Classified

Posted on: December 6, 2005

In Second Life right now, there's a big hullabaloo, and rightfully so, of the Classifieds forums being changed to post-only after considerable messiness. Many threads have been started about this, and I can't figure what to link to; there are a lot. A absurd, unenjoyable outburst started spewing out stars—for example, in New Products - Clothing & Accessories. This doesn't have appeal to me because rating something *-***** without greater context, like a blurb explaining why, is lacking.

Proving more popular with the Residents of Second Life has been the idea of sorting by thread creation date. This would not only prevent bumping—repeatedly replying to a certain thread to keep it nested atop the screen while other things sink below—but continue to encourage comments and feedback for quality content created in SL.

So, what's a problem here?

Things get missed.

SORT BY THREAD CREATION DATE is a flavorful idea. I'm for it, I like extolling a lot of praise. There's a lot of good schtuff in Second Life! But what seems to have gone largely unnoticed is this uncanny parallel:

Residents "depend" on Second Life in that, we hope Linden Lab will keep our data safe. When inventory loss occurs, it often results in nothing less than a vitriolic flamestorm of frustration. Much is discussed about the Terms of Service and all that.

What hasn't really been picked up on—yet!—is that Linden Lab didn't create the software used to run their SL Forums. So in this regard, they are at the mercy (I say this colorfully) of Jelsoft Enterprises, makers of vBulletin. It clearly says at the bottom of each page of the forums:

Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.5
Copyright ©2000 - 2005, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Linden Lab


Please correct me if I'm wrong, but sorting by thread creation date is not a default included feature in vBulletin. Which may explain why it's not as easy as clicking a button. Which may explain why it hasn't happened yet.

So how to add it? Sounds like a "hack" will be needed.

I'm cued in to this post on vBulletin's own forums, "Thread Creation Date". Andreas, a developer, says the following about a "hack" that will add this feature.


It's OK with the license agreement, but we can't give support for modified boards.
So if you run into problems, you must reload the original files first before we can help you.
That's the deal.


I'm not savvy about vBulletin's innards, but what would happen if Lindens added a patchy hack and then the forums went ka-blooey!!!? We've had outcries before about small changes being made that did work. I searched around some more on the SL Forums to see who else would be concerned about this. Sadly, I haven't found anything yet. Please let me know if you have.

Until then, I am disappointed. Canimal Zephyr started up a thread about this very thing, "petition to make Classifieds reply & no bump". It's garned a good amount of replies so far in favor, and as I've said before, I do support the idea of the thing, but… as feel-good as saying "Yes!" is, it's hardly as proactive as getting one's hands dirty and working towards an active solution.

I'd like to find out:

  1. Are there Residents who run vBulletin forums and have firsthand experiences on the risks and rewards adding a sort thread by creation date option could entail? In other words, has anyone done this before that can show us how to do it now?
  2. Is there a supported way to give us what we want? It would be prudent to then bring this to the attention of the Lindens.

It is in my customs to acknowledge a problem, and to acknowledge a solution.

Hopefully the solution for this comes soon, and with much grace.

If you can help, and want to, please do! Post in the SL Forums about it. :)

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