General XenForo Issues/Glitches/Ideas Thread

[Snowy]

Regular users can now delete blog comments they have posted within 10 minutes of having posted it. After that time, it can only be deleted by a moderator or administrator.

out of curiousity, why the time limit?

 

[Felly]

I've asked Archaic about this, and he doesn't believe it to be something that we can change, nor have I found any such setting either. If you need to send a message that goes beyond the 420 character allowance, you'll need to either break it into multiple messages, cut down the message to fit within the limit, or use a private Conversation. @Icy Wind

I went to see if there was something I could find for y'all to maybe help y'all out, and a Google search led me to page 8 of this very thread. This post on page 8 by Archaic makes it sound like y'all found a plug in and were testing it and hoped to have it released soon. Then two pages later, on page 10, this post, made by you, makes it seem like y'all are confused as to why status messages could be significantly longer than profile messages and you were going to look into it further.

The two posts feel awfully contradictory, tbh. I'm not trying to be argumentative or rude or whatever here, but you said you "don't believe this is something that can be changed," yet about five months ago, there was a plug in y'all were testing. How can you not be able to change something when you had a plug in for it about 5 months ago? Did it not work like y'all hoped it would or what? I'm confused as to how there was at one point a possible fix, then confusion as to why the status messages and the profile messages had such drastically different post counts, and now it's sounding like y'all don't believe it can be changed.

I understand as a non-staff member, I'm meant to be kept in the dark about things, but nothing was mentioned about the plug in Archaic found after he first mentioned it so I have no idea as to whether or not it actually worked or if it was buggy and couldn't be used or what. I feel like that's something that could have been mentioned to the general public, especially since the comment about character counts in profile messages has popped up at least three times now.

 

[Kogoro]

@Felly I actually wasn't aware there had been an add-on being tested, looks like there was some slight miscommunication there. Archaic's going to be looking into the add-on again, but we're 99% sure that it wasn't compatible with the version of XenForo we're using or just didn't work as intended. So, as far as we know, it's not something we can change unless a compatible & working add-on has been developed.

Definitely isn't a case of users being kept in the dark intentionally, seems that posting the results of the original testing was accidentally forgotten. Apologies for that.

 

[Felly]

@Felly I actually wasn't aware there had been an add-on being tested, looks like there was some slight miscommunication there. Archaic's going to be looking into the add-on again, but we're 99% sure that it wasn't compatible with the version of XenForo we're using or just didn't work as intended. So, as far as we know, it's not something we can change unless a compatible & working add-on has been developed.

Definitely isn't a case of users being kept in the dark intentionally, seems that posting the results of the original testing was accidentally forgotten. Apologies for that.

Alright, that's understandable. Hopefully y'all can find a fix for it.

While I'm here, I'd like to report that I've had some mentions not working for me in that I don't actually get the alert for it. I believe that's been brought up before in the thread too, but I haven't looked too deeply into it. It recently happened to me in this thread in a post by The Artist....

 

[Player01]

Visiting bulbapedia has a chance of redirecting to ads sites without the user's action. I'll be posting them here.

Ads:
ads.loadreviews

 

[Ryoma Maser]

It seems like the edit button for blog comments disappear after one use. I'm unsure if anyone else has this problem, or if it is just me. I'll look into a bit more to see whats wrong and I'll post again(or edit this thread post if no one posts below me) if I find anything.

EDIT: Okay it seems the problem is within old blogs. Blogs that were posted to today are okay until somepoint, but older blogs; for example, System Error's first blog post on the updated forums, you wouldn't be able to edit comments you make on that blog post after a undetermined(presumably 2 or 3 days, I'm unsure so that's why I said undetermined) amount of time. I know this isn't like a big problem, but I'm reporting anyways.

EDIT #2; Okay the time is not 2 or 3 days before you cannot edit your comment. ITS NOW LIKE AN HOUR! This forum's data does not like me.

 

[henrymidfields]

Does anyone know why the blog section is only accessible to Bulbagarden members, and no longer to the general public? I've got friends outside Bulbagarden (through Serenes Forest to be exact) who would like to see my blog entries, but I don't want them to go through registration just to read them.

 

[Icy Wind]

Why can't we search for certain posts anymore?

 

[Kogoro]

Why can't we search for certain posts anymore?

Our search extension suffered a major malfunction last night, which has required it to be disabled. We're looking into options to replace it with an extension that will be more reliable.

 

[HumanDawn]

Whatever happened to the feature were you could see the amount of posts a user has posted in a thread? I loved that feature, it was incredibly helpful in Mafia games were I'd see the total amount of posts a player has made and have more accessibility in finding their posts much faster.

