Date: February 10th, 2011 6:58 AM Author: rachmiel
Maybe I should be calling it an alpha, since it doesn't completely work yet. But most of the functionality is there. I just need a little bit more time.
I've been experimenting with fonts, layouts, and I'm not nearly done. I'm not thrilled with many of the fonts but that's why it's a work in progress. I'm looking for as much input as I can get on this - I don't want to convert the site over to anything new until the vast majority is really happy with the finished product.
Before you go check it out, keep in mind that I've warned you of how incomplete it is. It's very flawed and needs more work. So don't worry, this won't be half-assed, and it will be an all-around improvement. Again, I'm NOT in love with the fonts, graphics, anything, it's just a starting point.
Some things I've done / am working on:
Inline posting within threads - no more separate screens when you want to make a post.
Quick access to a sign in box, registration, and options. No separate screens.
Making threads as easy as possible to read by experimenting with fonts.
Getting the site out of the old table layout
Posting features, like rating and bookmarking threads, and other ideas. If any of these ideas are duds, I won't develop them - I think we should talk about them though, because I'm sure there are at least some that could be fun and worthwhile.
After this is completed, I want to make the mobile optimized site, once and for all.
I have it running on another domain, so we can test any features or develop it as much as we want before launching. Critics, please don't be too harsh!!
Date: April 8th, 2011 6:43 AM Author: Unholy stock car indian lodge
Threads are what make xo, and what I focus on 95% of the time. Please move the gimmicks to the right side since I read left to right. Create New Thread needs to be more prominent, I'd like above Refresh.
It continues to look like pure shit on a 1900x1200 monitor. Please use modern web techniques to make the site scale better.
Date: February 10th, 2011 7:21 AM Author: Talented church building
Apart from rebranding, which, in my view, is one of the most significant hurdles facing XO and preventing it from attracting genuine posters and real content, there are two other things, rach, that are really inhibiting growth: mods, and off-topic.
You need some kind of sensible modding policy. Whether it's more mods, or IDing mods who delete threads with a number so that we can have grievances against them (without bashing individual posters), or whatever, modding has to have some function. BLB has community modding--maybe a start, if they had fucking content.
Also, off-topic. The reason XO gets shit like it does is because so much off-topic is threaded in on-topic, and the "expert mode" is a shitty way of putting that there.
tldr THERE SHOULD BE AN OFF-TOPIC BOARD. Not a function within law and within grad. An off-topic board. It's not going to prevent Earl or Antmatic or Rowan from posting on-topic, then clicking over to off-topic to get their CFB and R-threads out of their system. But it will cleanly separate them. And mods need to police that shit.
Date: February 10th, 2011 7:31 AM Author: rachmiel
Yeah, I think at this point in time there isn't much advantage to the offtopic cross pollinating the ontopic board. Also, when I integrate our boards with LSN, that would be the safest way to do it.
Also, I think creating a better moderation system is important and since I'm redesigning the whole site I ought to tackle that.
Date: February 10th, 2011 4:12 PM Author: Stimulating Turdskin
LOL- Seriously, you think mods are stopping new posters from coming to the board? Don't be a disingenuous turd... just say these are your problems with xo.
Date: February 11th, 2011 6:05 PM Author: Stimulating Turdskin
Susie came to autoadmit.com to learn about applying to law schools but left in disgust when she realized that unidentifiable mods were deleting threads with racial slurs in the title.
Date: February 10th, 2011 8:38 AM Author: Green Garrison
changing the UI skin is really a shock to veteran users and will drive down the traffic. most of us have been looking at a list of blue links for years. it's a comfort zone for us. we don't like the shock.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:55 AM Author: dead drunken area
The difference is that those sites don't need to change their color schemes, but we do bc ours is atrocious. it's harsh on the eyes (especially when posting in the dark) & makes threads more visible to outsiders.
