What additional features would you like to see the DU admins add?

[I Have A Dream]

There's no question in my mind that DU is one of the most user-friendly sites on the web. However, if the DU admins are ever just twiddling their thumbs looking for something to do (yeah, right! :)) , these are a few things that would make my DU experience more enjoyable:

• I'd like to be able to PM myself in case I want to remind myself of something.
  
• It would be great to be able to use the emoticons in PMs.
  
• It would be nice to be able to preview PMs before sending them.
  
• I'd like a thread to be automatically kicked every time someone votes in a poll.
  
• I'd like high ranking threads on the Greatest page to stay longer than the period that they currently do. (Maybe those with more than 3 stars.)

What say you?

[Gormy Cuss]

1. I'd like to be able to delete an accidental OP

The "Oops! I meant to reply to another thread" kind of OP.

[EFerrari]

2. Before posting, I'd like big red letters to flash

"SPELL CHECK IS YOUR FRIEND!" because I often forget to use it.

[mzmolly]

3. I'd like to search for all posts by a specific user.

For example, click on your profile, and find your recent posts. :)

[fishwax]

30. that would be great n/t

[scarletwoman]

41. That's a great idea. Although you already CAN use the "search" tool to find all current posts by a

particular user. Just put their username in the search window and click on "author" in the "field" menu.

Not as handy as your idea, but it still works. I've used it alot over the years.

sw

[NMDemDist2]

4. i'd like to add more small forums to the "My Forums" feature

15 just isn't enough IMO

emoticons in pms is good but pretty low on the list

and yeah, a Greatest thread with more than 50 Rs should get a few more hours

[TheDebbieDee]

5. I'd like to be able to order pizza..............

without leaving this site...........Can do?...........No?

[dipsydoodle]

7. I was thinking of a coffee dispenser

:)

[I Have A Dream]

14. Hey, then we might as well go all the way and add a catheter function...

so we never have to leave DU to go to the bathroom!

:bounce:

[dipsydoodle]

49. Can't you just use

the recycle bin ? :)

[helderheid]

6. Chat

[femmocrat]

81. Yes! I agree on Chat!

Especially with the 2008 elections already cranking up!

[gristy]

8. A grammar checker!

But that's just me... ;)

[NoPasaran]

20. A sanity checker!

Not for me, for some other posters!

[NNN0LHI]

9. I am about additional featured out

The last one about putting people on ignore. I didn't even understand what it did. I read about halfway through the explanation for it and my head started spinning.

I think I liked DU 1.0 The First Edition the best.

Don

[uppityperson]

15. I found 1 instance so far which made me wonder

poster A blocked poster B. Poster A continues to respond to poster B but poster B cannot reply. Seems that block should go both ways (if you can't reply to me, I can't reply to you) automatically.

[NNN0LHI]

37. I can't reply to you because I have you blocked

:P

[uppityperson]

38. and I can't reply back either

:toast:

[uppityperson]

91. So I am trying a trial blockage and got blocked back

I can see that I am blocked because where it says "reply" it says "blocked". Too funny.

[G Hawes]

80. Yes, that should definitely be reciprocal

especially since if poster A blocks poster B, B cannot even post in any threads started by A, and yet A can continue to respond to B and participate in B's threads. It's just wrong.

[troubleinwinter]

68. I'll tell you what it did.

It shut up people who disagree. It shut down legitimate discussion and debate.

Two people have 'shut me up'. I have not been 'alerted' on by them ever, but I cannot disagree with these people now. Cannot post in ANY of their threads, because I have disagreed in the past.

How do ya like that?

EDIT: If these people felt that I was abusive to them, they might have used the OLD 'ignore' function, but they did not. They may have used 'alert' to the mods, but nah. The chickenshits have found a way to silence someone who disagrees. Feels like MSM/GOP shutting down dissension and discussion. They don't ant to have open discussion... they want to silence it.

[SmokingJacket]

71. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that whole thang.

I never put people on ignore because... well, it's really a bizarre idea, that you can shut people up. Imagine if I had the power to "shut up" my mother in law! Nice, maybe, but... weird.

Sometime I dread looking at responses to whacked-out things I've posted, but that's life. You put yourself out, and you get the response.

Silencing people seems wrong to me. I've never had to deal with a psycho, of course... but couldn't we just alert on the crazies?

