New MTS2 features - Journal system and modding groups

[Delphy]

Hi All,

Journal System
As mentioned in the last update thread, I've add a Journal system to MTS2 which is sort of like a blog, allowing creators to have posts and general non-specific writings.

The journal system can be found in User Tools and in the User Control panel but please note: All journals when first created are moderated. What does this mean? Simply this: If you decide to create a journal then it'll go into a moderation queue for approval.

All journals from non creators or creators with less than 10 uploads will be rejected! This decision is final and non-negotiable. Do not be offended if your journal gets rejected.

I do not want MTS2 to become like the Exchange were everybody has a "Guestbook" and it's filled with silly posts. The Journal system on MTS2 serves a purpose that's geared towards Creators and prominent members who have helped the site or the community as a whole.

Modding Group Members

I've added a new section to the Member Info page for those of you who are in modding groups - it lists which groups that member is a part of. For example, if you check out LyricLee's profile here http://www.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=19926 you'll see she is a member of Dumbledore's Army and the Mod Squad, and by clicking those avatars you can see the other members.

I hope you enjoy the new features - don't worry, I have plenty more planned.

Regards,
Delphy

[amberandcarlos33]

What do you mean "all journals from non creators or creators with less than 10 uploads will be rejected!" Do you mean that somebody has to upload items created to use the journal section? Thanks for all the hard work and for the new features!

[emino]

Hmm... What about if someone upload more than one stuffs in a thread? Like a bunch of recolors. Would that be considered as one or the number of all stuffs in that thread will be counted as well? I have upload a few sims with my custom creations, so would it just count the sim as my uploads or will the custom creations included?

I'm hoping to get a journal, so please answer my question :).

[Delphy]

Yes. The Journal system is, as I have said, for Creators and prominent members of the community only.

[lliella]

these are great features! thanks.
only one more upload to go...and i'll get a journal! :D

[Waltman15]

Thanks Delphy! Great updates. :D I look forward to the journal system,its kindof like being able to announce updates and stuff like that. :)

[amberandcarlos33]

Interesting. I too am wondering about how the count is taken. I have uploaded some wallpaper and floors but I upload them at one time in individual .rar files. Do you count each individual .rar file or do you count each time we upload a group of items as one thing? Sorry, I'm just not sure on this journal thing and am not sure where to look to finnd out about what it entails.

[lamammaforever]

Thank you Delphy and thank to the whole staff. I will take away my lazyness and upload the many houses and castles that I have in the "waiting bin" sometime, but if it will take months it's not a problem for me, I'll have my journal when it will be the right time. I appreciate that you pointed out that journals have to be something different from the Exchage, where it's quite impossible to have a normal conversation without reading also tons of flashing icons and neverding signatures in caps.
And it's right that the talented people here (not me, I'm firstly a downloader and then a player, thus I've no much time for building) can have their own space, it's very kind of you and get this site still on the top. KISS and ciao.

[Delphy]

waltman, thanks for the heads up - I fixed that bug now.

Also, the "10 uploads" is based on the number of download threads as shown on your member profile screen, not the actual number of files you've uploaded.

[Fresh-Prince]

these are fantastic additions :) Are the journals curently working though? If they are, how do you start one because when you click on both journal links you dont have access. Thank you for the nice updates, cant wait to see journals and modding groups around :)

[Angelgoddess79]

This is so cool :D ;) :up: You are amazing Delpy. :baloons::baloons::baloons::baloons:

[Emma_Barrett]

this is a really cool new resource, there are some excellent creators out there and it'll be handy to look out for updates and upcoming projects. thanks for another brilliant idea

[[west_40]]

Neato and really great! I passed the 10 point line alooong time ago so Ive got nothing to worry about :D

great job delphy :king:

[Reyn]

I have uploaded 10 objects, according to the count, however, when I attempted to post that I was about to stop being so lazy, and make more objects, I was told I couldn't. Also, how do we look at the journals of others? It would be nice to know what others have planned ^_^

And the reason for the lang spurt of nothing is primarily a futile attempt at doing a legacy family - but I can't - my love is building and decorating, not nursemaiding an ever growing family of unhappy sims. :rofl:

[simsample]

Nice, it's so good to be able to see at a glance all of the group projects the creators have worked on.

