GeneralOD, If you want to see if you have thanked a thread just scroll to the bottom of the first post text.

Also, if you have not read a thread then you wont have that in your cookies, therefore going to the latest unread on that thread will make you start at the beginning. This is standard vBulletin behaviour and is not adjustable.

Numenor, GeneralOD: I have added a [ pre ] [ /pre ] bbcode that allows fixed spacing with no-extra line breaks.

Maybe a new link to access downloading connecting stairs i like these kind of stair but there is not a lot of them also more maxis recoulers of connecting stairs

If people haven't made them, then we can't add a link for them specially.

Wonderful! Thank you very much, Delphy [pre] This is a test 0123456789ABCD 'Tab' character Smile! [/pre] Uhm... Are you sure you've put the right snippet of code in the cauldron? I see variable spacing and no support for the 'Tab' character; the font size is nicely small, though.

I know, but it often jumps far past that while I am trying to; then I have to go back up to see it. I just thought it would be nice to be able to see that while waiting for the page to finish loading. For me, it would be a significant convenience, but that`s all it would be....except that it NEVER HAS WORKED THAT WAY for me, neither here nor on the other site I used to frequent, neither under IE7 nor IE6, neither under Windows nor Linux.

Ever.

Unless the thread itself is new. VERY new.

...and I frequently find the "#newpost" sending me past new posts.

GeneralOD, you seem to have all kinds of cookie related issues so I would say that your problems are perhaps due to those. If the other site was vBulletin too then it's probably just the way vBulletin was designed - not much I can do about that.

Numenor, hrm, good point. Unfortunately the only tag that does support tabs is pre and that has the double spacing issue.

I don't know if this has been suggested yet or not, if it has please just excuse the question; Is there a way that the Downloads page could show only downloads that are compatible with your game (i.e. if I only had Seasons and University I would not be able to see downloads that require Apartment Life - if I so chose)?

Can you make this optional? I like it and all, but I find the old way much easier.
Thanks
(Btw, I do love the tag cloud ^.^ )

tea_am0, keep your profile updated as to which EPs you have installed, and select Compatible Only in the Download filters (I think that's the default?).

The support for tab is not really essential; the fixed spacing and the horiz/vert sliders are more important. But never mind, the [ HTML ] tag is perfect for my needs; I don't think that anyone could be confused if I post some Simantics code, or an error log, wrapped in a "HTML code" box -

Make what optional? You didn't actually say.

Would it be possible for a creator to know who download's their stuff. I know there's already a list of who thanks. I guess this would end up specifying who downloads without thanking and maybe thats an invasion of privacy or something.

And one other issue that would be nice. When someone adds you as a Favorite Creator, can the list be in chronological order.
Rose

I`d like to be able to sort my Favorite Creators and Favorite Downloads manually, and have visitors to my Favorites pages see them sorted by my manual sort until they click on one of the column headings to sort them another way.

Rose, there is only a record of the last 30 days of download history. Beyond that it's gone. Also, you are correct in that I would keep that private. A users download history isn't something I'd want anybody outside of admins (aka me, since I'm the only one who knows how to get it) to see.

Also, with regards to the Favourite Creator list - there is no date associated with when somebody adds you, just that they have.

Delphy, I think he means the site automatically sorting out non-compatible downloads. Isn't there an option to turn off automatic sorting already in the search box? I thought i saw it, but....

Well, there is the Compatible option which shows you only things that are compatible according to your profile... and then there is the All option which gives you everything. There is nothing in between

Every time your favorite creator uploads something new, or one of your favorite downloads gets an update/thread title change (signifying an update), you get a message about it, I think that would be pretty helpful so I could bypass all of the other stuff that I don't prefer and go straight to what I like quickly, and get updates for my favorite objects.


But if this is already a feature, and I'm just plain stupid, feel free to delete this comment.

The only thing that I I still don't like is how the search option works. I mean you type in keywords that you think/you are sure it is in the thread, but the creator didn't have the keyword set. The google search does better in that respect, but I cannot tell google search to just look for the thing I'm looking for in a section of MTS2 (Ie.: Building, Buy mode).

I also support the idea to add an "exluding" an option filter to the filters. It could be useful for several reasons. Mine was (at the time) that I have gotten a new expansion pack, and I wanted to look through the downloads available only for that expansion pack, because I have seen the rest of them. Other reason could be searching for something specific as well... Like in maxis recolors, I want to find only counters for seasons. Your site has grown so big and there are so many downloads that it is not easy to miss what you are looking for.

That is all that comes to mind for now. Thanks for listening.

poplers, Both of these are already done for a while now: You can see any new uploads from Favourite Creators either through the myMTS2 option, or using the filter to only show Favourite Creators downloads.

Using this same panel you can also sort this list by Last Update. I'm kind of suprised nobody has commented on this feature since it's been there for a while.

Antira, unfortunately, as with any search we are limited in terms of what keywords people place in thier thread. The search checks the title, and any keywords but it doesn't examine the post text itself (since this would be too heavy on the servers on a site this large). Thus, we are limited to whatever the creators put in the titles or keywords.

With regards to the other two ideas: You can already see downloads only for a specific Expansion Pack by using the Advanced filtering option, but this displays downloads that have only that EP/SP listed. Thus is due to the meaning of the EP flags - they indicate "requires" rather than "compatible with" in that case - so the downloads would have to require Seasons and nothing else for them to match. Compatible mode is more akin to needing Seasons + anything else, but then you have to ask - which do you want? There is a difference between them - if you say "do it like compatible mode" then what happens when somebody has, say, Pets, and a Lot says "Pets, Seasons" on it? Do you show that or not? It varies as to the understanding of the words "for Seasons". It's not so cut and dried.

