dBoard 4.0 Release

I've enhanced error logging to record the time of the error. Could you repeat the webpage accesses that do not work and let me know approximately what time and timezone you did that? If these accesses are caused by coding errors (rather than logical errors) then this will pick them up. Thanks!

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

Whew - good news!

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

You can now set your signature to be always on for new messages. Go to your profile page and you'll find a new setting below your signature where you can select whether the signature checkbox for new messages is initially set.

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

Yeah, I know, but that's a tough one. I considered it and decided it would take me more time to implement and be more a maintenance headache than it was worth, but given that you noticed this I'll give it some more thought.

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

You can now disable the display of signatures in messages. On your profile page you'll find a new setting below the other signature settings where you can select whether signatures of messages are displayed.This feature will only gradually be useful because it only works with signatures of messages posted after this release.

Thanks for the report, I'll look into it!

That's darn weird! There's no "cgi-bin" in the URL (it should be EvC Forum: Potential falsifications of the theory of evolution) and without that the URL would never have worked. I'll investigate.All URL's in old messages referring to the old Perl board are automatically mapped to the new PHP board, but not if they were bad URLs in the first place. What I have to figure out is how that URL got that way.If it turns out that that bad URL was a common error due to some bug in the old software then I'll just add some more mapping code and they'll begin working.

This is fixed, thanks again for reporting this. It only happened when there was someone logged in as a guest (bhawes was a guest), which doesn't happen often since we have no forums that don't require registration, so this was a good catch.

It looks like I became very economical in rendering the URLs for the MID and similar codes at one point and began using relative instead of absolute URLs. These are now properly mapped and should be working. Let me know if you encounter any further problems.Thanks for reporting this!

Funny this should come up, because revamping the rating system has risen to the top of my todo list. It will be replaced with a thumbs-up/thumbs-down system. Administrators will be able to set whether it's thumbs-up only, thumbs-down only, or both. I haven't completed the design yet, but I'm hoping to include the ability to include a comment. Hovering over the icons will bring up a box listing who gave the message a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Messages with the most thumbs-up or thumbs-downs will be displayed on Post-of-the-Month webpages (or whatever time period).Oh, about the equation? Yeah, what WK said. I'm going to preserve the existing message ratings with 1 and 2 being a thumbs down, 4 and 5 a thumbs up, and 3's are ignored.

Some may already have noticed that the old message rating system of 1 to 5 has been replaced with a like/dislike system. Here are a few details:

• On the "Like/Dislike" line, click on the maroon thumbs-up icon to indicate you like, approve or agree with a post. It will change to a lighter color to indicate you've voted. Click again to remove your vote.
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• On the "Like/Dislike" line, click on the maroon thumbs-down icon to indicate you dislike, disapprove or disagree with a post. It will change to a lighter color to indicate you've voted. Click again to remove your vote.
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• Each vote of approval causes a lighter thumbs-up icon to be displayed with the message. Messages may accumulate any number of thumbs-up votes.
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• Each vote of disapproval causes a lighter thumbs-down icon to be displayed with the message. Messages may accumulate any number of thumbs-down votes.
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• Hovering over the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon will list the members who voted that way.
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• Old ratings greater than 3 became a thumbs-up rating.
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• Old ratings less than 3 became a thumbs-down rating.
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• Member ratings were reset. They will be recalculated the first time someone votes for one of your messages.
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• Your messages must receive votes from at least five different members before you are given a member rating.
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• Only your most recent messages count for your member rating, up to 90 days old. If you posted more than 500 messages over the past 90 days then only your most recent 500 messages are considered.
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• There is a new member rating equation. The total number of members with a net approval of your messages minus the total number of members with a net disapproval of your messages is divided by the number of messages receiving votes. Member rating values can range between plus and minus 100.

The second part of this feature, which should be released sometime next month, will connect the message ratings to an automated Post of the Month system. Comments about messages will be part of the system. On the webpage listing the top posts, comments in a blog comment sort of style will follow each message.Comments, suggestions, criticism, etc., are all welcome.Edited by Admin, : Add another item.Edited by Admin, : Clarify member rating equation.Edited by Admin, : Add para about next stage of this feature.Edited by Admin, : Add another missing point.Edited by Admin, : Add another forgotten point.Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Change a "thumbs up" to "thumbs-down" in bullet point #4.

I reset all the member ratings. They'll be recalculated the first time someone votes for one of their messages.But you should always be able to see message ratings in the form of thumbs-up or thumbs-down icons. For example, if you view Message 316, don't you see three thumbs-up and one thumbs-down?Here's a little more detail about member ratings. Only their most recent messages count, up to 90 days old. If they posted more than 500 messages during that period then only their most recent 500 messages are considered.

Uh-oh, a Homer moment. (Doh!) I forgot to mention earlier, so let me shout for a minute: While the new rating values are based upon the old rating values, they aren't the same. For example, people who liked your posts might have given them 5's, and they became a +1, while people who didn't like your posts might have given them 2's, and they became -1.But more significant is the change in the equation. Now it's a measure of what proportion of people voting for your messages give them a net positive rating. The total range from -100 to 100 is 200, and your current rating of 20 means that there's a 20 percentage point difference between the number of people who like versus dislike your posts, or a 40/60 split.I'll give your message a thumbs-up!

Also forgot to mention that members have to receive votes from at least five different people (they can be for the same message or different messages, doesn't matter) before they're given a rating.

I can specify other icons easily through the control panel, but someone will have to provide the alternative icons. As I've mentioned before, graphics isn't my strong suit. People should either create some icons, or point me to some open-source icons on the Internet.I do have a star icon I can use in place of thumbs-up, but what would I use in place of thumbs-down? A black hole, perhaps? I am facile enough with GIMP to change icon colors and make minor modifications, but creating anything but the simplest of icons is beyond my abilities, as proof I offer the current message rating icons.