[Vampire7639]

That sounds interesting :)

[Jonesi]

I'm getting the following message when clicking either journal options under User Tools -

Jonesi, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account from accessing this area.

[Nicolafred]

hmmmmm im interested... but by 'Creators and prominent members of the community only' im feared it may become a tad elite, with only featured artists getting aproved? Or am I completely wrong?

[Inge Jones]

This will be good as I think it will be easier to find the better known downloads quickly

[Delphy]

Okay Journal permissions should be fixed now. Nicolafred, no it's not just for featured artists, please read the post again. :)

[shotgun_mary]

Right now I'm not completely sure what I would use a journal for, but it sounds like a good idea. Thanks for making our community more interactive and complete.

[Loverat]

This is a great idea O'Delphness. But please be sure and STRESS that splitting 10 recolours of the same item into 10 posts won't get people anything but rejected ;) I know how your devious little minds work out there =D

Everyone has favourite creators, and most creators have an area they specialise in more or less, instead of wondering what your fave is up to you can go check their journal.

[squall117]

Wow man lot's of thanks for this, and I don't really see a problem in rejecting journals from non creators or creators with less than 10 uploads.
Thanks a big lot for all of your work!!

[ediblemalfoy]

Great features! I like the idea of members having journal, though not necessarily want one even if I have gazillions of things uploaded (have too many things on my hand already!), but it'll be a great way to contact some members without spamming their inboxes. :)

'Group member' thingy sounds cool too. I'll look around.

Great job, as always, Delphy

EDIT: Oh, hey, I was wondering if there's any plan to include 'Draft' option when making new threads/upload threads? :)

[Sim Master]

More features are always welcome!

Thanks, Delphy! :D

[Numenor]

Gimme a "D"! Gimme an "E"!... Delphy, Delphy, Yeah!!!

A question: I'm currently member of several modding teams (the huge ones are "The Mod Squad" and "The Dream Team", plus a couple of two-persons modding teams: "MaryLou & Numenor" and "Dynamic Duo"); in my profile, only The Mod Squad appears.
Is it because some modding teams are still to be "labeled" as teams? If so, can we have a checkbox or something in the team profile to set it as "team"? This way, you don't have to do everything by yourself...

Another question: will the uploads of the team appear in the list of each team member? And what about the "thanks" given to the team?

Please don't think I'm criticizing anything :) I'm more than happy with the current situation, and I heartly thank you for the huge work that I know hides "behind the scenes" ;)

[Delphy]

Numenor, it's becuase of the way the modding "group" works - essentially it's a usergroup within vBulletin so it's great for the larger groups but unfortunately not for the smaller 2 or 3 person collaboration efforts.

Uploads for the team currently only appear on the teams page, but thats a good idea to show them on the individual creators page too. Thanks, too, are only given to the team as a whole and not individually.

I know it's not a perfect system, especially given the great objects and items people seem to produce when working as a team, but it would essentially require me to either completely rewrite the usergroup code, or have some sort of inspiration in terms of how a "modding group" is defined. So far I have some ideas in my head but I need to think about it a bit more for things to settle into place so I can actually start coding. Input would be appreciated in the super sekrit areas about this. :)

ediblemalfoy, the upload page/system itself is next on my list of things to revamp so don't worry, it'll get done.

[liegenschonheit]

I fear that the 10 upload rule will mean that a lot of people will just throw up ten crappy uploads in order to get a journal. I would hate to see MTS2 become like another unnamed website where people upload random crap in order to get free downloads. Are there any quality checks as far as the requirements go?

Also, I like the idea that journals are only allowed for contributors. For one, this site isn't live journal or myspace. A journal can keep people updated on developments and projects to do with the sims, not just a place to post and chat with your friends. There are other places for that. Call it elitist if you will, its better than the alternative.