Date: February 10th, 2011 2:44 PM Author: appetizing keepsake machete
the whole point of XOXO is that you can post anonymously. 90% of users would stop coming here if your suggestion were adopted. i'm sure lots of TLSers would migrate over, though.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:16 AM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
i know, and I'm not a fan of that. I think it was a bad idea for rach to let google access off-topic threads. If anything, we should be moving back to the old way, where off topic post history was hidden completely, even from google. so when you call for increased access to poster history, I just couldn't disagree more, particularly when your justification for it is wanting to figure out if pumos are flame - a rather minor concern, IMO.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:25 AM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
I dont have any problem with pumos. I think people should be able to post anonymously if they want to. I am not terribly concerned with discovering that some random poster or thread is flame.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:36 AM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
I am speaking for myself. My only reference to popular opinion on this issue was to point out that it has been considered before in the past. If xo has had a change of heart since then, so be it. I still think it's a bad idea. One of the most important factors in making xo a great board is that poster anonymity is always carefully protected. We have always shied away from implementing features that most message boards have in favor of a stripped-down, relatively anonymous format that fosters honest/funny/unusual communication. That's why I am always skeptical when new posters come in with bright ideas about how to change xo: their ideas almost invariably involve relaxing/removing the very things that have made this board great.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:39 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
you can be anonymous by using The Onion Router, registering under hushmail, and creating a username. fuck it, people here ALREADY DO THAT and have A WHOLE NUMBER of accounts they can use. if you're really afraid of post history ruining anonymit, you can just create another account.
and post history doesnt ruin anonymity. the content of your posts ruin anonymity. learn the fucking difference. you're blaming a system for problems created by people.
Date: February 11th, 2011 6:14 AM Author: Outnumbered Effete Range Sneaky Criminal
holy shit, you are retarded bro.
having a post history makes it easier to look at all of someone's content and ruin anonymity. tidbit here, tidbit there -- sure someone could just remember it all, but generally speaking having a post history makes it a lot easier to put the pieces together.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:51 AM Author: internet-worthy cerebral wrinkle
Terrible idea. Why would you want to chill poasting of useful content? No one (aside from you) cares about finding flames or creating a "level playing field." The latter justification is, incidentally, absurd. Non-pumos are free to use pumos when posting sensitive content. Hence the playing field is already level.
Date: February 10th, 2011 8:57 AM Author: walnut jew
I like the ability to sort by rating and number of posts. I think overall you're on the right track, but I'd urge you to keep at some part of the new site mod-free.
Part of the appeal (for me, at least) is the unedited aspect of the site. I may not agree with, or even find palatable, some of the things I see posted, but I think it's part of the flavor of the place. I think having a separate off-topic area sounds like a good solution.
Thanks again for providing the site. I'd also be remiss if I didn't respectfully request (ok, beg) for a return of the search function.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:03 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
try two years faggot. it's easier to search for all of a pumo's posts when there's post history (in fact, it's easier by default because there's no other way of fucking doing it)
of course a fucking sync pumo would be against it. you're bottom of the barrel. realize, sync pumo, that most reputable XOers cant stand pumos
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:04 AM Author: Talented church building
wgwag wgwag FUCK YOU ALL
It came because
(1) GTO got pissy when the Does e-mailed his Penn account instead of his XO account, so he refused to listen to their request, resulting in lawsuit;
(2) haxxor started outing shit;
(3) rach put off-topic threads in Google search results;
(4) rach gave a half-assed attempt to anonymize monikers and block them from Google, and failed;
(5) rach had community accounts to encourage anonymous poasting, then revoked them;
(6) creepy stalkers like SY and Doobs prepare dossiers to out people all the fucking time;
(7) people with IRL shit like Rowan, Antmatic, and bothered get ass-fucked by creepy stalkers, so of fucking course people need anonymity;
(8) mods don't give two shits about privacy and are completely idiosyncratic; and
(9) RACH DOESN'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT THIS CESSPOOL, so it's kill or be killed, and we pumos are the only ones who care enough not to be killed.
Pumos poast fucking content. They poast content. That's what they fucking do. Poast content. Not pimp their own pathetic existence by marketing their shit life via their moniker (I'm Estrada, I'm lonely, I have no sex drive, but I like dinosaurs, like me!; I'm the Box, I enjoy attention, view my pics!). But to poast content.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:36 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
you stupid shit i can out you right now just by using google. WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT A FEATURE THAT WOULD NOT CHANGE THE STATUS QUO FOR YOU, SINCE YOU HAVE A REGULAR FUCKING MONIKER?
or are you just afraid that someone will out the 10 PUMO accounts that you use to bump your shitty posts and give more attention to yourself?
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:41 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
you're fucking stupid. and there's no way to verify either of what we're saying, so we might as well drop it, lest i drop more insults about your shitty physical appearance.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:55 AM Author: heady mischievous den
Well I really don't care if you don't think I'm cute. Sorry bro.
