Forums:
Hello!
Critikal here. I've been working on this site on and off for the past few years. With the help of Nakey, it's now ready for a test run which is where you kind volunteers come in.
Please don't share this post with anyone, mostly because the information here isn't finalised and can completely change.
On the other hand we don't expect you to keep anything else a secret - take screenshots/captures, talk about it on the main site. It's up to you.
The site has had some new features added in, some which you'll notice but most of it has been "behind-the-scenes" work that hopefully will translate into better performance and user experience.
Some of the more prominent changes, aside from the style changes, has been to the user and point system.
For example, users are now ranked according to their time (as indicated by their points) on the site.
Member - Temporary rank until they prove they're not a bot.
Spiker - Members who have participated the minimum amount.
National - Long time users.
In addition to these there are Moderators and Admins whose roles should be familiar to you.
Members cannot post comments, but can vote. They're promoted to Spiker once they have voted on 10 videos within 12 hours.
Spikers can post comments, but no pictures in comments.
Spikers are promoted to Nationals once their point count reaches 10000.
Only Nationals can post pictures in comments. In fact they can post anything in the comments (including another vid).
This is to reduce the effect of people signing up for a dummy account and posting whatever they want.
It now costs you points to upvote/downvote comments, so be aware that you can be demoted.
Additional points are awarded for completing tasks, such as logging in every day for a month**
**suggested but not yet implemented.
Submitting a video gets you 25 points, with another 25 points if it reaches the front page.
If a video is voted off, you lose 20 points.
Your duty as beta-testers:
- Use the site as you normally would.
- Report on anything that doesn't work:
e.g. Vids with 10+ votes above 3 stars should be promoted, and appear on the front page after 15-20mins
- Report any annoyances or errors you experience in this forum section (make sure that no one else has submitted the same thing).
- Make sure to keep the title clear and direct to help others and myself quickly understand the issue.
Towards the end of the beta-test I will ask for your top 5 annoyances, and how important each one is to you - should the release of the site be delayed until they're fixed?
I will try to apply the most requested changes and fix the most pressing issues that should be fixed before a general release.
One last thing: be aware that the dev site may break from time to time as bugs are sorted out and new features implemented.
Thanks again for volunteering!
(Site Administrator)
I'm liking it so far. It feels so smooth in more ways than one.
(Short Spike)
Notice:
For those that wonder, you need to acquire 'Spiker' status before you can post a comment. Ie: Vote on 10 videos
(Because I didnt realize this until I read the above post a couple times)
(Short Spike)
Here are a couple initial things. Not going to post everything separately unless I find something major
Upload page
- There is a floating checkbox above promotion_date. Not apparent what this is for
- Minor: Rename the fields. Looks like they are just displaying the field ids right now (Ex 'promotion_date' instead of 'Promotion Date')
- Are the Promotion fields supposed to be editable?
Donate Points
- The 'Category' field meaning is not apparent (unless there are different types of points we can donate)
General
- Looks like the paging is off under the comments section
Ex: http://dev.spikednation.com/videos/how-make-bladeless-fan-using-bucket-home-easy-way?page=1
There is only 1 page of comments, but 3 pages listed
- Can we no longer edit a comment? This was very useful.
- Minor: The 'cancel vote' button is a bit 'blocky'
- Videos: I can't find the 'Bookmark' button
- Sometimes when I click on the Spiked header at the top of the page, the main page doesn't render. Havent figured out how to reproduce yet (Chrome)
Anything else, I'll add as a reply to this comment
(Short Spike)
Submitted 2 videos with the same name. Looks like the first video got broken
First:
http://dev.spikednation.com/videos/christmas-fails-2016
Second:
http://dev.spikednation.com/videos/christmas-fails-2016-0
(Short Spike)
Voting notes:
I think we should definitely recieve points for voting on a video.
And maybe only require a point cost to downvote a comment. Upvoting shouldn't cost anything imo
(Site Administrator)
At present:
+2 for voting on videos
-2 for voting on a comment
+2 for receiving an upvote on a comment
-2 for receiving a downvote on a comment
+10 for receiving 8 upvotes
(Short Spike)
You mean you lose points for voting on a comment? Up or down both?
(Site Administrator)
(Site Administrator)
Thanks, very helpful.
I've fixed up the video submission form. You actually shouldn't have been able to see any of those, something [@Nakey] and I obviously missed.
Regarding points donation, yes different categories were planned but not yet implemented. Perhaps I should relabel "General" as "Participation" (i.e. participation points).
I know about the paging thing, not sure why it's doing that and will look into it.
Re editing a comment - I'll see what I can do.
Re cancel vote button - do you mean for video ratings or comments? If comments not sure what you mean.
Re bookmarks - fixed.
