Plugins

Added two new plugins related to the Shoutbox!

One is to hide/show the shoutbox.. it will just shrink it down.

Then there is also a new option in your privacy settings (in your profile) to add people to ignore in the shoutbox. You will still see their name, but the text will be hidden. However, do not click on it if you wish to not read the text because it will then show you what it says lol

heatherly Ahhh, there you are!

Makes it easier because not all of our usernames are the same as our display name lol you and I for example.

I think we are at cross purposes.

I can see what tags do, but for me, they isolate the conversations to those that the person has addressed. Virtually excusing themselves from other contributors. Basically, it's a barrier to communication, and not exactly conducive to a friendly, sharing type of discussion.

I don't see how someone is being excluded from a conversation if they can see it lol we literally exclude new members from being able to read certain areas or post, but it's not because we don't want them here, it's just to keep out spammers or trolls until we know more about them, which is up to them to let us know if they want out of it xD

We only have like a dozen active members, so we're going to look like a clique no matter what we do because that's what small groups of people look like on the outside, even if it's not the case If tagging in particular does create that feeling in someone, then it seems it's just a personal barrier the person is placing on themself to not interact.

Tags have always been part of the forum. It's not a commonly used feature, but it serves a purpose in certain situations, especially for drawing attention to a post someone may have otherwise overlooked, as there are a lot of different discussions going on.

I'll say this to everyone.... Go ahead and respond to or thumbs up a post even if you see people tagged that aren't you; we're all allowed to. It's no different from quoting people, which is also essentially speaking directly to that person. Some might like tagging better than quoting, but they could be using it in the same way to add on something to whatever that person said but to also make sure that person is notified.

Nobody is being excluded by using these features, as members can read and respond. If the objective was to have a 1 on 1 conversation, then that is what PMs are for. It would be different if it made it so nobody else could read the posts if you tagged someone, but I wouldn't add that capability via plugin. I've seen whisper features to add to the posts where only those you whisper can read it, and I would agree that would create too many side conversations others cannot be part of, so that one is a nope for me.

Maybe I need to just get rid of it. It hasn't been updated in years, and each browser is causing different behaviors from the plugin now. For firefox, it's showing the snow fall quickly and then slowly repeatedly with a second in between the transition. When I viewed it on microsoft edge, it might have been normal, though.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

We like the snow! 

Yeah, I wish there was something I could do about it... browsers have to ruin things!