Message Board Features - Fan Suggestions to CBS

(Compiled from the message boards on - 06/18/07)

Administrative Functions

Additional moderators from the actual forum members with limited duties who can handle immediate issues and organizational functions, such as merging duplicate topics, or moving topics to a different folder.
Place specific mods in charge of certain discussion groups. This will improve accountability by the mods and speed response time to issues. Additionally, the mods will be more familiar with persons posting to recognize problems more quickly.
Procedures for issuing warnings to posters of TOS violations before banning. Also, emails should be sent to the address on record to notify a poster when suspended. Rather than fans randomly finding out they have been banned or can’t post or in reverse – having their accounts corrected but not being notified (some of these problems may stem from people not being able to update their email addresses).

Better color contrast on the message for readability. Some posters have trouble reading the default
"Reporting violations" too difficult to read and use. Change format and font to make it easier.
When browsing in the "next 50" pages, once a discussion is read and closed, the engine returns to page one. Can the program be adjusted to return to the page the person was on?
Resolve a number of mysterious glitches with the forum

Users not able to post
No longer to see My Uploads (under the My Stuff dropdown) – some users are probably hitting their total KB limit and its too difficult to go back through and find all the posts that had attachments to delete
Cannot edit email address associated with account
Cannot reset password
Allow links to other Jericho sites. – Some users are having trouble linking to other fan sites while others are not.

Search engine does not have enough advanced features.
Ability to search posts by any user name
Ability to search for posts from current date on by board (as opposed to all Jericho boards)
It would be nice if we could search posters' profiles by state of residence. It would make it easier to find people for regional events

Merge all duplicate threads
Replace list of boards on page with tabs across the top to make it easier to jump from board to board. This will also allow boards to consistently appear in the same order as opposed to the order of last activity that they now appear in.

Ability for there to be child boards (i.e. CA board within regional activism board, grassroots outreach board within promote Jericho board, etc…)
Ability to click on user name to see posts involved in and ability to see who is online at the same time. (both of these features were requested separately too)
Emoticons!
IM or PM ability
World clock so everyone can see the time where our international friends are
Reply to topic button and next page button on bottom of page, rather than having to scroll up to top of page or to original post for reply.
Link or button to reach admins/mods easily. Easy to find support link for those with tech issues
A member demographics catcher. Have members include age range and location at minimum when they become a member.
Ask if Cast/Crew can have special Admin Posting IDs so they can be easily identified. – there was a huge problem with users spoofing other users on the board during the Save Jericho campaign – some of those spoofs even made it into the press we fear. We’d like to avoid this in the future – but don’t really know what is possible.

Can the number of posts on the front page be increased to 8 or 10 without a site redesign? – this issue stems from the way the boards collapse and only show pinned threads
Make a stickied post under Promote Jericho that includes links or actual ads, flyers, press releases and such so people don't have to search for promo materials. Make this a no post area except for additional promo materials
Weekly update thread for the Next Step areas that is stickied to the top (for the week then replaced with the new week). Make it clear at the top of the thread that no one but the section leaders show post. Include a link to the actual discussion thread in the update so people can go there to comment.
Get the rest of the cast/ crew and Next Step emails into their proper sections. – see separate attached Excel file with thread URLs (figured this would be easier)
A thread for posters just to leave comments to campaign leaders.

Sticky a "Welcome Newbies" type of post to the top, with brief instructions on posting and etiquette. Include “How to Post” tutorial.
A FAQ or help section for new users to use with the rules of behavior, how to post
Introduce yourself thread