Ideas for Newgrounds' Evolution Mk2

[Denvish]

This is the second incarnation of the Ideas for Newgrounds' Evolution thread. BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER, PLEASE READ THE FIRST POST IN THAT THREAD.

Please read these guidelines in detail before posting in the topic; a few things have changed, to try and keep the thread as concise and compact as possible.

Posts that do not follow these guidelines will probably be deleted:

1) Only post here if you have an unique idea for NG's improvement. In an attempt to keep the thread concise, discussion of ideas is no longer encouraged. Posted suggestions will occasionally be reviewed by liljim - whether or not an idea will be implemented is entirely up to him and the other admins.

2) DO NOT SPAM OR WHINE. This is not the place for you to complain about things you don’t like about NG, just for constructive advice and ideas for the future.

3) READ the posts in the thread, to make sure that you are not simply rehashing a previous post.

4) Take the time to consider whether your idea is practical and useful, or frivolous and inefficient:

--- a. How much bandwidth or server load will it cost?

--- b. What level of user demand for this idea would there be?

--- c. Does it serve a purpose, or would it merely, “be nice to have?”

--- d. Is there something else NG does that already takes care of this?

--- e. Is there something awaiting implementation that covers this?

--- f. Include your reasoning in your post.

5) Keep in mind that this is neither a list of demands, nor a slate of what WILL be put into place. This is merely a thread to allow the users to express and refine their ideas for what they would like to see done with NG. The final decision, as always, rests with the admins.

============================================

Here are the suggestions carried over from the initial Evolution thread.

Suggested ideas rejected: (Do NOT suggest these again, or James will most likely hunt you down and kill you)

BBS edit button.

BBS posters rank lists.

BBS spell checker.

Smilies in BBS posts.

Polls for BBS.

User search.

Show filesize of file before uploading.

Remote image linking.

More experience for BBS posts.

Extra experience points for voting close to midnight.

Favorite threads in Profile.

Allow/show more than 4 Buddies on a Flash.

Selling NG scripts.

Self banning from the site/BBS/wherever.

Ability to delete your own account.

Deleting old movies that have a bad score - they're not doing anyone any harm and you don't have to watch them.

Suggested ideas still under speculation/works in progress: (May not be implemented, but have not been refused)

Profile:

Remodelling.
More Secrets.
Show King Of The Portal awards.
Show Alphas.
Show reviews on blammed entries.
Other Instant Messenger programs.
Favorite game.
Audio Batting Average/Awards.
Favourite Audio artists/tracks.
BP total/number required for next level.

HTML helpers in the signature edit page.
'Characters remaining' for signature edit page.
Encrypted cookies.

BBS

Private Messaging.
<a name> tags for post skipping.
Advanced BBS searching.
Stickies.
Display 4-post limit in the post screen if limit reached
'Code' button, to allow indentation/formatting of code snippets.

Audio Portal

Exp from voting on audio.
Entry/description editing.
Audio multi-authoring.
More chars for Audio description.
Audio submissions on front page of the site.

Reviews

Characters remaining for the reviews.
Ban messages for reviews.
Flag responses to reviews.

Portal/Front Page/Other

Portal Buddies allowed to respond to reviews.
Prevent Flash name change whilst on 50 Most Recent.
Characters on front page linking through to respective collection.

Delay between signing up and being able to post to the BBS/reviews etc.
Alphas/Mag updates.

Collections sorted by Flash score.
Tutorials/walkthroughs for collections.

RSS feeds.
More site stats.

Suggested ideas carried through: (Big thanks to everyone mentioned for their input)

Put ban message in the bbs post screen (so you don't have to try posting to see if you're already banned)
suggested by: Pieoncar.

See whether you've already posted a review to the reviews section of the portal, before trying to post the review
suggested by (unknown), brought forward by: SeeD419.

Portal Stats updated.

Bigger post message box in bbs posts.
suggested by Denvish.