[maybesomethingdunno]

I fear that the 10 upload rule will mean that a lot of people will just throw up ten crappy uploads in order to get a journal. I would hate to see MTS2 become like another unnamed website where people upload random crap in order to get free downloads. Are there any quality checks as far as the requirements go?

Perhaps the number of rating/stars or downloads for each of the 10 uploads? Better items usually get downloaded more, but then this might cause people to beg for downloads and stars.

I really like the direction this site is headed and all the work that has been done to make it better and better. :)

Assuming that journal entries can be deleted by the user for whom they belong to, would this be a means for people to say things such as "I will be going someplace this weekend and will not be working on this project, please be patient" (then deleting the entry after the fact)? Just curious.

[Christine11778]

I have two questions:

1. When I tried to submit a journal entry this notice came up: Oops! Maintenance mode!
MTS2 is currently offline for maintenance. Please be patient while it comes back up. <~~~Is this the message we are supposed to receive when we first start the journal because it has not been approved yet?

2. Are we allowed to include pictures in our journals?

Thanks!
Christine :)

[shotgun_mary]

I fear that the 10 upload rule will mean that a lot of people will just throw up ten crappy uploads in order to get a journal. I would hate to see MTS2 become like another unnamed website where people upload random crap in order to get free downloads. Are there any quality checks as far as the requirements go?

I think the moderation procecss will screen out any downloads that aren't acceptable. Besides it may inspire more people to create more cool things for us to download.

Also, can we edit our journal posts that we've already posted? I looked around to find an option so I could fix a post I messed up but couldn't find anything.

AND I think it counts when I view my journal as part of the number of views my journal has, is it really that way or am I just crazy?

[Jonesi]

Can I ask how you view someone's journal? When I click on someones profile, there's no option to view journal, maybe I'm being dense though :p

Edit :- Nay matter, I was looking at someone who hasn't started their journal yet, hence why there was no option to view *smacks head*

[corvidophile2]

That's a great feature although i must admit i did interpret it wrong (maybe because i wasnt exactly sure what a journal was).So i did a test journal to see how it will work and when i clicked at the submit button it said " your post must be most 1000 characters" something like that, so i thought it was rejected but i see now that it is in moderation queue.I Hope it gets rejected as i wrote it right after the World cup Final and wrote my thoughts about it. Duh me... lol

Thanks for this helpful addon and i am really curious to see the upcoming features you mention.

[Inge Jones]

Can a member of staff or similar start a fake journal so we can look at it to get an idea what it will be like (and how we can find them)?

[IgnorantBliss]

Inge, if you look at Delphy's profile, for example, you should see a link to his journal.

[Delphy]

User Tools -> Journal Index, will give you a list of all journals started so far.

mary, yes it counts when you view your own journal, also there should be an edit button on the bottom right of the entries on your journal.

[moonlight_muse]

I like the new features :)
not sure that I'll have a journal, as I never really know what my next project will be until I make it ;) lol.
It will be interesting to read other journals though. I too, have my favourite creators, who's downloads, tutorials and hacks, that I really love, so it will be nice to know what they're going to gift us with next :D

I didn't know about the mod groups, so that's something for me to explore.
Thanks Delphy, and the site staff for your hard work
Muse

[Waltman15]

Hi Delphy,
I know your working extremely hard,but I can't seem to see the edit button on my journal entrys.
Thanks,
Walt :)

[Delphy]

Thanks Walt, the Edit Own Entries is now fixed (was an error in the original code I used)

[shotgun_mary]

everything seems kosher, thanks

[Waltman15]

Thanks Delphy. :)

[Jhayze]

Is the modding group are for the moderators only?or for other creators also? hows that?

[julianarosalia]

Just wanted to say thank you to Delphy and the rest of the staff for the new site features. I really like the addition of the journal and think that having some restrictions on who gets one is a very good idea. I do have one question, is there any sort of way to subscribe or bookmark individual journals?

