Topic Points?

[Westcoastvibes]

I was thinking about the whole reputation point system we have and the whole end game of them in a nutshell is to identify popular posters and comments.
Is there a way to implement this over to topics themselves? I am a avid reddit reader and one thing that I find helpful to the success of reddit is the ability to up vote or down vote topics based on its entertainment value or lack there of. Having the ability to view active topics based on popularity instead of just having a list of recently active based on what time or date the last post was added.
I don't think it should be an awards based system to bennifit the o.p. but more of a system to simply identify the hot topics.

Thoughts? Do others like this idea? Would Locke be willing to invest some of his super powers into this?

[Everlong]

We did have an ultimate points mod installed while we were still in the testing phase of this forum, but it seemed rather convoluted and clunky so we disabled it. It's still installed, however, so we could look into what features that has to offer. I'm not sure if it includes a topic rating thing in the sense you're talking about, though. I'm pretty sure that part of it is you get a certain amount of points every time you create a topic, but yeah, I'd have to double check on whether or not ratings are included in there too.

[Westcoastvibes]

I am not sure if you are familier with reddit but my whole thought on this is based off that. Kind of like a fb like if you will but having a dislike also. The more likes a topic receives would rank it higher on the active topics list and lower for dislikes.
Implemented points for topic submitting is not the theory behind this. But just a way for new and old members to see what topic is currently most liked by the pub patrons.

[Locke]

I don't know of a way to implement a reddit style system into a phpBB but I'd almost bet money it's possible and that it's been done.

The only problem I see is this would only be handy if we had say 850 users versus 85 users. Get back to me when that happens. Until then, I think we're too small right now, and all that would do is move the most popular topics to the top and the not so popular topics to the bottom on a list of about 25-30 topics. In the end, each topic would still get the exposure because there's so few to check.

Definitely an interesting idea for the future, however.

[Westcoastvibes]

I don't know of a way to implement a reddit style system into a phpBB but I'd almost bet money it's possible and that it's been done.

The only problem I see is this would only be handy if we had say 850 users versus 85 users. Get back to me when that happens. Until then, I think we're too small right now, and all that would do is move the most popular topics to the top and the not so popular topics to the bottom on a list of about 25-30 topics. In the end, each topic would still get the exposure because there's so few to check.

Definitely an interesting idea for the future, however.

Haha, I totally spaced thinking about the current quantity of topics on a daily basis in relation to sorting them

Its nice to see that you have a logical and sensible way to say fuck off I am not doing it without saying exactly that

[Locke]

Haha, don't misunderstand me, I love tinkering and modding the forum. But in doing so, it runs a risk of breaking the forum as well and running into a good 2 or 3 hour "snag" of me scratching my head trying to figure out why stuff is broken when it shouldn't be. Therefore, I will only take the risk to implement modifications if the "work to benefit ratio" pans out. Right now, I know this would probably be a hefty modification (assuming it exists and would make use of the current Rep system we use) so I wouldn't want to take the time to install it if I knew it wouldn't really be useful (yet).

Case in point, I installed a Points System that I was familiar with from an older version of PHPBB. You make posts, replies, etc., and you get "points" (similar to a post count). On the old version, there was a "Shop" where you could spend points to buy colored names, high-lighted posts, sticky threads for a week, custom titles, special icons of significance for your profile, etc.etc. So I thought "Hell yeah we want that" and I went through the 3 hours of installing it, running into bugs, not being able to figure out why it's fucked up, etc.. and finally got it working, only to find out that on this version, there is NOTHING you can do with points. There's no Shop. What the fuck are points useful for then? So I went to uninstall it, and it broke the forum in ways that I couldn't understand, and had to "reinstall it" but leave it on disabled. Then later down the line, installing the Reputation System, ran into snags because it had compatibility issues with the Points System (even though it was disabled) which took another 3 hours for me to write my own code that made the two compatible, and I don't even know how to write code! I only edit/manipulate, so I really had a rough time with that one.

So, suffice it to say, I don't make unnecessary modifications now unless I know that it'll benefit the userbase greatly (or if I know it'll be a very easy fix).

[Westcoastvibes]

Haha, don't misunderstand me, I love tinkering and modding the forum. But in doing so, it runs a risk of breaking the forum as well and running into a good 2 or 3 hour "snag" of me scratching my head trying to figure out why stuff is broken when it shouldn't be. Therefore, I will only take the risk to implement modifications if the "work to benefit ratio" pans out. Right now, I know this would probably be a hefty modification (assuming it exists and would make use of the current Rep system we use) so I wouldn't want to take the time to install it if I knew it wouldn't really be useful (yet).

Case in point, I installed a Points System that I was familiar with from an older version of PHPBB. You make posts, replies, etc., and you get "points" (similar to a post count). On the old version, there was a "Shop" where you could spend points to buy colored names, high-lighted posts, sticky threads for a week, custom titles, special icons of significance for your profile, etc.etc. So I thought "Hell yeah we want that" and I went through the 3 hours of installing it, running into bugs, not being able to figure out why it's fucked up, etc.. and finally got it working, only to find out that on this version, there is NOTHING you can do with points. There's no Shop. What the fuck are points useful for then? So I went to uninstall it, and it broke the forum in ways that I couldn't understand, and had to "reinstall it" but leave it on disabled. Then later down the line, installing the Reputation System, ran into snags because it had compatibility issues with the Points System (even though it was disabled) which took another 3 hours for me to write my own code that made the two compatible, and I don't even know how to write code! I only edit/manipulate, so I really had a rough time with that one.

So, suffice it to say, I don't make unnecessary modifications now unless I know that it'll benefit the userbase greatly (or if I know it'll be a very easy fix).

I fully understand what you are saying. I used to fuck around with (god I am dateing myself here) HTML, java and c++ codeing. I remember building websites for local bands and some mom/pop shops. At times I had days of fucking around with code just to do stupid modifications requested like a simple page layout change or adding a live blog but other things like completely changing the functions of a java / flash interactive homepage would take an hour or two.

Your reasons are valid and understandable so its no sweat off my balls that its not an option right now. At least you did not come back like Brian and say that there is no software available to do a mobile version / app and it would cost thousands of dollars to have one written when someone asked him about that option.

[Locke]

I've already found a possible solution to the mobile layout thing and it might not be too bad, I just need to do a bit more research on it. It wouldn't be nearly as pretty as the "main layout," but I think for mobiles we go function over beauty.