 

[Flower]

Hiya there, been around for about a month or so now.. figured I'd bring my feedback/suggestions and questions now that I have garnered some. =)

• How come generic, robotic, unwelcoming welcome messages are allowed? "Welcome to Bulbagarden!" "Welcome back!" and the like. While it may not seem unwelcoming to those welcoming the newbies, and I personally don't mind being welcomed in such a way myself, it feels incredibly awkward to welcome people as I do on so many other places with at least four lines of text and even more so to be the only person doing this. :[ Not intending on calling out, but honestly a lot of messages in the Welcome forum here are copy/paste messages too (or are very close to it, with, say—a one-word difference etc.), which doesn't give a welcoming aura at all. It's practically spam, so why is it allowed, especially in a forum such as this, The Garden Grotto? It honestly feels like The Garden Grotto for the most part is just your typical Post Count +1 forum in that people don't really give any thought at all whilst welcoming newbies.
• What's the deal with avatars? In that, how come their file size (in KB) and height/width are so small? It's near-impossible to upload an avatar I find, especially if you're into making signature banners, avatars and the like—most really nice avatars don't fit at all. My avatar on here... well, it's not good quality, and it's the smallest I could get it. Look at the original, and then look at the one beside my post... >__<; Low quality, choppy, doesn't even look like it has a border either, while the original's crisp and... unusable. ;[
• To go with the above, what about signatures? The signature limit in height is 160px. That's pretty small to be honest, while it's better than something like 100px or lower, it's still pretty lacklustre in my opinion. How come the restrictions are so small, rather than something in the 200px to 300px range? I don't know the exact reasoning, but I feel a bigger height limit would benefit as I see the height px rule get broken very often, and it'd allow for more customization which in turn tends to bring more members.
• How come there's a forum for Bulbawiki suggestions, but not for suggestions/questions/feedback about the Bulbagarden forum itself? More of just a quick yes/no question here, but I'm curious as to why a forum for suggestions/questions/feedback isn't a thing. I feel it could benefit a lot with one, but that's just me. n/n;
• No forums for discussing specific generations of Pokémon games? This is one of the ones that confuses me the most, alongside the generic welcoming messages bit. While I understand not wanting to have lots of forums, there's... not any place to discuss specific generations and what they entail in particular. It's hard to fit all discussion into a single forum, that's what Pokémon Video Games is appearing to do. If Pokémon Video Games is attempting to be a generations 1-6 master forum, then I'd recommend splitting some of it up into generational forums. (Perhaps Gen 1/2/3, Gen 4, Gen 5, Gen 6? I see that setup done lots and it's done very well.)
• Why are there so many General Pokémon Discussion-worthy threads in Pokémon Video Games? The way I see it; threads specific to a certain game or a few certain games go in Pokémon Video Games, correct? "For those who like vintage [referring to gen 1/2/3?] as well as people who prefer the cutting-edge [referring to gens 4/5/6, mainly 6?]; this is the place to discuss the Pokémon video games." <- According to that description that's how it is anyway, but I'm honestly really confused—this is the one that gets me here. x'D If I could get clarification on the matter I'd really appreciate it, haha!
• Lastly, regarding staff; what's your staff activity policy, if you don't mind me asking? I'm not going to call out anyone (that's just rude), but I've seen some with very questionable levels of activity, having not come on or posted in a few to several weeks, or some that have just been inactive for a while. What's your stance on this sort of thing?

Sorry to bombard ya'll, but I saw no other place than here to do so in. n__n; Thanks for reading.~

 

[Icy Wind]

Our search extension suffered a major malfunction last night, which has required it to be disabled. We're looking into options to replace it with an extension that will be more reliable.

Is the research for other options going to take a while?

 

[Lyrebird]

• Lastly, regarding staff; what's your staff activity policy, if you don't mind me asking? I'm not going to call out anyone (that's just rude), but I've seen some with very questionable levels of activity, having not come on or posted in a few to several weeks, or some that have just been inactive for a while. What's your stance on this sort of thing?

I'm going to put it bluntly. We have other stuff to do on the forums and also we have lives outside the forums. A lot of us do have other priorities that do take up a lot of time, we have careers, we are all on different time zones around the world, and others study full time as well. I don't think it is fair to pin that on staff, don't you think?

We try to be as active as possible. This is something that we are doing on our free time.

 

[Flower]

I'm going to put it bluntly. We have other stuff to do on the forums and also we have lives outside the forums. A lot of us do have other priorities that do take up a lot of time, we have careers, we are all on different time zones around the world, and others study full time as well. I don't think it is fair to pin that on staff, don't you think?

We try to be as active as possible. This is something that we are doing on our free time.