[jaxad0127]

What about the quick links?

[IgnorantBliss]

Is the modding group are for the moderators only?or for other creators also? hows that?

Modding groups are groups of creators who got together to create a large project, such as a whole lot of objects in a particular theme. See the Grand Trianon collection or the Harry Potter project for examples. Not all of the members of these groups are moderators.

[Ennaedwyn]

I think it a fabulous idea personally...I'm game...if my journal gets approved, yeah! If not, life goes on...MTS2 still is a great place.

[fortyfeet]

I kinda don't understand the point of journals, but thanks anyways! It just seems like you could have created a small area on the site for modders to discuss things but w/e.

[Navetsea]

Eh what is the function of the journal? I mean, what should a creator put on it?

[julianarosalia]

What about the quick links?
Didn't think about, good idea jax.

[Delphy]

fortyfeet, there are already hidden forums where creators can discuss things - how else do you think projects like the Harry Potter one, Retroville and others get done?

The journal system, on the other hand, is not specifically for creators to talk to other creators, but for creators to communicate to regular visitors and fans without having to post in a thread or on a PM.

[Delphy]

Okay heads up people - Users with less than 10 downloads will have thier journals deleted!. I've seen about 15 people try and create journals without the required number. I suggest you go back and read the first post of this thread again.

[niol]

These're nice ideas... Thanks for the huge work... for the addition...

2 questions..
How can I sort the journal through a username in the journal page?
Where to find the journal link of a person through that person's profile?

[roseisred]

Delphy this is great, and thank you. But it says that a post must be at most 1,000 characters. So I massaged mine until MS Word says that it is
Characters, no spaces: 780
Characters with spaces: 993

and it still won't accept it.

Thanks

roseisred

[Delphy]

It might be counting line feeds too. I'll increase the limit a little bit.

niol,

The link to the journal is in the box marked "Journal Information" from thier profile page. What do you mean by sort?

[BobSalawalatski]

This sounds excellent. Before I found MTS2, I frequented only RedvsBlue.com, and they have a Journal system as well. It all works incredibly well.

The one key is that everyones' journals are even and equal in every way. Everyone has thier journal, from start-to-finish of thier profiles, with no restrictions (other than the normal Rules and TOU).

They also have a "Karma system" that monitors site activity and how many "Mod Points" a user recieves from others to determine their Karma Level. The higher the level, the more respected the member.

(That's what I thought the instant I read "Modding," in the title of this thread, and I believe it would make an excellent addition to MTS2 as well.)

And it all works together, to form a network of systems that support and promote positive activity in one another. Most sites have features here and there, but all they really are are Forums with useless features that get ignored and end up wasting server space. RvB is different. The Forums are huge, but they're not half the experience.

A member's journal and profile is a place where they can be more personal with their friends on the site. A place where they don't have to worry about what other people think, because it's thier journal, and if you don't want to read it, you don't have to.

There is an entire profile system that works beautifully.

I cannot explain with text words how wonderful everything works together there. It truly is a masterpiece.

Another thing is that for $10, you achieve Sponsorship, which includes a plethora of exclusive forum features like Colored Text, Editing Posts, Smilies, A Star next to thier screenname wherever it appears on the site, etc.

The one obstacle for MTS2 to overcome, should it adopt this sponsorship system, is that the main attraction for Sponsorship there is early-release, Hires episodes of the series, and exclusive Sponsors-Only videos.

Probably the single-biggest 'feature' of the RvB site is that HTML is supported nowhere at all, and there are no signatures. HTML tends to make forums and sites seem tangled and unorganized, as do Sigs. On RvB, you have your Avatar and S/N next to your post. That's all you need.

I suppose you'll have to experience it for yourself to fully appreciate it.

[Inge Jones]

I don't know if I am just not seeing this in front of my eyes, but if not, would it be possible to have one more view on the journals page, which is to show a list of all existing journals sorted by username? I feel as if I could be missing something if I only see the last entries.

