Pinside update July 2014 - New moderators!

Wow, can't believe 5 months have passed since the last update! Time for a new thread!

Earlier this month, we launched some cool things like the "find in thread" feature and the "show all posts in this thread by a particular user". I think these work great, have seen them being used a lot already!

The moderator hunt. As you may know, I was looking for some new moderators to join the team and posted a job opening for this. The response was overwhelming (50+ applications), thanks for everyone who send in their application! It took me a lot of time to read through all of them but I'm happy to announce the first two moderators picked:

pmWolf With nearly 4 Pinside years under his belt and arguably the nicest gameroom in the country (although that wasn't a factor) I think pmWolf will be a great addition to our moderator team.

fattrain Over 5 years of Pinside experience so it was about time this allround nice guy was added to our team.

Welcome to the moderator team! They will be learning the ropes so please go easy on 'em. I will probably be adding more moderators from the applications that were sent in, but this is the first choice.

...

Also, today I'm adding some cool new features to the site!

Drain topic
On the forum front page, you will now see an X icon when holding your mouse over a topic title. Click the X icon to drain that topic. Draining a topic essentially removes it from your view, it will no longer show up on Pinside for you (when you are logged in of course). An alternative way to drain topics (e.g. when on mobile) is to visit a thread and find the drain topic link in the header box (just under the big topic title).

Enhanced search
I've added a feature to search only for topics you posted in. I have optimised searching for topics that are linked to one or more games and finally fixed a couple of bugs on the search page.

PM ignored users
You can now no longer PM users who are ignoring you. You will see a generic "user not reachable by PinsideMail" message.

Un-Ignore users
Speaking of ignored users, I have moved the settings for this to the settings screen. Here you will also find options to un-drain topics.

Oh, and in case you missed it, we are coming to Pinball Expo!

#2 9 years ago

???

PappyBoyington

Pinside member

Murphy, TX

12y 77,800 1,789 14 26

YES! Drain topic. Thanks Robin.

#3 9 years ago

C F

frolic

Pinside+ Frequent

11y 149K 9,809

Drain - hooray!

#4 9 years ago

tripp

Pinside member

Illahee, WA

13y 75,050 430 9 34

Congratulations guys...now let's have a big party in pmWolf's gameroom!

#5 9 years ago

JRM

Mato

Pinside member

Perth

11y 75,800 2,721 12 106

Congratulations to the new moderators, now moderators lets ride........

#6 9 years ago

SMB

Concretehardt

Pinside+ Frequent

Eugene, OR

11y 145K 10,075 2 27 1

Ha ha congrats FT & PM two outstanding pinsiders!
Great additions to the team Robin.

#7 9 years ago

DON

Donnyman

Pinside member

Tempe, AZ

18y 68,400 1,323 2 35

Right on both are great guys that always help out pinsiders on topics and research. Great decision.

#8 9 years ago

GPD

KoolFingers

Pinside member

Youngstown, OH

11y 68,800 1,147 7 7

Congratz to pmWolf and FatTrain. Both seem to be level headed and should be a great moderators.

#9 9 years ago

TRN

fattrain

Pinside member

15y 118K 5,140

Thanks guys!

tumblr_lyni6f8dXK1r9qd2co1_500.gif

#10 9 years ago

FEC

Syco54645

Pinside member

Pittsburgh, PA

11y 78,300 3,101 12 15

Can we undrain a topic in case it was an accident?

#11 9 years ago

RDS

RustyLizard

Pinside member

12y 121K 4,730 7

Quoted from Syco54645:
Can we undrain a topic in case it was an accident?

If you are skilled in the death save.

#12 9 years ago

RVM

robin

Quoted from Syco54645:
Can we undrain a topic in case it was an accident?

Yes, but currently not on a per-topic basis. You can find the un-drain option on your forum settings page (bottom).

#13 9 years ago

DOG

pmWolf

Honored to be here!

Quoted from tripp:
Congratulations guys...now let's have a big party in pmWolf's gameroom!

Sign me up!

#14 9 years ago

WEB

Magic_Mike

Pinside member

Atlanta, GA

11y 56,550 2,985 20

OP
Quoted from robin:
Drain topic

I thought that being able to customize and filter your forums solved the need for this.

