Features Wish-List

[Alban]

What about a post rating system? I've seen these on some other boards, where users can rate others posts for content and things, as a guidance for other visitors.

[Monachos.net]

Dear Alban,

The messaging system used here on Monachos.net is capable of including a ratings option for posts. However, I have never turned this on as I have not seen it as especially relevant to this type of discussion community. Perhaps if there is enough interest expressed, we could consider it.

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear friends,

The issue has recently been raised with me (via e-mail) as to the possibility of some additional user interface features being enabled on the Monachos.net message boards. The features mentioned are all possibilities of our current system, which hitherto we have not employed. I would be curious to know the larger reactions of the community to the possibility of their employment. They are as follows:
Thumbnail user images: This feature would allow a small 'thumbnail' sized image of each member's own selection to appear just below their details at the left-hand side of each post. This post might be a photo of the member him/herself, or some other uploaded image; or nothing at all, if the user so wishes. Emoticons for threads: This feature would allows small 'emoticon' graphics to appear next to thread titles in listings, to call attention to various conversations as participants see fit. Formatting toolbar: This feature would allow the insertion of a standard toolbar into the 'Add a Message' form at the bottom of each page, with usual buttons for Bold, Italic, Underline, etc. This serves as an aid in inserting the formatting tags already in use.
I would appreciate comments from current members on the idea of implementing some or all of the above. Please post and discuss responses here. I am happy to enable new features, if people wish to have them and if they would be an asset to the community. I am also happy not to add them, should members so prefer.

INXC, Matthew

[Gilbert Gandenberger]

I am happy with the tools as they are, but not against other features. Find it all very easy to use, but am a pretty "plain-Jane" kind of a person, so . . .

If the question is how best to use your time, I'd rather see you continue your focus on the content than the cosmetics.

[Andrew]

I think it is nice not having distracting graphics. By the way I really enjoy this web site.

[James H.]

I like the third idea of having a formatting tool bar. Nothing crazy, just for bolding, italics, underlining and URLs. Even font sizes can be avoided. While I enjoy the emoticons and thumbnail images some other forums (i.e. Chrstian Forums) I think it would be nice to keep this forum "plain-jane" as Gilbert stated. I say this only because I think it might distract form the more serious (i.e. acdemic, philosphical) atmosphere of Monachos.net. I enjoy other less serious forums such as the Orthodox one in christianforums.com which serve there own purpose, but I like that Monachos and Christianforums offer two different atmosphere's.

But again, the tool bar à la Microsoft would be nice. A spel cheker would graet as wel ;) You might also want to consider letting the user edit their own posts. I don't knwo if this is possible and there may be reasons against it as well. Just a suggestion.

In Christ,

James
PS: I think the simple emiticons that you already have here (such as the smiley and frown...y faces) are good... but some of them in other forums are nuts! lol

[M.C. Steenberg]

James wrote:


You might also want to consider letting the user edit their own posts. I don't knwo if this is possible and there may be reasons against it as well.

Actually, this feature is already available, and has been for some time. Registered users can edit their posts for up to 48 hours after they have first been posted. To do this, visit your user profile in the Profile Editor via the 'Profile' link in the top right-hand corner of every forum page, or via direct link.

The section at the top of your profile is called Most Recent Posts, and lists the most recent posts you have made to the forum, whether via the web interface or e-mail. Any post made within the past 48 hours has an Edit icon to its left: click this then edit, re-preview and re-save your post to change the text.

Edited posts are changed on-line; however, a second e-mail version is not sent out to users.

INXC, Matthew

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear friends,

Following on previous discussions in this thread, we have today configured the Monachos.net discussion community system to use a small, minimalist Formatting Toolbar on the Add a Message section of forum pages. This toolbar will be in testing over the week end and into the next week -- for your reactions as much as functionality. Please let me know if it is something you like, or whether you prefer the system without it.

The toolbar works by inserting the most common formatting tags (e.g. boldface, italic, links) for you into the form.

INXC, Matthew

[M.C. Steenberg]

Re: Spell checking of posts

Dear friends, in response to member requests, we have enabled a simple spell-checker on the Monachos.net Discussion community system. This feature, when turned on in your user profile, causes the system to highlight in yellow and underline potentially misspelled words when displaying the preview version of your post in the Preview Screen. You can then edit these highlighted words, if desired, to ensure they are spelled correctly.

If you wish to use this spell checker, you must enable it in your user profile. Visit the Profile Editor (http://www.monachos.net/cgi-bin/mb/board-profile.cgi) and scroll down to the 'Preferences' section. Therein, tick the box marked 'Spell check my posts', and click the 'Save' button. The feature will then be enabled on your account for all future posts made via the web interface.

