# SDMB improvement ideas **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 8, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558 "2006-02-08T17:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/41 "2006-02-12T04:07:20Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > One improvement I’d like to suggest is to allow people to jump directly from one forum (GQ) to another (IMHO), without making the main page the default forum portal. Reducing this circuitousness would speed the board, wouldn’t it? Scroll down past the quick reply box. On the right, you should see a drop-down titled “Forum Jump”. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/42 "2006-02-12T04:08:57Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > One improvement I’d like to suggest is to allow people to jump directly from one forum (GQ) to another (IMHO), without making the main page the default forum portal. Reducing this circuitousness would speed the board, wouldn’t it? You’ve been here for five years and you had no idea this feature existed? :dubious: Go to any page (well almost any page–the Reply to Post page is an exception) and scroll way down. You’ll see a dropdown menu labelled “Forum Jump”, you can pull it down and select any forum (and a few others, like the User CP) to go directly to, bypassing the index page. ---
**Author:** ![initech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/439d5e/32.png) [@initech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/initech)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/43 "2006-02-12T04:28:17Z")
Am I imagining things, or is **Aldebaran’s** status listed as [Guest](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?userid=36405) ? Is this a glitch, or is he (quietly) back? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/44 "2006-02-12T04:35:03Z")
> [@initech](#): > > Am I imagining things, or is **Aldebaran’s** status listed as [Guest](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?userid=36405) ? Is this a glitch, or is he (quietly) back? It’s a glitch. Many banned members now show as guests, though they’re still banned. It’s just a hiccup in the software that controls user titles. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/45 "2006-02-12T06:17:16Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Thank you for the suggestions, this board is what we make it and your ideas are always welcome. > > TubaDiva This is the equivalent of " Go Ask Your Mother." Please don’t ban me. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/46 "2006-02-12T06:41:35Z")
Please. Can. You. Make. It. Faster? [sub]Truly, that is my only complaint.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/47 "2006-02-12T13:02:22Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > It’s a glitch. Many banned members now show as guests, though they’re still banned. It’s just a hiccup in the software that controls user titles. When the system checks for subscription status – which it does every few days – previous subscribers who have not resubscribed are reset to “Guest.” This is also true of subscribers who have been banned. The title changes, but that’s all that changes, they’re still banned. TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/48 "2006-02-13T06:05:01Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > **Lynn Bodoni.** Maybe the HTML thing might be revisited again, unless it leaves the boards THAT vulnerable to attack. Or maybe upgrade the menu options of the regular ol’ vB code, if that’s possible. I want “marquee!” (Truthfully, that’s the only reason I want HTML code enabled.) Funny, I’d only support the inclusion of an HTML subset if annoying tags like ‘marquee’ were _disabled_. Posts should shine, not shake, rattle, and twitch like a caffiene freak in physical restraints with a blocked ureter. All browsers I actually use (Firefox and Opera) allow user stylesheets, and I’ve actually modified mine to always neuter the blink tag. I haven’t done the same for marquee because I don’t think I’ve actually seen it in live use since 1998. The only part of HTML I really dislike living without are character entities. If I type é, I should be able to see it as ‘é’ in the post without having to fiddle with my compose key. I should be able to type entities for characters I can’t easily type using mnemonic key composition sequences. Breaking character entities requires the board being configured to piss me off for no good reason. > [@](#): > > What I was thinking of, as a compromise – is there some way to restrict uploaded images so that they could only be seen whenever you deliberately clicked on someone’s profile page, and not the threads? Like, you click on my name in the upper left hand corner, **Askia** , when that new window opens, you get to see my devastatingly handsome mug along with my profile info all in one convenient location. All images would adhere to the same “do not be a jerk, no porn images or links” agreement we all signed onto when we joined. This actually sounds better than the idea of ever seeing the marquee tag in use on the SDMB. > [@BMalion](#): > > But, I do like the idea of real names and honest locations. I know it violates the tradition of a free-wheeling anonymous internet but I’m into the concept of being polite. I figure this way I won’t say anything online that I wouldn’t say in real life. So, you are incapable of being polite without the stick of others knowing your real name hanging over you? Interesting. I’ve never understood that mindset. > [@fetus](#): > > Chuck Norris thinks your ideas are ridiculous, and he lies in wait. Be warned: Each successive idea only makes him angrier. Chuck Norris once killed a man with his butt-cheek power. That’s some kung-fu! > [@samclem](#): > > I’d forego the salary and bennies for a USB port that would allow me to plug in my taser and use it. On yourself? 'Cause I’m not installing anything remotely like a taser at my end. > [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > I agree that we need a pukey smilie. I believe that I voted for it last time around. However, my vote didn’t count any more or less than a regular member’s vote. We already have a dubious ( :dubious: ), putz ( :wally ), head-smacking ( :smack: ), and embarrassed-cum-blowjob ( :o ) smilie. Pukey would fit right in. ---
**Author:** ![rkts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@rkts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rkts)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/49 "2006-02-13T07:52:08Z")
I always enjoy your analogies, **Derleth**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/50 "2006-02-14T02:04:42Z")
how about a separate forum just for pet threads - there really do seem to be a lot of them ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/51 "2006-02-14T05:22:03Z")