BUT I will say that if youve seen my pics, then you're either one of the five poasters I've shown them to, OR someone showed you my pic without my permission. Now, I take great offense to this possibility bc I've limited my pics to doods who I believed were certifiable good doods. So that makes me think that perhaps I need to take measures to smoke out the traitor and respond accordingly.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:36 AM Author: heady mischievous den
LOL "reputable XOers." You're obvi a reg hiding behind a pumo, yet you're telling another pumo of his "place" in the xo hierarchy. You are exactly the reason why there should be no poast history function.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:40 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
im not a "reg hiding behind a pumo." Im very clearly YUMADBRO in morse code. it's good because it keeps me easily identifiable while allowing me not to be google searchable. that's the fucking utility you dumbshit fatass
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:51 AM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
only because there are posters that are stalkerish/creepy enough to comb through everyone's post histories for clues. Let's not put more power into those people's hands, okay?
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:53 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
the amount of power added into their hands by instituting post history is insignificant when you can already google search. your point would have more wieght if you were in fact a pumo, because you clearly have more to lose in that scenario.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:57 AM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
as I stated above, I think the google searchability should be removed as well. your argument that "well, anonymity here is already shit, let's make it shittier" isn't very persuasive. We have already made moves in the wrong direction, let's not continue the trend.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:59 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
BUT GOOGLE SEARCH ISNT GETTING REMOVED ANY TIME SOON. and adding poast history wouldnt be a move in the wrong direction. it would actually level the playing field. you actually enjoy pumos being able to search for your posts but your not being able to do the same to them????
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:05 AM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
I just oppose any measures that decrease the anonymity of the board. My position on this is very simple man.
And why do you assume google search won't be removed? For the majority of xo's life, there was no googling. I think your short tenure here is preventing you from seeing the big picture. There have always been a million arguments for relaxing the anonymity of the board, and they have almost always failed.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:08 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
"I just oppose any measures that decrease the anonymity of the board. My position on this is very simple man."
And I repeat my simple position: Poast history and google search dont reduce anonyomity, your actual posts reduce anonymity.
Anyway, I repeat my question: *assuming google searching cant be undone* you prefer pumos being able to search through your posts and not vice versa, to a level playing field?
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:23 AM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
fine. no, I dont care to have a "level playing field" because I am not interested in researching pumos and trying to figure out who they are. Even if the site had the functionality you're arguing for, I would never use it. The problem is that we have people who would even consider trying to out people.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:40 AM Author: narrow-minded maniacal piazza
rach, you are a really good dood. you keep up this board for all the whiny people like me to play on at no personal benefit so thank you for that.
however. xo won't benefit from a new site, new features, or a new board if it doesn't have a new vision and a way to bring in new posters.
and i think that there is too much bad stuff associated with xo for anything branded xo to succeed, but a good first step would be like the dood above suggested and break off on-topic from off-topic completely.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:04 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
not my fault you're too dumb to understand my argument.
but to be fair, you do have more at stake in getting post history up than do any of those other monikers. they're so fucking stupid they cant realize that
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:07 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
i repeat (I edited this in before):
you have a right to complain about post history, since it would eliminate your shitstain existence on this chatblog.
those other monikers? no. they can be google searched anyways. and since google search wont be removed, im having trouble understanding why they're comfortable having PUMOs able to search their poasts on google, but not the other way around. my proposal levels the playing field.
but again, you have a legitimate grievance about the whole thing. the moment i see an actual moniker complain about the idea, im just confused.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:10 AM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
dude what the fuck? I feel like I've tried to engage you in a rational way ITT and explain my position and you've been nothing but hostile and insulting. Chill the fuck out man, we just disagree on this issue. You're never going to convince people that you're right by hurling insults and threatening to out people who disagree with you.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:13 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
no. i've read your position and it doesnt make sense. it's hte most self-serving argument ive read here.
and i repeat: post histories and google search dont reduce anonyomity, the content of your poasts reduces anonymity. If you're so fucking worried about losing anonymity, DONT POST OUTABLE FUCKING INFO.
fuck it, im a pumo and cant be google searched and even i dont do that.
there: no insults, no threats.
and im clearly not going to out anyone. i was proving a point.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:20 AM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
People don't get outted because they post "Oh hai, I'm attidood and I live in whateverthefuck Maryland and went to whateverthefuck college, here's my phone number and address LOL!"
