Admin
12-18-2007, 08:03 PM
First of all, we want to thank you all for your patience during the few hours that we spent upgrading the forum and tinkering with the templates last night to get everything in working order again. We realise that there were a few things that looked rather odd at times and we apologise for any problems caused! However most of the work is now completed and for the most part the forum should be working fine again. Only now, it's even better than before! :D
Here's just a few of the new features that are available with the new version of vBulletin... we hope that you like them and make the most of them! :D
Redesigned User Profiles
The User Profiles pages have been completely redesigned and now look a lot cleaner and niftier! You can view yours at any time by clicking on your name in the top right of the forum. All of your personal info is now divided up into 'tabs' in order to make things cleaner and to separate out the different categories.. and in addition you'll find that you now have a 'Visitors Messages' area. This is a kind of public messaging system similar to those utilized on other social sites on the internet - anyone can post a short message here for you that will be visible not only to you but to everyone that visits your profile page. :)
Photo Albums
You now have the capability to upload your photos directly to the forum. :) You can then share them in threads, or in social groups, and other users can access them directly from your profile page at any time. You can make as few or as many albums as you like for uploading pics. We thought that this might be a nice feature for anyone who has limited space elsewhere to host their doll photos.
At the moment we haven't finalized the number of photos that we're allowing, as it will ultimately depend on how much it taxes our server to host your photos! But we're currently feeling hopeful so we've set it at a limit of 100 photos per user. So have fun uploading and sharing! :D You can access your photo albums from your profile or via your User CP (http://www.abjds.com/forum/usercp.php).
Please note: As we are a BJD forum we really only want to host BJD photos. If we find you uploading non-BJD photos we will remove them. If you see someone else uploading non-BJD photos please let us know!
(To see the albums already in use to get an idea of how the system works, check out Cassiel's albums (http://www.abjds.com/forum/album.php?u=5).)
User-Created Social Groups
There is now a social groups feature so that you can create groups and hook up with other people who are interested in the same thing that you are. Unlike the Sub-Forum User Groups, anyone can create a new social group. The social groups utilize the same public messaging system that's on the profile pages, so that members can chat with each other easily. You're also able to add pictures to the social groups from your Photo Albums. :) These groups aren't intended to be a replacement for the Sub-Forum User Groups, as they don't allow a lot of in depth discussion on various topics - they are meant to be a simple and fun way to define what you love best in the BJD scene and share it with others. They'll also be great for groups that you wish you could have a sub-forum for but that don't really generate enough varied discussion to warrant one. :)
You can access available social groups (or start your own) at any time from your profile and the User CP (http://www.abjds.com/forum/usercp.php).
Please note: at the moment anyone at all can create and run a social group, but please don't be too silly with it! If we find people abusing the system we'll have to rethink this. Also, please try to keep your social groups BJD related - we are a BJD forum after all! Anything that's OT really belongs just in the OT Discussion area only.
(To see the social groups in action, check out the White-Skinned BJDs (http://www.abjds.com/forum/group.php?groupid=1) group we've already added so that you can get a feel for how it all works. :))
Reciprocal Friends
You may remember that vBulletin used to have a fairly simple 'buddy list' where you could add friend and keep track of them. This has now been somewhat upgraded! 'Buddies' have been renamed to 'Contacts' and work in the same fashion as before - you have your own list of them that you can access at any time. However you are now able to add people as 'Friends' as well, and request that they 'Friend' you in return, much like is done on many other social networking sites. Your list of reciprocal friends will be shown on your user profile. :)
Note: By default you'll receive an email each time someone asks to be your friend, but you can turn this off at any time in your User Options (http://www.abjds.com/forum/profile.php?do=editoptions). This way you will only have to deal with new friends requests when you log in to the forum.