Not to be rude, but I believe you may have misread my original statement, as I was specifically meaning staff that hadn't been around for weeks or even months and what your policy was regarding inactives. I get what you mean, everyone has a life outside of the forums (even me, hah), but when you're inactive for two weeks or more it's a little... well, excessive at that point. Especially when you haven't posted for even longer.

I personally think it's entirely fair to bring up, not to pin on the staff but activity is absolutely necessary if you're going to be a moderator—if you're not active, how can you moderate anything? You can't do what you were brought on staff to do if you're inactive and gone, while it's not the case for most staff, it's still an issue and there's no clarification on the matter. I am 100% aware you all have lives outside of the forums, I do too outside of the 5-6 forums I'm on, but even I am able to be on at least weekly despite the many forums and off-site life I handle, soon going to have a job on top of my art responsibilities and multiple forum responsibilities. Also school coming up in just over a month. But despite all that, I'm still able to manage at least a few posts a day. It's not that hard, I'm gonna be honest with ya.

Again, I understand activity can be a bit of a problem, but when it gets to the point that staff members haven't posted in over a month on the public board or haven't come on for around that time, not to be rude but at that point, they should have a more active, different person to take over the role—as you can't be a moderator if you're unable to moderate, y'know?

Hope my original point makes a bit more sense and that none of this comes across as rude—not my intention, it's just something I've talked about with other members, even one or a few being staff members (I don't really remember but ><), and they too agree with the need for more staff activity on some ends. Even if the majority of you are active, the fact that some staff members disappear for weeks or even months at a time is not good and should be a topic of discussion among the staff I think.

Tl;dr, that wasn't at any active staff. That specific point was more of a suggestion for handling inactive staff, say it's necessary to post at least x amount of times an x for the forum you moderate. Staff that cannot prove their activity can be removed or replaced, that sort of thing—it's not a jab at any active staff, as I said multiple times, inactive.

If you get the time, I would like to hear your thoughts on the other suggestions, if that's okay with you—but I understand if you have no opinions on those things or are busy, etc. Thanks

 

[Falconwing]

Not to be rude, but I believe you may have misread my original statement, as I was specifically meaning staff that hadn't been around for weeks or even months and what your policy was regarding inactives. I get what you mean, everyone has a life outside of the forums (even me, hah), but when you're inactive for two weeks or more it's a little... well, excessive at that point. Especially when you haven't posted for even longer.

I personally think it's entirely fair to bring up, not to pin on the staff but activity is absolutely necessary if you're going to be a moderator—if you're not active, how can you moderate anything? You can't do what you were brought on staff to do if you're inactive and gone, while it's not the case for most staff, it's still an issue and there's no clarification on the matter. I am 100% aware you all have lives outside of the forums, I do too outside of the 5-6 forums I'm on, but even I am able to be on at least weekly despite the many forums and off-site life I handle, soon going to have a job on top of my art responsibilities and multiple forum responsibilities. Also school coming up in just over a month. But despite all that, I'm still able to manage at least a few posts a day. It's not that hard, I'm gonna be honest with ya.

Again, I understand activity can be a bit of a problem, but when it gets to the point that staff members haven't posted in over a month on the public board or haven't come on for around that time, not to be rude but at that point, they should have a more active, different person to take over the role—as you can't be a moderator if you're unable to moderate, y'know?

Hope my original point makes a bit more sense and that none of this comes across as rude—not my intention, it's just something I've talked about with other members, even one or a few being staff members (I don't really remember but ><), and they too agree with the need for more staff activity on some ends. Even if the majority of you are active, the fact that some staff members disappear for weeks or even months at a time is not good and should be a topic of discussion among the staff I think.

Tl;dr, that wasn't at any active staff. That specific point was more of a suggestion for handling inactive staff, say it's necessary to post at least x amount of times an x for the forum you moderate. Staff that cannot prove their activity can be removed or replaced, that sort of thing—it's not a jab at any active staff, as I said multiple times, inactive.

If you get the time, I would like to hear your thoughts on the other suggestions, if that's okay with you—but I understand if you have no opinions on those things or are busy, etc. Thanks

As a staff member who formerly had to experience a prolonged period of absence, I'm very glad that my friends and fellow staff were understanding of my situation and were willing to welcome me back without any issue. It has never been a requirement that our staff post x amounts of times per y period on our forums, and likely never will be (I cannot expect anyone to want to match my 50 ppd record). Many of the staff we have are not even forum specific staff. We work on other aspects of Bulbagarden.net beyond just what you see here.

Bulbagarden staff members are notoriously close knit. Many of us have developed romantic relationships with each other through our time here. Some of the staff you see listed have temporarily or permanenty retired. We seek to honor everyone who contributes to our team and preserve their access to staff discussions should they wish to return.

