The DU Admins have something that we would like to show you... (IMAGES: LONG DOWNLOAD)

[Skinner]

To thank you for yet another successful DU fund drive, the DU Administrators would like to show you what we have been working on for the past few months. You may have noticed that we are not around quite as much these days. That's because we are spending most of our time re-imagining, redesigning, and rebuilding Democratic Underground from scratch. This is a huge project which may not be finished until Spring of 2008. With hard work and a little bit of luck, we hope to have the new site ready by the time we have a Democratic presidential nominee.

Now, keep in mind that this is still a work in progress. The final product is likely to be different from what we are showing you right now. Still, these screenshots should give you an idea of where we are trying to take the new site, "DU 3.0."

We want you all to understand that we are doing everything we possibly can to make DU 3.0 much more functional, user-friendly, and enjoyable than our current software. Our goal in redesigning the site is to focus on our discussion forum and make it the the best it can be. To be frank, the DU Administrators believe that this community is being held back by dated technology. We want to bring DU into the twenty-first century, to create software that is worthy of this amazing progressive community.

On DU 3.0, the name of the game is "customization." We want to make it super-simple for every DUer to find the content that interests you, and to filter out the stuff that doesn't. Instead of having to search all over the place, we are giving you the tools to organize DU yourself, and have the best stuff delivered directly to you. You can subscribe to different forums, people, and keywords and have them appear on your My Subscriptions page. You can have any forum delivered to you using RSS. You can filter threads and posts based on their ratings. You can continue discussions for months -- or years -- instead of just days. And you'll know whenever anyone responds to your posts on a completely updated My Posts page.

That's just a little taste of what we're doing. There is so much more, but at this point we're not going to try to explain all of it. Instead, I just want to post a few screenshots. They are low-resolution, so you can't see all the detail. But if you squint a little you might be able to figure out many of the new features.


Latest Threads




Forums and Groups




Forum View




A Discussion Thread




My Subscriptions




My Posts



We are extremely excited about this upgrade, and we can't wait for it to be finished. We hope that it will make your DU experience even more enjoyable.

And thank you, again, for your support.

Skinner, EarlG, and Elad
DU Administrators

[NightWatcher]

1. Brillant!! I love the idea of "tags" for posts. They aid in searching

woo hoo cant wait guys.

[IDemo]

51. A "filter posts by tag" feature could work well, too n/t

[tridim]

81. Speaking of searching.. Are you addressing the search functions at all?

That's always been about my only beef with DU functionality.. The search functions just suck. No offense. :)

[Skinner]

110. Yes.

We are going to try to do what we can to improve the search function.

[Poiuyt]

131. I would love to be able to search by phrase instead of just keywords

Looks great.

[DS1]

2. tracking and ratings

schweeet!!

:thumbsup:

[SoCalDem]

3. Is there a DUzy nomination button ?

Seriously,.. It looks good :)

[hootinholler]

6. That should be a high priority.

JeffR is probably getting tired of the PMs from the DUzy Faeries!

-Hoot

[NightWatcher]

7. great idea!!! maybe it'll make DU version 4.0

[Yael]

15. Excellent idea!! A hotlink straight to JeffR's inbox with a comment box.

I love it!!

[nclib]

4. Oh, I like that!

It looks very nice! Can't wait.

[hootinholler]

5. If you'ns need help with that, let me know.

Resume on request.

-Hoot

[hlthe2b]

8. Looks terrific...

We appreciate the dedication to continually improving the site...very much.

[graywarrior]

9. Very, very cool.

Very!

[angstlessk]

10. you administrators are TRULY CREATIVE..no one asked for changes

everyone is VERY PLEASED with DU now yet you are always on the lookout to improve upon the best on the web!!!

I like the looks! Thanks for a great experience!

[mmonk]

11. Excellent.

Good work.

[supernova]

12. Looks wonderful! Can't wait

to try it out.

And the subscriptions page is a fab idea. :woohoo:

[lildreamer316]

13. This looks GREAT!! Question, if you have time:

One question: Hide thread/Ignore? Just wondering.
Thanks again for all your hard work.

[Skinner]

16. We haven't finalized those functions yet.

Currently, our thinking is that the Ignore functions will probably be enhanced. We're not sure what shape the hide thread feature will take. You will almost certainly be able to hide threads that are low-rated, and we intend to give members some control over their own threshhold. I'm not sure if we will have the ability to hide single threads like we do now -- first we need to figure out how many people currently take advantage of that function, and our decision will likely depend on its popularity.

[lildreamer316]

56. Just for reference; I actually use hide thread much more than

I use ignore....but I am sure YMMV.
I really, really like that feature..but as said below, it may not be necessary.
Thanks for the response!

[SoCalDem]

I would love "hide-by keyword"

That way if I don't want to clutter up MY front page with 37 threads about Tucker Carlson, I can type those words into the "hider" and they all go bye-bye:)

[drm604]

196. I like your "hide by keyword" idea.

I'd like to see it with an optional "duration" parameter. For example, there might be a subject that I don't want to totally hide forever but it's currently hot and there are 100 threads on it. I might want to temporarily hide all threads on that subject but have the "hide" expire in X days after it's hopefully died down. Without that you might forget to "un-hide" it and end up missing important future information.