Characters remaining noted below bbs post field
suggested by: Pieoncar.

Relative links to Newgrounds pages from the bbs threads
suggested by: Pieoncar.

Further digits when voting on portal entries
suggested by: Professor_Rhythm.

Game/movie icons in portal listings (other than just list.php)
suggested by: Pieoncar.

More noticeable icons for stickies and news posts
suggested by: FrOzEn_FoX.

New Audio forum
suggested by: HatHead.

Average score of reviews in the review that's listed on the view page
suggested by: -idle-.

Weird characters in usernames acceptable in bbs search by author
suggested by Maus.

Show user their sig/profile images and sig text after they've been changed
suggested by LamboFactor.

Portal bans (that's already been in place for a long time, so it technically isn't something that's come out of the evolution thread).

============================================

So, in which direction(s) do you think Newgrounds should be heading? What should be added to the site? What should be tweaked? Why?

*Footnote: Thanks to liljim for helping put MkII together, and D0GMA for tweaking/rewriting the original version of this post.

[RupeeClock]

At 6/8/05 05:49 PM, Denvish wrote: More noticeable icons for stickies and news posts
suggested by: FrOzEn_FoX.

That makes me a very happy Panda. =3

And I have another idea right here, first for this topic I supppose.

How about... you know how some n00bs may use the search bar to find answers to their questions regarding the portal and crap? What if we included a thing so that it comes up with links to similar help topics at the top above the results? It could help to stop them annoying "HOW DU I BALM????????" topics, if we're lucky enough for the n00b to even do a search...

Here's an image showing what I mean.

I like my fully costumized Firefox and Windows Blinds. =3

[Chumbawamba]

1) Update the columns on the right and in the middle of the Flash Portal that do not show this when you hover your mouse over them. For now, all it says when you hover the mouse over the names is the title of the movie/game and the rating. It should show the size, current score, etc. It would help for users with a dial-up connection.

2) In a user's profile, give an award to people who have been/are User of the Day, and of course, the date they were awarded this. I know, it's not necessary, but it would be good if we could open a user's profile and say "Oh! This person has been UOTD on ___!"

3) Make all P-Bot posts automatically lock after 2 weeks. People tend to spam older posts by P-Bot, and not many people view older posts (most importantly, mods don't seem to see them). This would prevent much spam.

4) Show when a user has been banned from the BBS somewhere in their posts (signature or right below the "View Profile" button). This might be useful if you are wondering why someone has not posted for a while. It could be done simply by having a message say "Banned".

I'd have to say the most important suggestion in this post is number 3.

[Chumbawamba]

Sorry for the double post.

5) When we click on the HTML code buttons while making a message, and type the information needed to make the code, the code automatically goes to the bottom of the post. You can always copy and paste, but it would be a lot easier if the code was sent to where the cursor is.

6) Have the said HTML code buttons in the "BBS Signature" area in our Grounds Gold Menu, so it won't be such a hastle to anyone new with HTML to make a signature with links, bold characters, etc. in it.

7) Have a "Change Password" section in the "Personal Profile" area of our Grounds Gold Menu. Many people do not know that where it says "Password" in the "Personal Profile" area, it is to both change and confirm it (when alternating the profile). Or you could simply re-word this section with "Change/Confirm Password".

[liljim]

At 6/8/05 07:05 PM, Kazuo_Kiriyama wrote: Sorry for the double post.

I'll forgive you for that, but...

5) When we click on the HTML code buttons while making a message, and type the information needed to make the code, the code automatically goes to the bottom of the post. You can always copy and paste, but it would be a lot easier if the code was sent to where the cursor is.

There's only a workaround I can find for that in IE - not Firefox.

6) Have the said HTML code buttons in the "BBS Signature" area in our Grounds Gold Menu, so it won't be such a hastle to anyone new with HTML to make a signature with links, bold characters, etc. in it.

I won't forgive you for that, though, given that it's in the list of to-dos.