#15 9 years ago

DAB

Pinfidel

Pinside member

10y 99,800 3,924 9 51

The Wolf and the Train. Two of the nicest guys on Pinside and thus two AWESOME mod choices. Congrats to you both guys.

#16 9 years ago

TRB

Fifty

Pinside member

10y 77,400 2,330

Welcome to the new Mods!

#17 9 years ago

TDA

The_Dude_Abides

Northern California, CA

14y 137K 9,468 151

Two cool cats thanks for agreeing to help!

#18 9 years ago

AXB

ab3

Pinside member

Philadelphia, PA

12y 58,550 242 4 18

Re drain topic:

On an ipad, I now have to click twice to open any topic (first click brings up the x to drain topic, second click opens the topic). Not a big deal I know, but I'm used to the old one click way.

Any way to get around this on an ipad so I can brag to my wife that I have doubled my productivity?

Also, congrats to new mods- excellent choices!

#19 9 years ago

CAT

DCFAN

Pinside+ Frequent

Clearwater, FL

12y 148K 12,776 34

Quoted from ab3:
Re drain topic:
On an ipad, I now have to click twice to open any topic (first click brings up the x to drain topic, second click opens the topic). Not a big deal I know, but I'm used to the old one click way.
Any way to get around this on an ipad so I can brag to my wife that I have doubled my productivity?
Also, congrats to new mods- excellent choices!

Yes, it is annoying having to click twice with my IPAD.

#20 9 years ago

MEL

blondetall

Pinside+ Member

11y 100K 6,269

I have to do the double click on my iPhone too. I have it zoomed so didnt realize it was bringing up the x and wasnt sure what was going on.

#21 9 years ago

SPeD66

Pinside member

11y 54,900 908 6

pmWolf & fattrain...

chuck-norris-approves.jpg

#22 9 years ago

ROK

Rock914

Rock Custom Pinball

Wayland, MI

11y 90,900 2,148 7

Two great selections. Thank you for your service guys.

#23 9 years ago

ABC

Crash

Pinside member

13y 141K 14,152

Ignored users cannot PM you? Excellent. I hate it when I get garbage messages from people I forgot were on my ignore list.

#24 9 years ago

RVM

robin

Quoted from ab3:
Re drain topic:
On an ipad, I now have to click twice to open any topic (first click brings up the x to drain topic, second click opens the topic). Not a big deal I know, but I'm used to the old one click way.
Any way to get around this on an ipad so I can brag to my wife that I have doubled my productivity?
Also, congrats to new mods- excellent choices!

Known issue, I'll see if I can find a workaround for this asap!

#25 9 years ago

ABC

Crash

Pinside member

13y 141K 14,152

It has to do with the fact that Safari simulates mouse hovering using the first tap. Why not make the x's appear by default? It will also make the feature more recognizable.

#26 9 years ago

MVM

markmon

Inactive member

Hillsboro, OR

13y 98,300 13,010 21 81

Since the recent changes rolled out, I have to re-login almost every day. Is this a site change that was intentional or perhaps something on my device? It's somewhat unpleasant. Or perhaps the site being updated and restarted?

Edit: caused by safari being in private mode.

#27 9 years ago

DOG

pmWolf

Quoted from markmon:
Since the recent changes rolled out, I have to re-login almost every day. Is this a site change that was intentional or perhaps something on my device? It's somewhat unpleasant.

When I use Chrome on my iPad, I have to constantly re-log in.

Using Safari on the same device does not have this problem...I stay logged in forever.

Which device and browser are you using?

Pete

#28 9 years ago

MVM

markmon

Inactive member

Hillsboro, OR

13y 98,300 13,010 21 81

Quoted from pmWolf:
When I use Chrome on my iPad, I have to constantly re-log in.
Using Safari on the same device does not have this problem...I stay logged in forever.
Which device and browser are you using?
Pete

I'm using safari on iOS. I use to never have to login. Perhaps my cookies are corrupted. If you huys tell me its on my end I'll fix it. Edit: looks like safari was in private mode. This probably caused it.

Btw, iOS chrome worked as well as safari for holding login info up until a few months ago when I stopped using it.

