The system is perhaps a little too one dimensional and the deployment is still in its infancy to be taking scores overly seriously just yet. That being said, I think the pecking order on the reputation log as current is entirely reasonable.

I have also incorporated reputation as part of our permission structure. Nothing too onerous, but enough to keep unknown people away from more "sensitive" functionality until we have some measure of what we're dealing with - and folks who have been active and seen how various aspects open up over time will know what I mean.

[Ann Williams]

Thanks

Ta for that Duncan and Dave

It seems to be quite a well thought out system and a plus for the forum.

It is interesting to see how well it is working as both a mechanism where good contributors will be followed and 'rewarded' for their time and contributions, as well as a means of picking up any problems with anyone who is out to stir trouble.

I have seen more than one online community that has been damaged due to one or two 'bad apples' who have been particularly vitriolic, unethical, chauvinsts (particularly religious), unprofessional, rude or a combination of these.

Unfortunately there is seldom any system to get an idea of just how bad or widespread this may be.

This systems sounds like it should be able to pick up any particularly obnoxious people as well as ensuring that it is not an isolated incident or a personal vendetta.

Once again, well done and thanks for a great forum.

[duncan drennan]

It is quite an interesting system, and I think that the real value will be over time (as Dave has said). Right now the number of regularly posting members is relatively low, and the quality of the people posting is outstanding.

The obvious knock on is that most people are gaining reputation, but those who contribute the most widely useful stuff are gaining the fastest.

It is also nice that people who contribute realise that they are being recognised. I think we all have benefited from the time Eugene has put in to fill us in on the details of the NCA, and credit in general.

For me, it is really exciting to be a part of a great group of people, having a whole lot of fun, and creating something that has real value for all business owners and managers in SA.