[VeryProudofYa]

I think it might be nice to add 'politics' section to the chat. I noticed today a debate borke out in the normal section. I think a politics chat would be a great place for real time discussions and such.
The politics section of the bbs could organize set times to do debates and arguements.

[MystWilliams]

I am not sure if this is already implemented and i just dont know it. If so, someone plz tell me where, but:

The audio portal. I love music. And i am listning to it 24/7, but what pisses me off is when i go to the audio portal and that music it plays overpowers my music.

Can there a be a button to turn it off. And maybe a 'preset' like a cookie or something that tells it to stay off everytime i go to the audio portal?

A suggestion, if both ideas can be implemented, that would be great, but at least the first would help. If there is already a way to turn it off, can someone tell me, i have yet to stumble across it.

[liljim]

At 6/8/05 07:57 PM, Myst_Williams wrote: If there is already a way to turn it off

You could try doing the absurd and... CLICK IT. :)

[Denvish]

At 6/8/05 07:58 PM, liljim wrote:

At 6/8/05 07:57 PM, Myst_Williams wrote: If there is already a way to turn it off

You could try doing the absurd and... CLICK IT. :)

Actually, I'm going to run with that for a second. I posted this in a thread in the Audio Forum, but I'm not sure that you saw it, so here's a slightly edited version:

I think it would be nice have a small volume control panel, and to use SharedObjects save/load to remember a user's volume settings and re-apply them next time they hit the AP. The sound currently is really loud compared to anything else playing on my PC, so it's a race to hit the button and stop the music as soon as the swf loads, whenever I hit the AP front page.

It would also be possible for the loaded swf to display the actual track name in the parent flash, and it wouldn't be hard to include a 'change' button that triggered the unloadMovie/new random choice loadMovie, so someone could click their way through the different available samples.

[RupeeClock]

At 6/8/05 07:48 PM, Kazuo_Kiriyama wrote:

At 6/8/05 07:16 PM, liljim wrote: Oops - my mistake - it was suggested in the last thread, but I must have missed it when compiling part of the list and sending it to Denvish.

No, you were right, it is there, under "Profile" (it's the third from the bottom). Perhaps I did not word my post correctly, but that's what I meant. I'm glad it's going to become a reality.

Yeah, I think it was me who thought of the Sig HTML aids in the first place actually. ;)

I was thinking, looking at the text area for writing it up, it's actually a bit small, too small maybe, hard to see what you're coding, it might be a good idea to enlarge it like, to help show the 5 lines limit and stuff, and wider, you know how long A hrefs can get. It would be a simple case of changing the size to 62 columns and 10 rows. (That was I did on this example anyway.)

http://www.image-bound.com/uploads/8302621cf8.jpg

It fits in nicely, provide a bigger area to work in and easy to do I think.

[TarThoron]

How about a recent posts section on the posting screen. Something that shows the last 20 or so posts to the thread that you are replying to. They're fairly common on standard PHPBBs. It makes it far easier to quote multiple people, or to double check what someone else said. For ease on bandwidth/load times, signitures and mini profiles arent included. All it shows is the username, date/time of post, and post content.

ShittyKitty added one to Retrogade's BBS after seeing it at The Alliance. He even went so far as to add the "Reply w/ quote" button to the recent posts, which automaticly copies the post content into the post you are writting, as if you had pushed the button from the thread instead.

A preview post option would be nice also.

[Slightly-Crazy-Dude]

This may sound a bit lame, but fuck it, this is for ideas right.

I would like to see a sort of "challenge" area in the portal or in the actual "play this game" page. Where you could challenge another user to beat your score at a specific game. It would make the place alot more fun, and possibly get more users to play underrated games on the portal. Well it would atleast get the games views up anyway.

