Random thoughts thread
further to that, the pros and cons are:
pros:
- can make exactly what is needed
- easier for me to add new features
- wont need constant updating
- once it is working it will just always work
- it is a module that i actually need, so i am likely to work on it
cons:
- effort
- will take a while to recreate every good feature
malmon what part of the old layout? the landing page or threads?
if you mean the landing page, the way this does it kinda promotes more activity as people can see the most updated content easier.
i miss the old forum layouts too but can see why more modern approaches to forums have moved towards the new way.
- Edited
clare I think for me, aside from the nostalgia of web-2.0-style forums, is perhaps the greater information density. With the old forum, I'd argue that it was much easier to see everything Lewd had to offer, neatly categorised. Whereas here, while visually the forum may be more appealing, it feels like all of the threads are just shoved into one bucket, they take up a lot of visual space, and if they're not on the first couple of scrolls, forget about it. Any thread behind the "Load More" button may as well not exist. Sure, we have categories here, but they're more like tags than proper sections.
However, if I had to pick only one thing that I'd improve about the current forum, it would be the thread icons. Currently, each thread has the avatar of its OP set as its image. I think it would make the site feel more dynamic if it showed the last poster's avatar instead.
clare Oh, and one thing I'd definitely keep is the forum banner stuff, but perhaps make it a bit more open as to who can actually add them to the site, so I'm not just having to pester Steph to add them. Dunno how much work it would be to have something like that added to a mod/admin cp.
I really like having the user-submitted banners. It sort of adds to the feeling that the forum itself is a community, rather than just an opaquely-run service.
malmon maybe i try modernising the old layout. i think showing off everything that here's good, just it doesn't look great when there's a tonne of categories and half of them are last reply x months ago and that's all you see on first load.
maybe i make the categories reorder based on most active to least active. or show the last few threads from each categories activity. i'll have a think and do some research.

ignore the design itself, but going to be bringing back an old lewd feature, where the reply system functioned like imageboards - except doing it even better and having each post display the posts that are referencing it
still to come is greentext
Merry Christmaaaaas~
think i'll become a zombie if I don't get accepted into school
executive order signed, want to roll back gender change on federal documents. Wonder if i'll get my passport taken away
I wonder how long I can continue to live independently of meaningful social interaction. My thoughts seem like a slew of vague impressions at the moment. If we are social beings, then coinsurance through others is the greatest anchor in reality that you can hope to have. It feels like I was born into insularity.
Valentine's Day has rolled around. Just another reminder of how lonely I am. It almost pains me to go outside now, it pains me to look at the girl wearing a croptop at the supermarket, to look at that girl in the park pushing a white pram, or the Vivienne Westwood urbaners with hennaed hair... I'm so disconnected from these people. I also probably have a throat infection right now, so that doesn't help.
I'm invisible to people, which is what I always wanted, but I can't help but miss the presence of others. Feels like I've become lion food. Thinking about a lot of things, but it all comes out as a pharyngealized whimper.
malmon Probably my fault for giving it meaning just because others do. Any novelty feels good to me, which is why I chose to leave my house in the first place. I shouldn't have anything to complain about.
No thoughts, head empty. University is starting up again. I don't think that I'll be able to talk to anyone yet. Feels like I'm going through the throes of inertia, trying to reconnect with people despite not having spoken to anyone for months.
Someone once told me that isolation was "retarding" in a way. That's probably true, and I'm all the worse for it;--whether it's really all so ugly and anarchic, there's really no excuse for the level of social incompetency that I'm habitually couched in.
working Someone once told me that isolation was "retarding" in a way.
I think I can agree with this. Maybe not strictly speaking retarding, but one tends to lose their eloquence once dialogue becomes a novelty. I find the days when I feel the most mentally clear are those where I spend the most time talking with other people.
There's certainly some truth to this in my case too. I noticed I have troubles speaking with people after I don't interact with anyone for longer periods.
I tried speaking to someone outside of my immediate family the other day. It's almost a resource-intensive exercise trying to constrain my awkward vocal tics and impedimented speech, which have become a lot worse since last I spoke to another person. It was embarrassing. The third-person image that occurred to me then was of a fat-tongued sperg engaged in drooling gibber. I'm sure he'd cut me some slack, but immediate impressions are lasting after long enough intervals.
The word "glossolalia" comes to mind (maybe through self-pejoratives or pseudo-literary diktat, a term like "bibliobibuli" might better suit the feeling of being "drunk on books", but having little purchase in the way of speaking.)
Outside of that, all is well. I am living comfortably. Amputating my present from the future seems to put one in a "zone" of comfort. I haven't become an alcoholic.
