Improvements

[Richard Weir]

I didn't go into it that deeply. I will do, when time permits.

[P__]

I guess that goes here

I have to admit that, for me, this is one of the most jarring aspects of the forum: there is no upvote button.

not an urgent thing at all, but giving points (cookie-points?) to people is indeed nice

[kjeks]

IIUC Eich already has a set of national flags available from famfamfam, just didn't install them all right away. I grabbed the same *.zip for potential use, and there seems to be an ie.gif and an ie.png included ... ?

As I am doing some progress with kurmanci-kurdish I wonder whether this magic flag device includes a kurdish flag?
Flag can be seen here. If not I will try and do a search for a free picture resource.

[Koeshi]

Will the tagging mod be able to account for the differences in syntax? Like, if someone tags a thread "fan art" and another person writes "fanart", will the system be able to consolidate those? We would also need to come up with a list of agreed-upon tags that everyone can use, otherwise it won't really solve anything if people tag the same things with different words...

In my experience, no.  Tag systems will not compensate for syntax differences if the tags are set by the user creating the thread.  However if there is a set list of tags to choose from then it is a different matter.

One other solution might be to group the threads into folders (along the lines of Amity's categories) within the 5 main boards.  But unlike LooNEY, I don't have prior experience with BBs, so I don't know how feasible that would be. 

Having sub-(or child) boards is pretty common, so I don't imagine it would be a problem to implement.  For example the Language board could have sub-boards for the most commonly discussed languages, while the main board is for those with less concentrated focus.

[JoB]

As I am doing some progress with kurmanci-kurdish I wonder whether this magic flag device includes a kurdish flag?

Not as far as I can see, but the version on Wiki[mp]edia is marked as being in the public domain ...

[kjeks]

so if I shrink it to this:
might that work? though it does not look too nice.

  looks better

[JoB]

Actually I meant to suggest that Eich should copy it from Wiki* to the forum server (and then work the magic to label it an emoticon and assign some :code: to it).

I don't have the slightest whether it's a good idea to do that before the server switch, though.

[FrogEater]

Two threads seem analogous, as kex noticed :
some ssss merc ideas
T-shirts SSSS

Possible merger?

[Koeshi]

I guess that goes here

not an urgent thing at all, but giving points (cookie-points?) to people is indeed nice

Never been a fan of points based systems on forums, I think it distracts from the topic of discussion, plus it almost inevitably ends up being a competition over who has the most points, which results in people complaining that a post they made didn't get enough points as they think it deserved and so on...

[FrogEater]

Agreed. Disqus comments get buried, counters get reset, possible quarrels get forgotten as soon as a new page replaces the previous one. It's pretty difficult to find who said what one week ago. On the other hand, a forum has a 'deeper' memory. It's all too easy to have things turn sour (speaking from experience ).

[P__]

mmh yes, didn't think of that.
no points then or should I say... point granted  (I tried to make a punny face with special chars, but forgot they don't work yet)

[Solovei]

While I don't think points are necessarily a good idea, I do like being able to upvote or, to borrow AO3 terminology, give "kudos" to a post. Sometimes you don't really have anything you want to reply with but you still want to let the author know you liked it and/or agree with what they're saying.

[FrogEater]

I understand this POV, too.
Thinking of it, I would say that Kudos/upvotes may make sense when attached to a post, as you say it, and not to a forumer. This implies that there should not a cumulated counter per forumer, in order to prevent this from turning into some trolling-prone beauty contest.
The risk is low with our present delightful community, but 'beauty contests' or 'popularity contests' are a sure way to spoil the mood - one or two dumb heads are enough for this. It was very wise from Eich to devise funny names for the post quantity based titles, rather than titles suggesting some kind of hierarchy.

[Koeshi]

It was very wise from Eich to devise funny names for the post quantity based titles, rather than titles suggesting some kind of hierarchy.

Apart from the "Ruler of a Derelict Airport" part   Not that I have any complaints with the forum titles.

[Piney]

Apart from the "Ruler of a Derelict Airport" part   Not that I have any complaints with the forum titles.

I could argue that since the airport is derelict, then the title is basically meaningless...