LegendBegins

Mahz's Dev Journal

A flaw in this system is in regards to collab posts, and posts that contain multiple characters in general. I personally find making the character "post" it's own post is unnecessary, and causes far more potential issues than it is worth. A simple roster with dynamic status is plenty, for me.

@TheMaster99

The simple fix to that issue is just to continue posting the same way that you do now. If I wish to use multiple characters in one post Legend: I separate it Begins: Like so. In that case, they could just set their actual account as default, and continue whatever system they currently have in place; it's like the dice program that Mahz wishes to implement. You don't have to use it, but it's there.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Any system that uses the site to track and manage one's characters shouldn't mess with "switching" characters. Rather, one should simply select them at post time (and this is where linking a specific character to a specific RP would undoubtedly come in handy, to reduce the list of characters for those with massive casts). You may have meant this by your notion to switch between characters, but I've seen systems (and used them myself) where the implementation actually leads to linked forum accounts that are physically switched between (the forum logs you out of the master account and into the character account) at the click of a button. And it's messy. Keeping them separate from forum accounts would preserve sanity on all fronts.

@Captain Jordan

I was more referring to a system where your account is set to a main "default" character, and you have the ability to change that, and it changes the character that posts every time. I've personally used a system in which you had to select a character every time you posted, and it was so tedious, it was painful. Many RPs use one character at a time, and my suggestion is that while you can switch the current character for one post, you can also switch the character that will post if none is selected. No alternate accounts needed; only a small expansion of the system you (and I suppose, though in different words, I) described.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Something like that. And by "Character", I mean that I'd like to implement first-class support for a character system. Some way to create/manage characters (or create them ad-hoc per roleplay), switch between them during a roleplay, annotate them during the roleplay (like the GM can edit a character's status to indicate that the character has a broken leg), and kill them off (just from the roleplay). Going down the rabbit hole here, but it's an idea. The main limiting factor for these kinds of big roleplaying ideas is that it's hard for me to flesh them out by myself since I don't actually roleplay anymore.

@Mahz

This idea is wonderful. Absolutely momentusly wonderful. Being able to switch between characters within one account, and having the ability to post as all of them would be beneficial to so many roleplays. And the character status would make everything much more concise. Brilliant. I also like the co-GM idea, as in my Roleplay, we would all be assigned GM status (it's a unique system, but a story for another day), and it makes it easier, as the thread creator isn't forced to handle all requests. One improvement that I would like to see is the option to remove the default nested posts. I feel that it makes it too easy to end up with a hundred nests in a reply chain, so an option to toggle it off in user settings, or even thread settings would be greatly appreciated. As a side note, it's a shame that you don't RP anymore.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Hide or remove the posts of non-playing players (for players that have left/been removed from the RP, the ability to remove (or just hide if you want to reserve deletion power to mods) posts that disturb the RP's flow would be useful.

Also no. I am *very* against anything that means that any of my posts could disappear randomly just because someone decided they don't like me anymore. If someone is causing actual trouble and insulting people, only then should mods be called and removal be applied - and personally I do prefer hiding just to avoid and solve later disputes. Both players who ask to go over the situation *and* unjust mods will happen on site of any noteworthy size.

@Shienvien

I respect that view. I also know there are players who join an RP, create an elaborate set of plots, and then disappear just as their character becomes critical. It's jarring to the casual reader and to other players. I'm not sure what the best solution is, some GMs are very hands on and careful about the story flow, while others just let players do whatever. This kind of thing would cater to the former, but as you indicated, could be easily abused. On the other hand, having no recourse means that a troublemaker can easily enter an RP, post something nonsensical, and then even after their removal the GM would be powerless to hide or remove their distracting post. Is this something where a mod would be needed? If so, then you have the other consequence of taking the decision out of the GM's hands (and the GM runs the RP, not the mods). If the mods are simply there to carry out the GM's wishes, then what's the point of not allowing the GM to perform that action in the first place? Who has the power here? The GM? The Player? The Mods? Nobody? So either in the case of a disappearing player whose absence creates an awkward void in the story, or for a troublemaking player who is intentionally disruptive, I can see a need for this kind of ability. I also understand your concern. What if posts were hidden in ways that left a placemarker in the thread, allowing anyone to view the true post if they so chose, but letting casual readers and players to skip by unnecessary posts?

