Major Forum Upgrade

[The Big Pig]

We upgraded to vBulletin 3.7 tonight. Everything appears to have gone smoothly. Let me know if you see something that appears faulty.

Wow! We have a bunch of new features and capabilities available now. I will highlight some of the changes below.

[The Big Pig]

From the FAQ...


What are tags?
Tags are a useful way to search for threads with similar subject matter and content. This compliments the normal search system, which searches only for certain words or phrases and/or posts by specific users.

To use tags, you add words or phrases to threads to help describe the content. For instance, if the subject matter is 'photography' then you can add the tag 'photography' to the tag list. But you could also add tags like 'digital image', and 'camera' (depending, of course, on the nature of the thread).

This will categorize this thread with all other threads that have matching tags, whether or not they have the word 'photography' in them.

Who adds the tags?
Tags are initially added to threads by the user who started the thread. Other users may also be able to add and remove tags.

How do I use tags?
Tags are displayed in a box near the bottom of a thread page. Clicking on a tag will allow you to view other threads that have the same tag - and which may be related. Clicking on the word 'Tags' in the top of the box will take you to an overview page with a 'tag cloud.'

This cloud allows you to see which tags are the most popular - the larger the word, the more times it has been used on threads within the board. There is also another tag cloud on the advanced search page that shows you the tags that have been searched for (or clicked on) the most.


From the vBulletin Announcement...

Thread Tagging

A new way to facilitate searching and grouping of threads, it is now possible for users to add tags to threads they post or read.



Tags can be added when creating a new thread, or to an existing thread by any user (with appropriate permissions).



Any users who then click on these tags will not only find all thread that have the same tag as the one clicked, but will also contribute to the building of a search tag cloud, which gives users a quick guide as to what has been searched for recently and most frequently.

[The Big Pig]

I've added the following thread prefix options to most of the forums: "Pics!", "YouTube!", "Podcast!", and "Question?" . Please let me know if you do or don't like these as well as if there are other prefixes you would like to see.

From the FAQ...

What are thread prefixes?
Thread Prefixes can be used to further identify your thread as containing a particular content in the forum. If your administrator has enabled these, you will see a box before the title box which contains a menu with the available prefixes for you to choose from.


From the vBulletin Announcement...

Thread Prefixes

Long requested by users, threads can now have administrator-defined prefixes to their titles.



Thread prefixes are divided into groups by the administrator, allowing different prefixes to be available in different forums.

[The Big Pig]

From the vBulletin Announcement...

User Picture Galleries

vBulletin users can now create albums and upload pictures to their account.



The ability to view these albums and pictures can be limited by the user to just board staff and people on their buddy list if they want privacy.

[The Big Pig]

From the FAQ...

What is the Public Profile Page?
Every member has a publicly viewable profile page. This page includes information provided by the member, either during the registration process or later on via the User Control Panel.

There are a number of ways to view a member's profile. Whenever you see a member's name, clicking on it will usually take you to view their profile page.

The members list allows you to browse all registered members, and quickly click through to public profiles.

When logged in, you can also view your own public profile by logging into the forums and clicking on your username shown in the header at the top of the page.

You can also go straight to a profile if you know the username of the member by typing in the following into your web browser: http://www.thepickledpig.com/forums/member.php?username=<username of the member>

What's on the Public Profile Page?
The public profile lists information about the member under the 'About Me' tab. It also includes statistical information, such as the number of posts they have made and their registration date. This information is shown under the 'Statistics' tab.

Other information includes a list of Friends (?), their profile picture (if set by the member), and a list of members who have recently visited the profile page.

A list of the members' albums (?) and social group (?) memberships are also shown.

What are Visitor Messages?
Visitor messages are publicly viewable messages posted on member profile pages. To post a message, click on the 'Visitor messages' tab, and use the form at the top of the section. You will only be able to use certain formatting in these messages, as described underneath the edit box. This message will be viewable by all visitors to this profile, including guest users and search engine robots if the administrator has allowed this. To communicate privately with a member, send a Private Message instead.
Visitor messages can be edited or deleted by site moderators or the member who owns the profile. If you see a visitor message that is not appropriate, you can alert the moderators by clicking on the 'Report' link. The 'View Conversation' link allows you to view all visitor messages between the member and the owner of the profile.


From the vBulletin Announcement...

New Member Profile Page

In order to accomodate all the new features in vBulletin 3.7, the member profile page has been completely redesigned from the ground up.

The new page presents information in a far cleaner and more logical manner, while dividing up information into manageable chunks using a tabbed interface.

Individual profile field categories can be displayed alone in blocks in the right column, in addition to appearing by default in the 'About Me' tab.