Groups, permissions, access and forum changes

[WebMaster]

Hello Folks,

In case you are wondering, why you have access to something and other don't, etc.

Groups:
Administrators (DongFeng and my self)
Moderators (whoever is going to be in the group)
VIP Members (for professional discussions forum)
Registered Users (regular members)

PM, avatar and related settings and access:

Registered Users

Registered users can upload custom avatars with 60x60 pixels with size of 20000 bytes.
Registered users have PM storage limit of 100 PMs
Registered users do not have the ability to upload custom profile pictures. (in future we may allow that for senior members)
Registered users can only send one PM to ONE person at a time.
VIP Members

Same as registered users except that:
they can have avatars with size of 80x80 and 20000 bytes.
They can upload custom profile Pictures
PM storage limit is 150 Messages and can send to three(3) people at a time.

Moderators

Same as VIP members except that they have 200 PM storage limit and can send to 5 people at a time.
We may create more groups in the future.

===========================
Edited: 2/9/2006

The groups and their permissions along with what features they have has been been updated and here are some details:

Registered Users - Users with less than 15 posts.
No PM access (until you get 15 posts) - This is to control any chances of PM spam by radical and outlawed websites.
No Custom Title
No Custom Avatar
No Profile Picture
Total Attachments file size: 150 KB.
New Members - Users with more than 15 posts.
100 stored PMs and can send to only 1 person at a time.
No Custom Title
No Custom Avatar
Total Attachments file size: 200 KB.
Junior Members - Users with more than 500 posts.
150 stored PMs and can send to only 2 users at a time.
No Custom Title
Yes Custom Avatar - 40x40 - 25 KB
No Animated Custom Avatar
No Profile Picture
Total Attachments file size: 400 KB
Senior Members - Users with more than 1,000 posts.
200 stored PMs and can send to only 3 users at a time.
Yes Custom Title
Yes Custom Avatar - 50x50 - 35 KB
Yes Animated Custom Avatar
Yes Profile Picture - 300x300 - 200 KB
Yes Animated Profile Picture
Total Attachments file size: 600 KBNo changes were made to the VIP members group.

These changes are not to make your life harder on the forum but only to give the forum some type of structure and organization. It will also help you do more and participate more if you want to get more features and it could help your status and image on the forums.

To know who is who, you will soon see the color variation for each group under who is online area on the bottom of the forum.

Enjoy!

[MIGleader]

this new forum is still so weird.

i liked the old style better. these new rules are going to scare everyone away. Whats going to happen to your posts after pm limit is reached?

you shouldn't have worried. most of us school are going back to school anyways, so we wont be posting much anymore...

[WebMaster]

Nothing is going to happen to your posts, etc. As we start this off, those are the settings we will edit them in future if there is need. Don't worry. :)

[FriedRiceNSpice]

Whats going to happen to your posts after pm limit is reached?

PMs have nothing to do with posts. PMs mean private messages, the message that you can send to other members. PMs are the things that show up in your inbox, not on the forum.

Also, whats the difference between Junior Member, Member, and Senior Member? How many posts are required for each?

[FriedRiceNSpice]

Personally, I think that achieving senior member status should take a while. It should not be something that can be achieved in a day, or even a week. That way, only those who are serious and dedicated to the forum can become senior members. Only long-term posters should be able to become senior members. That being said, I think it should take at least 1000 posts to become a senior member.

[WebMaster]

It's running on the default settings. I have just changed the settings and now you would need:

0 posts = New Member
100 posts = Member
500 posts = Junior Member
1111 posts = Senior Member

And for kids and weak minded, these #s don't really mean anything. If you post one line replies and threads to increase your count to get to that "senior member" bullshit, obviously you will be banned at some point in your rat race to the 1111 mark (thats a big # so becareful what you post and how you post).

It's not HOW MANY posts you have, it's how did they contribute to the QUALITY of the forum and discussions. You won't be allowed to trash this place, I promise. So discuss wisely.