[Eurobabe]

10. The ability to conduct a blind poll

So no one could jump on the front runner bandwagon, regardless of topic. :D :hi:

[Richard Steele]

11. Threads should be automatically kicked whenever they get a "Rec."

[I Have A Dream]

22. Yes, I agree; I thought of it also afterwards. (Same as with the polls.)

:thumbsup:

[TahitiNut]

55. Agreed! And Polls should be kicked with each vote, too.

:thumbsup:

[Rosemary2205]

12. Free beer Fridays.

DU already wildly exceeds my expectations. I have no desires for change at all.

[LostInAnomie]

13. I'd like a recommend feature for individual posts.

So we can all see the best posts of the day.

[Kerrytravelers]

52. This is a good one!

[G Hawes]

74. That would be a nice addition

Sometimes a post is just so well expressed and so well thought out that I've wished I could recommend it. A kind of "best of" for posts rather than threads.

Great idea, LostInAnomie.

[Telly Savalas]

16. A game room: Chess, backgammon, texas hold 'em.

*A forum to order take-out food online.

*Online auctions ala eBay.

*Free mp3's and movies available for downloading.

*An auto-poster bot -- So if I'm away from the computer for a few days, the bot will make random posts in my absence -- "Bush is going to invade IRAN!!!111 He's crazy!!111" -- things like that.

*Craigs list style classified ads section.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

17. A Sushi Bar.

;-)

[TahitiNut]

35. (Oh!) Maguro. Toro, Hirame. Hamachi. Hotategai. ... and miso soup!!

Yum!! :9 :9

[uppityperson]

18. I like your ideas.

[tammywammy]

19. A way to hide more than one thread at a time

When GD going through the smoking/taser/multiple threads on the same thing phases, I would like to be able to hide multiple threads at a time. Maybe if there was a way to search by subject, and then hide or something.

That would be nice, but it's not a necessity. :)

[wakeme2008]

46. Right I would like to say no Saddam threads for two weeks.

There are times the board goes crazy with one topic..

:hi:

[tammywammy]

48. Those are the times the multiple hide would be lovely

It takes time going one by one hiding all those threads.

Maybe they can make a forum for topic of the week. So then all those can go there. :)

[Quantess]

21. Well, I think the highly rated, relevant threads should be accessible for longer.

I wish the highly recommended threads would stay up for days, and irrelevant threads would drop off the radar in a few hours. (By irrelevant, I mean the ones that just have a random thought as the OP, that nobody seems to care about). That would be nice. But DU works fine as it is.

[fishnfla]

23. I'd like a forum where you could ask the adminstrator questions and complain

:hide:

[IDemo]

"Filter threads by keyword" ('smoking', for instance)

Also, though this may take a bit of doing, a way of keeping LBN's relevant threads two or three pages back kicked; possibly with a "Would you like to post this in the (thread title here) thread?" if an OP's headline keywords match up with an earlier post..

Agree with most of the other suggestions.

[Pierzin]

24. How about Post Counts below and above 1000?

You know what I'm talking about. so and so has 1011 posts. so and so has 10,313 posts. etc, that sort of thing. that would be really cool. I am a relative new comer here, I did join under another user name back in 2004, I was a lurker, then in 2006 I finally decided to jump in and sound off on stuff.

[I Have A Dream]

29. Hi, Pierzin. Are you aware that you can see the user's post count by...

displaying their DU user profile?

[scarletwoman]

40. DU used to do that, it was decided that it was getting too unfriendly.

People were being judged on the basis of their post counts, people were competing with each other rack up higher counts -- there was alot of "well MY opinion is more worthy than YOUR opinion because *I* have 7000 posts and YOU only have 217.

So the admins decided to equalize things a bit by going with a simple over/under 1000 post count thing. You can still see everyone's actual post count by just clicking on their profile, btw. (unless they've disabled their profile, of course.)

Anyway, I think that what really ought to matter is quality, not quantity. Some DUers rack up thousands of posts with snickering juvenalia in the Lounge, which makes post counts seem pretty irrelevant to me.

sw

[I Have A Dream]

43. I think that the post count should show even if the user has disabled his/her profile.

(Just my opinion.)

Thanks for the historical explanation, sw.

[Mrs. Overall]

25. Will there ever be another "name change" amnesty, which

allows a week for changing our usernames, but lets us keep our post count?

[LaurenG]

26. K and R, Good recommendations! nt

[SharonRB]

27. I'd like to be able to use the "mark" function on just a single thread

And I'd love to be able to send a PM to more than one person at a time.

[Kerrytravelers]

53. I"d love this function as well. I'm putting together a CA meet-up and a multiple

PM function would be great!

[Longhorn]

88. Second on the mark a single thread rec! n/t

[Annces]

28. I would like to be able to see the names of the posters along with the replies

Sometimes when there are replies to replies, the names get moved too far to the right of the screen, and I have to zig-zag to look at reply then over to who posted using my mouse.