[LeftCoast]

20. If I understand what they're doing hide/ignore is almost moot

You'll be able to filter the content to present only what you want to see.

[Yael]

14. Very impressive!

Love the new features you guys are working on. Thanks for all you do!!

I am a php programmer who has been writing modifications for php-based forums for 7 years. If there is ever anything I can do to help in coding or testing, please don't hesitate to ask.

[Cleita]

17. This alone is a monumental improvement:

"You can continue discussions for months -- or years -- instead of just days. And you'll know whenever anyone responds to your posts on a completely updated My Posts page."

One of the drawbacks of DU has been that many a great post sank into the archives way to quickly and this should help keep the worthwhile ones on top for as long as they are needed to be on top for the sake of the debate and discussion.

[avrdream]

123. Agree with that wholeheartedly.

Many a time I've put some dumb comment in just to get a great thread bumped to the top.

On another note: The ignore button has kept my anger from getting control of me. Keeps me from seeing things I'm a bit grumpy about.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

18. It sounds (and looks) very impressive.

I excited to see this come to fruition. :thumbsup:

[applegrove]

19. I'll try and muddle through all the changes. I'm not good at changes but

it looks pretty straightforward. Go Admins.

[Skinner]

22. We are trying to make the new site as easy as possible.

We want to be certain that all of our current members can make the transition without any difficulty.

And, of course, we want to make sure that the transition is worth it.

[applegrove]

27. This is just the best site. Thanks Skinner.

[senseandsensibility]

128. Your site is already so well designed and organized

that it is hard for me to imagine the need for improvement. I'll trust you on this, but please keep the same streamlined feel and user-friendliness that make DU seem like home.

[flashl]

21. Looks great. If you need a labrat to test, call on me. n/t

[Skinner]

24. We will definitely need beta testers.

But that won't be for a while. Certainly not before the new year.

[flashl]

32. I am eagerly waiting. n/t

:thumbsup:

[Triana]

46. SIGN ME UP!!! I'd be glad to test. Just let me know. (n/t)

[IDemo]

53. Seconded

I've got a dual-boot home built machine with XP and Linux ('Mint').

[Lucinda]

86. If you want a dial-up tester I'm your girl

I can see broadband lines from my house...but they don't quite reach me. :(

[LeftCoast]

23. I really like what I see here

Some of the enhancements look like they might really change the social dynamic. I think the changes will be positive. It will be very interesting to see. I can hardly wait!

[piedmont]

25. How does the rating of posters work?

I see there are little stars next to some posters-- is that a display of their DU-wide popularity, or is this just a glimpse of one poster's rating of his/her fellow DUers?

[Skinner]

26. Those are not ratings of people.

Those are ratings of specific posts. The ratings can then be used so members can more easily find the content that is rated highly.

We currently do not intend to have direct ratings of people.

[piedmont]

42. Good! I would really be turned off by such a feature. nt

[Phillycat]

50. Didn't we have this before, and get rid of it?

Because too many people were expressing their dislike of others by rating their threads poorly? Didn't it turn into another sort of popularity contest?

[Skinner]

55. We did have a rating system in the past.

We got rid of it because it was useless -- a extremely poor implementation that came with the software package we are using. There was no incentive to use it, so the only people who used it were trolls.

Since then, DUers have already shown that they will take advantage of a rating system if it has obvious value -- our existing rating system is a very popular feature. But there is room for improvement. The rating system we are creating is much more useful and robust. Not only are there incentives to use it, but there will be disincentives to abuse it. We believe it will be widely used, and that most DUers will use it the right way. Of course, some people will abuse it, but we believe they will be a small minority.

[Phillycat]

61. Cool, thanks. :)

The rest of the upgrades sound awesome! :D

[SoCalDem]

205. Remember all the flak when the first stars were so BIG?

people said they reminded them of the "other" yellow stars :rofl:

[freethought]

28. WOW! It looks great!

Do I see a problem? Well, yeah sort of. I have to get used to a new layout and everything.
But, it's my problem not anyone else's.
Great Job Admin!!

[Iris]

29. Very sexy.

[fishwax]

30. looks great, but no surprise there. A quick question about the google ads

I know that donors have the option to turn them off currently, but I have always kept them on because they don't bother me at the top and you mentioned when you first announced the ads that it would help to keep them turned on if we don't have a preference. That said, I think I'd find them more distracting on the side of all the pages--my posts, individual threads, etc. Is this a definite part of the design? Will donors still have the option to turn them off?

Thanks for all the hard work!

:hi:

[Duer 157099]

35. I have the same question

I also leave the ads enabled, but if they were to appear on all pages, that would certainly change. As it is, I have to quickly click-off of the main pages whenever an ad has a photo of * and if those were on every page, that would definitely deter me from spending time here.

But I suspect they have already taken this into account. We have the best admins on the net!

[Skinner]

36. Yes, donors will have the option to turn all the ads off.

At this point, we have not made a final decision, but we are leaning toward putting the ads on the side on all of our pages, including threads and forums. We understand that this will probably cause more donors to turn the ads off. But we think that the trade-off will still work in our favor because we will be getting more ad impressions for non-donors. (We tend to get better click-through rates from non-donors anyway.)

