site change requests

Since my last site code changes, I've switched development environments. Those of you begging for site updates will be happy to know that I've spent the better part of this evening getting the site/app setup with Eclipse (my new development environment of choice) and as such will be able to make changes to the site. The site is still written in Java it's just that I'm using a new editor, compiler, debugger and such. In this case, Eclipse (www.eclipse.org).

So, on that note please post your replies with requests for site changes. Even if you've email me ideas in the past, I want the ideas again. Please only post once; if you think of something else, edit your original message. And feel free to add existing ideas to your list; the more popular the idea, the more likely it will be done first. Also, please ensure you are specific. For example, don't say "more stats" as I won't know what you're looking for. Instead say something like "add a graph showing daily hits in each province over the span of a year".

I'll start you all thinking with the following ideas, off the top of my head:

• new themes (selectable from the edit prefs page)
• better support for high/low tracking (as per Paul at cdnpapermoney.com)
• user monitored hits and hit moderation
• moderated forums
• updated FAQ's
• remove (or fix) teams
• French translation of more of the site
• add support for other administrators who could take care of things like adding prefixes, answering emails, adding counterfeit notes, etc
• add support for contests and polls
• add a calendar so people can post money and CMT-related events
• improve the graphs (they currently suck)
• add RSS feeds for various things (top 10's, your hits, etc)
• list of (and help on) what special abilities various user levels have
• add more special abilities for various user levels
• add support for special features for users who have donated or supported the site in some manner

Finally, if anyone wants to volunteer for some of the non-coding stuff (such as FAQ updates or answering email) or for some HTML stuff (such as creating new 'themes'), please let me know via private message.
-dr

You have all mine on the development site.

I'll just add:

• A link to the bill scans. (And perhaps add some new ones. There are some very interesting stamps out there now!)

• Ability to filter all lists by province. eg: top users by score in Alberta; top users by notes entered in Ontario; all daily hits in Saskatchewan; hits by city in New Brunswick; etc.

• Private messaging/friends list: Integrate the two so that it is more efficient to PM someone, rather than having to go to their profile. (a 'buddy list' a la AOL?)

• Add note - Add comments: Increase size of entry box to accomodate 4 lines of text. Perhaps do not allow input when character limit is reached. Also, limit is stated as 250 characters, but only 220 actually being shown.

• All message entry/edit boxes: Allow text entry box to increase in size as text is added.

• How about a chat server with audio, or even video, capabilities, a la AIM.

Perhaps an upload feature for scans of bills, much like the profile picture. Limited to maybe 5 normal sized bill scans / user.

Could also include a scans link in the profile leading to their bills, and like Pooga mentioned, some link on the site that goes to a database will all the scans of stamps.

Sounds good so far.

Also if you could increase the "Reply time" of posts it would be great. I only hop onto these forum about once a week and by that time alot of threads can't be replied to.

I would like the ability to track our notes out of the country…We all know they leave the country but there is no method for someone who finds these notes to add the note using an out of Canada address….

New note scans would be a great addittion…I have scanned a number of notes if anyone os interested in them I will email them to you..

I'd be willing to volunteer time answering emails or any other things I could help with. I like BDK's idea of out of country tracking.

• ability to view a list of the number of hits that a user has entered.

• update of team section. Allow teams to change members as needed. Set a time limit on team activity, such as previously mentioned by others, of perhaps 6 months or 12 months and then reset. I agree with limiting the number of top 15 or 20 users on a team to one.

• the ability to correct/change bill comments. This can be left open or can be set to a time limit of some length (24, 48 hours or whatever).

NOW BEFORE ANYONE READS THIS … THIS IS MY OPINION AND SUGGESTION TO DR. I DO NOT EXPECT TO BE POUNDED FOR MY OPINION ON THIS AREA BY ANYONE.

If the teams are to be started up again after two years of no changes allowed in all fairness I think that all scores should be reset to zero and new teams be set up in advance of a new season (so to speak) and the teams now set up may be allowed to stay the same or change adding or removing members. I would also think that all teams should consist of four members with the team leaders (captains) required to have been on the site for a minimum of one year. I also think every team should have to have a rookie on it (someone who has been on the site less than three months. This would stop the teams captains from forming a dream team of say four heavy hitters. Another suggestion would be only one team member may be in the top 15 on the site when the team is set up. If a team member moves up the ladder after the team is formed then that is okay. Any team member who hase not been active on the site for more than 6 months must be dropped from the team and a new member added … the new member would have to be from the user or newbie levels. Now after time passes hot teams will have more than one member in the top 15 player now when the team has more than two player at that level then the teams must split with the second or third member to hit the top fifteen level to form another team. Some of these ideas would be to keep the teams fresh and on a level playing field. Team drafts now this idea would be at the start and what I suggest would be first round picks for the teams by the captains in order as they stand in the top 15 list. Example jake is the captain of team DRIFTERS she is the top player so she gets first draft pick. Idjit is captain of team TOP GUNS he is number two on the top 15 list so he gets draft choice number two and so on down the list. Now a new tean could be formed by a member on site for one year and not in the top 15 and as long as one member is lower than the user level the team does not need to have any page one members on it.
Now one final item as food for thought : One member who could not be on any team should be named as Team Commissioner and he/she would be in charge of the teams structures and rules of engagement. This person would rule on any items/questions dealing with Teams and take any concerns to DR. no body else could bother DR. about the teams all items would have to go through the Teams Comm.