Another shittier idea, but i'll through it out there anyway for consideration. A sort of friends list in your grounds gold account, where you put the names of a few friends are your users, and if they come online to NG, it would show in the GG menu, i dunno, it sounds a pretty shitty idea, but it would elp alot of people save time searching for people or waiting for them to post on the BBS. You can argue, just use a instant messenger service, but its just an idea, dont go over board or anything :)

[juraj]

At 6/9/05 07:42 AM, Slightly_Crazy_Dude wrote: I would like to see a sort of "challenge" area in the portal or in the actual "play this game" page. Where you could challenge another user to beat your score at a specific game. It would make the place alot more fun, and possibly get more users to play underrated games on the portal. Well it would atleast get the games views up anyway.

This is actually a pretty good idea, and I think it wouldn't be so hard to do - here are a few ideas about realisation. Game authors would be given some generic actionscript to connect to the database and submit the the score to NG database and the next part would be coded in the portal. I'm even thinking about a special generic SWF file which would be loaded in the game and used to submit score to NG.

But another problem is cheating. The games should be tested to be cheat-free.

Personally, I don't know whether this is a good or bad idea. Bandwith will increase and I'm afraid it would just get cheaters to use Artmoney to cheat.

[AGH]

This is just something very minor, but maybe the Help button at the top of the window could be changed to Help/FAQ. There are a lot of people that don't check the Help section when they are having a problem or have a question, by adding FAQ to the button it would more accurately represent the information, so it might be used more often. Maybe... I don't know.

[Slightly-Crazy-Dude]

At 6/9/05 08:17 AM, juraj wrote:
This is actually a pretty good idea, and I think it wouldn't be so hard to do - here are a few ideas about realisation. Game authors would be given some generic actionscript to connect to the database and submit the the score to NG database and the next part would be coded in the portal. I'm even thinking about a special generic SWF file which would be loaded in the game and used to submit score to NG.

Well, there is already a high scores page right? Well there used to be anyway, cant remember if its still there. All it would need is the coding, im sure liljim would be up to it. Even maybe in the new IM sense. When the new IM service is on NG, maybe a few options to challenge players could be involved, i dunno. It worked on the Psycho_Goldfish site, and it fucking awesome.

But another problem is cheating. The games should be tested to be cheat-free.

That could be a major problem, i guess it would all be down to human honesty in the end, and thats stretching things a bit too far i think.

Personally, I don't know whether this is a good or bad idea. Bandwith will increase and I'm afraid it would just get cheaters to use Artmoney to cheat.

Blergh.

Another shitty idea. I think maybe there should be a sort of system set up for cams. This ask Tom shit about getting on the cam page way to fucking long. Maybe a group of people set up only for doing that. Or some sort of cam moderator would be ok. The cams are cool on NG, we just dont have enough, but yet again, bandwidth could be a problem. Anyway, i think the cam pages should be sorted out.

[carmelhadinosaur]

1. Idea number 1:

--- a. How much bandwidth or server load will it cost?

Only linked text. Maybe 10 kb...

--- b. What level of user demand for this idea would there be?

To be a part of - mods and admins.
To view - anyone.

--- c. Does it serve a purpose, or would it merely, “be nice to have?”

Ofcourse it will be nice to have, but I think that its purpose will be orginizing NG viewers' knowledge some more.
Also, you'll be able to contact one if needed, and easily.

--- d. Is there something else NG does that already takes care of this?

Well haven't heard of anything related, eventhought it's really simple..

--- e. Is there something awaiting implementation that covers this?

Not that I know of.

--- f. Include your reasoning in your post.

(onto the idea)
I think that the NG visitors should know better.
What I mean is that Tim, for example, isn't too known, and he's an administor. I don't know of someone who's not an admin who knows all of the Audio Portal moderators. I don't even know who are the Flash Portal administors. Not to mention the Icon mods, that heard of that by ramagi, only two days ago.

At the buttom of each main NG page (NG.com, /audio portal, /flash portal, /ground gold), there will be a list, titled*:
'Site administrated by: TomFulp (linked), WadeFulp (linked), liljim (linked), Tim (linked), an unknown adminsitor with 0 posts that almost no one knows about (linked)', just like in the buttom of every forum. That's for the main NG page.
Same with the rest, just instead of 'administrated', will appear 'moderated'.

