Be a Hero Answer A Question

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Jeremy Alessi   (Feb 10, 2006 at 00:16 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

Good idea! Love it ;)

Magnus Blikstad   (Feb 10, 2006 at 00:19 GMT)

Aha, so that's why you've been digging up month old posts..... =)
In either case, I'll check it out.

Treb Connell(formerlyMasterTreb)   (Feb 10, 2006 at 00:53 GMT)

ugh those questions are hard I pick out the easy torque script questions :).

bank   (Feb 10, 2006 at 01:17 GMT)

great addition! ;)

but... while on http://www.garagegames.com/mg/whatsnew/ - the new link in FireFox totally brakes layout of the page

Vashner   (Feb 10, 2006 at 06:01 GMT)

I would like to see more sticky's in the GG forums. A FAQ + common threads on stuff.
I like how Cgsociety does there forum. This might help cut down some of the noob and "when is tse ready?" questions. :)

Aaron Ellis   (Feb 10, 2006 at 06:22 GMT)

Yes. This is a great idea!

Vijay   (Feb 10, 2006 at 06:42 GMT)

That's an awesome idea! I wish every forum site thinks of doing this. There are a lot of times I see very interesting questions only to find that they are never answered.

Nick Zafiris   (Feb 10, 2006 at 08:23 GMT)

That's a great idea!

Cisor   (Feb 10, 2006 at 11:41 GMT)

It would be nice if the Flag all topics as read for this only flagged the displayed topics and not all unread posts. Just a caveat.

Gary Preston   (Feb 10, 2006 at 13:43 GMT)

Very nice idea :)

Also I agree with Cisor, although I've adjusted how I browse these forums now. I open unread posts in a new tab, then work my way through the posts and finally click mark read.

The only down side to this is when I'm part way through reading the posts and have to do something else (which may involve reboots/or otherwise closing the browser and losing my place) theres only two options, mark everything as read and miss out on whatever posts I hadn't really read. Or, leaving them all unread and upon returning having to reread all the posts I'd previously read just to make sure nobody has added another reply,

I'd ideally (although how much extra space/resources this would consume I've no idea) like the red dot to only show posts I've not yet looked at (or have had a reply since I last looked at them). A few forums do this. You can visit the forum, read a few posts and leave. When you return those posts you didn't read (or have had a reply added since you read them) will be highlighted differently. Makes it much easier to nip onto forums read/reply to a few posts now and then.

BTW This isn't important, but if you added a bit of java script or something such that when the post comment box that I'm typing this reply into contains any text, the "Rate it" and "watch thread" options are disabled. I don't do it often, but it is irratating to write a reply then think I'll subscribe to this thread, only to see your reply vanish as the page refreshes.

Either that, or refill the text box with whatever the user has partially typed when the page refreshes just to a rate it or subscribe thread forum post.
Edited on Feb 10, 2006 13:44 GMT

Rick Overman   (Feb 10, 2006 at 17:36 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

Worst case it would take about 1,950,400,000 table rows (about 29Gb of storage) to keep track of the read status of each thread (not post) for every GG user. Now not all users are active on the forums, and it is probably only necessary to keep track of read/unread for the last few months(?), and I really only need to track read. Making some rough guesses at those percentages it might only be about 1,350,00,000 table rows (2Gb of Storage) and a fair chunk of server memory. I suppose you could pack the info into a huge bit vector but then you are looking at eating up a bunch of CPU to parse and decode that every time you view a page.

...Right now I track 4bytes per user.

I would like a more granular solution too, but our traffic (2+ Mil pages/month), post volume and large user base makes it a little more interesting to solve. Suggestions welcome.
Edited on Feb 10, 2006 17:36 GMT

Cisor   (Feb 10, 2006 at 19:29 GMT)

So perhaps a compromise? A search creates the list for the hero topics, so the same list could be tied to the 'mark all posts as read' button. That way the rest of the forum posts would be unaffected and can be browsed separately.

Edit: I forgot to mention I think the 'unanswered posts' a very good idea, BTW.
Edited on Feb 10, 2006 19:36 GMT

James Spellman   (Feb 10, 2006 at 22:24 GMT)

Instant fan, as soon as I saw it!

Donald \"Yadot\" Harris   (Feb 10, 2006 at 22:32 GMT)

You know you guys are all saying this is a great idea has anyone answered any questions?

:)

I have answered 2 so far... seeing as how I dont own the sdk and still can't to this day get the news letter I think I am doing pretty good.

Melv May   (Feb 11, 2006 at 09:40 GMT)

I have, every day. Alright, some of those were simply announcements but...

- Melv.

Aaron Ellis   (Feb 11, 2006 at 14:35 GMT)

@Donald,

Yep. Since Rick posted this, I've answered several lonely posts. I felt compelled to share my cluelessness with others. ;)


@Rick

After using this for a few days, I'm liking it more and more. Like many others here, I enjoy helping end-users/learners. But doing so on most FIFO discussion boards is difficult. In such an environment, timing and chance are huge factors in getting or providing answers. This tool give us a chance to seek out opportunities to help in whatever small ways we can. I'm guessing it will improve the community's already strong sense of cohesion. And it's helped me get answers as well.

Anyway, thanks for making this possible.
Edited on Feb 11, 2006 14:36 GMT

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