Come test our new forum

by Biscotti Sat Jul 20, 2019 8:20 pm

Spoiler:

>>https://iamfortress.info

So there's been some history going on here.

Recently we've been looking for ways to increase the SEO (Visibility) of this forum. Some efforts have included utilizing some analytics and adding SSL to the forum. However it seems that despite this, Google doesn't like this site's ad provider.

What it is

So, I decided to finally getting around to building our OWN website. A website that we can completely modify and own ourselves. Currently I modeled it after this forum and many features were modelled after the features we've already grown used to at our current home. Though I have stripped some lesser-used features (Like the calendar) for the beta. But guiding the development is what a beta's all about. So if there's a missing feature that you want to return, make sure to make that known.

While currently the forum is modeled after our forumotion forum. We can add other things too, we may merge with the current main site (fortressresistingsexualsociety.wordpress.com), or add new features to the current forum functionality or user profiles.

Features

While right now it has some features dropped (Calendar, non-essential email notifications). There are some new features as well. I like to think that we have an improved search feature compared to forumotion's. The site is reactive (Meaning new posts should show up WITHOUT needing to refresh the page). There's an option to quickly and easily download all your PM's into a downloadable html file. And the styling options for posts is different (It also has a live preview feature).

What the beta's about.

The beta is about 3 things. Finding bugs, getting new feature suggestions and getting feedback on existing features. All these things will eventually lead up to the official release (Aka Ver 1.0) of the site. Up until Ver 1.0, the database (That is, ALL user accounts, forum posts and PM's) may be purged.

So, right now, the new forum is NOT intended to replace the main site right now. Eventually, that is the goal, but right now it is primarily to test the website and give suggestions and feedback.

So head on over to https://iamfortress.info to test it out. You can also discuss it here.
Currently I'm acting as admin on that site (Administrator roles may be changed in the future).
Accounts require individual admin approval, and a valid email.

by Biscotti Mon Aug 05, 2019 8:01 pm

Since the OP I've added a couple new sections of the website, alongside bug fixes etcetera. I'll detail the two main new features here.

Articles

The articles section (Accessed from the headerbar, or from https://iamfortress.info/articles/page/1 ) is an admin-curated section of the website, meaning anything that is submitted as an article has to be approved by an admin first. It is supposed to replace the main site
https://fortressresistingsexualsociety.wordpress.com/
which it was designed after. Another feature is the ability to submit articles anonymously, which can be done if your logged out, or if you elect to submit it anonymously while signed in. Additionally any articles that are submitted, have a corresponding forum topic created where you can "comment" on it.

Chess

As an attempt to give users more stuff to do on the site, I added the FORTRESS Chess League. You can create a chess game at
https://iamfortress.info/chess
And invite any other user to play. Right now they're notified via automated PM. Once they visit the link, they can play chess against you, stats are saved to your profile. Right now they're displayed on your profile automatically but I may make that optional in the future.

Next time

I am planning on putting together a survey to see what other features users will like. But prior to that the next thing I want to implement is the ability to customize the portal page, allowing users to remove sections they don't use, and add extra sections.

For example you can be able to remove the "most active topic starters" widget, and add a "Chess stats" widget, or "This months birthdays" widget. And these preferences would be tied to your account. Though there would be a default layout for non-logged in users to see.

by Biscotti Tue Aug 06, 2019 5:42 pm

Ohh, another idea for a widget could be a black section called the "venting corner" where people can post venting messages, but it only shows the most recent x (say, 15) posts before the oldest ones get deleted forever.

It doesn't have to replace the venting thread, but sometimes people may want their vents to only be temporary and (kind of) hidden rather then preserved and hosted at the top of the most recent replies list. Maybe? Not sure, might be worth a shot at least.

by radarerror31 Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:29 am

I tried making an account but I didn't get an email for confirming the account. Do I need admin approval to join?

by Biscotti Sat Aug 10, 2019 4:56 pm

I just approved your account, but it said that your email was approved too, so did the email end up coming? Was it in your spam folder? (Let me know, because it shouldn't be, I'm using a trusted smtp server)

(Account (admin) approval is different from email verification on your part)

Edit: Also let me know if there was a delay in it arriving. For me it's been instant and not in the spam folder so I'm interested to hear if it's different for you.

by radarerror31 Sun Aug 11, 2019 2:20 pm

I can log in now.

by Biscotti Tue Aug 27, 2019 1:59 pm

- I think the "portal customization" is done.

- I "think" because as far as I've SEEN all the bugs are fixed.

- Enough to where I feel it's ok to put out (Wish there were more beta testers).

- It didn't ACTUALLY take me 3 weeks, it's just that I haven't been working on it as much.

- So to reiterate "Portal customization" is done, but I haven't added any new widgets yet, you can still add more of the existing ones, remove any of the existing ones, and rearrange any of the existing ones.

- Next update will probably be mobile-focused (Making sure recent updates (profile/chess/portal customization) can work on mobile. Right now, Chess and Portal Customization probably don't, and some menus kind of don't. There will likely be a separate customizable portal for small screens.).

It's live now.

by Biscotti Thu Sep 05, 2019 10:24 pm

Note: The main page of the site will be temporarily located at https://iamfortress.info/portal
Going to iamfortress.info will result in a 404.

by Biscotti Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:17 pm

Now going to iamfortress.info results in a welcome page.

This may or may not be permanent.

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