They get outted because they post small snippets of information that are otherwise not outtable, but creepy stalkerish types aggregate this information to create a whole picture. I think people should be able to discuss small random bits of IRL info without fear of someone putting the pieces together. This board would be horrible if people weren't allowed to discuss ANYTHING from IRL. The problem is the people who for whatever reason feel the need to stalk and out posters, NOT the fact that people choose to share tiny bits of random info about their lives. As such, I am against any functionality that makes the stalking/creeping/outting process easier, even if such a function is already available w/r/t some posters via google. Further, I haven't given up on removing the google searching, what we really need is people clamoring for that to be removed, not for increased access to outting weaponry.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:26 AM Author: brass flickering heaven french chef
"They get outted because they post small snippets of information that are otherwise not outtable, but creepy stalkerish types aggregate this information to create a whole picture. I think people should be able to discuss small random bits of IRL info without fear of someone putting the pieces together. "
This is a better point, but it still doesnt do much for you. assuming google search cant be removed, your only grievance is basically that you can out pumos?
i mean, your grievance cant be that regular poasters would be outable, because their posts can be google searched.
and if you're that worried about little snippets of info, just edit them out later. happens all the time already.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:13 AM Author: exciting hot gas station
why you talking shit about the YuMadBro flame?
his points are valid. i don't see why you're bitching.
just don't put outtable material within your poasts. i.e i've put enough out there on myself, where people can get a general idea of what i am...but i make sure not to put enough so people know WHO i am.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:33 AM Author: dead drunken area
Idk. I don't think it's relevant to the site. However he would make it so that you'd have to approve of someone following you, so that it wouldn't really be an invasion of privacy
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:36 AM Author: rachmiel
Well, my idea was that with a poster's permission/approval, you could follow the last x number of posts by that poster. Since it would be permission based (each follower would have to be approved individually), it wouldn't compromise people's privacy but it could let you keep track of where your favorite posters have been so you can interact with them more. Not sure how many people would trust others but it was an idea I figured I'd throw out there.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:32 AM Author: rachmiel
If we remove off topic from google, we should really crack down on pumos too. I realize they're mainly a response to peoples fears of being googled, but they're objectively less fun than using bona fide monikers. What do you think?
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:42 AM Author: sable field
sudos or whatever the fuck they are called are exactly the same as community accounts, which you acknowledged as problematic for the board and therefore banned three years ago. It makes extremely little sense to have one but not the other/ban one but not the other.
That said, it would not be useful to ban them, then disappear for 3 years and come back and ban whatever workaround has been invented in the interim.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:54 AM Author: internet-worthy cerebral wrinkle
Looks clean. I think the main page could be more readable, though. In particular, a little more vertical separation of thread titles or some other means of visually delimiting each thread would be nice.
yeah, basically over the years, a lot of the forum communities have shifted toward more of a blog format, or at least have incorporated blogs, because blogs are more "Web 2.0" friendly.
obviously, it can be a part of the site, and a natural way to incorporate it is to have the daily or semi-daily blog entries be the features and serve as a lead in to the forums. of course you can put a restriction such that only on-topic published blogs are eligible to be published to the front page or whatever.
Date: February 10th, 2011 12:10 PM Author: Yapping Cruise Ship
can we have the same for poasters but with either 120 or 180 as choices. Accumulate enough 180s and "(alpha)" is added to your moniker. Accumulate enough 120s and "(beta)" is added to your moniker. Reset these values every 2 weeks, to encourage posters to change toward better posting and so good posters don't rest on their laurels.
Date: February 10th, 2011 12:13 PM Author: Dashing rusted library new version
Date: August 26th, 2010 12:20 PM
Author: rachmiel (white knighting)
Changing this place too much is a bad idea. I came to that conclusion a long time ago. Also, people are not exactly keen on advertising their love for this place to their friends.
wtf, man??? WE NEED TO GO BACK TO ARE CORE VALUES. RESTORE THIS COUNTRY TO WHAT IT ONCE WAS BY RESTORING XO TO WHAT IT ONCE WAS. MAKE OLD THREADS BUMPABLE AND RESTORE THE IMPORTANT ONES (PRE-PURGE)
Date: February 10th, 2011 12:15 PM Author: Yapping Cruise Ship
unlock the purged threads. give us 6 months to bump all the classics. after that have a rolling lock out window where threads 3 years or older are frozen at the end of the month.
Date: February 10th, 2011 1:01 PM Author: rachmiel
Well I wanted to show I was serious by producing something first, instead of merely promising BIG CHANGES. I guess when people are positive like in this thread, it motivates me. I've gotten discouraged in the past, maybe too easily, and I'd just go away for long periods out of frustration. If a lot of people offer ideas and will help, that helps me stay interested.
Also I haven't even have a computer for over a year, and it makes it difficult. I did this work on a couple borrowed computers, lol - i need to buy a computer. But it only took me two days to get this framework set up. A lot of the work was in converting the old to new, which can be harder than starting from scratch.
