Pinside site update October 2012

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22

#1 11 years ago

OP

RVM

robin

Pinside founder

Alkmaar

21y 192K 7,921 94

A site update was rolled out today with some great new features:

Linking forum topics to games in the archive
I have added a feature called "topic <-> game links". You can now link pinball machines in the Pinside archive to specific forum topics! This can be done via the simple input box that you see on the top right side of the topic title box.

Linking forum topics to specific games will effectively build a user-maintained index of topics for each game in our archive!

For example, if you check out the AC/DC archive page, you'll notice a new tab called "forum" listing all forum topics that were linked to AC/DC (LE). Please only link a topic to a game if you feel that the topic really adds information to that specific game. Don't just go add every game mentioned in the topic, the topic has to be of specific value for the archive page of the game it's added to.

New forum search!
The forum search is completely re-built from the ground up. It's a work in progress, so I'd love to hear what you think about it, but it can't be worse than it was before.

The new forum search page allows you to search for topics, or posts containing your query words. You can also display only topics or posts by a specific user and you can search in sub-forums and maximum age of post. You can also choose the sorting order of search results. In the future I want to add the new "forum <-> game links" feature to the search page and add support for tags.

I've also added a quick search bar to each page in the forum section, for easy access to search.

User ban system
The moderators and I (and I'm guessing anyone of you) want to keep the Pinside a fun place and some people keep crossing lines, even after being warned about their behavior. So the mods and I have created a "user ban" system. This gives the moderators some more abilities to help keep the site fun for all.

The way this works is simple: the Pinside moderators will be able to vote for a temporary user ban if they feel that a user is breaking Pinside community rules.

When three moderators voted for a ban on a user, that specific user will be banned from the site for a week and 20% of karma points will be subtracted as a penalty. The user will receive an e-mail containing the reasons the moderators have given for the ban.

After a week, the user is allowed back on the site. If a user is banned a second time, again 20% will be subtracted from karma total and the user will not be allowed back in for two weeks. Then three, then four... You get the idea. I urge everyone to read the Pinside community rules as well as the new Pinside FAQ so this will never happen to your you!

Unvisit topic
This was asked by some of you and so I have added it: an "unvisit" link. You will find this just below the topic title, where it says "You visited this topic 3 days ago". Unvisiting a topic will make it no longer light up green on the home page, it will be as if you never visited the topic before.

Tweet tweet
The Pinside goes all modern with a new Tweet button next to each forum topic title. We've gotta spread the pinball word and all!

Bug fixes
Fixed some bugs:
- deleted high scores showing up
- market place ads showing both for sale and wanted
- commenting not possible on stories
- and many more small bugs.

I have great plans for other stuff which will hopefully make it to the site soon!

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#2 11 years ago

RWH

Pinside member

Norwood, OH

13y 132K 9,925 2 10

Thx Robin for keeping pinside a step ahead of the others!

0

#3 11 years ago

JAM

Wolfmarsh

Pinside member

12y 134K 10,956

Good stuff! Thanks!

0

#4 11 years ago

ROB

RCA1

Pinside+ Addict

St Joseph, MI

11y 128K 8,681 28 11

Thanks Robin.
Very nice!

0

#5 11 years ago

DAD

HeyYouSir

Pinside member

Minneapolis, MN

12y 49,050 518 3

Thanks for the heads up!

0

#6 11 years ago

BAM

Blakesell

Inactive member

Columbus, OH

12y 37,900 1,099 2 19

OP
Quoted from robin:
When three moderators voted for a ban on a user, that specific user will be banned from the site for a week and 20% of karma points

This seems awfully overtolerant, there are some people out there (which likely are imbalanced in some way) that probably just shouldn't be let back, but I can understand this policy.

This site constantly gets updated and better as time goes on and is fantastic. I love to see it moving forward as it is. Thanks Robin!

0

#7 11 years ago

AMM

tonymiddendorf

Inactive member

Savage, MN

12y 56,400 1,905 1 141

Thanks Robin. Excellent work!

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2

#8 11 years ago

OP

RVM

robin

Pinside founder

Alkmaar

21y 192K 7,921 94

Quoted from Blakesell:
This seems awfully overtolerant, there are some people out there (which likely are imbalanced in some way) that probably just shouldn't be let back, but I can understand this policy.

