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Feature requests

Bruno said:
Sounds reasonable @Elektronaut. What do you recommend, though?
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I guess I'll have to talk to the next person who declares themselves as a refusenik and see why they feel that and where they got the idea that it was just a writer's forum. I guess this is sort of a 'horse, bolted' thing, but looking at it, I'm kind of concerned that Meadow's post in the media board of AH.com reinforced the idea that this was only a writer's forum, for writing, which is where people may have got that impression. In so far as the board is publicised by the powers that be in future, I'd like a bit more emphasis that while the close creative writing aspect makes this place unique, that we're trying to make a special community which is tied-into AH publishing, we're also something more than that, and the forum is open for the business of discussion of history and alternate history generally, and that you don't have to be an aspiring writer to hang out here.

I guess this discussion itself might be helpful in focusing other users' minds about what we're trying to create here, which helps spread that meme around, but that's a stretch. There's only so much I can do at the end of the day.

I don't want it to seem like I'm creating grief unnecessarily over this though because this forum just existing is an utterly enormous step forward for alternate history and I'm actively trying to get as many people as possible signed up. I'm more positive than I have been about AH as a community for years.
 
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Elektronaut said:
I never believed this forum would become a peak community overnight - AH.com certainly did not. For this to grow it needs to stay the course over literally years, not a week. But I'm not sure you're grasping what I'm saying. I'm not saying randomers are saying they just don't fancy it at the moment. I'm saying people who should be this site's natural supporters - Politbrits, alternate history people without a home etc - are saying they don't see the point of joining up because they see it as too niche, they see it as the SLP author/writers only forum. If we can't attract those people over now, then making this forum a going concern over the long-term looks pretty Sisyphean.

I think the USPs for this place are pretty excellent, and it gives me a positive feel for the place which I've never felt before for any other-than-AH.com board, I've already felt myself mentally detaching from AH.com - but I think it's worth us saying and stressing that we welcome as many people as possible with as many diverse reasons for joining up as possible, and want this forum to have a mass membership, and it's not just a secondary or tertiary add-on to the USPs.

I don't want this to become a Between Two Waves-style forum, basically a forum for a certain AH.com clique which only has relevance to them, which I'm worried it can become if we over-emphasise the aspect of this being a writer's forum. I want this to be welcoming to people who have a general interest in alternate history, or history generally. That will benefit SLP and it will benefit the writers.
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All good points and the last paragraph is particularly interesting, because emphasising writing is precisely how we intend to distinguish ourselves from AH.com and thus become a companion, not competitor, to it.

I am definitely in favour in principle of the site seeming welcoming to non-writers (or indeed people who wouldn't identify as big readers, either). But at this juncture - a Sunday evening, admittedly - I can't think of any practical steps to take beyond a big banner or an FAQ somewhere that says 'All are welcome!'

If you come up with anything, let me know. I'm certainly happy with our rate of growth but would like it to continue and expand, of course. I will keep thinking.
 
Elektronaut said:
I guess I'll have to talk to the next person who declares themselves as a refusenik and see why they feel that and where they got the idea that it was just a writer's forum. I guess this is sort of a 'horse, bolted' thing, but looking at it, I'm kind of concerned that Meadow's post in the media board of AH.com reinforced the idea that this was only a writer's forum, for writing, which is where people may have got that impression. In so far as the board is publicised by the powers that be in future, I'd like a bit more emphasis that while the close creative writing aspect makes this place unique, that we're trying to make a special community which is tied-into AH publishing, we're also something more than that, and the forum is open for the business of discussion of history and alternate history generally, and that you don't have to be an aspiring writer to hang out here.
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Just on this: I didn't really think it appropriate to promote the site anywhere else, as advertising your own forums isn't much liked on AH.com. This being an SLP property and Ian kindly having permitted SLP to advertise in Books and Media since SLP was founded, it seemed the only option.

However, I'd be happy to post an NPC thread next week, maybe on the premise of 'have you heard of the SLP forum?'. I'd also be happy for someone else to do so, that would perhaps even be better as it wouldn't be a straight-up advert from the forum's founder.
 
Meadow said:
Just on this: I didn't really think it appropriate to promote the site anywhere else, as advertising your own forums isn't much liked on AH.com. This being an SLP property and Ian kindly having permitted SLP to advertise in Books and Media since SLP was founded, it seemed the only option.

However, I'd be happy to post an NPC thread next week, maybe on the premise of 'have you heard of the SLP forum?'. I'd also be happy for someone else to do so, that would perhaps even be better as it wouldn't be a straight-up advert from the forum's founder.
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What I've done so far is link to my threads on here in my sig on ah.com, I'm not much of a writer over there but might help if others do the same.
 
Artaxerxes said:
What I've done so far is link to my threads on here in my sig on ah.com, I'm not much of a writer over there but might help if others do the same.
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I assume it's okay to advertise this forum in your signature, even in a fairly blunt way. I mean, Between Two Waves people did.

The caveat of course is that Ian is not consistent on these things, and frankly already has a suspicious attitude to the bedrock userbase of this forum. I toyed with posting a promo thread on NPC, which I'd thought of before Meadow suggested, but it seemed both liable to piss off the powers that be over there and also seemed a bit crass. Tbh the possibility of Ian losing his patience with SLP is a sensitive issue to skirt.
 
Elektronaut said:
I assume it's okay to advertise this forum in your signature, even in a fairly blunt way. I mean, Between Two Waves people did.

The caveat of course is that Ian is not consistent on these things, and frankly already has a suspicious attitude to the bedrock userbase of this forum. I toyed with posting a promo thread on NPC, which I'd thought of before Meadow suggested, but it seemed both liable to piss off the powers that be over there and also seemed a bit crass. Tbh the possibility of Ian losing his patience with SLP is a sensitive issue to skirt.
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Eh, sod him.
 
Meadow said:
A number of users had pointed out that links in posts were black, making them impossible to spot without mousing over. This has now been fixed, they are now yellow.
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Has this been undone? All links are showing as black for me.
 
I've noticed links show as black at apparently random times--I thought it was StyleBot at first, but now I'm not sure. Currently they are showing as orange for me.

I would like to add my voice to those suggesting we make threadmarks the first new-feature priority if we have a fundraiser for those.
 
Tom Colton said:
Alert summarisation would be nice, in addition to alert redundancy, which has already been discussed.
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The same plugin I'm looking to install when it's released this week appears to do this.
 
Dom said:
Meadows' is orange.

Stateless' look black, but they are orange when you hover over them.

Maybe it is a difference between internal and external links.

Sea Lion

Google

Alternate History

Looks like my assumption is correct.
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A problem: if I try to make all links yellow, all the forum names and thread titles and... everything, including any internal link of any kind, goes yellow. Which looks a bit crap. I will have to ask around for a custom solution here.
 
Meadow said:
A problem: if I try to make all links yellow, all the forum names and thread titles and... everything, including any internal link of any kind, goes yellow. Which looks a bit crap. I will have to ask around for a custom solution here.
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Yeah I saw that happen momentarily and guessed that this is what had happened.

I don't think it's a massive deal for internal links, just a bit annoying. People will have to remember to bold them.
 
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