Re front page not loading - Not sure about this, I haven't had a problem (also on Chrome).
(Short Spike)
Sweet turnaround time :D
Further note on editing a comment: Just to point out that on the old site, you could only edit a comment if there was not yet a reply. Once there was a reply, it was not editable anymore. Not sure if this is desired or not, but seems to have its uses.
The cancel-vote button I'm referring to is for the videos
Front page loading: This seems to occur most often when I've been doing something on a page fr a while, then try to use the header to go back to the front page. Still havent nailed it down, but I've probably experienced it about 10 times so far
(Short Spike)
- Now when I edit a video, I see the bookmarks 'flag' (add to bookmarks)
Not sure if this is intentional but UI looks like it needs to be cleaned up. I guess that the Flags: No flags / Bookmarks part is not meant to be seen?
- Minor: The comment 'upvote' button is difficult to see as a '+' sign due to the low contrast with the background. Not sure if this is just me. It looks like a 'T'
Would be kinda nice to increase the contrast/size of both the +/- vote buttons
- What is the 'Summary' section for in the Video Submission page? I added a summary (not description) in this video but I dont see it displayed anywhere
http://dev.spikednation.com/node/170/
- Noticed that while we can't post images in comments until we are 'Nationals', there is no indication of this. Your image is just removed from your comment. Not sure if there is a way to provide feedback on this to the user?
- Would be nice to have a small 'info' page dedicated to how the points work (How many point is costs for X and how many points you get for Y). As well as how many points to need to obtain Spiker/National status, and what privaleges you get with them
(Short Spike)
- Also related to the 'Top Comments' widget, I'm not sure how often these counts get refreshed (should they be live?)
I have comment here which (currently) has 2 upvotes, but in the Top-Comments widget I only see coments with counts of 1
http://dev.spikednation.com/videos/christmas-fails-2016#comment-90
(Site Administrator)
Could you recheck the bookmark thing? I think I've addressed that.
I'll see if someone can fix up the graphic for the up/down button. Perhaps [@nekped] is keen? He did the job on the logo.
Re the summary - I've disabled that now, but it was to allow you to control exactly what the short description displayed. Could you check if it's still coming up for you?
Re images in comments, maybe some text/info below the textbox?
Yes to the info page, it's in the works.
Everything on the sidebar/front page is cached - refreshes every 15mins or so (as alluded to in the introductory post)
Cheers!
(Short Spike)
I don't see the bookmarks anymore in the Uplaod Video page. But I think the checkbox should still be there (so you have an option to bookmark your opwn vid when you upload it)
Yeah, Summary is gone now on Vid Upload
Re: images - some text would be good. Would be sweet if it was only displayed for non-Spiked-Nationals
Cant verify the top-vote count until i get another comment with +2
(Site Administrator)
[@hell_viper1] I've done a hack job on the up/down buttons.
(Short Spike)
Nice. It is much improved. I find this much easier to see :)
(Site Administrator)
Someone recheck posting the same video again, I've put in a new fix that needs to be tested.
(Short Spike)
Looks like that is working
- I could not upload my own video again
- I could not upload a video that was uploaded by someone else already
- I could not upload the same video by manually tweaking the embed code
(Site Administrator)
Just a thought: What happens if you delete a submission, then try to resubmit?
(Short Spike)
Good call, will try out after work today
(Short Spike)
I was able to delete and re-add a video
(Site Administrator)
Excellent!
(Site Administrator)
Paging issue fixed. Took me a while to track down where it was coming from - the cause was the top comments block.
(Short Spike)
Nice. Btw did Favorites get nuked? Dont see any links or the favorites page
(Site Administrator)
Er... favourites? What favourites page? On the main site?
(Short Spike)
Sorry, meant Bookmarks
(Site Administrator)
[@hell_viper1] The link is along the top right, near the "Log out" link.
(Short Spike)
Yeah thats where it used to be. I dont see it anymore. I only see:
(Site Administrator)
Hmm, not sure what happened but you should be able to see it again now.
(Short Spike)
Yeah I see it again now
(Site Administrator)
[@hell_viper1] another hack job on the cancel button. Looks clean enough for now I think.
(Short Spike)
I'm fairly certain that the Top Comments count is not working.
I upvoted your comment here and it has +2 now, but it is not reflected in the Top Comments
http://dev.spikednation.com/forum/wed-2016-12-28-1223/forum#comment-82
(Site Administrator)
Thanks for the catch
(Long Spike)
Hello fellow Spikers!
I just got back home after a long holiday trip and wanted to let you all know I'm here and will be poking around for any leaks.
The Gnome is hoping you all had a safe and enjoyable Christmas and that your new years will be the same.