Love the drain topic feature. Can finally remove those annoying sticky threads.

#29 9 years ago

DOG

pmWolf

All I can say is that I'm using iOS with my iPad, and Safari...and I don't have to keep logging in.

Whoops...just saw your edit. That might be it...

Pete

#30 9 years ago

JLH

Hougie

Pinside member

Marysville, IN

11y 103K 3,102 12 34

Thanks for the new update, Robin! Extremely useful features.

Congrats to both of you awesome guys, Fat and PM. Pete, I even like you in spite of your lack of Whirlwind love!
Cheers, all!

#31 9 years ago

DOG

pmWolf

Quoted from Hougie:
Thanks for the new update, Robin! Extremely useful features.
Congrats to both of you awesome guys, Fat and PM. Pete, I even like you in spite of your lack of Whirlwind love!
Cheers, all!

Oh, I like Whirlwind just fine...I get to play it at Ryan's house all the time.

If I only had the space for a bigger collection, it might just make the cut!

#32 9 years ago

BEC

BigB

Inactive member

Dike, IA

11y 66,900 1,498 5 56

Congratulations out to fattrain and to pmWolf! Welcome aboard!
Now.... Get to work! What do you think?? You're part-timer's???

#33 9 years ago

MJH

TimeBandit

redshiftLED.com.au

Sydney, Oz

10y 159K 5,511 3 65

Yeah get over to that hells bells thread. It's a shit fight.

#34 9 years ago

DOG

pmWolf

Quoted from BigB:
Now.... Get to work! What do you think?? You're part-timer's???

I'm worth every penny that they pay me.

#35 9 years ago

jalkelly

Pinside member

Tempe, AZ

11y 63,550 375 2

OP
Quoted from robin:
Known issue, I'll see if I can find a workaround for this asap!

Is it possible for the user to be able to toggle the drain function? I don't think I will ever use it personally and would prefer to not have to click everything twice. Thanks!

#36 9 years ago

REC

RyanClaytor

Pinside member

Holt, MI

12y 112K 4,375 13 14

Quoted from pmWolf:
Oh, I like Whirlwind just fine...I get to play it at Ryan's house all the time.
If I only had the space for a bigger collection, it might just make the cut!

So what he's saying is he likes it just fine, but it doesn't make his top (...let's see, how many pins is he up to now...) NINTY-SEVEN!??! Yah, I'd say he likes it just fine.

In all seriousness, I'd be hard pressed to think of a more level-headed, pinball-savvy, all-around good dude to become moderator than PMWolf. I only give him crap because, well, someone needs to. (I mean, really, just look at that basement.)

Also, I don't know FatTrain nearly as well as I do Pete, but he went out of his way to introduce himself to my family and me at Expo last year, which makes him pretty fabulous in my book.

Congratulations, new mods, and nice roll-out on the new features, Robin!

Sincerely,
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
www.ElephantEater.com

#37 9 years ago

???

Pinball4life

Inactive member

Colorado Springs, CO

10y 18,650 398 12

Quoted from ab3:
Re drain topic:
On an ipad, I now have to click twice to open any topic (first click brings up the x to drain topic, second click opens the topic). Not a big deal I know, but I'm used to the old one click way.
Any way to get around this on an ipad so I can brag to my wife that I have doubled my productivity?
Also, congrats to new mods- excellent choices!

That's what is going on? Thought something was up with my iPad. That is a pretty drastic operating change and unlike how other links on any other site in the world works...smacks of changing something just because you can, which is just silly. I hate it.....Should only have to click once!!

#38 9 years ago

???

Pinball4life

Inactive member

Colorado Springs, CO

10y 18,650 398 12

OP
Quoted from robin:
Known issue, I'll see if I can find a workaround for this asap!

Sorry....didnt see this before I wrote the post above. It is very annoying...glad you are fixing it! Sometimes I kinda wish when a site is working it just get left alone. They get so full of features it just becomes noise to me, and it introduces opportunities for silly problems like the double click issue, that worked fine before. Pinball Arcade is notorious for this....it works fine, they update it and then it doesn't work right anymore.

