Feedback on the CADC ...

[OneShot]

Gents,

I've just done some patching on the vBulletin Software and while at it I thought "Hey ... it would be a good idea to ask the community what they think about the CADC" ... well, here it is.

What do you guys (and gals) think about the CADC? You know, stuff you like/dislike, things you miss/would like to see implemented even stuff you think is not needed. Nows your chance to speak your piece. I'm all ears (well, actually eyes, but you get my drift).

Cheers
OS

[Molon Labe]

Here's some info about the new vBExperience feature that was just added:

(direct link (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=171014))

Description
vBExperience is an advanced level and activity system. It will calculate an activity and experience score for every user based on their activites on the forum. Now your users will see how their level is increasing by participating on your forum.

This mod was developed by me because I was never satisfied with the post count. Communities are not only defined by post count, they need much more parameters: Are the postings the user creates helpful? Are his threads frequently read? Does the user participate on the community by posting pictures, attachments, leaving visitor messages, tagging threads? All this can be answered with this mod.

This is the first public release. I used this on my boards since vBulletin 3.5, converted it now to vBulletin 3.7 Beta and released it to the public. Since 3.7.8 this modification can also be installed on vBulletin 3.6.8

For vBulletin 3.6.8 there is only reduced functionality because some new features like social groups, thread tagging, visitor messages and albums have been introduced initially in vBulletin 3.7

Calculation of the score
Taken into calculation are these things:
Threads
- Created threads
- Thread views of own threads
- Thread replies of own threads
- Thread votes of own threads
- Thread tags (vBulletin 3.7)
- Replies to own threads
- Sticky threads

Posts
- Created posts
- Views on attachments

User
- Days since registration
- Referrals
- Received infractions
- Reputation / Use of reputation system
- Visitor messages on profiles (vBulletin 3.7)
- Members of own social groups (vBulletin 3.7)
- Albumpictures (vBulletin 3.7)
- Friends (vBulletin 3.7)


Calculation of the activity
The system calculates the activity by taking the average post count of the ten most active user and comparing it to own post count. This can be set to count only the last X days, f.e. 21 days (controlable via AdminCP) .


Awards
There are four default awards: Community, Posting, Activity and Helpful. The awards are shown in Rankings and Profile. You can set them also to display in postbit near the username. There is a scheduled job running once a day (02:30h) to calculate them.
Via AdminCP they are completely customizeable and can also be assigned manually.


Rankings
Showing User, Level, Awards, Activity Points (experience, thread, post, user, misc) - sortable.

[OneShot]

I'm currently working on revamping both the ranks and titles of the CADC to have something more appealing. My question to you guys (and gals) is : "What would you suggest for the new version?"

To help you in your descision here is what vBulletin says what each is

User titles are an indication of status on the forums and are displayed below names in posts. vBulletin's user title system is fairly straight forward as its based entirely on the number of posts made.
What this means is, that we can have a "ladder" of User titles based upon the postcount and thus reflecting contribution or effort in posting here.

Users ranks are rank insignia based on post count and usergroup that are displayed next to names in posts. User ranks work very similar to user titles, the main difference being that user titles are for all usergroups while user ranks can be created for specific usergroups. In this way you can create different rank insignia for different usergroups. User ranks appear next to names in posts.This text should be fairly straightforward to understand so I wont elaborate further on it.

Now the questions I ask myself are :
Use both "systems" or stick with only one and if so, which one?
How to use each system, for example what should be the post limit to reach another level and how should the titles/ranks be named?
In case of ranks, do we wanna have some nice pics to go along or not?
If the ranks come into play, should there be different ones for different user groups (for example, Users, Moderators, Modders, ...) or should all be the same?
I guess I could find some more issues with this (for example if we should have such a system at all) but I think thats a good starting point. Now I'd like to hear your opinion and suggestions.

One idea of mine was to use the usertitles in a way similar to the subsim radioroom while at the same time using the ranks to display U.S. Navy rank insignia (starting from Seaman Recruit up to Admiral).

[Molon Labe]

User titles OK, I'd avoid ranks, esp USN ranks.

[Linton]

I like this site.I do not like it being swamped with general news though.I looked at the new posts and out of 197 only about five were game related.

[OneShot]

I know ... the small modification I made to prevent this got lost in one of the last updates. Now when you click on "New Posts" you should get all new ones except those from the News Forum. To view the news there use "Todays Posts" from the Quicklinks or simply browse that forum.

[OneShot]

Made some further small modifications today.

First of I installed an Addon to our "Ask Away ..." forum where the initiator of the thread can select the most useful answer which will be displayed immediatly after the question. Furthermore the thread itself will be marked appropriately and thus it'll be easier to help those who are in need (DW wise).

The second Addon is a very useful Glossary. Aside from being simple in use it offers the capability to crosslink to stored words from any post to the fitting Glossary entry. For those who have trouble with the terminology this should be a huge help when reading these forums. I've started transferring entries from the Abbreviations list here (http://www.commanders-academy.com/wiki/index.php?title=Abbreviations) but since this list isnt the shortest one I ask for help/volunteers to fill the categories in the Glossar with life and as a beginning copy&paste the entries from Abbreviations (in the Wiki) to Naval Warfare Abbreviations (in the Glossar).

Thanks

[OneShot]

Another feature addition ... you will find a new link either under UserCP or in the Quick Links menu ... "Invite your friends"! Its simple and easy to use , so if you have any friends who dont know the CADC yet, this is your chance to invite them over.

Cheers
OS