I think we're getting too carried away with these SMF packages

[Alsatian]

I really like the new features.

[stormeus]

Perhaps those who don't feel comfortable about revealing themselves via the Facebook group, or creating a fake Facebook account would like the chance to be able to interact with others from Argonath in a similar way...

This is what the forum is for.

As SAMP is the most populated of the servers, I don't see any problem with this being here.

[Radagast]

This is what the forum is for.

No need to get butthurt about it... SAMP is the most popular and most populated Argonath server.

Haters gonna hate...

[stormeus]

No need to get butthurt about it... SAMP is the most popular and most populated Argonath server.

But why is there an underlying need to focus everything on SA:MP? There are other servers. I honestly don't give a rat's ass about how many play on SA:MP because there are other servers that should be considered as well.

[Radagast]

But why is there an underlying need to focus everything on SA:MP? There are other servers. I honestly don't give a rat's ass about how many play on SA:MP because there are other servers that should be considered as well.

Everything's proportional. Until other servers reach the popularity of SAMP, there's no need to give as much attention and time to them. The very fact that servers have a board here is consideration.

[Gandalf]

1. If there are errors to fix then report them on the Helpdesk (another feature that you might not find useful).
If you can not, then report here with a [BUG] tag so we can move them.

2. The old website had a Community Builder, which is equal to the Social Network. It was not used because of people being more on forum as on the main site, however the feature itself is useful and there for ntohing new.

3. If available we can add LUA and Squirrel BBC code. So far I have not noticed them being an option, so either you can use the PAWN tag or the Code tag if you need it.

4. The BBC Spoiler is pretty useful for those users who are on moblie devices and might not want to load the 5Gb images.

5. We have 10Tb bandwith of which we currently use 0.5Tb for all that is running here. No need to talk about wastage.

6. Often players are linking to downloads on sites that require registration or offer severly limited bandwith. Those who are creating mods (or get permission from the creators) have the option to download them here from a stable and free source without a lot of hassle. Sorry for offering,

We have indeed loaded a large number of packages, for the simple reason that they accomplish something simple and fast. Without this we could not have ported everything with 12 hours downtime only.
Those that we find to be double functionality or are better done in another way will be removed when we update to all themes.

We have not added any feature just to add one. All packages were tested and evaluated for usefulness. The only thing we decided on was a different portal as before, so we need to explore the SimplePortal possibilities to see if we can replace some packages.
In fact we have a number of packages that may be installed later or places on subsites, as we are not yet convinced of the usefullness.

[Radagast]

/topic

[stormeus]

Gandalf, I'm all for improvement, but the social network plugin seems over the top. I can't really see any additional purpose to it since it seems like an overglorified version of Facebook added to SMF when the forum provides enough social functionality as it stands. Social networking is about meeting and chatting with other users, correct? Then I don't see why we should go beyond the forum to do so.

If the purpose of spoiler tags is to reduce bandwidth usage for bandwidth users, I don't think that would necessarily work. If I recall correctly, the browsers would load the "5Gb images" regardless; the only difference is that Javascript hides it until the user decides to show it.

As for Lua/Squirrel/Pawn BBCode, I don't see much purpose in it regardless of the languages offered. We still have [ code ] tags, and as far as I can tell, very little physical code sharing in that manner is done on the forum, at least not enough to warrant syntax highlighting for each language supported by the game servers.

EDIT: As for the "About us" mod you have installed, it might be worth looking into the "Staff List" block that SimplePortal offers, and perhaps using portal articles for the about page itself, or offloading that content to the wiki.

[Radagast]

An explanation was given, and you still see the need to maintain an argument?

[stormeus]

An explanation was given, and you still see the need to maintain an argument?

It seems like you see this thread as an argument to be won, instead of an improvement to be suggested.

[Radagast]

Suggestions were aired and have been answered. I see nothing more to be done...

[stormeus]

Suggestions were aired and have been answered. I see nothing more to be done...

Those that we find to be double functionality or are better done in another way will be removed when we update to all themes.

I'm sorry for answering the response, Janek.

[Radagast]

You quote my answer about the answer with the answer? Tautology lives!

[Gandalf]

Gandalf, I'm all for improvement, but the social network plugin seems over the top. I can't really see any additional purpose to it since it seems like an overglorified version of Facebook added to SMF when the forum provides enough social functionality as it stands. Social networking is about meeting and chatting with other users, correct? Then I don't see why we should go beyond the forum to do so.

What you may forget is that some people might wish to share some things with others at Argonath, but keep their social network separate due to possible repercussions if a friendship goes wrong.
This way the 'slow chat' part of the forum can be moved to the Social Network.

If the purpose of spoiler tags is to reduce bandwidth usage for bandwidth users, I don't think that would necessarily work. If I recall correctly, the browsers would load the "5Gb images" regardless; the only difference is that Javascript hides it until the user decides to show it.

Possible, though different mobile browsers act differently on this.
But it has more useful features.

As for Lua/Squirrel/Pawn BBCode, I don't see much purpose in it regardless of the languages offered. We still have [ code ] tags, and as far as I can tell, very little physical code sharing in that manner is done on the forum, at least not enough to warrant syntax highlighting for each language supported by the game servers.

At the same time, it does not eat a lot of resources and is a very minor modification.
I offered you the same, so do not be jealous of PAWN packages if you see no use for others.

EDIT: As for the "About us" mod you have installed, it might be worth looking into the "Staff List" block that SimplePortal offers, and perhaps using portal articles for the about page itself, or offloading that content to the wiki.

Actually we removed the Staff List block as it was utterly crappy in look.
And while we are re-organizing the link to the Wiki is not instantly found, although I will add it to the "help" menu.

[stormeus]

What you may forget is that some people might wish to share some things with others at Argonath, but keep their social network separate due to possible repercussions if a friendship goes wrong.
This way the 'slow chat' part of the forum can be moved to the Social Network.

I'm still not convinced that having an in-house social network would really have much benefit though. It seems like almost all of the content on it is publicly available and only consists of status updates the players make (still publicly available), comments, and likes and dislikes. The only way to send a message that would be private would be to send a PM marked to a certain group of players and simply use that, which is already built-in and not even provided by that package.

I feel like down the road, the social network will fall out of use (if it picks up) and be left with players offering deals for weed on SA:MP.

And while we are re-organizing the link to the Wiki is not instantly found, although I will add it to the "help" menu.

Fair enough.

As for the other elements and modifications, I suppose I can accept them.