Date: February 10th, 2011 1:17 PM Author: rachmiel
It's hard to see growing something that a lot of people dont like to tell their friends about. That's always been the challenge, I think. You don't want the site to lose its edge, yet you need to establish some kind of mainstream credibility so you can attract larger audiences, and of course, advertisers. If not for my emotional attachment to the site, it would be hard to justify the monthly cost of the site, let alone if it expanded without any income to sustain itself.
I'm hoping that by creating more content and building some more unique community features, we can eclipse the stigma that seems to be there currently.
Date: February 10th, 2011 1:21 PM Author: Talented church building
Rach, completely understood.
But right now, the biggest stigma is the brand. AutoAdmit and XOXOHTH are poison. You have to come up with some new brand. Some name, almost any name, preferably one that will yield Google hits. And not inside jokes, but just a plain ol' name.
If you do that, and migrate everyone to a new board, I don't think the stigma will be there. Particularly if off-topic content is segregated and doesn't contaminate the on-topic threads.
From a brother to a brother, I understand the lack of credibility angle, and I think you need to recognize that a makeover, more than cosmetic but also in name, is needed.
Date: February 10th, 2011 1:28 PM Author: dead drunken area
This. Xo needs to redeem itself, and the best way is to 1. change its name (& preferably to one that's not striver sounding) and 2. create a blog with informative content
Date: February 10th, 2011 1:30 PM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
yeah definitely. If the blog was community created, like maybe rach put in some ppl to review submissions and create content, and xo as we know it now was a forum on the back-end, and the comments on blog entries were threaded just like normal xo threads, that would be a 180 website.
Date: February 10th, 2011 1:43 PM Author: Rambunctious hominid
i think the issue is the poasters actually.
any mother posting about a 3.5 with a 165 lsat kid in the on-topic section will just get a bunch of just do plumbing posts from the current contingent.
that's how most websites are set up these days. the featured blogs are the most visible, then non-featured blogs I guess, and then the forums are definitely in the back.
your use of back end is troubling though. "back end" simply refers to the non-user interface portion of a website, e.g. for something like Google, their back end would be like 95% of their infrastructure.
Date: February 10th, 2011 1:21 PM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
at some point you're going to have to rename the site if you want it to be credible. A new name and a new logo would probably be enough to shake the stigma of the lawsuits and everything. Moving forward, you could have a separate off-topic area like /b/ on 4chan and maybe you have to be logged in to see it, that way some mom researching law schools for her kid can browse the on-topic shit without being bombarded with racism, memes, and all the other sweet stuff. Also, new posters could play around in the on topic forum for a while without diving head first into the xo experience.
Date: February 10th, 2011 1:44 PM Author: narrow-minded maniacal piazza
Yes. If you want a real site we will all have to leave xo behind. Attidood is spot on. Some posters may not migrate to a more legit board but that is the tradeoff for trying to get new blood.
Date: February 10th, 2011 2:00 PM Author: burgundy big-titted mother
If rach builds a new site that includes the entire database of xo threads and it looks/functions just like xo, but has a different name, and then he shuts down xoxohth.com and autoadmit.com, everyone will move to the new site.
Date: February 10th, 2011 3:27 PM Author: appetizing keepsake machete
it's easier that that, he just needs to code an auto-redirect into the site. maybe flash "xoxohth/autoadmit no longer exists, but you will be redirected to such and such forum in 5 seconds"
Date: February 10th, 2011 4:04 PM Author: high-end electric partner bbw
no, what he needs to do is 301 redirect it, so all the link equity xoxo has built up over the years passes to the new site. that way the new on-topic content like the blog will get indexed and rank in google.
Date: February 10th, 2011 3:50 PM Author: Trip stead feces
honestly, this is what i love about xoxohth and i fear that changing shit will eliminate everything that makes me actually laugh. seriously, MC, i <3 u, no homo.
Date: February 10th, 2011 2:38 PM Author: misunderstood space
Also we could have a "request garbage" button that flags a thread or post for mods too review. If a certain post is flagged by 3 different users it's brought to the mod's attention.
Date: February 10th, 2011 2:43 PM Author: sable field
That's a good idea.
And then let's make sure we place all the garbage threads in one easy to identify board so that someone can be absent for a month or two and come back and find all the outting info on any given poster without having to conduct any bothersome searches.
Date: February 10th, 2011 4:54 PM Author: Fiercely-loyal shivering church dysfunction
180
also, i kind of like blb's community modding, where enough flags and it's auto-nsfw'd or something. you'd have to keep the thread readable, to stop the psychos from just deleting good poasts out of spite
maybe something like if 5 logged in IPs flag a thread, it gets pushed off topic, and if 5 hit an off topic thread, it alerts a mod. might consider some way of tracking who's flagging posts (assuming the paranoia concerns are met) so that if someone's flagging for no reason they can be ip banned or something
Date: February 10th, 2011 2:59 PM Author: pale chapel
1) Get rid of your current mods. Make C+C a mod.