[malaise]

31. I would like a countdown to impeachment clock

with a Bush/Cheney face.

[Longhorn]

89. I have a countdown keychain

with just Bush's ugly face! :D

[medeak]

32. more open discourse

without good questioning dems being banned for life....certainly freepers we want gone..

but those who have been here for years and hold jobs in the party are banned...that is so wrong imo

[Boojatta]

59. I would think that being an unpaid volunteer is more evidence of

a good attitude than being a paid employee. Perhaps I'm wrong about that. Perhaps we should assume that no ideological opponent of the Democratic Party would be so bold as to work against the party while also being paid by the party?

In any case, I thought that banning was a result of repeated violations of the rules and that the rules were for everybody to obey, not just for the unwashed masses to obey.

[medeak]

60. I would hope so....and yes some friends were volunteers

just very passionate and vocal.

Am hoping that all forms of dems are welcome here...

[krispos42]

33. I'd like to see a finite improbability device

The Infinite Improbability Drive was invented following research into finite improbability which was often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess' undergarments leap one foot simultaneously to the left in accordance with the theory of indeterminacy. Many respectful physicists said they wouldn't go to stand for that sort of thing, partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn't get invited to those sort of parties.

On a more serious note, I would like it if in the HTML lookup table I could 'click to insert' a piece of code, like I can do with the Smilies lookup table. It's not too bad for me on my desktop because I have one of those 'gamers' keyboards with the programmable keys, but trying to do

this excerpt function requires some careful copying and pasting.

A longer section on HTML code would also be nice. I learned how to do strike-throughs, ^{super scripts,} and _{sub scripts} by looking on Wikipedia after seeing somebody else doing it.

Also, is there a way to make the text flash, and how can I indent something?

[Botany]

36. Undergarments phase change = string theory

[krispos42]

61. Very, very, very nice indeed... n/t

[Make7]

92. Blinking?

Edited to add note about Internet Explorer

I am going to preface this with my opinion that blinking text is usually fairly annoying. But here's a way to do it:

[span style="text-decoration: blink"]blinking text[/span]

If you copy and paste that code into a post, you should get:

blinking text

I should point out that may not work in all browsers. (On edit: I just tested it with IE6 and it doesn't blink. Go figure. It doesn't work with the old HTML blink tag either.) But even if it doesn't, the text should still be displayed - just without the blinking.

The style attribute is used to insert Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) commands, http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp">w3schools is a good online reference for CSS and HTML. DU seems to allow most CSS code, unlike the many HTML tags that have been disabled.

DU has actually added a non-breaking space in their HTML lookup table to allow more than one space between words. The code is:

:sp:

This will work for indenting - for example:

:sp::sp::sp::sp::sp:The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. There is no path that can guarantee success, but the prospects can be improved.
:sp::sp::sp::sp::sp:In this report, we make a number of recommendations for actions to be taken in Iraq, the United States, and the region. Our most important recommendations call for new and enhanced diplomatic and political efforts in Iraq and the region, and a change in the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq that will enable the United States to begin to move its combat forces out of Iraq responsibly. We believe that these two recommendations are equally important and reinforce one another. If they are effectively implemented, and if the Iraqi government moves forward with national reconciliation, Iraqis will have an opportunity for a better future, terrorism will be dealt a blow, stability will be enhanced in an important part of the world, and America’s credibility, interests, and values will be protected.
:sp::sp::sp::sp::sp:The challenges in Iraq are complex. Violence is increasing in scope and lethality. It is fed by a Sunni Arab insurgency, Shiite militias and death squads, al Qaeda, and widespread criminality. Sectarian conflict is the principal challenge to stability. The Iraqi people have a democratically elected government, yet it is not adequately advancing national reconciliation, providing basic security, or delivering essential services. Pessimism is pervasive.

Will result in the following:

     The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. There is no path that can guarantee success, but the prospects can be improved.
     In this report, we make a number of recommendations for actions to be taken in Iraq, the United States, and the region. Our most important recommendations call for new and enhanced diplomatic and political efforts in Iraq and the region, and a change in the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq that will enable the United States to begin to move its combat forces out of Iraq responsibly. We believe that these two recommendations are equally important and reinforce one another. If they are effectively implemented, and if the Iraqi government moves forward with national reconciliation, Iraqis will have an opportunity for a better future, terrorism will be dealt a blow, stability will be enhanced in an important part of the world, and America’s credibility, interests, and values will be protected.
     The challenges in Iraq are complex. Violence is increasing in scope and lethality. It is fed by a Sunni Arab insurgency, Shiite militias and death squads, al Qaeda, and widespread criminality. Sectarian conflict is the principal challenge to stability. The Iraqi people have a democratically elected government, yet it is not adequately advancing national reconciliation, providing basic security, or delivering essential services. Pessimism is pervasive.

