Feedback MangaHelpers Development Suggestion Thread

[eni]

I can see that being useful. This is a default function on phpBB and I use it frequently there. But since it will take our techs a while to look into it, here some tips on preventing to loose a post:

• Pro tip 1 - Firefox restores your post, even after it froze or was accidently closed - in 90% of all cases for me.
• Pro tip 2 - Write long posts in a text editor. I have a single "mh.txt" file that I just always overwrite ^__^
• Pro tip 3 - To work with detailed bbcode or when you have no text editor in reach, you can write it as PM first and send it to yourself in frequent durations.

 

[M3J]

What about a not-reviewer-eccentric-suggestion once in a while?

My point is. What I think MH lacks, and what definetelly could ease the use of the forums would be the function to save your posts before publishing them. There are tons of cases, where this function could be used, starting from cases where large posts are made (e.g. Reviews, News and just large posts in the disscussion/spoiler threads) and ending with a possibility to auto-save the post if the user doesn't writes anything new.

I mean, how many cases were there where people started making a large post, then something happened (e.g. browser shuts down) and everything is lost? I wouldn't be surprised if the "" smiley was added only for this very occasion.

Write it out on a Word document first, they autosave so if shit happens, you get it back. Plus, Word also provides grammatical check as well as spelling, so that's a plus.

One thing I noticed though, is in fast reply on Firefox, if I refresh or whatever, my posts go away. However, in Add Reply or Advanced Reply, refreshing or going back/forward and then going forward/back again, the posts still remain. Use Firefox and Add REply/Advanced Reply instead of Quick Reply. Additionally, do what eni suggested.

That aside, useful to have that option, but if it's limited to just Advanced REply, then that sucks.

 

[k-dom]

I was thinking, a lot of people link on their sig toward their favorite anime and manga list they did on other sites such as myanimelist or whatever. So why don't we add such a feature directly here instead ?
I know we can favorite manga already, but it's more to be aware of the latest translation than to share it with other members. Also we could have several list like the one we like, the one we have read, want to read...
That could also be use as a way to find new reading material. If you have lot's of common favorite with someone else, you can try and maybe like those you don't have in common.

 

[Uriel]

What about a tagging system and quotes notifications?

I know it may seem a lot, but I think it helps with interactions. Both of them can be presented in the same way of the Thanks/Like system. The tagging would be something using the "@" and the quote notifications explains itself.

 

[Kaiten]

I was thinking, a lot of people link on their sig toward their favorite anime and manga list they did on other sites such as myanimelist or whatever. So why don't we add such a feature directly here instead ?
I know we can favorite manga already, but it's more to be aware of the latest translation than to share it with other members. Also we could have several list like the one we like, the one we have read, want to read...
That could also be use as a way to find new reading material. If you have lot's of common favorite with someone else, you can try and maybe like those you don't have in common.

Phenomenal idea! Due to the inadequacies of our system I have to go to one site to catalog what I read and another to discuss it. For anyone who does not know we do have a reading list function but it is hard to use and only allows status updates. As yo said we should split it into seperate reading, plan to read, completed, hold, and dropped lists like you suggested. We should also allow to track chapters and volumes read, like at MU or MAL. The system currently forces members to go to the manga info page to update status, those options should be allowed directly on the reading list page. Now these changes are not within my or any admin's power, we are not coders and it would take coding. I will pass it on to the tech team though. I can't promise the changes will be made or when but it is a very good suggestion that would improve the Mangahelpers experience for many, many members including myself.

What about a tagging system and quotes notifications?

I know it may seem a lot, but I think it helps with interactions. Both of them can be presented in the same way of the Thanks/Like system. The tagging would be something using the "@" and the quote notifications explains itself.

Not sure the quote notification is possible or not. I don't know if there is a mod available and what effect it will have on the server/DB if there is one. Fuzzy or Osso would know.

Do you mean meta tags, like at a blog? If so that is available by default with vB4, mangahelpers and up have the ability to add them. I've tagged threads in the seinen section by genre, publisher, mangaka, and magazine already. If that is what you mean we can talk about adding more at some point. They are a great tool but very hard to find for anyone who does not know they are there. Tags, if there are any appear at the bottom of the page, right below thread information, one of the last things on any page.

 

[Uriel]

I mean like Twitter. :P

 

[alphabeta]

I think it would be an interesting thing if we would have something like our own ToC rating. I don't know how many times I've heard people complaining that *insert random manga name here* is too low/high in the ToC rating's. So why not give those people the chance to choose themselves what manga they believe to be the best/worst? On top of that, no one said, that this MH ToC thing should have WSJ-series only. We could do something like a primary analysis, and then make a list of 20/30/40 series, which could contain series from different magazines.

 

[k-dom]

A toc thread was started a few month ago but it didn't encounter much sucess

 

[Josef]

I have a suggestion of adding the spoiler button to the primary quote rather then going advanced, same may go for other frequently used tools that you would need to go advanced for. It's very handy I think.

 

[alphabeta]

This is similiar to the Toc idea I suggested. You know those "How would you rate the episode" polls in anime discussion threads. Well, I suggest doing something like this only in the respective manga sections as well. Rating the chapter. Not the whole series.


Also, this ain't really a suggestion. But it so happens that someone makes a suggestion, then you guys answer it (regardless if you approve or disapprove of it), and then this whole thing dies. What I mean is, that there is no info on the current stand of afairs. Latest example would be this k-dom's idea of a MH MaL variant. Maybe you could make weekly/bi-weekly reports on how things look like?