User Customized Profile Pages
If you don't really like our layout styles and were always secretly hankering to change the colours on your profile page, well now you can. :) We've currently allowed pretty much everything so you can change any of the colours, font styles and sizes in each and every part of the profile page. So go crazy (http://www.abjds.com/forum/profile.php?do=customize)! Just don't make it so that we have to wear sunglasses to view your profile, okay? :cool
Thread Prefixes
We're really happy about this one! We now have the capability to add thread prefixes to titles. What this means is that we can add a list of prefixes that you can choose from when posting a new thread, and that prefix will show up ahead of your title. We can customize how these prefixes look (currently we've just made them bold so that they stand out but we can also change colours and such) and we can also customize which exact sub-forums you can and can't use them in, meaning that we can really be very specific about what prefixes we can make available! (This thread is the first on the forum to utilize a thread prefix!)
We'd really like your feedback and input on this and what you think would be useful thread prefixes, both in general and for specific sub-forums.
Currently, we've added a 'General' category that's available in most sub-forums, and a couple of specifics; there's an extra set that's just for the OT Discussion sub-forum, an extra set for the Reviews sub-forum, and also one extra prefix (so far) for the Photography sub-forum. (And we've edited some threads in the reviews sub-forum (http://www.abjds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=65) so that you can see the prefixes in action!)
So! Please try posting new posts utilizing the prefixes -- or editing current threads that you have there -- to see what they're like, and then give us some feedback on what you think might be useful additions. :D We'd really like to make the most of these!
In addition, to this, there's a lot of little changes that have occurred here and there throughout the forum, such as the 'Your Notifications' in the top right area that has replaced the 'Unread PMs' notice. There's also a lot of backend stuff that makes us mods and admins very happy because they make the forum a lot easier to run! ;) So all in all you may be seeing some new things here and there about the forum -- have fun with the new stuff and give us your feedback if you do or don't like anything in particular! Also, if you come across any bugs at all, please be sure to let one of us (http://www.abjds.com/forum/showgroups.php) know (or use the contact us (http://www.abjds.com/forum/sendmessage.php) page) so that we can look into fixing it ASAP! :D
Known Issues:
There are a couple of things that we're already aware of as not working yet, so you don't need to report them to us.. we're looking into getting them fixed ASAP, but in the meantime, please bear with us!
the Notices at the top of the page do not work properly on the Portal page or in some areas of the Wiki
the 'Your Notifications' area at the top right does not work properly on the Portal page or in some areas of the Wiki
the profile page is not working properly in the iPhorum style
Thanks again for your patience during the upgrade, and we hope you enjoy the new features. We'd love to hear any feedback that you have to share about anything that's been added! :D
Here's just a few of the new features that are available with the new version of vBulletin... we hope that you like them and make the most of them! :D
Redesigned User Profiles
The User Profiles pages have been completely redesigned and now look a lot cleaner and niftier! You can view yours at any time by clicking on your name in the top right of the forum. All of your personal info is now divided up into 'tabs' in order to make things cleaner and to separate out the different categories.. and in addition you'll find that you now have a 'Visitors Messages' area. This is a kind of public messaging system similar to those utilized on other social sites on the internet - anyone can post a short message here for you that will be visible not only to you but to everyone that visits your profile page. :)
Photo Albums
You now have the capability to upload your photos directly to the forum. :) You can then share them in threads, or in social groups, and other users can access them directly from your profile page at any time. You can make as few or as many albums as you like for uploading pics. We thought that this might be a nice feature for anyone who has limited space elsewhere to host their doll photos.
At the moment we haven't finalized the number of photos that we're allowing, as it will ultimately depend on how much it taxes our server to host your photos! But we're currently feeling hopeful so we've set it at a limit of 100 photos per user. So have fun uploading and sharing! :D You can access your photo albums from your profile or via your User CP (http://www.abjds.com/forum/usercp.php).
Please note: As we are a BJD forum we really only want to host BJD photos. If we find you uploading non-BJD photos we will remove them. If you see someone else uploading non-BJD photos please let us know!
(To see the albums already in use to get an idea of how the system works, check out Cassiel's albums (http://www.abjds.com/forum/album.php?u=5).)
User-Created Social Groups
There is now a social groups feature so that you can create groups and hook up with other people who are interested in the same thing that you are. Unlike the Sub-Forum User Groups, anyone can create a new social group. The social groups utilize the same public messaging system that's on the profile pages, so that members can chat with each other easily. You're also able to add pictures to the social groups from your Photo Albums. :) These groups aren't intended to be a replacement for the Sub-Forum User Groups, as they don't allow a lot of in depth discussion on various topics - they are meant to be a simple and fun way to define what you love best in the BJD scene and share it with others. They'll also be great for groups that you wish you could have a sub-forum for but that don't really generate enough varied discussion to warrant one. :)
You can access available social groups (or start your own) at any time from your profile and the User CP (http://www.abjds.com/forum/usercp.php).