2) Remove "deleting spam" as a justifiable moderation activity. Right now you have mods leaving outing threads intact but rushing to delete a bumped Watchmen thread.
3) Relax "You posted too frequently." When the board is quiet and people are doing parody threads it isn't going to kill the board to let someone do four parody threads in the space of a few minutes rather than three.
4) Changing the name of the site isn't going to give a fresh start. Either forget about a fresh start (which is fine by me) or destroy the database (or at least the off-topic) and really start fresh.
5) A poster should be able to search all of his old threads/posts. Yeah, he could go back and delete "classic" posts. But posters will also be much less afraid to contribute content if they know that they can always easily go back and redact information that they shouldn't have shared. Plus it makes the board much more usuable if you can find your old posts.
Date: February 10th, 2011 3:03 PM Author: high-end electric partner bbw
#5 - yes absolutely. i've wanted this forever.
consider allowing people to delete their account like on reddit. if you delete an account over there, all your comments remain in tact, but your moniker shows as "[deleted]". once a few people do that, it will be impossible to go back and match up posts with people who were outted.
it may show up as deleted, but the database still knows the exact account the posts are tied to. otherwise, you would have problems with database integrity.
yeah, this is probably the cr way to implement account deletion on the posts side of things.
you still wouldn't want to truly delete the account record though, because you generally don't want to allow future access to the account name, and monikers associated to the account. I think monikers can also be reassigned to a dummy account, but account name cannot, because account name has to be 1 to 1.
Date: February 10th, 2011 3:54 PM Author: Trip stead feces
yeah, but google caching would still have the original moniker connected to the original post. even if something is later removed or written over with [deleted], it's still saved somewhere. the interwebz is permanenttt.
Date: February 10th, 2011 5:25 PM Author: Trip stead feces
i stand corrected. you sound like you know what you're talking about.
however, i still used to stalk a girlfriend on a very unpopular european version of facebook... i could find threads mentioning her (or ones she had written in) from 2 years back that had long been deleted. it was just a matter of forcing google to search only that site, clicking on "more results like this," and only loading cached pages. it went way, way back...
Date: February 10th, 2011 6:34 PM Author: high-end electric partner bbw
deleted pages are different and can stick around a long time. but if the page still exists & only the content has changed, google will store the most recent version of the page (at least, when it gets around to crawling it - and increasing the crawl rate and deep indexing might be issues for rach to think about, as there are ways to increase them if it's something he's interested in).
Date: February 10th, 2011 7:57 PM Author: high-end electric partner bbw
yeah, when you have a huge site like this with a shitload of pages, crawl rate & deep crawling become big seo issues. there's shit you can do to make the bots come more frequently and look deeper. the two big areas here are site architecture and outside indexing, like auto-pinging auto-generated rss feeds, shit like that.
Date: February 10th, 2011 3:04 PM Author: Rose impressive spot
Agree especially on #5. I don't understand why going back to delete old threads is that big of a concern. Only the really incendiary shit would get deleted, as would too-personal information, which you'd hope people should be able to control.
Date: February 10th, 2011 3:20 PM Author: pale chapel
I forgot an important one:
6) Make your information collection policies absolutely explicit from the outset. Who, if anyone, can access email addresses? Who, if anyone, can access IP information? Under what circumstances? Who, if anyone, can see multiple monikers? Have a page dedicated to this information. If someone has a question about it, update the page. Take regular questions on the subject for the first month or so so no one has any lingering questions.
Here's another one:
7) Make schtick management easier by allowing one account to manage multiple separate monikers. Then if a casual user wants to share some information but not under his primary moniker, he can do it without all the work of making up another fake email address and registering.
Date: February 10th, 2011 4:59 PM Author: Fiercely-loyal shivering church dysfunction
credited. i'd be much more willing to talk in formal threads if i could switch to a syncpumo for outable data, then back to gibreel for randomness without having to login/out
Date: February 10th, 2011 3:57 PM Author: Excitant Market
i like XO as it is, but i understand your desire to turn the site into something that isn't just a cash-suck and house of ill-repute.
that being said, if there isn't always an unmoderated portion of XO, i think this places goes generic and dies a slow death.` the current incarnation of the site has a unique formula that, despite its drawbacks, does attract a good number of smart and interesting posters. that will all go away if it's just a haven for r-thread and 1Ls begging for OCI information.
