Halx

On Sunday, July 20th, Cynthetiq and I set about upgrading the TFP to use the latest version of vBulletin. This process took all day, but we're pleased that it is now stable and working to its full potential. I'd like to take a moment to explain the new features that are available to you so that you can make full use of them immediately.

1. Blogs - Blogs are similar to journals, except they are executed in a more competent fashion and they are intended to be more public. Blogs are your own personal space to broadcast your views on the world and your life. Its important to state that because we are starting to crack down on forum posts that do not stimulate open-ended discussion.
2. Albums - You now have your own space to upload images to share with other members of the forum. You can arrange the pictures in albums for better organization. You can add comments to your friends pictures.
3. Social Groups - One little problem that I've always run into was remembering who are all the NYC TFPers. This is just one thing that social groups will allow me to clean up. All the NYC crew members can now join my social group and they wont be left out of the next big NYC meetup. Of course you can use social groups for other things, and they can be public or private. You can even moderate requests to join your group. Each group has its own discussion forum and picture album.
4. vBSEO - You might notice that the URLs to all of the forums and threads have changed. This is due to a nifty little add-on that we're utilizing. It makes the forum more friendly to search engines. The end result will be that TFP will show up higher on search engines. This isn't really a feature that you can make use of, but I figured you might be interested in knowing why the URLs are all different.
5. Auto Media Embedder - When you post a link to a YouTube video, or any other video site that allows embedding, the forum software will automatically embed the video into your post.
6. Thread Tags - Tags are used to categorize content so that you can easily find posts on similar subjects. Everyone has the ability to add tags to a thread. I strongly suggest that you all participate in the tagging of the threads you participate in. By clicking on a tag link, you will be shown a list of all threads with similar tags. I think the Titty Board users will appreciate this feature a lot. We have a mod running that will automatically tag threads, but it is not too intelligent. To get the most out of this, use descriptive thread titles.
7. Trackbacks - If you link to a website or a blog in your post, you can send them a trackback. This will put a link to your thread or blog in THEIR blog. The result is more visitors and better search engine ranking. You have to make use of these features to get their full benefit though.
8. Robust Profiles - Your user profiles look different, don't they? Now you have the ability to add other users as friends and to leave comments in their profiles. You can customize the colors used in your profile, too. Just another means to stay connected to everyone.
9. Social Bookmarking - Now, you have the ability to easily add any thread or blog to your social bookmarking platform of choice. You can Digg a thread in just a few clicks. You can add a thread to del.icio.us. There will be more to come. I like this feature because, once again, it will generate more traffic to the site.
10. Mobile Device Browsing - If you visit the TFP on a cell phone, you will be automatically switched to a simplified style for faster and more straightforward forum browsing.

I hope you guys enjoy and make full use of all the new features. Please report any bugs in the Bug Reports Thread.

I also wanted to make one note about the Journals. The author of the original Journals mod has not updated his work in a LONG time. This means that the latest update to the forum structure has rendered parts of the Journals completely useless. Namely, everything except the ability to VIEW them. We are looking into methods of updating the software to work with the new version of vBulletin, but don't let this stop you from participating. I strongly suggest using the blog feature. Even though you cannot (currently) make them private, they have far more features and generally work better.

Have fun!

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Halx

This needs a bump.

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MexicanOnABike

great new features! i'm still waiting for the "modifiy new posts" feature. but i can wait.

i definitely like the tags.

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JumpinJesus

Is there a way to make albums a prominent link along with blogs and journals?

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Redjake

I am on my cell and the mobile browsing looks fantastic!

RetroGunslinger

Mobile browsing? Maybe I'm wrong about this whole Atheism thing...

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JumpinJesus

No. You're not wrong.

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Halx

Albums are meant to be attached to each user's profile. There is expected to be more traffic through a given user's profile page now that they are so much more customizable.

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JumpinJesus

I see, thanks for clearing that up. I was looking in the wrong place.

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Redjake

Check it out: I took a sweet vid of myself browsing the TFP on my cell phone. It's so smooth and easy to read. I literally haven't been to a site yet that formats the page so well for mobile browsing.

PS: Sorry for the blurriness, the camera I used to take the vid is old and cheap......

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Cynthetiq

Also look at the quicklinks. There is alot of stuff there now...

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Halx

There's Redjake making use of two new features at the same time. Well played.

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Frosstbyte

Hal, is there a way to reset the forum style if it gets put in vbmobile? I've accidentally selected it once or twice and have to go through all sorts of nonsense to get back to a normally formatted page so I can reset the style.

Halx

You can either do it through your user CP options, or go to the http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/general...-survivor.html thread to snap you out of it. I am considering adding a "Get me out of here" link to the style.

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mrklixx

So are "blogs" replacing journals?

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Halx

Currently, we're on the fence. I like blogs more than journals, but they both have somewhat separate functionality that its hard to say. As it is, journals are not working because they are not compatible with the latest version of vBulletin.

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dlish

[quote=RetroGunslinger]Maybe I'm wrong about this whole Atheism thing.../QUOTE]


sorry i just found this ironic coming from jesus


halx is there a limit on number of pics or memory for pics that we can upload? obviously the bandwidth would be a problem if everyone is uploading 2MB pics.

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Halx

I think the default is set to 60 pics, but I might change that if I see people are running into a wall.

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Ilow

Thanks for all the good work. Everything looks great.

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StanT

I'm curious about your intent for albums.

A replacement for the old "Portfolio" threads in the Photography forums?

A place for folks that might not a have a photobucket or similar account to dump pictures for posting?

Something else?

No big deal, I'd just like to get it right before I put much effort into it.

Cynthetiq

A place for your stuff. I believe that it really is just a way to better express yourself. You are welcome to use it to help define who you are here, or just to put up photos that interest you. Whatever.

It's limited to I believe 60 photos of a particular size (limit eludes me at the moment) you're told when you upload what is remaining.

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RangerJoe

Now that I have my internet back, I wasn't going to use it on my phone so that I wouldn't be charged for it. I now may have to just to see what the TFP Mobile looks like.

De ja vu to my last journal, by the way. (;

Great work, Halx. I'm definitely going to make use of these new features.

Zooksport2

When the new screen came up, in blue, it startled me somewhat, but I like thechanges.

Thanks for your continued efforts.

I had to change back to tilted green...
.

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biznatch

Very nice, you guys are really keeping TFP with the rest of the internet, without sacrificing any of TFP's goodness. I'm not sure I'll have much use for many of these features, but I'm sure many people here will.
Good work guys.

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Bees

Great new features from the TFP gurus!

I started with my blog and now after reading this thread I am going to work on my album.

I think there is great potential with the "Visitor" comments as well. It's nice to have the option of having "open" conversations with friends but also good to know the "Private" messages are still around when needed.

Keep up the great work,
your supplicant

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Cynthetiq

I'm glad that we could do something to bring some new features to the community.

There are more things in store...

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Jetée

Officially Three Days for me now.

Thanks for easing me back into the transition here at TFP. It is muchly adored and rightly appreciated.

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