[fishwax]

63. Great, thanks! nt

[eppur_se_muova]

149. My $0.02 -- That sounds potentially laptop-unfriendly, unless ...

ads are on the RIGHT side.

Few things are more of a nuisance than having to scroll **EVERY** page to the right to read the full text (yes, there are some sites like that). And there are some (many??) of us who do all our DUing on laptops, even sub-notebooks.

Of course, the workaround is to use 6-point fonts ... :eyes:

[Skinner]

168. It depends on your screen resolution.

Most of the pages on DU 3.0 will not require horizontal scrolling on an 800 x 600 monitor.

All of the pages on DU 3.0 will not require horizontal scrolling on a 1024 x 768 monitor.

[eppur_se_muova]

200. I'm cool with that, thanks. Couldn't guess from the screen shots.

:thumbsup:

[OzarkDem]

31. Very good!

It looks great, thanks for all your hard work!

[bdamomma]

33. Looks good Skinner,

thank you so much for all your hardwork.

[yodermon]

34. are those social networking links i see before me? n/t

[Skinner]

39. I assume you are referring to the little icons on the thread for digg, del.icio.us, reddit, etc?

Yes. There is so much great stuff here on DU and we think it is time we start "spreading the love" to the rest of the Internet.

[Ravy]

37. Why do my posts (in your images) show up as *IGNORED*? nt

[underpants]

38. You guys are just flat out awesome

I can't wait for the never-ending Hillary threads

Seriously this if fantastic. My contribution will be coming shortly<-------THAT's what she said no seriously do you guys take out of state third party checks or checks written in Portugese Escudo against a Namibian bank?

[rocktivity]

40. At the risk of starting a computer snob flame war

this place has been a LOT better-looking since Skinner got himself a MacBook!

:rofl:
rocknation

[Skinner]

44. As a matter of fact, that's why I got the MacBook.

We need to make sure that DU 3.0 works on Mac as well as Windows. :thumbsup:

[Occulus]

159. Will you also be doing linux testing? n/t

[Skinner]

169. Not sure.

If we don't, we would appreciate some Linux users helping with beta testing.

[EFerrari]

41. Wow. That looks beautiful! Thanks!

:kick:

[IndyOp]

43. When is DU moving a GREEN server? The ad for Greenest Host leads me to ask...

:shrug:

Who is your current host? Are they running on solar or wind power? If not, why not?

[Skinner]

47. We have no intention of changing our web hosting company.

Our current web hosting company is very supportive of DU.

The greenhost ad is what happened to be showing when I took the screenshot.

[IndyOp]

83. It is great that your web hosting company is very supportive of DU...

That may mean in terms of giving you a very fair rate and/or in terms of providing really good support -- both of which mean a lot.

If you really like your current web hosting company, would you be willing to ask them how much green energy they use and whether they would please either start buying green energy or carbon offsets for the amount of energy it costs to run their servers? If they get back to you with an answer that says they would have to raise rates, then, perhaps it would be worth putting the question to DU members to see if they would be willing to contribute more to become a green website. I would.

We all need to encourage each other to look at energy in new ways -- now, not later -- and I would donate more to help DU become a "certified green" website.

You might also suggest to your current web host that this is a wave of the future and that if they want to have more progressive customers then going green is the way to go. For example...

Sustainable Websites purchases wind power offsets
http://www.sustainablewebsites.com/

Green Web Hosting
http://b2evolution.net/web-hosting/green-hosting-renewable-energy-power.php

Think Host
http://www.thinkhost.com/


The pic of baby Skinner below is adorable... He deserves the greenest possible world we can give him, doesn't he?

:hi:

[madrchsod]

45. once again we jump light years away from our nemesis

once again nice job of keeping our site ahead of the rest.....

[Lochloosa]

48. And another degrading of a once great website....

Well....someone had to say it. Again.
:sarcasm:

[Skinner]

49. LOL.

It is no secret that the DU Admins are doing everything in our power to ruin DU. ;-)

[Audio_Al]

90. Naw, it's just that I'm wondering when you're going to SELL it to some

Machiavelli-like corporation -- y'know -- You Tube got bought by Google, and how much did the guys who invented Google make? And how about that fellow Mark Cuban? He's got some story to tell.

Well, you gentlemen have my permission to sell your site, but I'll hunt you down myself when you and your families are lolling around Hawaii spending your fortune on Mai-Tais, windsailing, and purchasing expeditions on Kalakaua Avenue.

By the way, I'll be just down the road enjoying life, too. After more than fifty years of work, most of it in technology -- but not altruistic technology -- we're having a great time!

One other thing. I hope your parents are around to be proud of all of you. We are proud, too.

Respectfully,



Audio Al, your Radio Pal

[davsand]

52. How will load time be for the folks on dial up?

My biggest fear in any change is load time for a dial up connection.

I will tell you that when you have the fundraisers with any sort of moving image it slows down load time an awful lot. Is that gonna be a problem still with the new version? Similarly, I think the ads slow down loading as well.


Thanks for all you do!