#39 9 years ago

JTB

The_Gorilla

Pinside+ Frequent

Pleasant Hill, IA

13y 116K 5,603 2 161

OP
Quoted from robin:
Drain topic
On the forum front page, you will now see an X icon when holding your mouse over a topic title. Click the X icon to drain that topic. Draining a topic essentially removes it from your view, it will no longer show up on Pinside.
PM ignored users
You can now no longer PM users who are ignoring you. You will see a generic "user not reachable by PinsideMail" message.

I believe it is time to make some better combinations of these features. For example, we need the "drain user" feature which when utilized, would eliminate them from Pinside altogether. If enough people put you on drain, your position on Earth is subsequently eliminated. Robin?

#40 9 years ago

RVM

robin

Quoted from The_Gorilla:
I believe it is time to make some better combinations of these features. For example, we need the "drain user" feature which when utilized, would eliminate them from Pinside altogether. If enough people put you on drain, your position on Earth is subsequently eliminated. Robin?

Wonderful! Ahem, any Pinsiders working at NASA who could help us with this Drain User feature?

#41 9 years ago

DEN

KingNine

Pinside member

Beaumont, TX

10y 51,900 1,050 18 13

OP
Quoted from robin:
Wonderful! Ahem, any Pinsiders working at NASA who could help us with this Drain User feature?

Just check with the guy who is designing the Pin3000 system. It shoots a ball to space remember?

#42 9 years ago

SCC

mrgone

Pinside member

Casper, WY

12y 119K 5,190 4 54

Right on fattrain!
Congrats. And pmwolf as well.

#43 9 years ago

RVM

robin

Quoted from ab3:
Re drain topic:
On an ipad, I now have to click twice to open any topic (first click brings up the x to drain topic, second click opens the topic). Not a big deal I know, but I'm used to the old one click way.
Any way to get around this on an ipad so I can brag to my wife that I have doubled my productivity?
Also, congrats to new mods- excellent choices!

I have just made some changes to the way the draining feature works. The drain icon is no longer shown now when you mouse over a topic. Instead you need to enter "batch edit" mode, which allows you to mass drain or un-visit topics.

Hit the batch edit feature and you can drain or un-visit multiple topics. Easy-peasy!

This way it will no longer interfere with touch screen devices, does no longer require you to confirm each drain and overall I think it works much. I feel this kind of "power user feature" should not get in the way for users, not add to much bloat. (I was already getting PMs from people unable to find topics which they actually drained by mistake.)

#44 9 years ago

DOG

pmWolf

Love it!

#45 9 years ago

JEF

Jeff_PHX_AZ

Pinside member

Mesa, AZ

12y 48,150 2,055 1

congrats to pmWolf and fattrain! You guys are gonna do great!

#46 9 years ago

RVM

robin

I have also been quietly rolling out another pretty cool feature: direct replying to PM notifications!

You may have already spotted the ---reply above this line--- text in PM notifications. Yes, you can indeed hit reply now in your e-mail client and your reply e-mail will be sent to the PinsideMail system which will automatically add it in the PM thread. Note how the To: line says "[name] via PinsideMail".

Super handy for quickly replying to PMs on, for example, your mobile phone!

Note: no support for attachments yet and only content above the ---reply--- line will be accepted/added.
Note2: Still in *beta*, use at your own risk. Make sure to check if your replys are showing up in PM threads. If something works weird, please contact me with details about your mail client etc.

#47 9 years ago

???

jalpert

Pinside member

Unknown

14y 70,050 7,518

I noticed, and I think this feature is cool as hell. (and hell is pretty cool)

OP
Quoted from robin:
I have also been quietly rolling out another pretty cool feature: direct replying to PM notifications!

You may have already spotted the ---reply above this line--- text in PM notifications. Yes, you can indeed hit reply now in your e-mail client and your reply e-mail will be sent to the PinsideMail system which will automatically add it in the PM thread. Note how the To: line says "[name] via PinsideMail".

Super handy for quickly replying to PMs on, for example, your mobile phone!

Note: no support for attachments yet and only content above the ---reply--- line will be accepted/added.
Note2: Still in *beta*, use at your own risk. Make sure to check if your replys are showing up in PM threads. If something works weird, please contact me with details about your mail client etc.

#48 9 years ago

RVM

robin