Please note: at the moment anyone at all can create and run a social group, but please don't be too silly with it! If we find people abusing the system we'll have to rethink this. Also, please try to keep your social groups BJD related - we are a BJD forum after all! Anything that's OT really belongs just in the OT Discussion area only.
(To see the social groups in action, check out the White-Skinned BJDs (http://www.abjds.com/forum/group.php?groupid=1) group we've already added so that you can get a feel for how it all works. :))
Reciprocal Friends
You may remember that vBulletin used to have a fairly simple 'buddy list' where you could add friend and keep track of them. This has now been somewhat upgraded! 'Buddies' have been renamed to 'Contacts' and work in the same fashion as before - you have your own list of them that you can access at any time. However you are now able to add people as 'Friends' as well, and request that they 'Friend' you in return, much like is done on many other social networking sites. Your list of reciprocal friends will be shown on your user profile. :)
Note: By default you'll receive an email each time someone asks to be your friend, but you can turn this off at any time in your User Options (http://www.abjds.com/forum/profile.php?do=editoptions). This way you will only have to deal with new friends requests when you log in to the forum.
User Customized Profile Pages
If you don't really like our layout styles and were always secretly hankering to change the colours on your profile page, well now you can. :) We've currently allowed pretty much everything so you can change any of the colours, font styles and sizes in each and every part of the profile page. So go crazy (http://www.abjds.com/forum/profile.php?do=customize)! Just don't make it so that we have to wear sunglasses to view your profile, okay? :cool
Thread Prefixes
We're really happy about this one! We now have the capability to add thread prefixes to titles. What this means is that we can add a list of prefixes that you can choose from when posting a new thread, and that prefix will show up ahead of your title. We can customize how these prefixes look (currently we've just made them bold so that they stand out but we can also change colours and such) and we can also customize which exact sub-forums you can and can't use them in, meaning that we can really be very specific about what prefixes we can make available! (This thread is the first on the forum to utilize a thread prefix!)
We'd really like your feedback and input on this and what you think would be useful thread prefixes, both in general and for specific sub-forums.
Currently, we've added a 'General' category that's available in most sub-forums, and a couple of specifics; there's an extra set that's just for the OT Discussion sub-forum, an extra set for the Reviews sub-forum, and also one extra prefix (so far) for the Photography sub-forum. (And we've edited some threads in the reviews sub-forum (http://www.abjds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=65) so that you can see the prefixes in action!)
So! Please try posting new posts utilizing the prefixes -- or editing current threads that you have there -- to see what they're like, and then give us some feedback on what you think might be useful additions. :D We'd really like to make the most of these!
In addition, to this, there's a lot of little changes that have occurred here and there throughout the forum, such as the 'Your Notifications' in the top right area that has replaced the 'Unread PMs' notice. There's also a lot of backend stuff that makes us mods and admins very happy because they make the forum a lot easier to run! ;) So all in all you may be seeing some new things here and there about the forum -- have fun with the new stuff and give us your feedback if you do or don't like anything in particular! Also, if you come across any bugs at all, please be sure to let one of us (http://www.abjds.com/forum/showgroups.php) know (or use the contact us (http://www.abjds.com/forum/sendmessage.php) page) so that we can look into fixing it ASAP! :D
Known Issues:
There are a couple of things that we're already aware of as not working yet, so you don't need to report them to us.. we're looking into getting them fixed ASAP, but in the meantime, please bear with us!
the Notices at the top of the page do not work properly on the Portal page or in some areas of the Wiki
the 'Your Notifications' area at the top right does not work properly on the Portal page or in some areas of the Wiki
the profile page is not working properly in the iPhorum style
Thanks again for your patience during the upgrade, and we hope you enjoy the new features. We'd love to hear any feedback that you have to share about anything that's been added! :D