Date: February 10th, 2011 4:13 PM Author: high-end electric partner bbw
another very simple fix: make the URL filter that auto-links url's that are posted pick up https:// in addition to http://. see the link above to the Firefox plugin that was missed. more and more sites are switching to https as default.
Date: February 10th, 2011 5:03 PM Author: Fiercely-loyal shivering church dysfunction
rach, fucking 180. for the random shit i give you i hoap you know it's more because absent father figures are funny and not out of any animus--the new design looks great (although i do think branding is a problem, it really would probably best to say, make this the forums at lsn or something, and not xo, as much as i love her)
Date: February 10th, 2011 6:13 PM Author: rachmiel
Yeah, that's something I just have to add quick.
I've thought about it and I think splitting off on-topic from off-topic is a good idea. Tonight I'm going to do that and immediately get the on-topic board hooked up with LSN. That should help drum up more activity quickly, the theory being that over time, some participants will stick with the community. There are a lot of active people on that site this time of year.
Date: February 10th, 2011 6:59 PM Author: french topaz travel guidebook
I used to have a job doing viral and word-of-mouth marketing for corporate campaigns. Once the new board is up, I'll volunteer to roam around teh Internet recruiting undergrads, grad, and med students. i was #1 in my office and i got a free ipod for it.
Date: February 10th, 2011 7:12 PM Author: french topaz travel guidebook
sure, be happy to. just go to other boards, social networking forums, chatrooms, comments sections, etc., pretend like ur having a real conversation then just plug the board. if i could do it with philadelphia cream cheese, could definitely do it about school admissions.
Date: February 10th, 2011 7:45 PM Author: lavender hairraiser antidepressant drug office
I have no problem with the site design as it is. The new design looks good though, but in my opinion shouldn't be the efforts of your focus. I think a better use of your time would find a way to have this site render on a phone, and find a way to get more new blood:
Date: February 10th, 2011 7:52 PM Author: rachmiel
I can work on a phone version after I get the LSN crowd feeding us with discussion topics. I think that's the clearest opportunity to expand the audience right now.
Date: February 10th, 2011 8:05 PM Author: lavender hairraiser antidepressant drug office
If you really want to half ass it, take a page from how mma.tv does their mobile app. They have a solid interface, worthy of stealing I think it'll translate over well to XOXO (although since this board has a higher volume of threads and lower ratio of large threads, maybe make the height for each thread slightly thinner?)
I'm actually doing a lot of iphone user interface shit at my job right now for the last 2 months. I'd be willing to help, I'd have to refresh my C++ skills though (which I'll need to refresh by March one way or the other)
But my MAIN concern is getting a steady stream of new posters. This is a great board, but I've noticed a huge volume drop in the past year
Date: February 10th, 2011 8:28 PM Author: lavender hairraiser antidepressant drug office
This site is basic enough so that a mobile optimized site may not be a bad idea. Compared to other places, there isn't too much in the way of navigation. It could be easier too.
Date: February 10th, 2011 9:36 PM Author: irate reading party
Call me crazy but I like the layout of the site right now. Could you implement the functionality and changes people are discussing within this site rather than building a new one? I hate, hate, hate how most boards are set up. This one reads much cleaner.
Date: February 10th, 2011 10:49 PM Author: Wine jap
Some of this is just chiming in:
1) clickable urls in posts
2) no embedded images. (will turn the board into a mini 4chan, with all the concomitant problems + will be a moderation nightmare)
3) anonymous moniker option
4) two retirement options: "delete username on posts" and "delete entire posting history (all posts)"
5) off-topic board with very little moderation (pre-lawsuit style) and a fairly generous hourly thread limit (a little higher than the one now)
6) on-topic boards (law, finance, med, grad, college, arts?) with community moderation for off-topic violations (3 votes sends it to the garbage board, 5 votes gets it back, 8 votes sends it to the garbage board again, or something like that)
7) tagable threads
8) make off-topic board ungoogleable (but not invisible to unregistered users. if i hadn't seen the off topic stuff, i would never have bothered to register) OR you could toggle some of the forums off the front page, like you do now with off-topic posts
8) allow users to tag threads into a private "following" forum, sort of like an rss feed
9) subforum or some kind of notification system for direct responses to one's own posts
10) highlight the three most recent posts in longer threads
Date: February 10th, 2011 11:34 PM Author: dead drunken area
yeah. rach, do not forget to add this as well as the refresh button. also, include the the options, register, and sign in links on the thread pages too.
Date: February 11th, 2011 4:59 AM Author: glassy angry school pozpig
I like the retro style xoxo currently has, and the lack of shit like "post counts" and whatnot gives it an egalitarian feel where only current ideas matter.