[FriedRiceNSpice]

I don't mean to question you, but shouldn't junior member precede member?

And for kids and weak minded, these #s don't really mean anything. If you post one line replies and threads to increase your count to get to that "senior member" bullshit, obviously you will be banned at some point in your rat race to the 1111 mark (thats a big # so becareful what you post and how you post).

Yes, I agree. I see that you mean business. I hope that such measures will keep this forum more professional than the old one.

[swimmerXC]

Webs, any chance of merging this with defencetalk, so the members there don't have to make new accounts? :confused:
I believed I already PMed you about this on D-talk :o

[FriedRiceNSpice]

Webs, any chance of merging this with defencetalk, so the members there don't have to make new accounts? :confused:
I believed I already PMed you about this on D-talk :o

No! Why would we want to merge our forum with the Defensetalk forum? We want our own forum! Here the discussion is much more focussed on the Chinese military.

[swimmerXC]

No! Why would we want to merge our forum with the Defensetalk forum? We want our own forum! Here the discussion is much more focussed on the Chinese military.

i was talking about transfering the usernames over to this database, so members there don't have to register...
but o well, i read his PM to me already

[WebMaster]

Swimmer, it would be a huge hassle to merge the databases. That types of requests were ONE of the reasons I proposed a forum within defencetalk forum but dongfeng declined and rightly so.

And now that we do have a saperate forum setup, I don't think I would want to transfer almost 5000 members over here and don't really feel like going through playing with the database process. :D It could get very ugly... lets let it run the way it is. OTOH, defencetalk.com (international) caters to a very different audiance than sinoDefenceforum (china only) does.

[Endymion]

How will these rules scare people away? I consider it more like a filter to keep idiots out and retain those who are serious and want to have meaningful military discussion.

Besides, this new forum is ten times better in layout and design. Easier accessiblity, more options, better layout and easier to use coding with.

[Endymion]

Is it possible.. to let everyone know what group people fall under?

When I read the posts of someone, I would like to know if they are a VIP members with military experience so I know if I should take their post with a grain of salt or not

Like mine says "new member" for example, while I am a VIP

[WebMaster]

Yeah, that is possible.

We can have something like this as well (see image).

[Endymion]

That idea would be perfect hand in hand

[Neko]

I'd like to be able to use 100x100 avatars. All my high quality, nice ones are at least that size. :(

[swimmerXC]

I'd like to be able to use 100x100 avatars. All my high quality, nice ones are at least that size. :(

reduce the size of it using photoshop or something :o

[WebMaster]

The improvement in Reply # 14 is DONE! Just scroll down on the main page and you will see it (copied the code from DefenceTalk basically!)

I will refine it once I am done with the dinner... to include Senior member, and will just put members and junior members as well as the newly joined members in one.

[T-U-P]

the colour for "new member" is very bad, it's almost the same colour as the background.

[WebMaster]

No, it isn't (not on brighter monitor) anyway) but I will change it...

[Endymion]

Eh, I am still being shown as a new member..

[T-U-P]

No, it isn't (not on brighter monitor) anyway) but I will change it...
yes, change it, because on my monitor, it looks like this:
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6950/colour8zr.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=colour8zr.jpg)
well, not as bad quality, but you get the idea.

[FriedRiceNSpice]

Why are some new member's name in silver while others are in purple? For example, look at swimmerxc's, and its in purple. Endymion's and Neko's are in silver. Why is that?

[MadMax]

youre name color shows youre member status like new member and moderater

[FriedRiceNSpice]

youre name color shows youre member status like new member and moderater

Yes, we have established that. But under both endymion and swimmerxc's name it says new member, yet Endymion and SwimmerXC have different name colors.

[MadMax]

i dont no about that im a new member too but mine is purple so it could be a glitch or have somthing to do with the number of posts endymion made fewer posts then me and swimmer so thats might be it

[WebMaster]

Well, this should be fixed now. All "members" are green color unless they are in VIP members group, moderators, super mods or Administrators (you can check the color designation on the main page of the forum).

