Lose the big warning box and...

[DoYouKubuntu]

Two things I'd love to see:

1) Lose the big, yellow and red warning on "Help the New Guy." I KNOW I'm not allowed to post new threads there, nor do I want to, but I've seen the warning already! I don't need to see it every time I go there. Although my skills have really declined in the recent past, for reasons I couldn't control, on the rare occasions when I feel I might be able to contribute something useful to a new user, I'm met with that big glaring warning. How about having a user acknowledge it, once, then make it go bye-bye?

2) All other forums I use respect the @username model, i.e., making @username a clickable object, and recognizes members' user names. It looks downright weird to me here, when I type @whatever and no pop-up appears with a list of matching names as I'm typing, and it doesn't become clickable afterward. I know some people don't like this...although I don't really understand that. This ubiquitous part of online life today seems glaringly missing here.

My $0.02 worth, for whatever that's worth!

[claydoh]

Not sure what you mean by the yellow and red warning, I can't see anything like that while not logged in. I can't recall my 'fake' account for things like this, looking for it now.


as to @user tagging, it is definitely not a standard feature in the version of Vbulletin we use here, though there is a third party addon, that seems to break some forums . It would be nice to have, i am sure.
The latest version of Vbulletin has this iirc, but I am not sure how well upgrading to that version will go, or why we never upgraded to it . We do have a lengthy history to migrate, so maybe it is not worth the risk at the moment?

There are a LOT of forums still using the outdated 4.x version of the forum software, as we are (LQ, iirc, as one example of a major forum), and most I have been to don't seem to have the @user tagging. I know this may be a performance issue for some forums running on less resources, or very busy ones. While we are a dinky forum, we should have enough horsepower for such a feature, I'd venture.

[jglen490]

I agree with DoYouKubuntu on the big yellow box with red letters that shows above the "Help the New Guy" forum - when you're an "old guy" with more than 10 posts. I think it could be toned down a bit

[chimak111]

I can't remember visiting that forum *directly* for quite a while.

In any case, I mostly have my own CSS and so wouldn't have noticed the colors:

[DoYouKubuntu]

Thanks for posting that screenshot, @chimak111. You saved me the effort!

Honestly, I can see how it would scare people away. Someone who's maybe not super-familiar with KFN, but could help new guys, and they go to that board and see that huge, glaring warning...they might run!

@claydoh, thanks for the info about the @username thing. It's certainly not a necessity, it's just that it's such a...normal part of online life now, it feels odd not having it here.

[Snowhog]

I've modified the displayed message, but no matter, the message will still display IF a member with ten or more posts credited to there account enters/attempts to create a post there.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Okay, thanks, SH, I'll take a look in a minute...

...and I did. It's definitely better, although its color scheme is still startling. I know the point is to get the person's attention, so you can't make it too innocuous, but maybe keep the yellow background and change the text to something like a dark sky blue? The yellow would make it noticeable, but the blue would keep it from looking so ominous.

[oshunluvr]

I will add a loud audible klaxon horn warning for the visually impaired forum members...

[DoYouKubuntu]

I will add a loud audible klaxon horn warning for the visually impaired forum members...

Perfect! Really. Big thumbs up.

NOT!!!

[Snowhog]

It's going to stay. It is designed to get ones attention, and it does that. The message isn't threatening; it's explanatory. Again, by design.

[jglen490]

O.K., it's better. The first half of the message is appropriate and informative to all. The second half is superfluous, as those of us with more than 10 posts can't start a thread anyway. But, I'm not in charge.

On to the next problem!

[Beerislife]

Grammar is crap though! After 25 years of teaching Englishes, stupid errors like this annoy me!

This forum is for members who have created less than ten posts.

FEWER THAN!

Fer crying out loud!

[Bings]

[DoYouKubuntu]

Okay, whatever!

Love the meme, @Bings.

@Beerislife, at least it doesn't say "less then"... (One of my many pet peeves, by the way.)

[oshunluvr]

Grammar is crap though! After 25 years of teaching Englishes, stupid errors like this annoy me!

TheFEWER THAN!

Fer crying out loud!

The English major uses "fer" ...