Please use this thread to respond with comments on the spell checker. And a special note to my fellow British-English users: the system seems at default to use only American spellings, thus approving 'favor' but highlighting 'favour' as misspelled. Keep your wits about you; I'm looking into resolving this in short order.

INXC, Matthew

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

I like the changes mainly because they may provide further opportunity to add little touches that can further convey what we are trying to communicate. As we have all learnt, the internet lacks at times the subtle signs that personal face to face communication provides or even the telephone where one can hear the subtlety of the human voice.
And then sometimes we are like little boys who like to play with new toys with lots of things that turn and add colour.
Following this line of thought I would like to see off in the future 'audible emoticons' made available. Replying to certain posts I would like to be able to post a message with a warning siren or perhaps a message that loudly proclaimed "pull over- reckless driver".
As for: "And a special note to my fellow British-English users: the system seems at default to use only American spellings, thus approving 'favor' but highlighting 'favour' as misspelled. Keep your wits about you; I'm looking into resolving this in short order."
Hmmm! I do not <u>favour this too much. I am not really too sure how much my Canadian identity can take such a battering. I do hope the spell checker comes to its cultural senses in appropriate time! </u>http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/uhoh.gifhttp://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/happy.gif
In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

PS: As if to prove the point of my last message, in my previous post the spell checker highlighted in bright yellow the word Canadian! http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/happy.gif

[M.C. Steenberg]

My dear Fr Raphael, at least we now know what the technological world thinks of Canada.

http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/wink.gif

INXC, Matthew

[Charalambos Andrew Geo]

might be a bad idea as this is a forum or a message board but how about a bit of media&#40;psalms talks etc., then again that would go against being simple so may lose the point,Maybe also a Student section or maybe not i could be wrong not that a nonstudent would not be allowed but as a young person wondering how to do or live or wondering how certain Saints behaved with the youth would be inspiring examples, unless this is something totally related to a seperate thread,sorry for defoucusing, as long as what you do is done with prayer and spiritual advice if it can be applied, then i am happy :-&#41;,
with love in Christ
Charalambos

[David P.]

Dear friends, in response to member requests, we have enabled a simple spell-checker on the Monachos.net Discussion community system. This &#34;feature, when turned on in your user profile, causes the system to highlight in yellow and underline potentially misspelled words when displaying the preview version of your post in the Preview Screen. You can then edit these highlighted words, if desired, to ensure they are spelled correctly.....&#34;
http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/lol.gif I wonder if a standard English spell-checker recognizes the type of words &#40;Typicon, Zadostoynik, Triodion&#41; one is likely to encounter on an Eastern Orthodox site!

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Charalambos,

Thank you for your message. If you and others are interested in a dedicated area for students / young people, this could easily be arranged. Do let me know if there is more interest in this idea.

INXC, Matthew

[M.C. Steenberg]

David P. wrote:


I wonder if a standard English spell-checker recognizes the type of words (Typicon, Zadostoynik, Triodion) one is likely to encounter on an Eastern Orthodox site!

It's learning! The spell checker can be 'trained' to recognise new words; so let me know if you see it alerting you to some word in frequent use, and I'll have that added.

INXC, Matthew

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

I see that altho&#39; the spell-checker now recognises the word &#39;Canadian&#39;, it still does not recognise Canajun. This is a deep affront to Acadians & will be reported to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Eh!?
In Christ- Fr Raphaelhttp://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/wink.gif

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Fr Raphael, you wrote:


I see that altho' the spell-checker now recognises the word 'Canadian', it still does not recognise Canajun. This is a deep affront to Acadians & will be reported to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Eh!?

I attended to the Canadian deficiency on your account, given that your nation is still at least outwardly loyal to Her Majesty on this side of the pond. http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/happy.gif

We'll have to see about Acadia...

INXC, Matthew

[Gregory Erickson]

Fr. Raphael,

Perhaps your Cajun cousins to the south might take up their battle banner now that you have invoked the name of their northern kin...

... now that I think about it, maybe we should add Phideaux to the dictionary.

http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/happy.gif

[Andrew Williams]

Matthew, don&#39;t you think that the spell checker ought really to know words like catechumen and Slavonic? What sort of an unOrthodox bulletin board system are you running here anyway?
With all good wishes from your humble, respectful friend and sponsee

[M.C. Steenberg]

E.g. terms already noticed:

Fr &#40;without a full stop&#41;
Raphael &#40;!&#41;

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Andrew and others,

Ah, the good jabs over the spell-checker return! Just when I finally weeded out all the anti-Canadian spelling preferences for Fr Raphael...

I would appreciate it if people could list in posts in this thread terms which they&#39;ve noticed the spell-checker flagging as incorrect, but which are nonetheless correct &#40;i.e. primarily Orthodox terminology&#41;. When a listing is gathered, I&#39;ll add the terms to the spell-checker&#39;s engine.