 

[k-dom]

I don't know if it is a bug or what, but from time to time when I'm clicking on the view first unread link, I get to the last post instead of the real view first unread one.

Another bigger problem I have for a while is the search tool. Since we upgraded the vBulletin version it does not work well with me.
Take the following example, which I expect to find #929 Kaiten post in the search results

When I click on advanced search, the default view is the following :

clicking on Search now I have the following results

Kaiten post is there but the thread output is not really useful when the thread has 63 pages...

By clicking on Search Multiple Content Types tab and back on Search Single Content Type one, more additional options appear (I have no idea how to have them directly...), in particular Show results as Posts

The problem is that the search now provides me each time with

When obviously there should at least be one since I made the search purposely to have a result...
Any ideas what the problem could be ?

 

[Nuno]

I'm not sure what your problem is regarding the advanced search feature. It might be a problem with the member usergroup. I found his posts without problems at least. The only difference I did from you on the Search Single Content Type was to check the box for "exact name". If I left the box unchecked I still found his post even though I searched for all the members with "Kaiten" in their usernames too.

As for the "go to last unread post" button, it's actually like that by default, with other words it's supposed to work like that. If you view the thread name from outside of its section, for example you see benelori's "Limited edition" ask me thread from the forum index and scroll over the button, you'll see that it will say "Go to last post" = you go to last post not last unread post. However if you go into the Meet the Mods section first and then hold your mouse over the button, you'll see that it looks different and now says "Go to first new post" = last unread post. You can actually get to the last unread post without clicking the button when you're not in the thread's section. If you click on the thread's name instead of the button when you're viewing the thread from outside of its section, you'll automatically be directed to the last unread post. So we have double functions when we're viewing a thread outside of its section, 1) We can click the thread name to go to the last unread post, and 2) we can click the button to get to the last post (and page) and thus the latest discussion. It actually makes a lot of sense.

 

[k-dom]

Well I did some tests with only the word or only the user name and it does not work for me as long as i do a search with the additional options. I also tried with chrome so it's not a browser thing. I really wonder what i do differently than you because it's not the first time i encounters the problem and it's really annoying since it just mean that i can't do an advanced search anymore

as for the first unread, i always click on the left button in my control panel so it should always have the same effect. But it does not work only from time to time. So I'm not sure what the problem is exactly

 

[alphabeta]

As a person who regularly makes respectively large posts, I often have to edit them. And what I think might be a good feature is when a post is edited, it is actually visible. I mean it's shown as a thread with a new post.

Example. Assume I make a post in my thread. The system will show that there's a new post. Now, after some time I decided to edit it. But after I do, nothing shows that I did. It still shows theres a post made by me on that day and that time, but it doesn't shows that its contents have changed. The contents are different, but unless a member manually checks out the post he/she will never know that any edits were made in the first place.

So, I suggest that whenever a post was edited, the system would notice that and show that there's a new (edited) post in this thread.

 

[phio_chan]

You can actually trick it a bit. Go to your old post, edit it, then post a new reply, writing 'bump' for example. It would automatically be merged as if you make a double post, and the thread will be updated as if a new post is made. Last, you just have to go to your post and remove the line of 'bump'. That way it will seem like you don't make a new post, but you can notify people that you updated your post.

Of course, that trick won't work unless you are the last person to post in a thread and your 'bump' message is less than a month after your post is made.

If that is indeed the case, you can simply make a new reply with the new content instead of going all the way editing your old post.

 

[xi0]

Such a feature would probably require editing of code, or a plugin, which I can't say myself exists. It might though. A better question for our Techs

 

[Nuno]

Such a feature would also have a small negative consequence. It's great in threads with low activity i.e. few posts, but imagine that feature applying in highly active threads such as the Big 3 chapter discussions. The threads would constantly be marked as unread due to posts constantly being edited. Looking through such a thread for edited posts, which I doubt the vast majority would bother with, would be an annoyance. This is only one small negative factor. I can see why it would be useful. I've heard this complaint several times before from both staff and members.

 

[alphabeta]

Such a feature would also have a small negative consequence. It's great in threads with low activity i.e. few posts, but imagine that feature applying in highly active threads such as the Big 3 chapter discussions. The threads would constantly be marked as unread due to posts constantly being edited. Looking through such a thread for edited posts, which I doubt the vast majority would bother with, would be an annoyance. This is only one small negative factor. I can see why it would be useful. I've heard this complaint several times before from both staff and members.

Yeah, I had the same thought when posting my suggestion. Maybe it would be possible to apply this feature only for the last page of a thread, becuase I agree that it's stupid to re-check a post at page 4 when the whole thread has 35 pages.

Maybe only the last page or only posts which made in the last 24 hours?

 

[sabret00the]

Tapatalk is not really a decision that can be made at the staff level. I can talk to njt, the owner, about it. MH traditionally does not use programs like tapatalk, I can't promise very much. If you don't here back from me, expect the worst. As a droid user, I agree that our mobile version leaves a lot to be desired.

Did you ever get any feedback from njt regarding tapatalk?

 

[Kaiten]

I have not, I will poke him again soon though. We could use a workable mobile version, I'll see if they are interested in using tapatalk as our mobile platform.