Forums Changelog and Feedback

[Archaic]

This post will be continuously kept updated with the various things we're working on for the forums

Changes to backend functionality of the forums

• Exploring potential changes to the layout of the Editor to improve user experience.
  • More user feedback on the current layout would be useful, especially for mobile devices. Screenshots of problems are particularly helpful.
• Investigate if there's any way we can enable users to collapse/hide parts of the sidebar, rather than needing to hide the entire sidebar.

Changes to styles and general appearance of the forums

• Moving the Online Indicator icon down so that it's next to the username, instead of partly covering user avatars.
• On certain dark-mode styles, changing the Twitter box on the sidebar to a light background so that text can still be read.
• An all-new forum style is being worked on.
• Several classic styles from our vBulletin and Xenforo 1 eras are being reworked for Xenforo 2.
• Stickied threads will be condensed down for ease of finding information.
• Increased use of prefixes across the forums, for ease of finding information.

 

[Archaic]

This post will be continuously kept updated with various issues that we're aware of, but which we are not currently working on, for whatever reason.

Known bugs in the current build of Xenforo

• The popup to align images and set them to a specific pixel size is not working properly. You can still manually set these by adding things like align="left", width="500", etc, to your attach tag if you switch to the BB code editor.

 

[Archaic]

2022-01-13

• Forums upgraded to Xenforo 2.2.8 Patch 1
• Reddit embeds using the media embed function and BB code now properly support darker themes
• You can now see the local time of a user on their profile, and on the tooltip that opens up when you click on their name in a thread
• Various bug-fixes and optimizations which should improve general loading times.
• A new default style is in development and nearing completion...

 

[Archaic]

2022-01-14

• The Bulbanews Submissions Box is now available. Back on its old wiki-based format, Bulbanews had a proud tradition of accepting content submitted by members of the community. Now, we've brought it back, and it should be easier than ever to submit both tips and news. If you know how to write a forum post, you already know all you need to know! Posts in the Submissions Box can only be viewed by the poster, and Bulbagarden staff. See the sticky threads for more info!

 

[Archaic]

2022-03-20

• A number of improvements have been made to the lazy loader, and to media embeds (e.g. YouTube videos, Tweets), which should significantly improve general loading times.
• A number of other minor bug-fixes and optimizations have been implemented which should also assist to improve general loading times.
• We're still working on that new default style. Resolving the loading time issues was our biggest priority.
• We're also currently working on some fixes for forum layout, and are testing a number of addons which we think will help further improve the general user experience.

 

[Archaic]

2022-04-16

• Gen 9 Starter Fan Badges have now been added. You can receive your badge by selecting your fave Gen 9 starter in your preferences. Once the system awards the badge, you'll then need to go into your badges list on your profile to enable it.
• If you change which starter is your fave, the system will now automatically revoke the badges for other starters. You can only have one starter fan badge per generation at a time.

 

[Archaic]

2022-05-26

• After some downtime, functionality to allow users to connect their Facebook account to their forums account, and use that to log-in, has been restored.
• Currently, you can connect your forums account to Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Reddit. Other account providers will be made available in future.

 

[Archaic]

2022-06-09

• Several backend settings were tweaked to try and speed up page loading
• Two major updates to the forums are currently planned for late this month, and sometime next month. A new default style will be implemented along with the first of these updates. More details on new features, etc, will be announced at a later date.

 

[Archaic]

2022-07-04

• We have launched a new default style for the forums today, Mysterious Garden
• The styles previously known as Bulbagarden Default and Bulbagarden Default [Alternative] are now Bulbagarden Classic and Bulbagarden Classic [Alternative]
• The style previously known as Bulbagarden Classic is now known as Bulbagarden Retro
• The previously announced forum upgrades are still in the pipeline, but have been delayed a little due to issues needing to be resolved on Bulbapedia. We'll give more details on those updates once we're able to nail down a specific date for when they'll go in.

 

[Archaic]

2022-07-16

• Backend software has been upgraded to Xenforo 2.2.10.
• You can now see a list of all reactions you've given to other people's content. You'll find the link to this in the dropdown menu under your username in the navigation bar, as well as in the menu sidebar on your account options and settings pages.
• Changes have been made to password minimum requirements, and password validation.
  • Passwords must now be minimum 8 characters in length. If your password is shorter, the system should allow you to retain it, but we strongly suggest you change your password to match these new requirements.
  • More stringent checks for passwords have now been implemented, including pwned password validation.
  • If your password has been compromised, you will receive a notification every time you login to the forums until you change the password to something more secure.
• Additional enhancements have been made to account security options.
  • Support for WebAuthn / FIDO2 security keys as two-step authentication, including hardware devices such as YubiKeys.
  • Ability to see/manage trusted devices under your account settings (under Account -> Password and security -> Two-step verification).
  • Ability to see the IP addresses used for your account (under Account -> Password and security).
  • Ability to see/manage remembered sessions for your account (under Account -> Password and security).
• Other minor bug-fixes and optimizations have been implemented.
• Functionality allowing users to connect their Facebook account to their forums account, and use that to log-in, is currently disabled due to some ongoing issues with the implementation of that feature. Login via Twitter, Google, and Reddit accounts is still working properly.

User experience changes for public testing
These changes should be considered to be in public testing, and may be removed at any time depending on user feedback.

• Changes have been made to display of user signatures.
  • User signatures will now only be shown once per page in any given thread or conversation.
  • Users can now manually show or hide any user's signatures.