(Incidentally as I said you could already use the Advanced search to show only Counters that have Seasons as thier only Expansion pack)

As with previous Site Suggestions, there are some things that the site can already do but that a lot of people simply don't realise it can. (Case in point the various types of download browsing)

Thanks for the posts

Has there been any consideration to having a fast-track status for creators who have uploaded a certain number of items without issue, so they don't have to wait in the moderation queue? Maybe on a per-type basis (in case a wonderful hair mesher turns out to be useless at making lots, for example). I am asking because I am aware that there are some good creators who have ceased to upload at MTS2 because of the waiting.

Inge, yes, we have discussed that in the past (going back more than a year), but ultimately it was never out of the discussion phase becuase all downloads have to be checked by a human to ensure correct screenshots, text, etc.

Obviously a good creator would have everything done and that makes the process quicker, but having some automatically get approved and others not brings up the question: Who gets on that list and who doesn't? Then we'd have even more accusations of favouritism and elitism and what have you.

As I said, we've discussed it before but couldn't come up with a good mix of favouritism vs expediancy - and, ultimately, I'd have to add a pretty large amount of code to even start tracking who uploads to where and so on... my time could be used better elsewhere.

I'm only approaching this from a technical standpoint, but I know all the facts and figures and stats behind the scenes. Maybe a queue moderator can expand more on it if they want, but we have discussed it before and it never got implemented.

I understand, but if it was done on the basis of a transparent guideline - eg if you have made 5 perfect upload threads in that category since a moderator last had to reject it or ask you to change something. And I mean anything at all including your images not looking right, so not just based on quality of download. Not being considered as fulfilling that requirement would not be any more contentious than the rejection an upload thread is anyway

If after the creator being fast-tracked, a thread is spotted that isn't quite right, a moderator could PM them to ask them to fix it, and if it happens again on the next thread then they lose their fasttrack status.

Or maybe it's too complicated to keep track of counts of success-at-first try uploads... If there is no record keeping in place, I guess a new field would have to be introduced into a thread or user profile for "rebukes" (lol, or whatever you'd call it when a moderator asked for a change). But I would imagine the keeping track of a creator's rejection/acceptance rate would be the tricky part of it, rather than communicating the actual rule.

The waiting time in the queue has also been reduced dramatically from the past - partially due to the fact that we have an amazing moderation queue staff right now that deserve tons of hugs and cookies... and also due to the fantastic moderation system that D set up for us. It's about a bajillion times faster, easier, and more streamlined to use than the old system, allowing us to provide better information for required changes. Sometimes things do take a little while to go through, but most of the busy areas are -very- fast nowadays. It's pretty rare for anything to wait more than 24 hours before review in any area.

Creators that are known to be good and usually upload properly to whichever area -do- go through the queue faster than others. If the upload moderators see, for instance, a hair from Nouk in the queue along with a dozen other things, they're pretty likely to click on Nouk's upload to look at it before the other things, for several good reasons... A) They're curious what new, cool thing there is and want to ooh and ahh over it... B) They know that Nouk usually uploads good stuff so they won't have to fiddle around with much, if any required changes, and C) It's probably an easy upload to deal with, so they can likely just hit the Approve button and have that done.

Which may strike some beginning uploaders as unfair and biased, but it's biased toward people who deserve a bias towards them - people who have proven they're good uploaders and whose stuff is almost always excellent quality. It also means that the upload moderators can get the stuff they know is fine out quickly, and spend more time reviewing things that require a more critical eye, need changes made, and maybe also need the moderator to suggest some changes, link to tutorials, or even (as we sometimes do), open up the file in SimPE/Milkshape to take a detailed look at the textures/poly counts/etc. to help the creator improve.

To be honest, the moderation queue is sort of a double-checker too. We all sometimes forget the right files, credits, whatever, and it's nice to have another set of eyes take a look at something and make sure it's all good before going up. I'm pretty darn accomplished myself at Body Shop stuff, yet I've had things marked as Changes Required for the fiddly bits that my tired brain had forgotten. I can approve anything in the queue, yet I usually leave stuff in there for someone else to look at, just because it's good to get it double-checked by someone who hasn't been staring at it for two days and is sick of looking at it.

So, in summary, if you're a known good creator, you will generally get through a bit faster than others, but an auto-approve is probably both unneccessary, and likely to cause more trouble than it fixes, especially as it'd require D to code up a whole new thing that works per-area.

Inge, we already do keep track of a users approval/rejection rate but it's a global figure - as has been mentioned, I'd have to actually introduce a seperate approval/rejection rate for each individual sub-category for the entire downloads system.

Another thing about a fast track system, as you describe it, is that then the staff would have to look back at all creators who are fast tracked and make sure that everything is done correctly etc - which is essentially just re-moderating the thread again except this time there is the added time involved to PM them if something is missed, or possibly removing a thread entirely from view if a previously fast tracked creator just doesn't get it right after that.

Yes, staff could control it but when you factor in (as I mentioned) the time taken to go back and re-check everything, in addition to PMing etc, then the only thing that achieves is to have a very small subset of creators have the items "out there" and visible to the masses with the possibility that if anything is wrong that the item will be yanked.

It's a tradeoff between speed and quality, and quite honestly I'd rather have the quality.