(Long Spike)
I'm noticing that on the main page, the links to
all work, except Top Rated (Button1)
---------------------------------------------
On Mobile, can't see the sidebar with info for Images and Gifs, etc. (Only Navigation )
- It wants to be there, and I can see it trying to arrange to be on screen in landscape.
- When in portrait, it only brings Nav button tab up from the left.
(Long Spike)
Screens:
http://i63.tinypic.com/30msm81.png
http://i64.tinypic.com/16lafew.png
(Site Administrator)
[@lawngnome909] The top rated button doesn't work because no video has enough votes to be "top rated" yet.
Speaking of which, we should all vote a 5 on this video to see if it becomes a top rated video.
(Long Spike)
I was thinking that was it was, thanks for clarifying.
You can simulate the mobile issue on browsers by ( ctrl + mouse wheel up ) to zoom. 300% is where mine does it.
On 'My Account', it may be useful to add a self-identifier. Show what their status is, Spiker/Member/Nation.
Is there a way that we can personalize our Account page to show others our interests or talents?
Might be fun...
(Site Administrator)
On the sidebar issue, see this
(Short Spike)
I agree, it would be nice to see your username displayed ('Currently logged in as hell_viepr1') etc...
Also, I agree it would be cool to have more available info on your profile page
- Profession
- Age
- Location
- Free text description
- Hobbies
- etc...
(Short Spike)
Need a Favicon in browser tab
(Site Administrator)
This will be done later as this comes out of the beta testing
(Short Spike)
Posting only an image in comment field will result in a blank post (not high enough points to post an image, but a blank post will be posted regardless).
Tested at http://dev.spikednation.com/videos/calling-sick-places-you-dont-work
reproducible.
(Short Spike)
Need bug reporting forum section
(Short Spike)
I guess we are using the feedback section for bugs?
(Site Administrator)
(Short Spike)
I'm really suprised that there are views on videos without votes. Come on beta testers! Wow...
(Short Spike)
I am not sure how easy it would be to implement, but it might be cool if we could require people to vote on a video before posting a comment on it.
Or add a second voting widget at the bottom of the comment submission area to encourage more votes. Honestly I think that low video votes is one of the reasons we get so few videos on the main spiked front page. I actually just browse the 'recent' tab now instead of the front page
(Dixie Normous: Image specialist)
Maybe a small popup window where you can vote, after you finished a video. Don't know if thats too annoying, but it would get people to vote.
(Dixie Normous: Image specialist)
When I reply, theres two comment fields.
(Site Administrator)
The two reply boxes is normal.
You clicked on "reply" to the last comment. This loads up a textbox underneath the comment you want to reply to.
But there also happens to be a "regular" textbox at the bottom of the page for when you want to comment on the post itself, not reply to a comment.
So you see two textboxes one after the other (notice how the first one is slightly indented - that's the textbox that gets created to allow you to reply to a comment).
(Dixie Normous: Image specialist)
Avatar gifs don't work. My hypercube isn't spinning ;(
(Site Administrator)
I think this was mentioned when you edit your profile.
Gifs as avatars are not allowed anymore. Maybe I will allow it for people above Nationals... see this post
(Dixie Normous: Image specialist)
Ok. Is that a security risk?
Your link is broken.
(Site Administrator)
Fixed. Sorry about that.
And no, it's not so much a security thing than a "it gets annoying having dozens of little gifs flashing at you".
Though I guess if people really want it I think I can make it so that accounts with high enough points can use them...
(Short Spike)
IMO I've never considered it an annoyance
(Short Spike)
[@Critikal] It would be really nice to be able to see who donated points to you by upvoting a comment.
(Site Administrator)
(Short Spike)
Would be a nice-to-have for nationals i think.
(Dixie Normous: Image specialist)
Would be nice if the username and timestamp was on the post itself, like on the old site. Now it's only on the "front page".
Noticed I always keep looking who posted this and have to go back to the main page to see it.
The voting thingy could be more clear. You don't see if you've already voted. If you have already voted and you click again, it will cancel your vote without telling you. Maybe small text pop up to tell you whats happening? Also the vote counter seem to stay the same even if you cancel a vote.
(Long Spike)
I was going to be trying this exact thing today. Thanks for speaking up.
Also, there is no way to participate in the Poll discussion unless you click through "older polls" and then the link to the current poll.
(Long Spike)
Now I am unable to vote and comment on new posts. I'm guessing you are testing a feature?...
It logs me out when I open a video through Recent
(Site Administrator)
[@lawngnome909] I haven't done anything that should affect you like that. Is it still happening?
(Long Spike)
I cannot duplicate it at this time. Strange.
- I did go over the 1,000 point threshold when it was occurring.
(Long Spike)
On the home page it will not go to anything if you click on the Popular tab, you get stuck unable to click the Recent or Top Rated tabs. Just kinda stuck in nothing and can't get out. I are confused.