Upcoming features and changes

• We're currently exploring some options to integrate our forums and Discord communities better. This would include some or all of the following:
  • Enabling users to register and login to forums accounts using their Discord account.
  • Automated syncing of user nicknames across the forums and Bulbagarden Discord.
  • Automatically giving forum users a special role to identify themselves on the Bulbagarden Discord.
    • This could come together with a special icon or username style on the Discord.
  • Automatically giving Bulbagarden Discord users a special Badge on the forums.
  • Auto-posting of new forum thread notifications from select forums to appropriate channels on the Bulbagarden Discord (e.g. notifications of new threads posted to Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet in the #scarlet-violet channel)
  • Forum users being able to get Xenforo alert notifications of new mentions, conversations, and posts in watched threads through Discord DMs.
    • Users would be able to opt-out of receiving these, the same as they currently can with receiving notifications via email, etc.
• We're looking at making it possible for users to register and login to Forums accounts using their Twitch and Tumblr accounts.
• While it won't happen for some time yet, we're also looking at making it possible for you to register and login to Forums accounts using your Bulbapedia account.
• We're beginning work on brand new forum styles based off of Legends: Arceus, and Scarlet/Violet. Reworks of classic forum styles are also in the pipeline.
• We're in the processes of finalizing a new forums-based home page for Bulbanews content. Click here for a live preview.
  • Once fully ready, this forum-based news home page will become the new front page for Bulbagarden.
• A new forums-based calendar will soon be added, linking to relevant discussion threads and Bulbanews stories for upcoming game releases, anime episodes, etc. Once this goes live, you'll be able to see this on the forums list, as well as on the (upcoming) forums-based news home page.
• Sometime in the coming months, the forums will be moving from the current subdomain, into the root Bulbagarden domain.
  • Links using the current forums subdomain will continue to work, as these will be dynamically redirected.
• Users will soon be able to initiate account deletion requests from their own user options.
  • This feature used to be available, but had not worked correctly for some time, requiring people to instead contact us directly.
  • Due to record keeping and moderation requirements, this feature will only be available for accounts with a clean history (i.e. no warnings received). Accounts with a warning history, even if all warnings have expired, will still need to go through the current process of contacting staff directly.

 

[Archaic]

2022-07-20

• Minor update to fix an issue where password checks could incorrectly apply when resetting a user's password

 

[Archaic]

2022-07-24

• Spotlight forums have changed.
• Some changes have been made to the forum sidebar and footer. The footer currently on the Mysterious Garden style will be the default going forward, older styles will be converted to this new format progressively over the next few weeks.

 

[Archaic]

2022-07-28

• Users may now create new forums accounts using their Discord account, as well as link their existing Discord account to their forums account via the connected accounts options.
  • Forum users who connect their forums account to their Discord account will receive Xenforo alert notifications of new mentions, conversations, and posts in watched threads through Discord DMs.
    • This feature is on by default when you connect your accounts, but can be turned off here
  • Notifications of new threads in the Scarlet and Violet forum, and the Anime and Manga forum, will be auto-posted to the Bulbagarden Discord in the #scarlet-violet and #anime channels respectively.
    • Other forums will receive similar linkages in future.
  • Additional linkages between Discord and the Forums, as per our update earlier this month, will be added progressively over the next few weeks.
• Some changes have been made to forum sidebars. A sidebar now appears alongside news articles.
• The change to display of user signatures has been reverted, and these will now be shown on all posts as per the previous behaviours. Users will still have the option of hiding signatures on a per-user basis.

 

[Archaic]

2022-08-15

• For some time now, a jump to top button has displayed when scrolling up in threads. A minor change has been made to enable a jump to bottom button. Both of these buttons will now be visible in the bottom right of your window whenever you are scrolling (in either direction) in threads.

 

[Archaic]

2022-09-15

• Forums/Discord Integration updated

 

[colours]

2022-09-26
The following change has been made to the pronoun field:

• The pronoun field is no longer a text field.

This essentially means that instead of it being a text field as it was previously, it's now a drop-down menu that you can select from the following options:

You can find these settings under "Account Details" when you click your username on the top-right corner.

 

[Archaic]

2022-09-29

• The order of 2FA methods has been altered, so that Verification code via app (i.e. Authy, Google Authenticator, etc) will now be the default displayed when users go to login. Users with physical passkeys/security keys can still use these for 2FA, however these will no longer be the first option displayed, to avoid users without them being bothered/confused with an option they haven't configured. When this addon is next updated, users will no longer be able to see the passkey/security key option unless they have already configured one in their password and security settings.

 

[Archaic]

2022-10-18

• Backend software has been upgraded to Xenforo 2.2.11.
• Improved handling of drag & drop of attachments in the editor.
• Improvements to two-step authentication, including better handling of Passkeys. Users are encouraged to set up at least two two-step options, to allow for backup options in case you lose access to your primary one.
• Improvements to the handling of embedded content from TikTok.
• Other minor bug-fixes and optimizations have been implemented.

N.B. There is a known issue with one of the addons we upgraded today. This should not create any front end issues for users, as it's related to back-end tools, but please do let me know if you experience any issues whatsoever. We've reached out to the developers of the addon to try and resolve this issue.

 

[Archaic]

2022-10-19
The developer of the addon which I mentioned yesterday as having an error has resolved the issued and released an update, which we've just installed.

 

[Archaic]

2022-10-19
Our 2022 Halloween Theme is now live and has been set as the default theme. If you're currently browsing using a different theme, please do change over and take a look.