Tagging Users in Posts

.ak

Sorry if this has been covered before...

Obviously it's a bit of a social network function, but I was just thinking how handy it would be for users to get other users attention, especially if posting cross-forum.

The idea being I could ask an admin to have a look at this post for example, but instead of PMing them and c+p'ing the link I could just type [usertag]Gordon[/usertag], and then they get a PM saying they've been tagged in a post.

Obviously there'd need to be limitations, people can only tag a certain user x amount of times a day, or you should be able to block users from tagging you etc., etc.

Could be very handy for maybe busy threads when you want to reply to a single user but it gets lost in the wave of posts.

Dravokivich

Thread Tags used to be used to abuse other posters. Its pretty much a godsend that they don't work with the newer skins in that regards. I think it's more of a compatibility issue, then a feature/function.

With regards to the example of coding a tag you mentioned, It seems not much different than mentioning someone's name in the post itself. If you were to quote a post they made also, there's already the vanity search in place.

.ak

Dravokivich wrote: »

With regards to the example of coding a tag you mentioned, It seems not much different than mentioning someone's name in the post itself. If you were to quote a post they made also, there's already the vanity search in place.

Yep, the scenario I'm thinking is, if I go to another forum, and I see something interesting, I might go 'Oh, Dravokivich was talking about this the other day.' At the moment the only way I can show you is by PM'ing you the link. If I just posted in the thread with your name, you'd never know, especially if it was in a forum you never visit.

I guess there's a million ways of doing what I've explained above, but what I'm suggesting is making a more user efficient way of doing it.

Myrddin

Would threads not just fill up with tag posts though, thus affecting the flow of conversation? I'd be wary of it being abused too, in order to 'pm bomb' other users. And if you introduce restrictions, it negates the point of having it really Just my 2c

.ak

Well, my idea of restriction would be user based. i.e; when you start tagging me in every post and I get annoyed by it I can block you from tagging me.

.ak

The code could be pretty simple too, all it would do is send a PM to a user name with a link.

Boards.ie: Danny

.ak wrote: »

The code could be pretty simple too, all it would do is send a PM to a user name with a link.

Nothing is ever that simple. Your options are limitless, here are two I've just come up with

Inline tagging

Typing away and in the middle of the sentence you just @<username>, no BBcode required

First we'd have to come up with some front-end code that would create a user autocompleter. Next we'd have to use avascript to listen for when somebody typed an @ in the vbulletin editor and present them with the autocomplete. Then we'd have to handle when a user picks somebody from that autocompleter - a special marker to let our post saving code know this is a tag

BBcode tagging:

[tag]<username>[/tag]

Now we've to write some code to parse those BBcodes at display time (to a bolded @Boards:ie Danny and some stuff at post save


But that's not all, there's still a lot of related stuff:

• Should tags be sent by PM? Most uses have a 500 PM storage limit, won't take long to fill it with tags.
• What happens when their inbox is full, should they be allowed to get tagged or do we just forget about alerting them?
• Users will want a place to view all tagged threads and will complain if it doesn't exist
• Users will want the ability to remove tags from posts, and perhaps block themselves being tagged in a thread they don't want to participate any more
• Users will want to prevent other users from baiting them into arguments by stopping others tagging them - do we rely on the basic post-ignore feature or create a new one for people you want to ignore tagging you?
• Should we send an email when you're tagged
• Should we give you the ability to choose if you want an email or PM when tagged?

This is a sample of what goes through my head in about 3 minutes, all of this stuff put together is a complex modification.

Personally I like the idea, but the implementation is non-trivial

Danny

.ak

Ah, I thought it was just a case of feeding the hamsters a certain type of grain.

Boards.ie: Danny

.ak wrote: »

Ah, I thought it was just a case of feeding the hamsters a certain type of grain.

If only, I'd love to be titled Master of the Grain

Danny

hullaballoo

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=67709613


Moderate level of negative reaction in those days. I still like the idea though. It might be good to beta the idea in one of the more social forums, e.g., First Class Lounge.

Is there an alternative to notification by PM/Email? Could there be a search option to find posts your tagged in? What would need to be done about people who insist on calling me hullabaloo? Poor Hullabaloo would no doubt be inundated with nastiness, despite not having been active in 7 years!

Quazzie

A simpler way to do this, would be to make it only possible to tag your friends on here. That's the system facebook uses and it works pretty effectively. It would prevent a user being tagged by accident, and also means that the tagged would know who has tagged them

Penn

What would happen though if someone tagged you in a post in a forum you don't have access to?

Insect Overlord

Penn wrote: »

What would happen though if someone tagged you in a post in a forum you don't have access to?

^ Post needs the Conspiracy Keanu meme. ^

.ak

Penn wrote: »

What would happen though if someone tagged you in a post in a forum you don't have access to?

Insane curiosity.