One way to eliminate the need to copy and paste code is to use Firefox for your browser and install the BBCode plug-in. (I think that's what it's called.) Or write your posts in a word-processor that has macros and just copy the entire text from that into the DU post window. That is what I usually do for my longer posts.

- Make7

[krispos42]

97. Ah, the waters become less fuzzy

The blinking is not working in IE7, either. Oh, well. No biggie.

Thanks for the tip about the non-breaking space, though. I'll use that. Might even program a key for that on my desktop keyboard! :-)

Thanks for the tips!

[justgamma]

34. I'd like the page numbers at the top and bottom of the page. n/t

[Poiuyt]

39. I'd like to be able to search by phrase rather than just keywords

The search function here really could use some updating

[I Have A Dream]

42. I thought of a couple more things that would be helpful.

I'd like to be able to be in a thread and enter a post number and have it hightlight that post in the thread's post listing. (I know that I could do a search on that number using the browser's search function, but it would be nice if it were available on DU so that it was easier.)

I'd like something to click at the bottom of the screen to change the setting to 'View all'. (Rather than having to go to the top.)

As you can see, I'm a lazy person! :)

[earth mom]

44. I'd like to...

be able to point to a thread I'm interested in and have a balloon pop up showing the first few sentences of the OP. They do this in another forum I go to and it makes it so much easier to see what a thread is about without having to click on the thread to find out.

Also, I'd like to be able to click a on a user name and see that users posts for up to a week or so.

[aaronbees]

76. I like both those ideas

Sometimes a thread title just isn't enough or is inaccurate. Far too many "OMG, Look at This" kind of thread titles. Much agreed on seeing user posts.

And I'd love to see the return of the "Ask the Admins" section. I know it was probably too much of a headache for the mods, but dang that was fun. And I think it decreased some of the clutter that pops up elsewhere.

[gemlake]

45. The ability to preview a thread

by moving your mouse over the subject line. For example, the rv.net forum:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings/forum/34.cfm

[I Have A Dream]

47. Oooo, I *like* that!!

:thumbsup:

[pamela]

57. I love that feature!

I read RV net all the time, which is weird because I don't have an RV. I've become fascinated by the full-timers. Interesting lifestyle.

Anyway, that is a great feature, especially when you can't tell what the thread is about by the subject line. (Like, "OMG! YOU MUST READ THIS!")

[gemlake]

70. I also read rv.net and don't have a rv

or plan to get one. Now I don't feel so weird. lol It's just interesting.

The preview option definitely saves time. It would be a great feature for the General Discussion forums.

[jmowreader]

94. Thanks for telling me about that site

In a couple of weeks I'll know if I need to subscribe to it.

And no, I'm not buying an RV either.

[IndyOp]

50. I'd like to be able to PM more than one person at a time...

We sometimes develop "working groups" and it would be nice to be able to PM 4 or 5 DU'ers at a time.

Also I would like a function that saves the messages that I SEND to other people. I look through my PM box at what I have received and often can't remember exactly what I said in the PM that the person is responding to... Makes for some strange communication.

:hi:

[chaska]

51. Whipped cream button. Yeah, I want a button that, when clicked, dispenses whipped cream...

Is that so wrong?

[alcibiades_mystery]

54. An "I'm So Precious That I Require Self-Validation" Generator

That way, many of the ignorers and blockers can simply default to the technology, and won't have to make any decisions at all...

:-)

[Kerrytravelers]

56. I'd like a small marker next to the thread list showing if there has been any new posts since I last

posted in that thread. I look quickly and don't memorize how many posts are in each thread. To have something indicating that a new post has been added would be cool. I use to be on one site that when you clicked on the thread with the new posts, it would take you directly to the first new post.

[pamela]

58. Forced ignore.

I've seen several threads get derailed by pissing matches between two or more individuals that then spill into other threads. I'd like to see a feature where the moderators could make people ignore each other for a week or two when it's getting out of hand.

[I Have A Dream]

64. Oooo, a "cooling off" function! Interesting idea! n/t

[yewberry]

69. I think that's an "administrative ignore"

and I think they do occasionally negotiate agreements like that when things get out of hand.

You got your wish!