Date: February 11th, 2011 12:25 PM Author: Boyish lay
Monetizing the board:
- Use your notoriety. Publish a line of XO-branded test-prep, admissions, law practice, career planning guides written with XO's candid tone. You could also publish profane humorous posts (a potential copyright nightmare though).
Suggestions:
- Keep XO as anonymous and bare-boned as possible, that's its appeal. Messing with your design aesthetic will hurt it. I love the black on white, and tiny links page. An "ignore user"/"ignore pumo" feature might be nice.
- An MFA board will bring in hundreds of bored, underemployed users - take a look at http://creative-writing-mfa-handbook.blogspot.com/ to see the most popular writing MFA blog (there's even a resident aspie HLS JD troll who's created his own ranking system). There will be far more overlap with hyper-verbal writers than there will with Med students, plus tonnes of them end up going to law school after their MFAs (and vice versa).
- 'Best of the Week' Blog is a great idea. You could also do drama round-ups, and stuff like that.
- Singles board is a great idea. Could also be named Relationship board. Or EMO/FEELINGS/PSYCH board...(allowing suicidal threads etc)
- Maybe a 'safe for work' mode that strains out posts containing the words NIGGER, KIKE, COCK, AZN, WGWAG, Daniel BXXX, RAPE, ALPHA, BETA etc. (Yes, I realize that I am responsible for many of these)
- I would love to run a book club on here, let it be completely feral (spoilers/ad hominem insults etc). Maybe even score some free books to do it with.
New Name:
- Should refer to AutoAdmit culture, I think, to preserve continuity. I personally would leave it. But some middling to poor suggestions:
Date: February 11th, 2011 12:46 PM Author: rachmiel
I agree that we need to cultivate verbal people. I feel like that's our niche, even more so than the notoriety. The notoriety, maybe, has been an outgrowth of it. People with sharp wits don't like to be told what they can and can't say -> no censorship -> profanity.
Also, selfishly, I'm more interested in building a community of writers and philosophers and comedians than biology majors. Nothing against biology majors.
Could you help me brainstorm more about this direction?
Date: February 11th, 2011 12:55 PM Author: Boyish lay
Trying to think of other groups of users... When I used to post more I would go to real estate sites (specifically Curbed.com before they began moderating it) and Wonkette.com which had really vicious, hilarious posters (before gawker ruined it). PW.org also has MFAs but is much more tame.
Another idea would be local boards - maybe NYC/Chicago/LA/DC, although you'd risk losing the appealing single page torrent of links
Date: February 11th, 2011 1:06 PM Author: Boyish lay
Writers - yeah, there is a huge need for anonymous online discourse in the writing community. MFAs and journalists too (there are 1000s of J-school people)
The opportunity to get bylines (i.e. writing credits) would attract people. You could get semi-reputable writers to guest edit a 'best of' blog or something like that. A scandal would bring people in. (Revealing details of the admissions process at Iowa or something) But just a place that has information on finances (I never knew about IBR before coming here, for example), and that would let you bitch about your program would be awesome.
Writers would be the easiest to lure. I get dozens of hits on my personal website from people doing searches for [REDACTED] and stuff like that. There's a dearth of information about admissions and the programs themselves.
Film students (and, ick, actors) are another chatty, snippy bunch.
Philosophers and other humanities PhDs would be a bit more risk-adverse than writers, because their programs are much smaller. The Chronicle of Higher Education has pretty active forums too.
The biggest writing groups are htmlgiant, pw.org and creative-writing-mfa-blogspot.com and all of them are sacchrine and supportive environments.
Date: February 14th, 2011 2:48 PM Author: rachmiel
I'll be picking back up with this tonight hopefully. Spent yesterday on cross country flights and now I'm homeless in LA. Have to find somewhere to stay for the next few weeks as my plans fell through.
Oh, btw, if someone is looking to rent out a room (for cheap) for a month, let me know...
definitely a step in the right direction...although jdOasis.com and TLS are still "prettier". will there be user accounts? private messages? bookmarking?
Date: November 8th, 2011 7:30 PM Author: saffron yarmulke
Will the site be comfy? I never understood why everything has to be so professional and square, for lack of a better word. I am sure there are reasons for it, but I wonder what it would be like if everyone was more friendly, caring, and understanding, and focused more on comfort. For example, I remember being in the grocery store or something and I said how can the cashiers stand there all day? Why can't they just have chairs? My girlfriend said it wouldn't be professional, or something like that. I dunno...I just don't see what is so wrong with making things more comfortable.