@Captain Jordan

Funny you mention that. That was my first notion as well.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Good ideas regarding deletion. I have a system in mind. The hard part, as usual, is finding the time and justifying the cost of implementation against the opportunity cost. For instance, right now, it's cheaper for me to just manually delete things in the database myself and ask users to PM me when they want something deleted.

@Mahz

You could add a deletion request system. I would say the highest priority regarding deletion is to prevent the invisible page glitch, in which a page with no contents is generated until you refresh, go back, or something is posted. Perhaps you've already implemented that and I missed it.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Of course, when you do add deletion to things, make sure that you get it right the first time. Deletion isn't something you want bugging out.

BBeast

Yeah, I'm pretty sensitive to deletion in general. The previous guild didn't even have first-class forum support for deletion. Everything just had an is_hidden boolean field. I would like to do something similar for this rewrite, but it's definitely more complex than a system where you can just do database-level deletion. For one, it explodes the codebase into a fractal of "is this thing hidden?" and "can current-user view hidden things?" checks. It involves a lot of defensive coding. Like, what happens if a rogue moderator decides to up and delete everything? How easy is it for me to reverse those deletions? I'd want to be able to do a query like "Set is_hidden to true for everything that rogueModerator touched in the last 24 hours".

@Mahz

A simple fix would be to set is_hidden to true for x days, and beyond x days, delete all posts under is_hidden = true.

Mahz's Dev Journal

I am a "hard" programmer (primarily dealing with fairly low-level optimization), but I have worked with websites before, if not professionally. I'd probably be willing to take a look at the code should I find some free time (until then, I am stuck with pointing out the flaws I see and making suggestions).

Shienvien

More or less an efficiency expert? What languages have you worked in?

Mahz's Dev Journal

I have background in web development. My biggest problem is jumping into an already-huge project and my newness at Github and pull requests... I don't even know where to start or how to really help effectively. Plus, I don't really have a way to test the database stuff myself, so that makes it harder, too... But I'll probably dip my toe into the code and maybe eventually I'll feel comfortable enough to help with some of the bugs/features.

Alamantus

You'll have to install PostgreSQL during the setup for a local dev environment, and it has a gui tool that can be used to test queries/etc. During the setup of the site on your computer, a sample db is written, with some posts, users, etc.

Do we even have code-savvy community members who can help Mahz in this regard?

Hank

I'm not familiar with JavaScript specifically, but I'm capable of learning code quickly. If I could make time, I'd be willing to assist Mahz with the GuildCode if it would be of help. I'm more of a programmer than a web developer (which is why JS has escaped my view thus far), but I'd be more than willing to pick it up if it means an improvement, and a lighter load on Mahz.

LegendBegins

Yeah, I'm not a web developer either, but it really isn't bad. Other than the lack of helpful error messages/stack traces (at least from what I've seen), the current setup seems easy to work on.

TheMaster99

From what I've noticed skimming through the code, and it doesn't seem overtly difficult, as a language, and it seems to be written concisely. If I can actually make time in my schedule, I may be able to pick JS up and begin developing.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Do we even have code-savvy community members who can help Mahz in this regard?

Hank

I'm not familiar with JavaScript specifically, but I'm capable of learning code quickly. If I could make time, I'd be willing to assist Mahz with the GuildCode if it would be of help. I'm more of a programmer than a web developer (which is why JS has escaped my view thus far), but I'd be more than willing to pick it up if it means an improvement, and a lighter load on Mahz.