[Black Wolf]

This idea has been mooted in the past, but how hard would it be to create a text based highlight-esque syste for stuff that doesn't deserve a highlight, but does deserve community attention.

I'd love to apply such a system to posts like this. Here's a guy trying to learn to FRED who just wants some testers and feedback, but the likelihood is that he'll never get noticed because it's in a weirdly named topic started by a newbie in one of our less active forums. It's clearly not highlight worthy, or even newsworthy, but a little, text based thing, sitting just below the highlighted images, maybe that has the capability to flick between multiple minor events, and probably something that expires after a set period (1 week? It doesn't matter exactly how long) would allow people to highlight posts of significance without neccesarily "Highlighting" them.

Not sure how technically difficult or time consuming this would be, but I'm sure it would get used a lot once it (or something like it) gets up and running.

So, thought? Possible?

[Black Wolf]

Actually, didn't we used to have that orange text bar that did almost exactly this? Does that still work? Could its code be adapted?

[General Battuta]

Maybe this could be used to prevent tragedies like JAD releases being bumped by modeldumps with no new content. 

[Black Wolf]

Stuff will always get bumped, and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to keep the highlights moving at a somewhat brisk pace, but you're right that things like modeldumps, and the wiki drive probably didn't deserve to be highlighted. For my part, I used the highlight system for the wiki drive because it's the only way to get community attention and the associated numbers (it didn't work in that particular case, but it has in the past. It would have been a perfect contender for this kind of a system - needs attention but doesn't deserve a highlight.

I also used the highlights for my own Zod head anis, but I think that's justified by the many years we've had to suffer with just too - I have no regrets!

[Axem]

We need something like a news ticker/fader that takes threads made in the announcements forum like the highlights does with the highlights forum. Something like the 5 or 10 most recent items.

[Black Wolf]

We need something like a news ticker/fader that takes threads made in the announcements forum like the highlights does with the highlights forum. Something like the 5 or 10 most recent items.

Only problem there is that Announcemnent crossposts to the mainpage. A separate forum for these less significant events would be ideal.

[Mongoose]

The reason I felt that the Syrk dump deserved a highlight is because I'd imagine pretty much no one checks the archived projects folders on a regular basis; hell I didn't scroll down that far myself until a day or two after it was first posted.  Plus it's presumably the last bit of content that project will ever produce, so I felt it was worth giving it some attention.

But yeah, this sort of system would be great if it could be worked out.  Or even work with the existing highlights, and set up some scroll of the past several.

[Goober5000]

The News banner, or the orange box as people have called it, would be ideal for this sort of thing, but AFAICT it's only accessible by admins.  But that shouldn't stop you... I would encourage anybody who has news or "sub-highlights" to post a news request in Site Support, the same way people used to post membergroup requests.  The first admin to see a request will add it to the News banner.

(For the admins, this is accessible via the News and Newsletters link under the Main section of the administrator page.)

[mjn.mixael]

Is there a good reason why we have to keep this "jump through all the hoops of communication" method? It would be much simpler to have something setup similar to the highlights....

[karajorma]

Agreed. Making the admins handle it makes it a lot more work than it needs to be. Setting this up like highlights is a one time hassle but afterwards it would work more smoothly.

[Black Wolf]

Ideally, yes, because I'm hoping that this will get used a lot, and will therefore become rapidly annoying for admins to be sorting it each time. An automated system would also be able to have an automatic sunset system, wiping old messages after a week so they don't clog it up.

But for now, if this is the system you want to use, it's surely better than nothing. Could I request the first one be a link to this topic? That will let everyone know that we're trialling the system, and how they can get their own messages posted.

I really think this'll have a positive impact - there are lots of threads where people ask for minor help, feedback, playtesting etc. which sink either without a ripple or with very little notice. A system like this will help avoid that by emphasizing those threads that are more important (the modding ones), even if they're in obscure forums. Hopefully, it'll also draw a bit more community involvement - AFAICT, many if not most or all forum members can post highlights, but the reality is that only a small fraction do. Hopefully people will realize that as a more... Low key, I guess - sort of a system, access here will be perceived as being more open.

[Goober5000]

Could I request the first one be a link to this topic? That will let everyone know that we're trialling the system, and how they can get their own messages posted.

Ehh... could I request that requests take the form of "here is the text I want to be posted as news"?  Unless you want the news post to consist entirely of the link.

AFAICT, many if not most or all forum members can post highlights, but the reality is that only a small fraction do.

Only moderators and above can post highlights.

[Black Wolf]

Could I request the first one be a link to this topic? That will let everyone know that we're trialling the system, and how they can get their own messages posted.

Ehh... could I request that requests take the form of "here is the text I want to be posted as news"?  Unless you want the news post to consist entirely of the link.

Try this:

HLP is trialling a new system of forum news, for events that might not quite rate an announcement. See this thread for details, and to post your own.

Ideally, I'd like to see this one to stay up for a week, maybe ten days, to ensure it gets noticed and prevent people wondering why we have this new bar, but I'd say on average, display times should be shorter than that to keep it cycling. Perhaps 72hours?

[EDIT]The news bar can flick/fade between multiple posts, right? I wouldn't want a second accusation of bumping Axem off in the same thread as the first one.

[Goober5000]

Turns out you can.  Done'd.

[mjn.mixael]

So.. is this remaining with the 'Admins have to post' system?

[Axem]

After going through some of the SMF options, there are permissions we can set to allow the editing of news items to certain member groups (similar to the way the highlights is limited).

[Scourge of Ages]

A hearty welcome, Axem, while we're here!

[Goober5000]

After going through some of the SMF options, there are permissions we can set to allow the editing of news items to certain member groups (similar to the way the highlights is limited).

I would be very careful of modifying the SMF permissions systems.  It took me a few days to get the current permissions implemented and working properly, as the system is very brittle.  There have been several instances when another admin has tried to add an extra permission set and ended up breaking something.

Not to say that modifying permissions is impossible, just tricky.  But I would recommend proposing any permissions changes in the admin forum before actually setting them, so that we can do a "code review".

[Axem]

Oh of course. I'm still nervous about half these buttons in the admin section. I took a look at the permissions for the highlights board and went "haha nope" and got out before breaking anything.

[niffiwan]

As a suggestion for some sub-highlights (gah - makes me think of illuminated U-boats) what about these two missions from new FREDers?

TheHound is looking for feedback on the 1st mission in his post Capella campaign (Laramis Civil War)

gin has created a new Diaspora mission, go give it a spin.