On the contrary, I think.

In fact, I'm guessing we'll be seeing more temporary user bans in the short term. You see, the (temporary) banning of Pinsiders was always my responsibility and I really disliked doing it (it's a tough choice, you have to read into the user's recent posts, do some research etc.) - Now I'm leaving this up to the moderators. Three votes and you're out for one (or more) week(s).

It will take a lot of work out of my hands and will hopefully improve the atmosphere on the site. I know some of you have the popcorn ready and all, but truth is that I hate seeing good topics de-rail by two people bashing each other. That's why it's not allowed as per the site rules. Some people keep doing it, I think a ban will help some folks to remember that there are some rules. I have a lot of trust in the moderator team, I know these guys and trust their decisions. So my line of thought is that if you manage to get three ban votes (from three different moderators) you clearly are doing something that doesn't belong on the Pinside.

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2

#9 11 years ago

C F

frolic

Pinside+ Frequent

11y 149K 9,809

Nice work, Robin.

I'm all for more bans. It really sucks how much a few people can ruin the whole experience for everyone.

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1

#10 11 years ago

AMM

tonymiddendorf

Inactive member

Savage, MN

12y 56,400 1,905 1 141

For the sake of Pinside, I would encourage everyone to go back through the threads that they have started and link them to specific games (when applicable). Obviously, that's a LOT taller order for some. If enough people do this, it should help give the link feature a nice kickstart!

UPDATE: It took me about 5 minutes to go through all of my previously started threads (35-45 threads) and tag them with games. So, it's not much work at all!

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#11 11 years ago

BIL

NinJaBooT

Pinside member

12y 114K 2,777

Thanks for keeping it fresh Robin!

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#12 11 years ago

GMB

bigdaddy07

Pinside+ Frequent

O'fallon, MO

13y 106K 4,718 5 28

Thanks Robin!

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1

#13 11 years ago

OP

RVM

robin

Pinside founder

Alkmaar

21y 192K 7,921 94

Quoted from tonymiddendorf:
For the sake of Pinside, I would encourage everyone to go back through the threads that they have started and link them to specific games (when applicable). Obviously, that's a LOT taller order for some. If enough people do this, it should help give the link feature a nice kickstart!

Definitely a great idea! Please note that I will also be adding Karma points scoring for adding a game<->topic link. I hope to implement this next weekend. People participating will see a karma points boost (not sure yet how many points per link).

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#14 11 years ago

AMM

tonymiddendorf

Inactive member

Savage, MN

12y 56,400 1,905 1 141

OP
Quoted from robin:
Definitely a great idea! Please note that I will also be adding Karma points scoring for adding a game<->topic link. I hope to implement this next weekend. People participating will see a karma points boost (not sure yet how many points per link).

UPDATE: It took me about 5 minutes to go through all of my previously started threads (35-45 threads) and tag them with games. So, it's not much work at all!

0

#15 11 years ago

AMM

tonymiddendorf

Inactive member

Savage, MN

12y 56,400 1,905 1 141

Minor bug: the Forum tab for some games is hiding behind the translite picture in the upper right.

snip.JPG

0

#16 11 years ago

ART

ARTMAN

Pinside member

Medinah, IL

13y 68,150 630 17 52

Seeing some issues with polls. When I voted on BR's "smokers" poll it showed me the results for a different poll. Just a heads up!

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#17 11 years ago

OP

RVM

robin

Pinside founder

Alkmaar

21y 192K 7,921 94

Quoted from tonymiddendorf:
Minor bug: the Forum tab for some games is hiding behind the translite picture in the upper right.

I'll look into this! Is that Internet Explorer? Which version?

Quoted from ARTMAN:
Seeing some issues with polls. When I voted on BR's "smokers" poll it showed me the results for a different poll. Just a heads up!

Thanks for the heads up. I have been working on this, don't know what happened but i seem to have fixed it by putting back an old backup copy of the polls code.

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#18 11 years ago

AMM

tonymiddendorf

Inactive member

Savage, MN

12y 56,400 1,905 1 141

OP
Quoted from robin:
I'll look into this! Is that Internet Explorer? Which version?