:wally really can’t be used outside of the PIT, so I think it’s about time to retire it. A puking or yech smiley is good. I’d like editing. I am willing to limit the window to a very short time? I know that the old timers here (hmm, I am not exactly a newbie) think that allowing editing would be **the end of civilization as we know it** , but really- I post on a lot of other boards and they mostly all allow it. IMHO, the whole bit about a posting saying something, and then a couple of dudes jumping all over him about it, only to have him explain repeatedly that that’s not what he really meant to say and in any case he doesn’t hold that opinion, but to have his attackers come back over & over & over with “BUT YOU SAID IT” is juvenile. Sometimes people mispeak. But even (and I know I can’t) get real editing as “BUT YOU SAID IT” seems to be **the fabric that holds the universe here together** , maybe a very very small window? Next idea- “whooshing” should be allowed only on certain forums- and NOT GD or GQ. Joke answers should be limited in GQ to: only after the “real” answer is given and there is general consensus that it is the correct, real answer. AND a disclaimer “this is a joke” just in case. Becuase I have seen a few “answers” in GQ that were very dangerous, but posted in a serious manner. They were either- stupidly wrong, whooshing, or “a joke”. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/52 "2006-02-14T10:41:07Z")
**DrDeth** : Well, Wally (both the putz smiley’s real name and the deceased user it honors) is still fondly remembered around here, so dropping the smilie will only happen if a large number of people think it’s no longer a fitting monument. I think it would be more likely that we eventually decide that it isn’t so insulting it can only be used in The Pit. I can see both sides of the editing issue. On the one hand, it’s annoying to have to live with small coding errors and misspellings and other infelicitous artifacts of our limited typing and proofing skills. On the other hand, our board culture isn’t accustomed to non-staffers being able to change what they said ex post facto. I think it is, by and large, resilient enough to withstand the change, but in the short-to-medium term the costs outweigh the benefits. On the gripping hand, the short-to-medium term costs include more work for the staff, which is heavily frowned upon. Our board culture is, however, accustomed to snark and humor in even relatively dry fora. I think there would be high-level discontentment with any forum that is much dryer than the ones we have right now. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/53 "2006-02-14T18:31:12Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Funny, I’d only support the inclusion of an HTML subset if annoying tags like ‘marquee’ were _disabled_. Posts should shine, not shake, rattle, and twitch like a caffiene freak in physical restraints with a blocked ureter. :eek: :eek: :eek: I am now officially joining the request for a puking smiley. On second thought, animate it. It needs to be a projectile-vomiting smiley. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/54 "2006-02-14T19:15:21Z")
> [@Large Marge](#): > > Please. Can. You. Make. It. Faster? > > [sub]Truly, that is my only complaint.[/sub] Or at least make sure we never click on a thread or hit “SUBMIT REPLY” and get a “CANNOT FIND SERVER” or “PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED”? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/55 "2006-02-14T19:16:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Next idea- “whooshing” should be allowed only on certain forums- and NOT GD or GQ. This is a whoosh, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/56 "2006-02-14T20:01:32Z")
> [@Large Marge](#): > > Please. Can. You. Make. It. Faster? > > Truly, that is my only complaint. Seconded. Loudly. There really isn’t a reason good enough for this board to run as godawful slow as it does. I don’t think the user load is that great. I would assume that at any given moment, including “peak” time, we probably have less than 200 people logged in. For a page to take 90 seconds or more to load, if it doesn’t time out completely, is ridiculous. Delphi has thousands of people logged in at a time, and I see page loads of 5 seconds or less there. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/57 "2006-02-15T12:08:56Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > \ If all you want is to have your pic available, that’s what home pages are for. Or even photo links in your sig. \ .\ If we allowed avatars or photos, I imagine that we’d probably have to vet each image before we allowed it to be uploaded. \ So would it be possible to relabel or add an option on the profile page contact info section to read “Photo” (as opposed to say “website” and use it to link to an off-site pic? The pic being hosted off-site should negate the need for one of the mods to vet each pic (You would still maybe have to respond to complaints about innappropriate material, but the Chicago Reader would have the same legal exposure as to a website, i.e. none. IANAL, etc.) I understand I can just provide the pic link and call it a website, but that’s not in keeping with the spirit of the thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/58 "2006-02-15T14:09:07Z")
> [@DfrntBreign](#): > > So would it be possible to relabel or add an option on the profile page contact info section to read “Photo” (as opposed to say “website” and use it to link to an off-site pic? The pic being hosted off-site should negate the need for one of the mods to vet each pic (You would still maybe have to respond to complaints about innappropriate material, but the Chicago Reader would have the same legal exposure as to a website, i.e. none. IANAL, etc.) > I understand I can just provide the pic link and call it a website, but that’s not in keeping with the spirit of the thing. I second this recommendation. Perhaps an even handier location would be as a little photo (i.e. camera) icon hyperlink that could be placed under “Location”. This way you could tell if someone has a photo, and be able to access with a single click from the Doper’s posts. I don’t understand people’s reluctance to have a photo option on the SDMB on the grounds that they may lose anonymity (or potentially shatter their imagined aura of attractiveness, when in fact, they’ve been repeatedly hit with an ugly stick) – linking to a photo would obviously be an option, not a requirement. Photo icon hyperlink option/”Contest” forum/ faster board/milk-out-nose smiley – all would make me happy (and making me happy is what it’s really all about, right?). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/59 "2006-02-15T14:11:24Z")
I can’t get excited about pictures. I’d like to see these forums: Sports Humor I think sports is a big enough subset of cafe society to warrant a forum. And I think a joke forum would be a nice diversion. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558/60 "2006-02-15T14:23:21Z")
I have long lobbied for a Fix My Stuff forum, where we could dump all the repair questions about computers, cars, appliances, etc. Of course, then GQ would have nothing but windblown tumbleweeds accompanied by crickets chirping. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-improvement-ideas/343558.md?page=4)