Introduction

Over the last seven week, I have been slowly yet progressively working towards upgrading the version of  FSA Forum to a newer level.

The benefits of these upgrades and enhancements are many-fold, of which, the primary focus has been purely concentrated upon performance and increased functionality within  FSA Forum.

I have tested the Forum to a degree, and all appears fine. However, I also bow to Murphy's Law !!  

Given that this is a major upgrade to the Forum (and NOT a simple patch), I urge you all to contact me, should you experience any sorts of problems or gremlins when using  FSA Forum.

Cheers
Tripod
tripod@fishsa.com

Birthday DropDown

From within your Personal Forum Profile, for ease of data entry, a Birthday DropDown now exists, allowing you to highlight your DOB. Information such as your Birthdate contributes to the collation of demographical information at  fishSA.com, allow us to better address each age group.

Advanced Post Statistics

Viewing Advanced Post Statistics can be achieved by clicking on any  FSA Forum Member's Name that holds a link, within  FSA Forum.
This option allows you to view % of all Forum Posts, Average Posts per Day and a DropDown Post Graph showing Posts over Days, Weeks or a Year.

Shout Box

A Shout Box is now available on the BoardIndex, and to be used for Online Announcements, FYI or Heads Up ONLY ! It is purely intended for usage if and when a  FSA Forum Member wishes to bring to other Member's attention an Important Issue, Post, or Comment.

Failure to abide by this simply rule can result in a  FSA Forum Member being disallowed from accessing this Shout Box function. For the sake of novelty, a cooling off period will be in place, so as you can all become familiar with this new function.

The Cooling Off Period starts now, and finishes 5 minutes after you have tried this new function !!  

Favourites

Favourites offers you the convenience and functionality of bookmarking your favourite or important Posts, for personal referal or quick access to a tagged Post.

To add a Post to your Favourites Listing, you will find that each Forum Post has a Sub-Option of Favourites, whereby simply clicking the Link will add it to your List.

Board Search

New Search functions added to allow each  FSA Forum Member to search for specific words within each Forum Board.

Forum Staff

Located within the BoardIndex of  FSA Forum, this function of highlighting the Forum Staff ID's serves two major purposes

• Idenitifies each FSA Forum Staff Member, their position, and a link for contact using IM.
• Promtoes their involvement with fishSA.com.

Given that the Mods & Global Mods's efforts are all volunteer based towards  FSA Forum, I will take every opportunity in increasing their profile within the Forum, and offer them the verbal if not posted accolades they so richly deserve !  

Forum Registration

New security measures are now in place when Registering at  FSA Forum, or using the Forgot Password function.

Essentially, it focuses on Website Flood Protection preventing DOS (Denial Of Service) and Scanning attacks which can and do occur from scrupulous web robots maliciously interrogating Forums.

The process is relatively painless and simple. All that is further required when Potential New Forum Members are registering, is to type in a Verification Code in the assigned input box.

Member View

The Member View can be access through your normal Main Forum Menu Options, the members icon.

Enhancements have been made to the Forum Membership View, allowing for the following

• List can be sorted by Name, Position, or No. of Posts
• Allows you to add a specific Forum Member to your Buddy List.
• Graphics and Page Layout changed.

Quick Posts & Replies

A Quick Post Box within a Board, as well as a Quick Reply Box within a Post Listing is now available, enhancing your quality time within FSA Forum.  

Board Navigation

A simple Navigation Bar is available for quick perusal of previous/next Topics within a Specific Forum Board. This Navigation Bar is displayed, for your convenience, at the top and bottom of every Post Listings Page.

Further Forum Enhancements

FSA Chat Updated
The changes within  FSA Chat are transparent, but coding is more efficient. Smilies have also added to  FSA Chat.

Forum and Global Moderators have been assigned with a higher Chat Access Level, allowing them to Wipe Chat Screen Clean, as well as other Admin Options.

Image Size Algorithms
With the posting of Images into Forum Posts, where size of image was too large for the page, this has now been addressed. Should an image greater than 500 Pixel width be posted, it will automatically be downsized, through javascripting, to a 500px width image, with aspect ratio maintained. Images that are less than 500px width will remain as they are.

Additional Global Mod Functions
Global Moderators now have an "Admin" Icon in the Forum Main Menu, allowing for limited admin tasks in banning and censureships.

General Page Changes
A Total revamp of ALL Page displays have been made, allowing for consistency in character fonts, colours and providing a more aesthetic page layout.

Other Functions
All other Forum functionalities have remained the same.

Personal Note
Looking forward to some feedback (positive or negative), as well as any comments concerning functional problems within the Forum, if any !!

Enjoy !!
Tripod
tripod@fishsa.com