# Trust Level 3 **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [July 29, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768 "2020-07-29T23:26:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/103 "2020-08-20T22:13:24Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IOW, any software changes need to be _socially_ acceptable to our user base as they are, not as we might wish them to be. That’s a very fair point, although I would argue that it applies mainly to UI-type issues and less so to optional features. Making the board look and feel (even in basic things like color scheme) like the old board is important, and makes people more comfortable. But extra, optional features–especially ones that take time to discover–don’t seem to cause problems in this regard. vBulletin had no inline images, link previews, etc. I remember lots of whining that enabling pictures would just turn the SDMB into Facebook. Now we have the feature, and–well, it doesn’t seem to have turned into Facebook. In fact almost everyone uses the feature responsibly, and most posts are still text-only with the odd graphic here and there when it’s useful. My view is that it’s a big step forward in functionality and yet we’ve managed to preserve board culture. Maybe we should reevaluate in a year, but so far it’s looking good. The Regular badge can be completely ignored by those that don’t care to use the features. And since it would only apply to a few dozen or a few hundred people, it should be easy to moderate said people (who would mostly self-moderate anyway). It’s not that big a deal to me, but switching to new software and immediately flipping off all the switches kinda defeats the purpose of moving to a new platform. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/104 "2020-08-20T23:50:29Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > It’s not that big a deal to me says the guy who’s posted 7 times in less than a day on it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/105 "2020-08-20T23:56:02Z")
I’d show you the mural I’ve been working on, but it’ll have to wait until I get back from the street protests. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/106 "2020-08-21T03:39:32Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > {…} And you guys already have wound up closing threads due to your extra flagging power, even when you don’t mean to-again, more work for the mods to undo. Really? I’m very aware of the, was it two, threads closed automatically because of, IIUC, the _number_ of flags. I’m not aware of any thread closed because of _who_ flagged the thread. But now I’m curious, how do _you_ know that threads were closed because of who flagged them? CMC ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/107 "2020-08-21T12:54:15Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > vBulletin had no inline images, link previews, etc. I remember lots of whining that enabling pictures would just turn the SDMB into Facebook. Now we have the feature, and–well, it doesn’t seem to have turned into Facebook. In fact almost everyone uses the feature responsibly, and most posts are still text-only with the odd graphic here and there when it’s useful. My view is that it’s a big step forward in functionality and yet we’ve managed to preserve board culture. Maybe we should reevaluate in a year, but so far it’s looking good. > > … > > It’s not that big a deal to me, but switching to new software and immediately flipping off all the switches kinda defeats the purpose of moving to a new platform. Agree & Agree. The loss of Jenny was particularly ill-timed. Once management gets their feet back under themselves I predict some interest in revisiting some of these change-avoidant move-in issues. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/108 "2020-08-21T12:57:52Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > I’d be curious if there was a single abuse of the special powers. As far as I know, everyone abided by the mod requests to refrain. I moved a thread to The Game Room when the OP posted that they accidentally created it in the wrong Forum. That was before I read that we weren’t supposed to use our superpowers. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/109 "2020-08-21T13:00:54Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I moved a thread to The Game Room when the OP posted that they accidentally created it in the wrong Forum. That was before I read that we weren’t supposed to use our superpowers. - I’ll confess I did the same thing PLUS I fixed a title typo. :hangs head in shame: ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/110 "2020-08-21T13:42:12Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I moved a thread to The Game Room when the OP posted that they accidentally created it in the wrong Forum. That was before I read that we weren’t supposed to use our superpowers. > [@running\_coach](#): > > I’ll confess I did the same thing PLUS I fixed a title typo. > :hangs head in shame: This is why we can’t have nice things! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/111 "2020-08-21T15:15:52Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > It’s not that big a deal to me, but switching to new software and immediately flipping off all the switches kinda defeats the purpose of moving to a new platform. This seems to completely ignore the real reason why we changed software. We did not change software because we wanted spiffy new features. We changed software because we were trying to eliminate the constant database crashes and server issues from vBulletin grinding to a halt and tearing itself apart. When you are trying to keep the software as close as possible to what everyone is used to, flipping off all of the switches actually makes a lot of sense. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/112 "2020-08-21T15:28:49Z")
It makes sense that when we first moved to Discourse, things were set to replicate the vBulletin experience, but I expect that over time, we will slowly and gradually make changes to improve board functionality. Many times in the vBulletin days, people asked if this or that change was possible, only to be told no, because the software didn’t allow it. For instance, one person wrote a script to allow for avatars but we had to run that script to see them. This board natively supports profile pictures. People wanted to include photos to explain something they were asking about, but that was disabled, but this board allows for them, if you just put the URL in a line by itself. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/113 "2020-08-21T15:43:03Z")
It’s worth noting that @codinghorror, who is one of the developers of Discourse, asked on the SDMB for comments and opinions about what new forum software should look like, back in 2012: > [@Can we build better forum software?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-build-better-forum-software/615723): > > As one of the oldest and most stable(ish) forum communities on the web, I’d like to solicit the feedback of the Straight Dope forum regulars. (if you’re curious, [here’s](http://web.archive.org/web/20000815063701/http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) what this forum looked like in the year 2000! [Picture](http://i.imgur.com/WjHYM.png).) I think most forum software (read: phpBB and vBulletin) sucks, and is stuck in a late-90s design rut. To the extent that we have amazing ten (!) year old forum communities like the one at Straight Dope it is in spite of the forum software, which is uniformly terrible and h… ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768/114 "2020-08-21T17:51:57Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > > > It’s not that big a deal to me, but switching to new software and immediately flipping off all the switches kinda defeats the purpose of moving to a new platform. > > This seems to completely ignore the real reason why we changed software. We did not change software because we wanted spiffy new features. We changed software because we were trying to eliminate the constant database crashes and server issues from vBulletin grinding to a halt and tearing itself apart. When you are trying to keep the software as close as possible to what everyone is used to, flipping off all of the switches actually makes a lot of sense. Yes. Put me down in the category of supporting turning some of those switches back on, eventually, when things are stable and there’s an administrator. At least on a test basis. But I think it was the right choice to start with an experience as close as possible to the old board. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-level-3/916768.md?page=5)