2. Idea number 2:
Stop the random artist in the game zone of NG. I think that it should stay forever as it is, with the author that is now there.

D

______________

Good luck to the new thread!

[Indian-Wrestler]

We should lower the picture w/post limit to 40kb or make the sig limit to 50kb
this would be helpful for sig threads that sometimes post sigs that are 50kb

[TenchuX]

I think the Audio Portal should basically become the same thing as the Flash Portal. With a Blam/Protect system installed with exp for voting and so on.

[Kisuke]

Okay, this idea/suggestion was pitched in the Anime Club by Dekathos.

Now, take a look at the collection page and what do you see? I see... tons of great collection pages, but, no Anime Collection Page , why is that? I find it funny, out of all the anime related flash submited, and to get the front page in years past, that no one, except Dekathos thought of a Anime Collection Page.

So, instead of all us AC member e-mailing the admins, I thought of this thread, and decided to pitch it here. Heck, if you want to read his message, just look up his posts to read them. I mean, we have a hentai section, but it's not anime, and anime shouldn't be included in hentai, it's a totally different thing, and it outrages some people[not me, but still].

So, how about an Anime Collection Page? I know of tons of Anime styled flashes, spoofs, and tributes that could go in there. So how about it sirs?

Again, this idea is originaly Dekathos' idea, I'm just relaying it back here instead of e-mailing all of you higher ups about this.

If I have over looked a suggestion like this, I am sorry.

[Jordanog]

My idea is for users with portal awards (excluding turd of the week) to be granted an increase in their voting power. Since they have put a good amount of effort into their own flash work, they would have a greater appreciation for the flash of others. This would also work with their ability to detect a lack of work in lower quality flash movies. Currently, portal awards are just something flashy to point to in one's profile. I think it should improve one's user rank.

[Slightly-Crazy-Dude]

At 6/10/05 11:27 AM, Master_Inuyasha wrote: Stuff about anime and collections.

I like the idea in general, if not just for anime. I was going through some flash today and found some missing collection pages, for example, theres no general Sci Fi page, its only a Halo page for all related space/alien type movies. And then you have to group them in the serious/funny shorts pages, which is kinda lame if you ask me. So animations like CI: Unregulated are in serious shorts, instead of a generic Sci/Fi collection page. Bleh. You say your going to have moderators for the job of placing movies in collections. Would you consider them the ability to create new collection pages, like a generic Sci/Fi or anime (that Dekathos suggested)or is it all down to you and the rest of the admins?

[juraj]

At 6/9/05 10:30 AM, carmelhadinosaur wrote: At the buttom of each main NG page (NG.com, /audio portal, /flash portal, /ground gold), there will be a list, titled*:
'Site administrated by: TomFulp (linked), WadeFulp (linked), liljim (linked), Tim (linked), an unknown adminsitor with 0 posts that almost no one knows about (linked)', just like in the buttom of every forum. That's for the main NG page.
Same with the rest, just instead of 'administrated', will appear 'moderated'.

Hmmm. I don't think that's a practical idea. So large footer at the bottom of (nearly) all pages? Are you nuts? :) Or did I misunderstood? I think it would be nice to include a listing of various mods all on one place(bbs, review, portal, icon, whatever) in NG FAQ or in a special page which would be linked in the NG admin section of the FAQ.

[GoryBlizzard]

I would like to see us NG users have the power to mark reviews for audio submissions helpful, unhelpful or abusive--like we've been doing with Flash for a long time now. The existing review mods can help with the banning people who abusively review audio submissions--though more may need to be assigned. If we cannot insult Flash artists, then NG should also protect its aspiring musicians from the abuse they may receive in their reviews. If we find that copyrighted material is uploaded to the Audio Portal, we should be able to blow the whistle and gain whistle points.