INXC, Matthew

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Dear Matthew,
Fr. Raphael thanks you.
Emoticon: Canadian version http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/happy.gif smiley face with toque on

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

PS: The spell-checker didn&#39;t recognise the word: toque.
Toque: From French-Canadian. A warm woven hat as thick & heavy as a pillow worn on the head.

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear friends,

As some people have requested a more &#39;plain-English&#39; introduction to formatting messages than that currently offered in our complete formatting reference (http://www.monachos.net/cgi-bin/mb/discus.cgi?pg=formatting), we&#39;ve done up a new Beginner&#39;s Guide to Message Formatting (http://www.monachos.net/mb/tutorial/easy_formatting.shtml) for this discussion community, which gives basic information on how to format your posts with boldface, italics, links, quotation blocks, etc.

You can access the new guide by the link above, or at any time through the Tutorial Area (http://www.monachos.net/mb/tutorial/index.html) found in the &#39;Tutorial&#39; link on the left-hand side of the screen under &#39;Options&#39;.

INXC, Matthew

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear users of the Monachos.net Discussion Community,

We are testing, from today, a new CSS-based formatting scheme for the 'quote' tag that allows for insertion of quotations in your posts (see the forum tutorial (http://www.monachos.net/mb/tutorial/index.html) for more information on formatting in general). The purpose is to give quoted text a more visually pleasing layout on the page.

The old scheme displayed formatted text as follows:


This is a quotation using the old formatting scheme for the 'quote' tag.

Whereas the new scheme displays quoted text as follows:


This is a quotation using the new formatting scheme for the 'quote' tag.

This is a server-side change, which means that it does not effect the way in which you use the tag -- use the 'quote' tag exactly as you always have; the system will simply format it according to the new design.

Your comments and feedback are welcome in this thread or via an e-mail to the webmaster (http://www.monachos.net/feedback/email_webmaster.shtml), especially if you encounter any problems with the new formatting.

INXC, Matthew

[Jennifer Thompson]

Dear Dr. Steenberg,

My suggestion is in regard to the website in general, rather than the message boards specifically. I have noticed that the icon on the home page for Monachos changes from time to time. I always think that the icons that come up are beautiful and very interesting. I think it would be great if, along with the icon, there were some link to find out more information about the icon. Those of us who are new to Orthodoxy sometimes don&#39;t even know the names of icons in order to be able to find out about them for ourselves. For instance, I think that the icon that is currently displayed belonged to Saint Seraphim of Sarov at one time, but I am not certain and do not know the name of either the icon that Saint Seraphim had or of the one being displayed.

In Christ,
Jennifer http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/smile.gif

[M.C. Steenberg]

Re: Information on Monachos front page icons.

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for suggesting this -- it seems like a good idea. There are eleven primary icons, all of the Mother of God, that form the usual rotation on the Monachos.net front page (the only occasions on which the front icon is not of the Mother of God is when it is an icon of a major feast). I'll post thumb-nail size versions of each of these just below in this message (likely only visible by viewing this message on via the Discussion Community's web interface; probably not visible in e-mail versions of this post). I've provided after each the only details on the icons I currently have on file.

Others undoubtedly can provide much more information. We can happily make this a 'Discussion Community Project'. Anyone willing to write up a short (or long) text on the history, significance, etc. of one or another of the icons - please e-mail the webmaster (http://www.monachos.net/feedback/email_webmaster.shtml) with your text, and I'll see that it gets put on-line.

INXC, Matthew

[Jennifer Thompson]

Dear Matthew,

I looked up the Kursk Root Icon on the internet and found some nice links to information about it. The first link gives a history of the icon that is repeated on several other webpages. The second link gives the same history and some accounts of miracles that are associated with the icon.
http://www.holycross-hermitage.com/pages/Orthodox_Life/kursk_icon.htm
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/icon_kursk_e.htm

I hope these are helpful. Since I don&#39;t have any knowledge of these icons of my own, the best I can do is see what other people know.
In Christ,
Jennifer

[Jennifer Thompson]

Thank you to all who contributed information about the icons on the main page. I very much enjoyed reading about the icon from Nicula Romania of the Mother of God.
God bless you all!
Jenniferhttp://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/smile.gif

[Andrew Williams]

Some key words &#40;for me at least&#41;, which the spell checker does not know: Slavonic, Russian, Moscow, English, Russia

[Vasilis Kirikos]

20,000 people marched in Ankara today protesting the Islamic cartoons. Many carried signs attacking the west, US and Israel. An Armenian Church was attacked in Turkey over the weekend with bullets and shouts of "Allah Akbar!"

[Andrew Williams]

...and Kremlin &#40;apparently a post needs at least five words, so here are some more&#41;