I am using IE8. NOT BY CHOICE! It's all they let me use at the office

0

#19 11 years ago

KAG

kguenther6

Pinside+ Frequent

Burlington, KY

12y 73,550 664 17 25

OP
Quoted from robin:
This can be done via the simple input box that you see on the top right side of the topic title box.

This doesn't show up for me. Browser issue? I've tried IE 8 and Firefox 14.

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#20 11 years ago

JMB

Monster_Bash

Pinside member

12y 79,800 2,564 23 17

Yeah.. when personal bashing starts...the thread gets locked. Which sometimes really sucks as the thread could be a good one.

Much rather warn or ban the bashers..and leave the thread alone

OP
Quoted from robin:
On the contrary, I think.
In fact, I'm guessing we'll be seeing more temporary user bans in the short term. You see, the (temporary) banning of Pinsiders was always my responsibility and I really disliked doing it (it's a tough choice, you have to read into the user's recent posts, do some research etc.) - Now I'm leaving this up to the moderators. Three votes and you're out for one (or more) week(s).
It will take a lot of work out of my hands and will hopefully improve the atmosphere on the site. I know some of you have the popcorn ready and all, but truth is that I hate seeing good topics de-rail by two people bashing each other. That's why it's not allowed as per the site rules. Some people keep doing it, I think a ban will help some folks to remember that there are some rules. I have a lot of trust in the moderator team, I know these guys and trust their decisions. So my line of thought is that if you manage to get three ban votes (from three different moderators) you clearly are doing something that doesn't belong on the Pinside.

0

#21 11 years ago

RAN

Ranhorton

Pinside member

12y 95,550 2,056

Pinside keeps raising the bar.
Nicely done, Robin!

0

#22 11 years ago

RPT

Prmailers

Inactive member

High Bridge, NJ

11y 24,150 1,558 19

Great updates to an already superb site.

0

#23 11 years ago

GMS

Greg2608

Pinside member

12y 46,800 223 8

Thanks for continuing efforts to keep this a great site !!!!

0

#24 11 years ago

LUC

haunted1

Pinside member

12y 58,050 1,154

Updates work well. I still have pm issues as it always show I have a message on my iPhone and Mac. Thanks for such a great site

0

#25 11 years ago

WBP

ThePostmaster

Inactive member

Hermantown, MN

13y 52,800 2,383 4 8

Great work!

0

#26 11 years ago

BJP

pinij93

Pinside+ Frequent

11y 66,550 539 87

Thanks for all your hard work. I love this place.

0

#27 11 years ago

BRI

gweempose

Pinside Moderator

13y 154K 20,207 37

The new search doesn't appear to be working correctly. For example, if I type "LED" into the search box, it doesn't yield any results. This is also true if I go into the advanced search and search for "LED" in either Topics or Posts. Is this because the search string is too short? If so, this could be problematic, as their are a ton of games with 3 letter abbreviations.

By the way, I love what you did with the tags, and how you can now click them and quickly find other threads with the same tags. Really cool idea!

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#28 11 years ago

NAM

kwiKimart

Inactive member

San Diego, CA

12y 90,650 10,693 3 71

Great update to the site!!!

0

#29 11 years ago

JIM

JIM_Z

Pinside member

New Hartford, CT

12y 56,150 649 7

Quoted from tonymiddendorf:
UPDATE: It took me about 5 minutes to go through all of my previously started threads (35-45 threads) and tag them with games. So, it's not much work at all!

Done

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#30 11 years ago

ROB

RobT

Pinside member

13y 129K 21,266 3 40

OP
Quoted from robin:
the Pinside moderators will be able to vote for a temporary user ban if they feel that a user is breaking Pinside community rules.

When three moderators voted for a ban on a user, that specific user will be banned from the site for a week and 20% of karma points will be subtracted as a penalty.

Can members get together and vote for a ban of a moderator if we feel that they are breaking Pinside community rules?

0

1

#31 11 years ago

TDA

The_Dude_Abides

Pinside Moderator

Northern California, CA

14y 137K 9,468 151

Quoted from RobT:
Can members get together and vote for a ban of a moderator if we feel that they are breaking Pinside community rules?