Laura

[Skinner]

57. Load times will be FASTER.

Filesizes for pages will be much smaller on DU 3.0, which means faster downloads. At this point, we think they might be 50% smaller than current filesizes, for exactly the same content.

We are taking full advantage of more recent technology so we can chop out lots of redundant and unnecessary code. (To all the Internet geeks out there, this means: Almost-pure CSS page layouts. Download the stylesheet once. Almost all the code used to format the page is removed from the page itself.)

[unc70]

202. Please continue being usable as plain HTML, no JavaScript, no CSS, no images

Your current system is well implemented and works well in the simplest browser levels. That is extremely important for those of us who are paranoid, who work in very restricted environments, or who are running on slow network access or with limited displays on portable devices. You also appear to be reasonably friendly to screen readers and other techniques for those with disabilities.

I have over 40 years experience in the industry and think you do great work. I personally access DU from as many as 6-8 different environments in a single day: currently posting with FireFox on XP, was FF on Linux within the last hour (noscript and flashblock), w3m on Linux a few hours previous, NS on Win98, lynx on BSD, and a couple of minutes using a cell phone -- all in the last 24 hours.

Because of the horrible security issues with Flash and PDF, we aggressively block those and are very reluctant to view video from anyone unless we are in a virtualized sandbox. I realize that I am an extreme case in terms of a lot of these things, but I greatly appreciate your work with DU. I would be glad to test the new version in our development and porting lab.

[WilliamPitt]

54. Kick ass.

[mod mom]

58. Thank you Skinner and DU Administrators. DU is BY FAR the easist site to navigate

even for us who are technically challenged.

:blush:

this new improved DU looks great!

[Midlodemocrat]

59. Yet somehow, there is no time

for a pic of the BabySkinner. :cry:

:bounce:

Looks great! Thanks!

[Skinner]

62. Here ya' go:

[davsand]

66. The correct priority appears!

Thanks so much for sharing a picture! What a cutie!

I'm doing that "mommy swoon" thing!




Laura

[The Straight Story]

67. You should use that pic instead of grovelbot

"Help baby skinner reach the top" :)

[lumberjack_jeff]

85. No kidding, I'm sure people can resist Gort, but not baby skinner. n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

144. An excellent suggestion! But, um, you might want to keep him away from Swamp Rat.

I'm just sayin'.

(Not really, Swampy, we love you! :evilgrin:)

[Odin2005]

151. LOL, that would be hilarous!!! n/t.

[Midlodemocrat]

69. OMG. He is beyond adorable.

Aren't you just loving being a dad? Best thing I ever did was have my kids. They are the light of my life.

[KoKo]

72. Sounds Good...looking forward to it! n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

77. Awwww.

Skinner, you should give the mods that pic to toss out in the middle of flame-wars.

No one could continue to bicker after looking on that little angel.

[Tresalisa]

129. What an absolute cutie!

The new stuff sounds awfully cool! I'll like being able to track my posts and replies.

Thank you and the other admins for your hard work! :applause:

T

[Odin2005]

150. Awwwwwww!!!! He's ADORABLE!!!

:loveya:

[LSK]

60. Skinner, I have a series question:

Will it be Vista Compatible? Because nothing else seems to be!

:popcorn:

[Skinner]

65. LOL. I hope so.

My wife's laptop runs Vista. She's got Internet Explorer and Firefox, and so far DU 3.0 seems to work just fine on both. Hopefully it will continue to do so...

[onehandle]

101. Don't forget Safari and Firefox on OSX.

Use that new Mac.

[progressoid]

64. DAMN!

That's almost as good at FR's website!






:hide:
:hide:
:hide:
:hide:
:hide:

[MrCoffee]

68. "You can continue discussions for months -- or years -- instead of just days. "

The screenshots look very clean, and the feature descriptions sound very useful.

A question: Is a "Hide Subthread" feature contemplated? You said that discussions could continue indefinately, which is nice, but some discussions tend to have MASSIVE subthreads that aren't necessarily germane to the overall thread. The ability to ignore (or possibly collapse?) subthreads might be nice.

Thanks for the dedication to the cause, Admins! Youze guyze rock.

[Skinner]

70. We have discussed the possibility of a "hide subthread" feature.

Currently, we are leaning against it. But we have not completely ruled it out. It might be something we consider for version 3.1...

[Heywood J]

125. Such a feature would be much appreciated,

if and when you get around to it.

Thanks for the work you put into this place!

[Tatiana]

71. Ooooh new and shiny gizmos! n/t

[Call Me Wesley]

73. Wow, lots of work!

Looks very fine! :thumbsup:

[0rganism]

74. possible suggestion re. thread legibility in a "nested" view

Obviously, I don't know how you've already handled super-deep threads in the 3.0, as the discussion example shows only one level of indentation. I'm just extrapolating based on what I've seen done on other forums using similar nesting methods to follow threads.

While it's convenient to indent for the first few dialog levels, the inevitable scaling problems which arise when accumulating lots of indent are often dealt with by returning to a "flat" view after an arbitrary reply-depth point -- somewhat disorienting if people have already become accustomed to following a subthreaded dialog via indents. If, when returning to a flat view, there were some indication (a number would work fine) given in the post heading of post depth in the thread, I think that could help readers, as suddenly switching to a flat view with no extra info can cause confusion.

