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[Feature request] Proposal of changes in the way of displaying of the "alerts"

M

mcgiwer

Tourist
BANNED USER
Hello. I would like to propose a slight change in the form of how are the "alerts" (notificationss, for example about new posts, uploads, etc.), including for the groups are beeing displayed.

My change assumes that the forum software self and automatically moves ones that are marked as "read" bellow the unread ones as soon as they become marked as read.

Additionally, the "alerts" should be grouped by the alert source (for example: group name, forum topic, etc.).

Above would make the alerts more organized and easier to browse.
 
mcgiwer said:
Hello. I would like to propose a slight change in the form of how are the "alerts" (notificationss, for example about new posts, uploads, etc.), including for the groups are beeing displayed.

My change assumes that the forum software self and automatically moves ones that are marked as "read" bellow the unread ones as soon as they become marked as read.

Additionally, the "alerts" should be grouped by the alert source (for example: group name, forum topic, etc.).

Above would make the alerts more organized and easier to browse.
Click to expand...

Unlikely to happen without significant alterations of the board software - which I don't believe is currently possible, as the software involved is closed-source. Think of it as a car - You can paint it different colors, add or delete racing stripes, change tire sizes, tweak the engine and transmission, hang flared wheel-wells on it, raise it or lower it, and so on, but at the end of the day, it's still the car you started with, and changing it into a motorcycle or a pickup truck just isn't a viable option.
 
UR20Z said:
Unlikely to happen without significant alterations of the board software - which I don't believe is currently possible, as the software involved is closed-source. Think of it as a car - You can paint it different colors, add or delete racing stripes, change tire sizes, tweak the engine and transmission, hang flared wheel-wells on it, raise it or lower it, and so on, but at the end of the day, it's still the car you started with, and changing it into a motorcycle or a pickup truck just isn't a viable option.
Click to expand...

what the actual fuck, this is literally the best explanation of the limitation of closed software I've heard lately... Bravo sir...
 
UR20Z said:
Unlikely to happen without significant alterations of the board software - which I don't believe is currently possible, as the software involved is closed-source. Think of it as a car - You can paint it different colors, add or delete racing stripes, change tire sizes, tweak the engine and transmission, hang flared wheel-wells on it, raise it or lower it, and so on, but at the end of the day, it's still the car you started with, and changing it into a motorcycle or a pickup truck just isn't a viable option.
Click to expand...

Hello and thanks for the answer.

That's a bit strange. I know from experience that the main administrator (who has access to the files on the server and who had uploaded the forum software) could try to modify them or let doing rbat any programmer.

Eventually, he (or she) could write to the developers of the forum software that this changes could become applied in the next release.

Have a nice day every one ?
 
mcgiwer said:
Hello and thanks for the answer.

That's a bit strange. I know from experience that the main administrator (who has access to the files on the server and who had uploaded the forum software) could try to modify them or let doing rbat any programmer.

Eventually, he (or she) could write to the developers of the forum software that this changes could become applied in the next release.

Have a nice day every one ?
Click to expand...
Keep in mind that ONE CHARACTER out of place has the potential to break the entire forum. A change that SEEMS totally "self-contained" can cause issues all over the place due to "other stuff" expecting things to be "just so".

A lot of people think "Oh, it's easy", but the reality is that when you're dinking around with something as complex as a chunk of forum software, it's trivially easy to shoot yourself in the foot - WHEN YOU HAVE THE SOURCE CODE - When you start trying to screw with things blindly "down on the metal", the chances of blowing your foot off skyrocket.

Then there's the concept of "We supply the software the way we do, and if you, the user, start trying to screw with it, your license to use it is revoked, with or without notice, effective immediately".

You're asking for a relatively heavy-duty alteration to the software. If it was something minor/purely cosmetic, it might be doable. But what you're asking about is something that will have to be reaching *DEEP* into the guts of the software - Kinda like the difference between a dermatologist freezing a mole off the back of your wrist in his office, versus a heart surgeon replacing a valve in your heart. And since you don't have the source code, they're both effectively working blindfolded.

In summary, "What could go wrong? The mind boggles!"
 
So, there are plenty of things that can be altered via the admin panel of the forum software, which was purchased and not rented. However, for more radical changes, from what I've seen in the past, we mostly rely on plug-ins. There's maybe a plug-in that would cater to this type of modification, but then the question becomes... is X plug-in worth purchasing for (for example) $99 per year to make this one modification. And most of the time that answer is "no."

It's similar to the request made awhile ago about adding folders to sort your PMs. Yes, there's a plug-in that would cater to it. But the minute benefit of having it isn't worth paying $XX.XX - $XXX.XX a year for it.
 
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