Various Questions and Ideas
- Locked due to inactivity on Jan 16, '19 3:54am
Thread Topic: Various Questions and Ideas
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I don't want to make this a major block of text, so I'm going to make two posts- one for my questions, and one for ideas that I really want to help get attention/discussion.
We all already know that's not going to make it any better, lol.
1. Why are languages beside English not supported?
What I mean by this is how we can't write things such as:
-Spanish characters (upside down ? and !; the accented a, e, i, o, u)
-Japanese/Chinese/Korean characters (Things that look like this emoji: )
2. Is there a specific reason why GTQ has an inappropriate language filter when the required age limit is 15+?
3. If we get "about 1.4 million visits per month," why are the forums lacking so much traffic?
4. Do you have any plans to make the forums more accessible?
When I say "more accessible," I mean adding another link to the forums somewhere among the "Make a Quiz" or "Make a Poll" section.
5. Is there a chance that you would be willing to add more BBC codes?
I'm thinking along the lines of underline text.
(Colors would be amazing, but I'm aware that takes a lot of time with coding, and could be used for spammy messages.) -
Add a block feature
Rather than implementing private threads/messages, I believe that it is imperative for a user block system to be implemented. Ideally, blocking a user would make it so you can't view their posts/they can't view your posts. There are two major advantages to this feature: 1) You would not be forced to see a spammer's messages, and this can hold someone over until moderators can delete their messages. 2) Arguments/fights would be practically avoidable. No one would have to interact with someone they dislike, and this would reduce peoples' stress/anxiety levels.
Add a one-time username change feature
In the past, I fought against this idea, but I believe it could be very nice for people who made their names several years ago and want a change or a fresh start. I say one-time use because that's what makes the most sense; there should be no reason for someone to change their username constantly.
Alternative for username change idea: Nicknames
I know that we can tell people what we want to be called, but I think it would be pretty fun if we could add a nickname to our profile. It could go under the username, above the join date. And when it comes to people posting, perhaps the nickname could replace a username? Not sure how that would work coding-wise; I love using different nicknames on Discord, and it could work nicely on the forums.
Optional Online/Offline "Button-thing"
Another idea that I once fought against, but would be nice considering how inactive most forum users are. Platforms like Discord, Instagram, and Facebook have features where you can see if someone is online or offline. I think the most important thing to add would be the option for you to permanently mark yourself as offline or 'unknown' if you do not want people knowing if you are online or not.
Notifications (Credit:
My idea with this is having a built-in web browser system that notifies you if there's been a response on one of your threads. I sometimes turn on my Facebook notifications or my Discord notifications so I can see if someone has messaged me while I'm not paying close attention.This feature should ideally have a toggle on/off feature for people who don't want to deal with notifications.
Polls help boost a user's status (Credit:
I've never quite understood why polls do not appear to add to your status bar. I think it would be nice for polls to give a small amount of "exp" towards the next status. (Forgive me if this is already a feature; the last time I checked, this was not a thing.) -
Ability to change email associated with your account
I've mentioned this before, but I still believe that this could be a useful feature. As it stands, this account is still associated with an email that no longer exists. I would love to be able to change it so I can have it associated with my current email.
Ability to delete or disactivate account without administrator approval
Mostly self-explanatory. I get a lot of off-site (and on-site) messages asking me if there's a way to delete accounts. I believe it would be nice for this feature to exist so people interested in leaving permanently can do so without waiting for (you) to respond or see an email.
Option to delete your own posts
This one may receive a bit of bad feedback, so let me explain my reason why I believe this is useful. Several users, including myself, have the tendency to post sensitive information that probably should not be posted out there on the internet. Having the option to delete a post that has your name, state, email, etc. would be relieving for everyone who has made the mistake of sharing information that did not age well. The only problem is, how do you keep it from being abused? I was thinking that, perhaps, a user could flag their post and ask a moderator if it can/should be deleted; then, if a moderator marks it as well, it will be completely deleted.
Give moderators the ability to delete threads (Credit:
Naturally, this should take the approval of at least two (if not three-four) moderators, but I believe that this would be another helpful feature for people who are interested in completely deleting a thread rather than having it locked and stuck sitting there. This could also use the idea I mentioned for deletion of posts; a user can flag their own thread, and moderators can flag it themselves until it gets permanently deleted.