Anyway, from the snapshots so far, the new format looks sweet -- good work.

[Irishonly]

75. WOW

Very cool

[MrMickeysMom]

76. I'm impressed with this commitment...

Just one question (especially for people not as savy - I don't use or know about "RSS" - Will there be a primer somewhere? You know, like a "getting started section for making the most of DU. I could still use this now, I'm sure.

Thanks!

MMM

[Skinner]

78. I think we will probably provide some sort of explanation.

We hope to provide clear explanations for all of the features on DU 3.0.

[eppur_se_muova]

145. DU for DUmmies? :) nt

[Emit]

79. Well, I have something that I would like to show The DU Admins ...

:yourock:

Thanks for all you do.

[rjones2818]

80. It looks great!

I'm glad my donation is going for something like this!

Now...on to mor important matters: When will the adminstrators break down and endorse Dennis Kucinich? DUers have spoken!

Go Dennis! :woohoo:
http://dennis4president.com
Choose Peace!

[Basileus Basileon]

82. Skinner, I cannot strongly enough disagree with the post-rating system.

In communities where post ratings were added--Digg and /. come to mind--groupthink and peer pressure immediately took over, as public approval and shame became ingrained into the site architecture. I think the only weapon people should have against words that oppose theirs ought be words of their own.

[Skinner]

87. I can understand your concern.

We believe that the vast majority of DUers are capable of using these tools responsibly. We also have a few ideas to curb abuse.

I think it is worth noting that our current approach is not perfect either. Groupthink and peer pressure are both fairly common on this website as well. As are public approval and shame.

On balance, we believe that post ratings will be a net plus.

[Basileus Basileon]

138. Well, I hope you're right that they'll be a plus.

I still have quite a few reservations, but hell, I'm wrong more often than I'm right.

[Odin2005]

152. Case in point, stupid candidate-bashing threads making it to the greatest page.

:banghead:

[Skinner]

170. That would be much less likely under the DU 3.0 rating system.

Since DU 3.0 uses a five-star system, the thread ratings will more accurately reflect the opinions of the entire community. So-called "candidate-bashing threads" would be more likely to be rated somewhere in the middle, because the high ratings would be balanced out by lower ratings.

[Odin2005]

180. Excellent! n/t.

[Occulus]

160. Would users have the option of hiding post ratings?

The option of seeing them or not should alleviate the concerns of the people who don't like them. And, enough people turning them off would all by itself curb the groupthink concern, which honestly is very valid; I've seen it on other sites as well.

Of course, giving users the option would kind of defeat the purpose, no?

[Skinner]

171. At the moment we have no plans to provide that option. (nt)

[Richard Steele]

84. Looks good! It's hard to imagine DU getting any better than it is....

...but You guys have surprised me before! :thumbsup:

[earth mom]

88. Will there be a September 11th forum? nt

[Skinner]

89. Our intention is to have all the same forums on DU 3.0 that we have on DU now.

That would include the September 11 forum.

[CabalPowered]

91. Looks great! One question.. "Open Trashcan"

Is that for threads that we've hidden?

[Skinner]

97. I'm surprised it took this long for someone to ask about the trash can.

The trash can is where the low-rated, locked, and off-topic threads will be. That's the idea, anyway. Members have some discretion to decide where their trash threshhold is -- based on the ratings of the threads.

The idea is that members can decide for themselves how much crap they want to see. And if you like crap, you can hang out in the trash can. Threads in there will be open for discussion.

[CabalPowered]

99. Will locked threads be unlocked in the trash can?

Oh nelly, that could get interesting.

[Skinner]

103. Sorry I wasn't clear. No, locked threads will not be unlocked in the trash can.

But at this point, we expect there to be a lot fewer locked threads. Not sure we'll get what we wish for, though.

[BlueGirlRedState]

92. But where's the spreadsheet button?

We need a quick spreadsheet button so it looks like we're working....

Thanks for all your hard work -- very impressive.

[SharonRB]

93. Thanks, guys!

This looks great. I can't wait until the upgrades are unveiled.

:yourock:

[mzmolly]

94. You guys are doing a great job

once again. :toast:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

95. My dear Skinner!

Oh these changes look fantastic! I know they will greatly enhance my experience here...

One question: Are you planning to make PM's more readily visible? Right now, there's only one page where you can see if you have one waiting. Will you incorporate some some of alert system so we can see if we have one, on any page?

Thanks for all you do!

[Skinner]

98. Yes.

When you get a PM, the notification will appear on all pages.

[stlsaxman]

96. Looks great! Can't wait! Just one request....?!?!?

With threads of 20 or more replies appears the {VIEW ALL) link next to the subject line.

Many times i will get to the bottom of the post and browse the headlines of the replies. If it is a busy thread I'll have to scroll all the way up to the OP subject line and hit the VIEW ALL link...

Could you place another VIEW ALL link at the bottom of the page with more than 20 replies?

I've asked before but never received a reply.

Thanks and again- the upgrade looks great!

stlsaxman

[Skinner]

100. Well, threads are going to work a bit differently.

In particular, single-post mode is going to be very different. In fact, there is nothing exactly equivalent to it in DU 3.0.