I agree with all that BC said, but I would also say that when a team starts it should only be allowed to have 1 person in the top 20 on this site(ever)

Just my 2 cents

Terry

I could care less about teams. after being on one for a bit, thought it was a pain in the proverbial butt.

I don't agree with dropping team players if they have not been active for awhile… my team partner has a couple jobs… new family member and tries hard to keep his life going so I never did expect him to be here all the time but in the last year our team has moved up 4 spots in the charts… and we should be allowed to keep our partners and pick those we want as new people… why should those that started the site have their teams broken up unless they want them to be… alot of us have made great friends thru teams and tracking… I have alot of respect for those that have been around alongtime and worked hard for their standings… I have seen notes sent between team members on the older teams to help and be their for each other…. make new teams if you want but as for the old teams give them the choice if they wanna break-up or not… I love the teams and hope they stay… but too many rules what happens when more then 1 player hits the top 15 as BC said does that mean the team must divide…. let people choose their partners… we have alot of young players too that would love to be able to enter more but only get money from babysitting or birthdays… so the cutting for inactivity after 6 months is too mean… but if its gonna be too much or a big fight let the teams go

*it would be sort of cool if you could edit the information you entered on bills. every once in awhile i see something like a spelling mistake i've made and cannot fix it! maybe put a time limit on it, so you can edit it within a few hours only. -and a few more characters allowed would sometimes help us leave better bill info.

*out of country tracking would be cool.

*i agree with antics… bill/entry information should not be hidden from anyone.

*i don't know if anyone else would be interested, but lately i've been checking out the list of prefixes and it would be really cool if you could arrange the list alphabetically as well as by the number of bills entered with that same prefix.

• "I would like to see how many bills of each prefix I have entered" - Lord_Comedy *this is a great idea.

• "if the formula could be adjusted so that scores did not drop until 48-72 without entering a bill" - T-rev *this is also a good idea.

I’ll start with some suggestions already made

• user monitored hits and hit moderation – this would be nice, so that I could send a hit to hit heaven without having to email dr or the user or group of users that would monitor false hits

• moderated forums – do we need this?

• updated FAQ’s – definitely, there are many newbies asking questions that we do not have the answer (i.e. What are the user level entry limits? How do I add my profile picture? At what user level do you have to be to add a profile picture?)

• remove (or fix) teams – I would like to keep the teams. Maybe, as I believe Idjit first suggested, have year long “seasons” like sports leagues, with only one member in the top 15 or 20.

• French translation – this would be good because we seem to be non-existent in Quebec

• add other administrators – great idea, take some weight off dr’s shoulders

• contests and polls – sounds good I like the idea of a weekly poll

• calendar – might be good, but would it be used enough? What dates would there be? CMT meetings, when new bill series are released?

• RSS feeds – I would like one for my last 10 hits, or the last 10 hits today. There could be many possibilities.

• special abilities – a list would be nice

• link to bill scans – great idea, also ability to post or send your own scans, maybe have another picture on the profile for stamp scans

• filter lists by province – I like this

• track notes out of country- we could really use this, at least the USA.

• top ten of amount of hits entered – interesting stat

Now for some of mine:

• force users to indicate the province they are in, this would help with Pooga’s sorted lists

• In the search function there is a box to search only your own notes, I would like one to omit your own notes. I’ve entered 99% of the notes in my town, if I could check this box then I could see who entered the other 1%. Another option of searching for a specific user’s notes. i.e. search for $5 note CalamityJanet entered in Craik

• I would like the ability to map a note’s travel on Google maps. When you look at a hit, there is a button to “Map Note’s Journey”, a new window opens with route mapped out. This would be interesting, especially for the hits from coast to coast.

-I like most of those changes but a faster update on the number of bills and and amount of the bills… sometimes it updates right away next time u enter 50 bills and it doesn't add them until 1/2 hr later… it would make close contests easier to monitor

• Daily score drop -> not that scoring is important at all on the site, it is not about that, but I'd love to have more consistancy as to scores for regular users. So if the formula could be adjusted so that scores did not drop until 48-72 without entering a bill then we would all be able to see exactly where everyone was at. Plus this could avoid all those questions/concerns newbies have because of the current scoring system.

This is a stat from where's willy, but in personal stats I would like to see how many bills of each prefix I have entered. We do have it as a group, but not individually.
From there actually Willy also has how many hits you have in each prefix as well.
This stat would probably be alot of work, so I wouldn't be disappointed if it isn't on top of Dr's things to do list.

… PS.. I like T-rev's idea of dropping the Daily score drop by 1 day.. so when you enter you have 1 day before your score drops..
But I think it should be just 1 day.
As well with the Daily score drop.. A user can only drop to a scope of 0, Upon Return. As it is a play continues to drop into the negative range & can take weeks only to return to the scoreboard.