Bitcoin Forum

Everybody has their own preferences, when it comes to online communication, but a few things are becoming clear as time goes on.  Bitcoin is getting a lot of press attention and new users, and the forums are really creaking under the weight.

Unless you're a student with tons of time on your hands, it is difficult to scan through the unsorted list that "Show unread posts..." link presents.  24 hours of forum traffic produces a time-sorted, cluttered list of random topics in random order.  At a minimum, they should be sorted by forum, then last-post time, rather than simply a global sort of all threads by time.  (Usenet news readers have been doing this for decades)

Paging through 24 hours worth of unread posts also leads to paging errors -- half of page #2 appears on page #3 -- because the forum is so active, it sometimes generates unread posts faster than you can page through the unread-post list!  Smart database apps can handle pagination better than this mess.

Inside a thread itself, there needs to be some way to up-vote useful posts, and down-vote annoying people and posts.  If Gavin posts something to a thread, it should be easier to find that, even when 100 newbie trolls or sock puppets jump into a thread.  4chan-like image posts, in particular, take up a ton of screen real estate versus the informative value, and there should be some way to filter out that noise.

Heck, even plain-ole-email mailing lists have properly threaded replies, rather than just a long, scrolling list.

At bitcoin becomes more and more popular, these issues will increase over time.  (this is why this post is in 'Bitcoin discussion' and not 'Meta')
</rant>

Just admit , you are not used to fast moving forums ;)

I admit I am not a student with hours and hours to spend on the forums :)  And neither will be many of the new users and merchants we want to bring to bitcoin.

Yeah, it's a mess also because of people not posting topics in the forums they should be in :P :P Move this to Meta.

A mailing list is terrible, I wouldn't want all the messages in my mailbox any day. You might want to check out the NNTP idea though...

Everyone has there own preferences though and I personally prefer forums.

It's impossible to read every thread and every post in high active forums, you'll just have to adjust to the pace and skim to topics that really interest you

We need more forum rules, and someone enforcing them.

Those I'd like to see the most are
"topic texts which correctly describes thread content"
"on-topic post content required"

Other nice features would be "like/dislike"-buttons on posts to get rid of "+1" posts, and two types of "top posts" lists, one for threads with new posts and one for most viewed threads.

If the mods can agree on a short list of rules to be enforced, I'll help enforce them as best I can.  Otherwise, freedom of expression is the rule.  If there isn't a direct attack on a particular forum member, I don't intervene.

+1 ;-)

IMO, the creator of a thread should be able to moderate (that is, delete or hide) posts in that thread, as long as they publicly state that policy ahead of time.

the only other suggestion id make toward the forum... is pushing some of the heavy lifting off on to a stack exchange styled site.. its really good for the Q&A styled threads.. and leave the chatter and announcements to the forum.

Thing that I miss from other forums is viewed thead - it always changes color/weight no matter if back button used or something else, on this forum if you back button to topics list or open threads in new window, it keeps being bold a.k.a. unread

I don't have this problem.

I still don't understand the sentiment that says we need to cut down on post content.  A forum is for discussion, not for only allowing a few people to make "quality posts" and everyone else to read them.  That's called a blog.

Having members vote to hide/show posts is also an absurd idea.  If something is spam, then delete it.  Otherwise, everyone should be allowed an equal opportunity to be heard/read by everyone else.

Here's what I do when I visit the forums BTW:
- Click on "Show new replies to your posts."  Read all of the replies to my posts.
- If I still have time, click on "Show unread posts since last visit."  Click on titles that interest me.

I don't have time to read through every thread posted here - very few people probably do.  I don't think anyone should expect to be able to read through all of the threads either.  Reading through all of the threads is not the point of a busy forum.  So why should we limit the postings to what we are capable of reading?  Just doesn't make sense IMO, and it's not at all in the spirit of what a forum should be.

I'd really like to get rid of pagination. It's 2011, lets use ajax infinity scrolling.

Mmmmm.... nice.

On that note, it's 2011, let's stop using forum software that looks like it was made in 1998.  Xenforo, anyone?

ok, so, apperently some one was setting up a stackexchange for bitcoin
http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/30763/bitcoin-crypto-currency
still not finished yet.. people need to add some more off-topic comments as example.

Liking the new "New" button ...

how about we get the

"Show new replies to your posts."

link replicated at the bottom of the thread pages also? or put into the Jump To pull-down? (Scrolling back to top of page to get to new replies list and "New" button is lengthy)

Or phpBB. I'm against for-pay forums, and I think the Bitcoin administrators are too (seeing as they'd have to pay for it, short of stealing it.)

phpBB is the best option in my opinion.

However I am in total agreement when it comes to "let's stop using forum software that looks like it was made in 1998". Would an admin mind installing a nicer, cleaner, more modern theme at the very least? This (http://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?lemma=1724) looks nice for the meantime. However it seems to require SMF 2.0

Why are you against pay-for forums?  They have better support, better plugins, better features, etc.  I can understand wanting to save money on small-time forums (I have a couple of phpBB forums myself), but when you are as big as this bitcoin forum has become, there is no reason not to consider paying for decent software.  Especially since the phpBB captcha features are so quickly and easily overrun.

vBulletin and phpBB layouts are usually bloated "web 2.0" garbage. I like the look of the current forum.

Post volume is a problem. We need a watchlist feature, I think, and enforcement of accurate topic titles and categorization should be increased.

I actually think that phpBB has more support, plugins, etc. than paid forums. There are more indie developers using free forums, such as phpBB, and thus more extensions.

As for phpBB being "bloated web 2.0 garbage", it's not this (http://www.talk-mania.com/tutorials/tutorial128/24.jpg). It's just nicer on the eyes, and still a simple look.

It's up to you, as an admin of course, but personally I can't stand the look of SMF.

~lulz

having personally run both phpbb and smf forums.. smf is way easier and works better..
you can always go to one of the smf theme sites and pick a new one, then ask an admin to add it :p or even modify one yourself..

This forum, with its easy-on-the-eye theme, is so easy to read. Who wants glitz?

This. I know it's possible to as other SMF forums I'm on have that whole section replicated at the bottom of the screen. It really does save a lot of scrolling.