I guess the short answer to your question is this: You probably won't face that problem on DU 3.0.

[stlsaxman]

105. Awesome! n/t

[RavensChick]

102. Great job, Skinner!

I love the new layout. Hope it's up and running soon. I have XP on my home PC but I have a laptop that's running on Vista. I should have no problems accessing DU once I get an ISP on it.

Thanks so much for your hard work!

:toast:

[librechik]

104. Why o why do you continue to improve on something which is already perfect?

are you insane?

Thanks anyway--I must now crawl away to die of Stendhal's disease.

[rug]

106. Will we be able to reach through the screen and throttle people in this version?

[blondeatlast]

107. Excellent work. Thanks for the continual improvements to what is already a top-notch site! nt

[shaniqua6392]

108. You guys are just terrific!

Just when we think DU can not get any better.....You surprise us with your brilliance. Thank you so much!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

109. Thanks for all your hard work!

Looks great from here. I'd also be glad to offer my services as guinea pig when you get the beta version going... :thumbsup:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

111. Awww, I thought we were gonna get a pinup of the server.

Still, if an upgrade is all ya have, I guess it'll do for now.

:rofl:

Well done, and congratulations!

[racaulk]

112. Love it! I can't wait until the 3.0 goes live!

The updates look great! Thank you guys for this and for everything you do!

:hi:

[madokie]

113. sounds and looks good to me

[liberaltrucker]

114. Our donations well spent. Thanks, guys!!!

:toast:

[Greylyn58]

115. These look excellent, Thanks for all the Administrators hard work

I can't wait to see the finished product. It will make this site even greater.

[The Backlash Cometh]

116. I suddenly feel like that poor orphan who just discovered she has a rich uncle.

[malaise]

117. Beautiful

Thanks

[OhioChick]

118. Very Nice.

:thumbsup:

[Flabbergasted]

119. Looks Great. On the other hand, functionally, DU is the best Forum on the web already.

I'm surprised that other forums have not tried to use your model.

This new and improved version looks to be an even greater version.

[Maven]

120. New site looks fantastic, but what about the logo?

Isn't it due for a refresh?

[Occulus]

161. Ask someone who knows a modeling app for a 3D logo

I could do one in Blender. It's quite easy, actually, if all you're dealing with is text.

[icymist]

121. Wow. This looks really great. One question: What are the Tags and

the icons just underneath them about? (I can barely read this and that's with a magnifying glass!)

[mopinko]

122. i would like an ignore mouseover.

so that i can see whose post it is that i am ignoring. sometimes you bump into someone in the support forums that you have on ignore. you can tell from the replies that this person is in need. but you don't know who it is. i can put someone on ignore for being an ass in gd, but still not want to ignore them as a person if they are in real need. who knows, sometimes you find out why a person is an ass, and you don't need to ignore them any more. so, just a mouseover to reveal the posters id would be a useful addition, i think.
keep up the good work. you guys are great, and i am happy to have a place to call home.

[Initech]

124. Very nice! I like it!

[bleever]

126. Okay, you Harvard Yard brainiacs...

if you're going to be improving on perfection again, I have one small request: is it possible to add a feature that makes html formatting of posts easier? For all the time I spend typing {div class="excerpt"}Text{/div}, I could be saving a tiny bit more democracy if there were a shortcut.

For example, in the existing html lookup table, if we were able to actually click on the specific html description, like we do with smilies, it would be quite cool.

Thanks!

[Skinner]

134. We are planning to do exactly that.

A DUer (mogster) created a nifty little tool called the "DU-o-matic Codificator." I think we are going to rip it off.

[Odin2005]

153. I would really like it if you guys made the HTML and BBCode as WYSIWYG as possible

I'd much rather highlight and then click on the "bold" or "quote" button then have to type out the code.

[annabanana]

146. I never type, when

I can copy & paste, or cut & paste
{div class="excerpt"}Text{/div}{div class="excerpt"}Text{/div}{div class="excerpt"}Text{/div}

[bleever]

165. All this time, I could have done that

and just replaced the "Text" area.

D'oh!

[Make7]

157. If you use FireFox, there is a plug-in that inserts customized text for you.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/578

- Make7

[bleever]

166. Bookmarking this

to install later; thanks!

[Canuckistanian]

127. Umm, a Fred Thompson '08 ad?

I hope THAT won't be a regular feature.....

[Hekate]

130. Skinner, EarlG, and Elad -- you are the best!

Well done!

Hekate

[gatorboy]

132. It's all right...

But until we're at Free-republic levels of technological advancement, color me not impressed!

[lonestarnot]

133. Cool.

[Cronus Protagonist]

135. More feautre bloat I'll never use

Seems to be the programming theme of the century. I say this as a professional software developer myself.

[Redneck Socialist]

136. INTERNET GEEK RAGE!!11!! rARRAAARRRA!1!!111!

Nah, not so much really.

I'm sure I'll hate it at first, but I'll get used to it. At least we get to see where our money goes.

Rock on Admins!

[Labors of Hercules]

179. What a dork. *snarf*

:toast:

[proud2BlibKansan]

137. Wow I love it

Can't wait.

[Evergreen Emerald]

139. very nice guys.