I have never been review banned, but I've heard many times that people who get banned from reviewing in the Flash Portal can still write reviews in the Audio Portal. That definitely has to change. We should also be able to view the amount of audio submission reviews a user has in their profile.

[GoryBlizzard]

At 6/10/05 10:39 PM, GoryBlizzard wrote: If we find that copyrighted material is uploaded to the Audio Portal, we should be able to blow the whistle and gain whistle points.

Oh yeah--the same goes for STOLEN submissions.

[KingOfTheKill]

At 6/10/05 03:08 PM, juraj wrote: I think it would be nice to include a listing of various mods all on one place(bbs, review, portal, icon, whatever) in NG FAQ or in a special page which would be linked in the NG admin section of the FAQ.

I think it would be nice to have a link in the FAQ or Lit to a list of all the admins/moderators. Or maybe have the Review/Icon mods listed in the Portal and the Audio mods listed in the AP. It really serves no purpose, but it would be nice to know who they are.

At 6/10/05 10:39 PM, GoryBlizzard wrote: If we find that copyrighted material is uploaded to the Audio Portal, we should be able to blow the whistle and gain whistle points.

When you're voting, just click the "X". That's what it's there for.
; )

Anyway, it would be nice if once the profiles were updated your school showed up in your public profile, since there's really no reason to keep it private.

Also, I just had the idea of implementing a script that automatically played a flash movie when you enter the page. I noticed that there seems to be an option for this in "Portal Preferences" in the Grounds Gold menu, but apparently it doesn't work (if that's even what it's for).

Furthermore, it would be nice to have a button for UJ submissions that would take you to the next entry. I use ShittyKitty's Portal Advance, but it would be nice to have something right here on Newgrounds for anyone who doesn't know about it. It would certainly please many dial-up users by going directly to the next entry instead having to go through the Portal again.

Finally, I'd like to thank James for all the hard work that he's been doing. The "Submit to Collections" feature is awesome. You make this site so much better and for that, I thank you. Also, thanks to Denvish for making these threads. It's nice to be able to brainstorm with the other users about future additions to Newgrounds. Kudos to the both of you and to all of the Newgrounds Staff.

[pogogunner]

i was thinking that when you submit a flash there should be a drop box of three options instead of the two option drop box which lists (game/interactive and movie) so that interactive has it's own listing so that there is a little less confusion of tourtials...

[Popsycle]

I know many users, including myself, don't like the fact that the only way you can gain expierence is by voting on movies. Here are some ideas on how to gain experience

.01 points for every post on the bbs
.1 points for every review
2 points for every movie submitted that doesn't get blammed
10 points for 1st place daily 8 2nd, 6 3rd, 4 4th 2 5th.
20 points for 1st place weekly 18 2nd, 16 3rd, 14 4th 12 5th.
25 points review crew pick
5 points underdog

and the same goes agaisnt you if you do something bad!

-10 points for every ban in the bbs
-5 points for every abusive review
-2 points for every blammed movie sent in

These are just suggestions, change them if you wish, i just think that it would give more of an impact on the bbs and review, but even if people spam, they will loose points as well, and I made the amount of points you can gain small, and the main way to still gain points would be to vote on movies.

[Denvish]

At 6/11/05 01:52 PM, pogogunner wrote: about half of those specific things has been said and you just mostly rehashed them watch out for liljim he is coming to kill you....

READ THE FIRST POST AGAIN.

1) Only post here if you have an unique idea for NG's improvement.

The only exceptions to this rule are the mods and admins

Your post has been deleted.

[liljim]

At 6/11/05 01:35 PM, Popsycle wrote: I know many users, including myself, don't like the fact that the only way you can gain expierence is by voting on movies. Here are some ideas on how to gain experience

Pretty much the same stuff was suggested in the first round of this thread - and I forgot to put it into the list of rejections. But that's where these ideas belong. Sorry!

I hope that "more space in the bbs signature" is going to work out. I still have some links of NG help type stuff to put in there. :)