Extra forum functionality requests

[markadmin]

I chose this particular forum type (vBulletin with VBSEO and several other enhancements, mostly to prevent spam) not least because it is flexible and extras can be added. I am still working my way around it at the same time as trying to migrate the old forum to the new, but some of the things I have earmarked for the future are;
1) Enhanced photo gallery add on so you can keep and share your travel pics here.
2) An ethical travel business directory where hotels, villas, tour operators and travel agents who are 100% legal, ethical and committed to enhancing their local community through responsible tourism can get a free listing.
3) A blog section. Blogs are similar to forums except you basically create and manage / moderate your own blog. They are often better at getting your reviews, etc. ranking higer (more visible) in the search engines, plus you can control what people post in reply to what you have to say.
4) Polls on monthly subjects such as "best hotel", "best restaurant", etc.

I am also open to users suggesting enhancements either by name / reference to one they have come across for vbulletin forums, such as you can find on sites like vBulletin.org Forum - The Official vBulletin Resource! or by saying, wouldn't it be great if we had this sort of feature, so don't be shy.
Blush

[CathyP]

Mark, I love the new forum and cant wait for it to be used full time. What are the chances of a few more countries (someone else has also mentioned this in the old forum)like Cambodia & Vietnam

[markadmin]

I can add more countries easily and quickly, but I really need users to want this and use it. The problem comes that it will be new and so the search engines will not pick it up / the directories not list it for a while, so it will be quiet. If users all have a vote though and I get at least 4 votes for one country, I will add the top country voted for as soon as I move the domain / make the big switchover.
Yeah

[Fio]

Re Photos. Although avatars can be downloaded here directly from a PC, they asked for an URL when I tried to put a picture in a post. It would be nice to be able to post pictures directly from one's own computer rather than having to put them onto another website host first! Is there a technical reason why they can't be uploaded directly onto this forum?

As for including other countries...it would be useful as Thailand is a major Asian travel hub and people often want to visit both LOS and a neighboring country. Perhaps just one general "Other SE Asian Countries" category to start off with? If it turns out that there's a particular demand for a certain country then you could always add new individual headings later.

Oh, BTW I find the forum pages are very slow to load most of the time...anyone else having this problem? Also I get automatically logged out after only a few minutes. What are the automatic logout time settings?

[Testing]

Fio

This is Mark using another browser / test account. This test account has the same permissions as yours, so I can see. I just uploaded the Panda image I used before for Jax's avatar, no problem. When you click "attach files" "manage attachments" you have the opportuntiy to attach a pic from your PC (using browse). When you do this, you can then remove that image if you want, as you have a limit of 1 image at this time.

Regards
Mark

[CathyP]

Absolutely no problems this end, every time I visit this site it loads extremely fast, its gonna be great. Now we just need lots more people here, so lets start recommending hey.
Cathy

[Fio]

Must be my laptop then Cathy!

Thanks Mark. I had been trying to use the tool bar above the post rather than the additional options thing underneath (which I hadn't noticed before).I'd been trying to use the thing that looks like a postcard in the toolbar ...it says it inserts an image but it asks for a URL. I've now just seen that the paperclip thingy (attach files) would have worked to upload an image from my computer too. Getting there slowly. . It's great having so many new gadgets to play around with though, much superior to the bog standard php forums!