I appreciate your creativity.

[Skittles]

140. it's why I've donated in every drive since I joined DU in Aug 2001

it keeps improving....I swear, it must just kill those freeper bastards when they see what THEY are paying for :D

[AwakeAtLast]

141. {Jeff Spicoli voice} Totally awesome!

:smoke:

:thumbsup:

:applause:

[BlueJac]

142. SWEET!

Keep up the nice work!

[MsRedacted]

143. You need to differentiate between Latest Threads and Latest Breaking News.

I've commented on this before. It's been ignored before.

It's too confusing - epsecially since some labels just say "Latest".

Ideas:

-use New or Recent threads
-Change to "Late Breaking News" which is the vernacular anyway. I mean who actually says "Lastest Breaking News." (And if you are using "latest" here because someone criticized DU because that news is not ALWAYS technically the "late breaking" -- or some such -- well that person was just plain wrong. As a category descriptor you should be using "Late Breaking News" or just "Latest News" but not Latest Breaking News.

Just my 2 cents -- but people pay me a lot of money for just this kind of advice -- and every time I see that "latest" button and can't remember which page it goes to -- I get annoyed. I can't be the only person in the universe having this experience.

[Skinner]

174. We are trying to make all of our links much more descriptive.

There shouldn't be any links on DU 3.0 that just say "Latest". The links would say either "Latest Threads" or "Latest Breaking News."

We are aware that the name "Latest Breaking News" is not technically correct, and we have considered changing it in the past. But at this point I doubt we will be changing the names of the most well-known parts of DU, as our members have become accustomed to seeing and using these names. We want DU 3.0 to be consistent with DU 2.x.

[MsRedacted]

199. Latest Breaking News to Late Breaking News -- not sure that's an inconsistency.

Latest Breaking News to Late Breaking News would not be an inconsistency.

It's likely what people mentally see or hear when they that look at that button anyway -- which is what really matters -- what goes on with the user.

I could go into the whole typographical and scientific reasons for why that's what users likely see (or hear) in their mind -- but having been through enough usability studies and being a typographical expert -- I would stand by my assessment. (My assessment that it wouldn't be an inconsistency to change from "Late to Latest" because that's what they see or hear in their own heads anyway).

In other words you would be making an existing inconsistency in your website, consistent with the user -- hence increasing usability, not creating a usability issue.

Hope this helps and thanks for responding. Let me know if you need anything else.

edited because I type like an idiot.

[2008]

147. change sucks!

why, in my day, nothing changed! ever! everything stayed exactly the same, all the time

we didn't have any fancy-shmancy adminnee-straiters runnin' around trying to make everything better

we had one guy in the center of the muddy town square with a giant stone tablet who chiseled the latest goings-on, and if you wanted to comment on what he wrote, why you just ran and got your own giant stone tablet

and we liked it! we LOVED it!

[Odin2005]

148. That is looking fucking AWESOME Skinner!!!

:yourock:

All those additions, changes, and new features look great. It will be nice to be able to filter out wacky conspiracy theory threads and the latest rants by the Twoofers, as well.

[Old and In the Way]

154. Outstanding work gentlemen!

No doubt, you guys are doing the leading edge designs in discussion forum software on the net. I'll bet the Kossacks will be envious, too. I really don't like perusing their forums because they are not reader friendly. Goes without saying that FReeperville continues to compliment their trailing edge thinking with trailer-edge code.

My questions-

What about the front page....will that stay in tact? I think it's pretty good.

Will we be able to upload stuff direct to posts?

[Skinner]

175. The front page will change as well.

I didn't include a screenshot of the front page because it is not even close to being finalized. We are going to change the front page to make it more user-friendly and to streamline the content somewhat.

Not sure about uploading stuff directly to posts. We are still deciding.

[Reno.Muse]

155. Sweet. I might have to make a donation!

[Renew Deal]

156. Looks great and long overdue. One question...

Will we be able to cross post? I see tags are included. I think cross posting would be an important and useful new feature. Let's say I have a breaking story about Eliot Spitzer. It could easily go into LBN and New York. Thanks and keep up the hard work!

[Skinner]

176. Currently we have no plans to create an automated cross-posting feature.

But limited cross-posting in more than one forum will be (and already is) permitted if the post is relevant.

[sazemisery]

158. I would love to beta test this baby!

This is fantastic. Three cheers for the DU Admins and their vision for the future of DU.

[orleans]

162. careful boys--don't get too drastic--some of us don't adapt well to change

and some have technical learning deficiencies ... like me!

[Historic NY]

163. Wow, looks much easier to navigate......

anything for older eyes works.

[The Doctor.]

164. Hey! How about another Penalty-Free name change?

I didn't realize I could have used the last one to nix the underscore. It'd be nice to fix it.

[kedrys]

167. Slammin'!!!!

I'm pumped about the upgrade too just looking at the screenshots!! This looks too cool for school!

Thanks for all the hard work you do keeping this place running and always improving it. That can't be said enough.

:hi: :toast:

[Norrin Radd]

172. Is it possible to have the site redirect one back to the post

one was looking at, after clicking "reply" and then logging in?