If you wish to discuss this further, I invite you to PM me specifically, or submit an official appeal should you feel one is necessary. Ultimately, Bulbagarden seeks to offer the best experience possible for our members. If there is a lack of moderation being done by our team then we hope to be made aware of it. However, in this sense, I believe that the staff that we have is suitable and effective in their role and I have not yet seen anything on our end that would cause me to question this.

Thank you for your interest.

 

[Fig]

Flower,

As most of your remarks concern policies I've put in place, I'd like to address them.

1)Policing welcoming messages.
For the simple reason that it's almost impossible to effectively police welcoming messages. This would require extremely nitpicky rules and/or a lot of confusion about what's welcoming and what isn't, and would require enormous amount of work from the moderators to watch over the forum. It's simply not a feasible idea to disallow that kind of messages.

2/3)The deal with avatars/the deal with signatures.
We know many of our users like to access the site via smartphones on data plans, so we want to keep the bandwidth required to visit the forums relatively reasonable. Smaller sizes help both for bandwidth, and for actually viewing the site.

4)Wiki suggestions
That would be the Garden Grotto, where all rule- and suggestion-related stuff goes. Perhaps the description can be improved a little to make that clearer. Again, we used to have a wholly separate forum, but it just didn't see much use. So we integrated suggestions into the grotto.

Bulbawiki get its own forum simply because it is (as things stand) the heart and most important part of Bulbagarden, accounting for a hundred time as much traffic as the forums.

5)Older generations
I'm aware that's how many other sites do it. We started out like that, too, but what we eventually realized is that almost nobody talked about the older generation. This has two effects: make the forum look very empty (since everybody saw tons of empty forums listed right on the main page), and give the spambots lots of places to hide where we wouldn't see them as easily.

As it stands, the simple truth is that all past experiences we've had show there just isn't enough interest to keep a forum dedicated to older generations alive.

I know a lot of other sites do it that way. It's a Pokémon forums tradition, and, since fandom are very good at keeping traditions alive, it's a very frequent sight still. But we believe a good site should know when to let go of traditions that aren't helping anymore. This is the case here.

6)General discussion in Video Games
Because the rule of thumb for whether or not to move a thread is that we should only move threads when it's really, absolutely, completely clear the thread does NOT have anything to do with the forum it's in. If the thread seems like it has a link with the forum it's in, we generally let it stay, EVEN if it might have a stronger link with another forum instead.

In other words, it's possible for a thread to belong in both VG and General Discussion. In that case, we'd allow it to be posted in both - even if might fit one a little better than the other.

7)Staff Activity
Our staff activity policy is that we judge each case on a case-by-case basis. There's no single hard and fast rule ; staff members are allowed to take leave of absence when they need (and these can extend for weeks or even months) and come back afterward. In addition, when determining whether a user is still active, we look at not only their actual involvement on the forums, but their involvement in every other aspect of Bulbagarden (including the pedia, the social media, and their involvement in policy discussions both in the private staff forum. Just because a user hasn't posted in several weeks doesn't mean they haven't been doing other things for us. I know one of the users you privately discussed with one of our staff, for example, has been busy writing special content for the site. They're not inactive, they're just busy with non-forums parts of Bulbagarden.

In addition, when a good staff has to limit their involvement, we prefer to keep them around to advise and help the newer mods (again, something that would largely be done in private forum and via staff chat) than to lose their skills and experience completely, so we will often retain them as staff in that kind of situation.

Finally, let's face it: everyone is less active than usual this summer on the forums, because everyone is out in the streets and in the parks playing Pokémon GO. We'd much rather our staff be out there telling new people about Bulbagarden than locked inside making sure to log in their weekly activity quota.

8)Bonus point: Professionalism
Here, I will be blunt: professionalism is something for professionals - people who get paid for what they do. We certainly don't have the resource to pay our staff. They're volunteers who have to deal with frankly rather unrewarding jobs to help Bulba grow. So while we have some basic expectations toward them (treat users with fairness, etc), we're never going to hold them to professional standards. We, as a site (and you, as users of a free website) have no right to expect that of them.

 

[Time Breaker]

Hopefully this is the right place for this, but I'm trying to upload an avatar that's 200x200 pixels and 26.5 KB, but it still tells me it needs to be less than 50 KB. Any help?

EDIT: Got it working. Had to change it to a JPEG for some reason.

 

[ChillinMcMillan]

My question is, is it possible to have the old smilies from the last forum, like the various Pokemon? I was really disappointed when I realized that they weren't here.

 

[Kharixi]

I've noticed that in the blog section, every single blog's date is listed as whatever today is (I.e., Sept. 9, 2016). Has this been reported?

 

[Mijzelffan]

When I try to go to a permabanned user's userpage it gives me "Bulbagarden Forums - Error This user's profile is not available.", is this done intentionally?