Enjoy!

[Endymion]

Mine is A-ok!

[T-U-P]

nice, now at least i can see the names, but how come Endymion is blue while SwimmerXC is green but they're both "new members". what's the difference.

[WebMaster]

Endymion is in VIP member's group. SwimmerXC is not. The "new member" is just user title based on his/her post count.

It's running on the default settings. I have just changed the settings and now you would need:

0-99 posts = New Member
100-499 posts = Member
500-1110 posts = Junior Member
1111 posts = Senior Member

And for kids and weak minded, these #s don't really mean anything. If you post one line replies and threads to increase your count to get to that "senior member" bullshit, obviously you will be banned at some point in your rat race to the 1111 mark (thats a big # so becareful what you post and how you post).

It's not HOW MANY posts you have, it's how did they contribute to the QUALITY of the forum and discussions. You won't be allowed to trash this place, I promise. So discuss wisely.

[FriedRiceNSpice]

nice, now at least i can see the names, but how come Endymion is blue while SwimmerXC is green but they're both "new members". what's the difference.

Endymion is a VIP member, while SwimmerXC is only a member.

[T-U-P]

Ahh...now i see :) thanks guys.

[sumdud]

Uh.............

Can you put the "VIP member" title for Blue members instead?

It's a bit confusing.

[WebMaster]

The groups and their permissions along with what features they have has been been updated and here are some details:

Registered Users - Users with less than 15 posts.
No PM access (until you get 15 posts) - This is to control any chances of PM spam by radical and outlawed websites.
No Custom Title
No Custom Avatar
No Profile Picture
Total Attachments file size: 150 KB.
New Members - Users with more than 15 posts.
100 stored PMs and can send to only 1 person at a time.
No Custom Title
No Custom Avatar
Total Attachments file size: 200 KB.
Junior Members - Users with more than 500 posts.
150 stored PMs and can send to only 2 users at a time.
No Custom Title
Yes Custom Avatar - 40x40 - 25 KB
No Animated Custom Avatar
No Profile Picture
Total Attachments file size: 400 KB
Senior Members - Users with more than 1,000 posts.
200 stored PMs and can send to only 3 users at a time.
Yes Custom Title
Yes Custom Avatar - 50x50 - 35 KB
Yes Animated Custom Avatar
Yes Profile Picture - 300x300 - 200 KB
Yes Animated Profile Picture
Total Attachments file size: 600 KBNo changes were made to the VIP members group.

These changes are not to make your life harder on the forum but only to give the forum some type of structure and organization. It will also help you do more and participate more if you want to get more features and it could help your status and image on the forums.

To know who is who, you will soon see the color variation for each group under who is online area on the bottom of the forum.
Enjoy

[IDonT]

Is there a reason why I seem to have difficulty posting?

[adeptitus]

@_@ I seem to have lost the ability to post replies to some threads in the Navy forum.

[WebMaster]

I tested with one of the test accounts and I am not getting any errors or experiencing any problems. What exactly are you getting when you try to post?

[WebMaster]

Issues related to the "can't post" have been fixed. Your post was going through but it was sending it to the moderators before appearing and that has been fixed.

[WebMaster]

Edit:
Registered members do not see ads in the posts... only guests do. Guests can hide those ads just by registering and loggin.

Enjoy!

[WebMaster]

Everybody should be able to get/upload custom avatars from now on. Enjoy!

[WebMaster]

Slight change in some permission and promotions of members from New member to Junior member > Senior member.

Now, you need 1000 posts to be a junior member, 2000 for senior member status... may sound like high numbers but it is do-able.

Also considering no ads for moderators and very little (a banner perhaps) for senior members and junior members. That should give you more a chance and motivation to post more in order to get to junior and senior member status.

[WebMaster]

Merged Chinese Military Photos and World Military Photos forums into one Forum:

Military Pictures & Media


Enjoy!