Poll deletion (Credit:
Pretty self explanatory. Can help de-clutter profiles or simply delete polls that are no longer useful/wanted. -
That is everything that I was thinking about. I apologize for how overwhelming it is. Additionally, I apologize if it seems extremely demanding. I just wanted to share ideas that have been expressed in the past that could help make the forums more popular again.
I hope that you get a chance to view this thread and share your feedback, GTQ Guy! -
Make it so that Take On Me by a-ha plays on a continuous loop in the background on every page.
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The inappropriate language one is probably because people use this at school and a third of the people on this site are under 15.
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Maybe the ability to edit a post, but to avoid this being abused people can see what was changed? Or it just says EDITED ( like a button next to offensive and it shows the original post)
I suggest this for things like getting rid of spelling errors and the likes. -
I agree with Seth's request. That's :fire:.
Okay, but that's like saying Twitter/Facebook/Discord/any other website should have a filter because some children are on those websites and they might use them at school. I don't really see a point in censoring young adults.
That would also be amazing- I can already see errors I made in my original post! I'd love to fix them so I don't look like a total idiot. -
Hey, I'm not ignoring this thread. I will be back with answers!
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1. Why are languages beside English not supported?
I limited the allowed characters initially to prevent zalgo text, and only a small set of characters were whitelisted. This ended up being too limited, so I added back in characters related to:
math, such as ∛ ≠ ≥ ∈ ⦛
symbols, such as ☤ ‰ ⎃ ⏮ ▓ ☃ ☭ ♞ ✔ ❆ ⯍
latin, such as Æ ñ ç ë
runic, such as ᛉ ᛪ ᚱ ᛝ
arrows, such as ↖ ↺ ↪ ⇶ ⬌ ⬿ ⯖
braile, such as ⠫ ⠞ ⡜ ⢗
and emoji, such as 🍭 🌮 🎸 ⛳ 🐙
I would think Spanish characters should fall under Latin, but maybe there's a mistake somewhere. As for Asian characters, they won't be readable to 99% of users, so I don't think it would add anything positive.
2. Is there a specific reason why GTQ has an inappropriate language filter when the required age limit is 15+?
It's to help keep the site inoffensive and more acceptable to parents, school networks, etc.. We seem to avoid most filters, but I worry we'd be labeled mature content if language weren't censored. Users are supposed to be 15+ but it's impossible to enforce.
3. If we get "about 1.4 million visits per month," why are the forums lacking so much traffic?
Most of those visits are people coming to a specific quiz from Google or a shared link. Honestly I should do more to encourage these visitors to explore more of the site. It's a missed opportunity!
4. Do you have any plans to make the forums more accessible?
I'm not sure. I removed the link at the top during a redesign, when I was trying to get the links to fit on a tablet-sized screen. It was also amidst a lot of forum drama at the time.
5. Is there a chance that you would be willing to add more BBC codes?
Yes, that could be done. -
Add a block feature
I like the idea. It would be tricky to get the details right, like ensuring pages and post counts work correctly. I'd have to look into it more.
Add a one-time username change feature
I'm sure some people would want this, but I wouldn't consider it a high priority to implement.
Alternative for username change idea: Nicknames
Interesting idea. I wouldn't want the nickname to replace username on posts completely, but maybe appear in addition to.
Optional Online/Offline "Button-thing"
I think the recent posts on the side provides a similar effect, although only for people posting and not lurking. I don't think it's going to be a priority to do a better system right now.
Notifications
This is something I've been thinking about, although in the context of quizzes reaching milestones, like the 100th person took it, or it is trending today. Could be for forum events, too. This is probably something I'll explore further in the coming months.
Polls help boost a user's status
It's something I just never got around to adding, but yes I should do that. Speaking of polls, I also want to make it so a poll can be linked to a quiz and appear alongside it. -
Hey, it's no problem! I figured you would be able to sit and respond at some point. Speaking of replying; thanks for giving your feedback on a lot of this! It's always exciting to hear from the admin of the site. :)
I'm not ignoring anything you said; it's a lot of food for thought, and you made a lot of points that I can't really respond to at the moment. However, I'm extremely curious about one thing. Do you think that you could elaborate on forum events? I'm a bit excited to hear more about this, as it sounds like a lot of fun! -
hey gtq guy do you actually read the descriptions we have to type when we move a thread and is that why you never return my emails
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HACKED
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so kids are allowed to watch p---hub and creepy children entertainment on YouTube but they can't see "f---" or even f---LE
language is the least of our problems
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