[Delphy]

Inge, you aren't seeing it in front of your eyes. :P

Go to the main journal page. Scroll below the latest entries. Change the sort to "Journalist". Voila.

BobSalawalatski,

vBulletin has a similar system to karma called reputation. I have, however, decided not to turn it on on MTS2.

The sponsorship system would be pretty useless on MTS2. Why? Becuase members can already edit thier own posts, use smilies, and so on. Regular donaters get an icon next to thier name, but thats it. People who donate to the site should do so for the good of the entire community as opposed to any gimmicks or stuff they get over everybody else. HTML is not turned on on MTS2 either and you may have noticed that we have strict signature rules that keep them small and unobtrusive.

This is not the RvB forums, nor do I intend to turn it into them.

[niol]

Delphy,

Thanks I've found the journal information box in Waltman15's profile but not in yours. Silly me assuming you've one for an example. Obviously, I made a mistake on that.

What I meant by "How can I sort the journal through a username in the journal page?" is basically the same meaning as Inge's "which is to show a list of all existing journals sorted by username?"
I've tried to "Change the sort to "Journalist"", but I've found that some people's journalist names are not the same as their usernames... (In other words, in some cases, journalist names =\= usernames)

After all, I can use search member to get to the username's profile and then get to their journals through the "journal information box" if any.

So, my problems are solved... Thanks again...

[Angelcookie51]

Such a great idea! 2 more uplods and I'll be able to get a journal ;) :D

Thanks Delphy!!

[Inge Jones]

Inge, you aren't seeing it in front of your eyes. :P

Go to the main journal page. Scroll below the latest entries. Change the sort to "Journalist". Voila..

Ah! Actually I wasn't seeing it in front of my eyes cos it wasn't in front of my eyes. After I saw the pages 1,2,3,Next after the latest entries listing I just went through those and never realised there was anything else further down the page. Doh!

[roseisred]

It might be counting line feeds too. I'll increase the limit a little bit.


I still had to delete a bit so that it would be accepted. 3 lines to be exact.

I have dyslexia and have always broken my paragraphs into smaller 1/2 or 1/4 paragraphs, making it easier for me to read and keep my place (especially in note taking). Large paragraphs and right and left justification are killers in this regard.

I'm just going to have to make my posts smaller :lol:

[Delphy]

niol,

I have had a journal, then deleted it, then started it, then deleted it. I'm the test dummy, so to speak. :P

I'll have a look at the sort.

[moonlight_muse]

Just tried to start a journal. Got the 1000 characters message, so I shortened the entry, then again, then again,... to no avail. It just wouldn't go. I don't have a character counter in my word programme, so that might be a useful addition to the journal tools, if possible. Then I got the MTS is doing maintenance message.... even though journal seem to be working....... hmm.

Anyway, now I try again, click on view my journal and it says I'm in the moderation que, oooops, lol. I have no idea which version is posted and how many times I might now be in the que as I kept getting the error message and didn't think anything had been submitted. (Sorry to the mod who has to go through all those, lol)

Just another little thing ;) I noticed the message about - if you don't have 10 uploads, or if you are a prominent member of the community, your journal will be deleted.
Shouldn't that be "if you are NOT a prominent member ;)

Looking forward to eventually having a journal,
thanks :)
Muse

Edit
Ok, noticed in CP, that my journal is there. Clicking on the name brings up the maintenance message, clicking on the entry brings up what's posted (or still in the que, as the journal isn't listed in the Journals index yet)
Quick question. I have two updates I want to add. I guess because of the 1000 word limit, I will have to post them individually. Will each entry from the journal owner always have to be moderated?
thanks in advance.

[sk8terdude]

So can we create our own group are do we have like some special way of doing that ?

[catnahat9]

Cool, Delphy! only 10 more uploads to go...

[evip]

I like the idea of a journal. Thanks!

[JucIEJ1991]

How do you start your own modding group?

[jaxad0127]

http://www.modthesims2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=436