[Skinner]

177. We intend to do that. (nt)

[qdemn7]

173. Suggestions...

(1) Allow selection of display of threads by posting order, besides current method, please.

(2) Incorporate QUOTE buttons in every post, makes it easier to others to see who is speaking to whom.

(3) Incorporate BOLD, UNDERSCORE, ITALICS buttons at the top of a person reply screen.

[Skinner]

178. You already have the ability to display threads by posting order.

Just enter into any forum, and click the link that says "start time" at the top of the date/time column.

DU 3.0 will also have that ability, and it will be easier to find.

At this point we're not planning to do quote buttons. We think that indenting responses will make it much easier to figure out who is replying to whom.

There will be buttons for bold, underscore, and italics on the posting form.

[qdemn7]

182. Sorry...

I really did not see that. But what I meant was sequential posting order..1,2,3. etc. Even clicking on Start Time, some post show up out of sequence.

[Skinner]

184. I'm sorry. I misunderstood.

I have often wondered if we should provide an option to see replies in order. At this point we are not planning to do it. But I would not rule it out as a possible future upgrade.

[qdemn7]

185. Thank you for

Prompt reply. I come from vBull forums, and I'm just NOT progressive in that respect. :evilgrin:

[Jennifer C]

181. Looks amazing

Wow, I can't wait :toast:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

183. Terrific updates to discussion threads. How nice to give individual responses in the threads

recommendations.

Over the last couple of years I have often either kicked a thread just because of one particularly stellar post in said thread, or have implored the poster to post it as an OP.

Now, I can recommend right in the thread. Very cool.

And, it's also nice that we don't have to remember to mark threads for later perusal in order to know which posts are the most recent.

You guys rock!

:yourock:

MKJ

[Eurobabe]

186. This is HUGH, I'm SERIES!!!

Way to go Skinner, Elad and all involved. Can't wait for the release!

:applause: :applause:

[MuseRider]

187. Ooohhhh!

I like-eeee.

I love positive change, even if I never completely figure it out (kind of likely). It looks great, looks easy (I hope) and it looks to be a great way not to lose stuff you really meant to keep track of and can't find again no matter what you try!

Really, this site was amazing to me back in 2002 when I joined and it has consistently gotten better. You all listen to us and treat every aspect of the community with respect. It shows.

Thank you.

[liberal N proud]

188. Looks really, really good

outstanding.

[Imperialism Inc.]

189. This suggestion is probably too drastic but...

In the 'replies to this discussion thread' area, are there any plans to allow readers to see that list of replies in a pop-up or something? I just hate having to scroll to the top to see all the replies. I sometimes use that list to see where in the thread I am, to see where the sub-thread started, how long it continues, where the next response by a specific poster is, or to see where the next sub-thread starts (and so on). In small threads it is no biggie, but in larger threads it can be a pain to scroll all the way back to the top (or even to use the top button if the original post is long requiring a scroll down to get to the replies). It would be nifty if I could access that list in a pop-up window without scrolling away from the actual post I am reading.

[goclark]

190. Great! Can we get some more smilies too?

:)

[SoCalDem]

204. Yes. we need new smilies.. Use any of the ones I've collected

They used the sarcasm one and the donkey kick.. but I have oodles more available..

smilies
red-x
trolls
popcorn
forum comebacks
Congrats & Birthdays

[goclark]

207. Those are wonderful ~ how do I insert them in my messages?

I know how to get them from DU but I just can't figure out how to import from other sources.

Thanks... :bounce:

[SoCalDem]

208. You can right click/copy paste or you can upload them to your computer

right click ..save as.. pictures.. and the to photobucket or whatever online place you use and then copy paste the link..

[goclark]

210. Thanks I'll try it ! nt

[mogster]

191. DU NG! Hooray!

Next generation!
This is gonna be great, especially I liked the My posts-page.
Looking forward to it :-)

[HereSince1628]

192. Looks like adverstising will be presented on every screen.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

193. Wow

That's all I can say. Except that I'm very glad I was able to pitch in a few bucks for the fund drive.

[zanne]

194. Why can't we just leave it alone already?

Why all the do-overs? DU functions splendidly the way it is, and the way it was. Why mess with a good thing just because you can? (Maybe you wouldn't need as many fund drives if you just leave it alone.) Call me an old turd, but I just don't see the need.

[BrklynLiberal]

195. Wow! I cannot believe you could make this place any better...but you do.

BTW..Your new family member is adorably handsome.

[Kazak]

197. One slight critique you may not have considered...

I'm not sure about how I feel about all this "My" language. My this, my that? I've finally come to the conclusion that it is in fact NOT all about me. I would hope that same attitude would be reflected in the language used on a democratic website. Anyway, possibly just something to think about (or not!)...

[Lex]

198. Just from reading the Subject Line, I thought

I was about to be flashed.

Either way, it looks NICE!




:P

[democrat2thecore]

201. DU 2.0 ------ I LOVE IT! -----nt

[Ellipsis]

203. Nice, clean and visually logical...

Props.


the last fund drive concept was appealing as well.

:toast:

[Swamp Rat]

206. Looks great. What about avatars?

Will y'all increase the size allowance? please? O8)

[Breeze54]

209. Looking Good! ~ Thanks for all your hard work!