A couple of months ago, I posted that I had admin’d and maintained a Vanilla forum in the past.  

Recently, I was setting up a new Vanilla forum, and I was adding functionality for the members.  This is done through plug-ins.  Below are some plug-ins that would restore some things to this forum that folks have been asking for:  I don’t know the exact version of Vanilla you are using, or any of the other particulars of how you have it set up.  But, I’ve only posted plug-ins below that are reputable and fairly stable with all current versions.

Image Uploading:  http://vanillaforums.org/addon/imageupload-plugin

Very Simple Like Button:  http://vanillaforums.org/addon/like-plugin

(This Like Button is very simple, only applies to the initial post in a discussion, and does not track on a member’s profile.  Maybe too simple.)

Like Button, Badges, etc:  http://vanillaforums.org/addon/yaga-application

(This is much more complex, allowing reactions to posts, adds these reactions up on a user profile, and badges can be customized)

If you guys need any help with this stuff, please just contact me privately.  I’d be glad to do what I can.  I don’t write code.  But, finding and adding plug-ins to Vanilla is within my skill set.  

Mark

I hope someone takes you up on that Mark.  I was never on the old snuffhouse.org, but like buttons sure would be nice.  Thanks for trying to make a difference.

I’m trying out the yaga-application tonight (the like buttons, badge, etc.), and I’ll post here how it works on the message board I’m working on right now. 

“Thanks for trying to make a difference.”

Honestly, it would be fun to have some like buttons on here.  Adding plug-ins is not time consuming.  If they work, awesome.  If they don’t work, you just disable them and try another one with similar functionality.  I’ve set up the message board I’m working on in just a couple of hours tonight.  Its no big deal.  

Mark

Yaga did not work well for me. I went with “I Like This” instead. It did what I wanted, added “likes” to each comment in the message board, and then totaled the “likes” that were within each discussion on the discussions page.

http://vanillaforums.org/addon/likethis-plugin

Mark

Yes gratitude buttons would help to keep members to stay longer and keep coming back to share their experience. I see so many join and then they are gone in a shorter time than when we had buttons. Adding pictures easily helps strike up dialog also, this is another feature I like to see fixed.  

Unless this is an older version of Vanilla, the plug-ins I linked to are working with the Vanilla forum I just uploaded to my hosting. I also included a Signature plug-in, and its working. This is the signature plug-in that works with the new version of Vanilla:

http://vanillaforums.org/addon/signatures-plugin-1.5.6

I tested the photo-uploading plug-in that I lined to in an earlier post in this discussion, and it was quick and simple.

Mark

I’m not bringing any of this up to complain or be negative.  I’ve just watched scores of posts on this message board asking for certain features and functionality over the past couple of months.  It could be that there is a problem with the Vanilla install that I don’t know about.  But, if not…then I’m just offering some information on how to add the functionality.

Please feel free to contact me.  If not, that’s okay too of course.  Just offering because it came to mind as I was putting together a Vanilla message board somewhere else.

Mark

I do really miss the buttons. This is a wonderful forum but the buttons did make the board seem more interactive…more fun.

I was not on here when there were like buttons.  Can someone describe them.  You could “like” any comment on the board.  Was there a dislike function?  Did it keep count of how many “likes” each member received?  Just how complicated was the like system?  Just curious.  The one I’m using is fairly simple, but still adds that interactive-feeling, where you can react positively to a post that you like…without having to post yourself.

Mark

There were buttons for “Like”, “Agree”, “Insightful”, and if I recall correctly one for spam or abuse. Each of these items were totalled for the user and would show in the user’s profile. There was some sort of points scheme set up with these and there were also badges after a certain numbers of these items were reached. For example, once you reached 100 likes you would get another badge in your profile.

Another issue I hope gets addressed is the fact that I can’t post from my android tablet. I can’t recall if this was an issue in the old Vanilla forum or if it’s new to this one (I haven’t had my tablet too long). I believe @Mouse has mentioned that he has the same problem. I’ll browse the site in bed with my tablet but can’t comment and won’t drag my ass out of bed to go to the desktop. Not sure if this is a common problem with Vanilla or not.

^exactly my situation, bedtime surfer, only happens on this forum so it is definitely a Vanilla problem.

edit: I also bring my tablet down to the shop and it would be nice to be able to post from there since it where I use snuff the most, I have a drawer reserved in my jeweler’s bench dedicated to snuff tins

Maybe I should flag this discussion for it gets noticed. I don’t really know if anyone is driving this machine or it is on autopilot. I have no clue who is doing programming. I am sure they take up your offer to help work out the bugs and lube the gears so everything runs smooth 

@markstinson If this gets running, I already owe you all the likes.

If whomever controls the message board will private message me I will share with them my phone number and we could at least talk about it. I’m not a programmer but I do know how to work with vanilla and tweak things a little. It’s just a matter of finding the plugins that will work. Thanks everyone for your comments. Mark

That’s another thing. Not knowing who the admins or moderators are, or knowing how many members are active on the board at any given time.

In addition to the like/agree/insightful buttons, there was also a quote button, so you could more easily reply to the text of earlier comments.

I recall when Snuffhouse was rebooted there was some concern that some parts of the old database contained obsolete bits that wouldn’t play well with the newer versions of plugins, something like that. I wonder though if the point system is part of that, maybe just delete the old data on that and start from scratch. The nice thing about the points is that if you gets points for all the like/agree/insightful votes, you’ve got more incentive to come up with quality posts, share more personal experience and wisdom, and interact with others.

There is an enormously good chance that we can add a simple “like” button to every post and comment.  The likes total up for every post and comment and display.  And when you are in the discussion-view, every discussion shows a count of the total “likes” that are in that discussion string.  That’s one of the very simple “like” plug-ins that would not conflict with old structures in the database.

It may be possible for us to add a more complicated “like” plug-in that totals the likes a person has received for all of their posts and comments, gives badges, etc.  We’d just have to see if it would work with the message board.  It would probably take a programmer to resurrect/rescue the old “like” points from the old “like” system.  That is not something I would be capable of doing.  But, starting over would not be a horrible thing.  Having a “like” system of some sort would be nice.

Mark

Mark, thank you very much. I will make sure the other Mods see this. Mr Snuff is currently hosting the forum, so none of us are able to do any tinkering under the bonnet, as it were, but I’ll make sure your kind offer gets passed on.

Thanks, Justin.  Not being pushy, I promise.  Just wanted to make the offer as clearly as possible.  If they’d like a little help, I’ll help.  And if they have other plans, I’ll understand that as well.  Thank you!

Mark

I thought vanilla plug was something to be chewed or smoked in a pipe - sorry, guess I just have a one track mind…