[SoCalDem]

62. I would like spell check to be automatic and

to be able to ignore by keyword

and my old time wish

to be able to sort archives by user name again (we have had this on occasion, but it's been yanked again)

those are my top 3 wishes :)

[Bjorn Against]

63. An all-time greatest page

Once an thread gets fifty recommendations it goes to an all-time greatest page in which people can keep voting on it indefinitely. Of course there would have to be some guidelines as to pulling threads from the page if they did not get any recommendations for a long time and did not place in the top twenty all time highest number of recommendations, but such a feature could make for some very high quality reading that would not be buried after just a few short hours.

[Nostradammit]

65. I'd like the log-in page to re-direct me back to the page I was reading

when I decided to log in.

I realize it's a simple matter of hitting the back button a couple of times, but it is 2007 and every second is precious!

You know you have a damn fine web site when that's all I can think of for improvement.

[kwyjibo]

66. Nested replies for View All

The subject lines are nested, why not the replies? When you're reading all of them it would help to see the structure of the thread.

[G Hawes]

77. That's a great suggestion.

I like using the "view all" function but it is more difficult than it needs to be to follow the thread without the nesting feature.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

67. Show "most recent posts" when looking at someone's profile, with links. So you don't have to search

(and advanced search, at that) to read someone's recent posts, checking their profile and some recent posts can give you an idea of what they're about.

[Lisa0825]

72. Seeing the first couple lines of text on mouse-over on topic titles

and/or replies.

I don't know how difficult that is, but it is a feature I like a lot at other sites.

Also, on Scubabiard.com, they have a cool feature called "similar threads." At the bottom of every topic, an automatic search drops links to other threads containing keywords from the one you are in. So sometimes, I find other topics I would have other wise missed that way.

[shadowknows69]

73. Coffee maker

So i can stay up longer and post more to DU!!!

[atommom]

75. I'd like it to load faster on my Treo.

And refreshments would be nice, too. :)

[G Hawes]

78. A "quote" function

that would allow you to respond to a post and have the text of it show up in your response in the "div class" format without having to type in the html for it, and also having said "quote" function also provide a little box that when you click on it, it takes the reader back to the post it is responding to.

I like the look of those boxed areas that show the quote offset so clearly, but it's a bit cumbersome the way it is now, having to use the html codes instead of a simple "quote" functionality.

[I Have A Dream]

87. Yes, I agree that this would be really nice. n/t

[Catchawave]

79. Rating comments ?

I kinda like that mojo DKos has going with Trusted Users.

Then again, that's why I'm on DU more :silly:

[femmocrat]

82. A dial-up warning for all photos.

Is there an option to block photos? If not, that would be nice. Then I could read the posts without waiting for all the over-sized photos to load.

[Nicole]

99. Already an option

Go to:
  Options
Select:
  Edit your preferences
About 1/2 down the page you will find:
  Hide avatars and other images?
Select "yes" if you do not want to view avatars and other images when viewing a thread.
Go to the bottom of the page & click on update.

I use that option all the time when visiting a friend who has dial up. It helps a LOT.

[BlooInBloo]

83. regex in search.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

84. Somehow arrange it so we can see who wrote a post

without scrawling waaaaay over to the right?
Shorter titles & stagger the names so theyre right after the title?

[pamela]

85. A cowbell function.

DU needs more cowbell.

[BlooInBloo]

95. I know I put my pants on one leg at a time...

[Earth_First]

86. A Democratic White House... n/t

[leftofthedial]

90. the nickel dispenser

everytime someone recommends your thread or posts a :rofl: in response to one of your posts

[Hosnon]

93. I'd like a Reputation Feature:

Similar to recommending threads, DUers could recommend each other. The higher your own reputation, the more the point value of your positive or negative recommendation. A Duer's Reputation Value would indicate to others his or her general constitution: flamers would have low reputations, etc.

It might turn into a love fest among friends and lose value but I've seen it work on other boards.

[jmowreader]

96. Add TheMost Clicked Button On The Internets

Restrict this to subscribers only and DU will have five million of them by the end of the week.

It's a big red button, shaped like a Stop Sign, on the Index page. Click it and you're taken to AutoImpeach--a wizard that lets you generate your very own articles of impeachment for any member of the Bush Maladministration. Click Send and your articles of impeachment are dropped into the e-mail inbox of any Democratic Member of Congress you like.

AutoImpeach: just another way to help our new Democratic Congress lead the way forward.

[laundry_queen]

98. I like the expanded view

but I would SO like to be able to 'collapse' certain threads without actually hiding them, especially threads pinned at the top.