No, and if you do have issue with a moderator we ask you keep it off the forum and take it directly to the web master (Robin).

By the way, no problem at all Rob we love Pinside and are glad to dedicate our time to make it the best it can be for free. I could sense the appreciation pouring out of you there.

0

#32 11 years ago

OP

RVM

robin

Pinside founder

Alkmaar

21y 192K 7,921 94

Quoted from gweempose:
The new search doesn't appear to be working correctly. For example, if I type "LED" into the search box, it doesn't yield any results. This is also true if I go into the advanced search and search for "LED" in either Topics or Posts. Is this because the search string is too short? If so, this could be problematic, as their are a ton of games with 3 letter abbreviations.

Thanks for noticing that!

Today I have decreased the minimum search word length from four to two characters. So it should now be able to search for words like "dmd" or "led" too. Heck it will even find a lot of game abbreviations now, like JP, FT, MM etc.

There's also a boolean search option now (look for it next to the sorting order boxes). An explanation for boolean searching will follow but in short, you can use + and - characters to make sure some words do or do not appear in results.

E.g. +bally +playboy -stern
This will find all topics or posts that must contain the words "bally" and "playboy" and must not contain the word "stern"

Hope this works, as always, I'm open for suggestions!

Screen_Shot_2012-10-11_at_9.32.35_AM.png

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#33 11 years ago

BRC

Jackontherocks

Pinside member

Mesa, AZ

11y 94,300 4,955 8

Can spell check be added into the reply forms? Thanks.

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#34 11 years ago

???

Shoot_Again

Pinside member

Vancouver, WA

12y 83,400 8,453 2

Thanks Robin

pm sent

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#35 11 years ago

C F

frolic

Pinside+ Frequent

11y 149K 9,809

Robin, I have a suggestion for bans...

I wonder if there would be a way for a user who has a certain # of ignores against them to be brought up for review.

For example... if 10 users have chosen to ignore that person, that is a problem user.

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#36 11 years ago

OOF

Erik

Pinside member

Franklin, TN

12y 117K 7,715

Do the gameroom pics work for anyone? All I ever see is the arrow control at the bottom of the page.

http://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/ltg/gameroom

2

0

#37 11 years ago

???

Propaganda

Inactive member

11y 35,400 1,532

I think that if a single user thumbs down a single user over a certain amount of times per period, that would be considered stalking and should warrant a warning or ban.

0

#38 11 years ago

ABC

Crash

Pinside member

12y 141K 14,138

Dude... No need to discuss abuse in 2 threads (which is not stalking).
I got my old threads linked by the way.

0

#39 11 years ago

TAX

Whridlsoncestood

The Sanctum

Meriden, CT

12y 98,800 4,119 21 14 1

Very nice. Went back and tagged all the games in my threads. Time to renew my donation!

0

#40 11 years ago

ZPY

zippydapinhead

Inactive member

Albany, OR

12y 78,450 3,484 12 32

Thanks Robin!

0

#41 11 years ago

HAB

hAbO

Habo's Arcade

12y 271K 20,017

Very cool Robin.

Thanks!

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#42 11 years ago

KEF

pinball_keefer

Jersey Jack Pinball

South Elgin, IL

12y 80,800 1,253 12

Thanks Robin, and all the mods for that matter too.

The only thing I would suggest at this point would be something less harsh than a temp user ban, maybe like a threadban for a user. For example, when I look through the JJP forum and see a minefield of closed threads, it makes me wonder if the threads wouldn't've been better served with kicking some people out of them rather than closing the thread entirely. I feel like there have been a couple times I would've added something, but the thread was already locked.

Please don't take this suggestion as an indictment of jobs done/decisions made, because that is not the case. It's just a suggestion that may or may not make things better based on personal observations.

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#43 11 years ago

ROB

RobT

Pinside member

13y 129K 21,266 3 40

Quoted from The_Dude_Abides:
No, and if you do have issue with a moderator we ask you keep it off the forum and take it directly to the web master (Robin).
By the way, no problem at all Rob we love Pinside and are glad to dedicate our time to make it the best it can be for free. I could sense the appreciation pouring out of you there.

I do very much appreciate what some of mods do around here.

By robin

11 years ago

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