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Tomorrow, we're expecting to roll out a new system update that's set to include a number of bug fixes and a couple of new features. I figured I'd take the time to go over the most prominent of these features in advance, so nobody freaks out.
There may be some minor downtime associated with this update - but most of you won't even notice it.
Here's what you'll get in exchange for the momentary outage:
First and foremost, @ mentions are coming to NikeTalk. The feature will work with our existing notifications system to let you know whenever someone mentions you on the site.
Perhaps in the future this could be included in quotes to effectively provide quote notifications as well, which I know is something that many of you have been clamoring for over the years. Obviously it's not the most original concept in the world, but I'm sure many of you will be glad to see it finally make its way to our forums.
In case you're wondering:
How does this work?
On the desktop site, just type @ and then begin typing a username to engage the suggestion/autocomplete drop down. e.g. "Where's @Dirtylicious to make sense of all this?"
You can either finish typing the username yourself or select it from the list. There will also be an @ button in the post editor, and you can enclose the name within bbcode shortcuts: @ .
An @ mention creates a link to the user's profile and notifies them that they've been mentioned.
What if I've blocked a user, can they still mention me?
The link will still be created, but you won't be notified. You'll continue to ignore their posts as before. No fuss, no muss.
What if users try to abuse this for spam?
We'll ban them, for a start, but there's also a limit on the number of notifications that will be sent to ensure that trying to mention half of NikeTalk just to get them to look at your post won't work. If you see people abusing the feature, just report it to the staff and we'll take care of it.
I'm a popular person. What if I don't want to receive an email every time somebody mentions me?
That's not a problem. New preferences will be introduced as part of the update to give you direct control over your notifications.
I don't like this. Why can't we just go back to how things were in the old days, when NikeTalk was a dial-in UNIX terminal and Bryant Reeves roamed the Earth?
Because things were the same for 10 years and that didn't stop you from complaining, either.
We know that the @ mention feature will attract the most attention, but we'll also add some new embed options to create smarter internal links.
In the desktop editor, click the "more" button to show the full array of options, then the embed button (which looks like this: </>) and you can add links to threads, products, etc. in multiple formats.
Block layout:
[thread="555177"]Niketalk Celebrates 1 Year On The Huddler Platform [/thread]
Inline (mouseover to see extra detail):
[thread="555177"]Niketalk Celebrates 1 Year On The Huddler Platform[/thread]
It works for products as well:
[product="28152"]Jordan Aj Xx8 Mens Cement Grey White Black Gym Red [/product]
If the product has any reviews associated with it, you'll see the average review score represented. You can also get a price comparison, depending on availability. There's an inline option for product links, just like thread links, to keep the footprint minimal while still offering the enhanced content on mouseover.
So, if you're in the NBA feet thread, for example, and somebody asks "What shoes are those?", you can just click the embed button and type in the name of the shoe to add something like this to your reply. That way, users can have easy access to all the associated reviews, buy/sell listings (if the seller has properly tagged them), and a price comparison.
Much of this is already present in the system, but tomorrow's update expands the types of content eligible for the "smart embed" feature.
I'm looking forward to the update and I hope you'll enjoy the added functionality. After years of stagnation with the old platform, I hope you're all as pleased as I am to experience regular progress.
There may be some minor downtime associated with this update - but most of you won't even notice it.
Here's what you'll get in exchange for the momentary outage:
First and foremost, @ mentions are coming to NikeTalk. The feature will work with our existing notifications system to let you know whenever someone mentions you on the site.
Perhaps in the future this could be included in quotes to effectively provide quote notifications as well, which I know is something that many of you have been clamoring for over the years. Obviously it's not the most original concept in the world, but I'm sure many of you will be glad to see it finally make its way to our forums.
In case you're wondering:
How does this work?
On the desktop site, just type @ and then begin typing a username to engage the suggestion/autocomplete drop down. e.g. "Where's @Dirtylicious to make sense of all this?"
You can either finish typing the username yourself or select it from the list. There will also be an @ button in the post editor, and you can enclose the name within bbcode shortcuts: @ .
An @ mention creates a link to the user's profile and notifies them that they've been mentioned.
What if I've blocked a user, can they still mention me?
The link will still be created, but you won't be notified. You'll continue to ignore their posts as before. No fuss, no muss.
What if users try to abuse this for spam?
We'll ban them, for a start, but there's also a limit on the number of notifications that will be sent to ensure that trying to mention half of NikeTalk just to get them to look at your post won't work. If you see people abusing the feature, just report it to the staff and we'll take care of it.
I'm a popular person. What if I don't want to receive an email every time somebody mentions me?
That's not a problem. New preferences will be introduced as part of the update to give you direct control over your notifications.
I don't like this. Why can't we just go back to how things were in the old days, when NikeTalk was a dial-in UNIX terminal and Bryant Reeves roamed the Earth?
Because things were the same for 10 years and that didn't stop you from complaining, either.
We know that the @ mention feature will attract the most attention, but we'll also add some new embed options to create smarter internal links.
In the desktop editor, click the "more" button to show the full array of options, then the embed button (which looks like this: </>) and you can add links to threads, products, etc. in multiple formats.
Block layout:
[thread="555177"]Niketalk Celebrates 1 Year On The Huddler Platform [/thread]
Inline (mouseover to see extra detail):
[thread="555177"]Niketalk Celebrates 1 Year On The Huddler Platform[/thread]
It works for products as well:
[product="28152"]Jordan Aj Xx8 Mens Cement Grey White Black Gym Red [/product]
If the product has any reviews associated with it, you'll see the average review score represented. You can also get a price comparison, depending on availability. There's an inline option for product links, just like thread links, to keep the footprint minimal while still offering the enhanced content on mouseover.
So, if you're in the NBA feet thread, for example, and somebody asks "What shoes are those?", you can just click the embed button and type in the name of the shoe to add something like this to your reply. That way, users can have easy access to all the associated reviews, buy/sell listings (if the seller has properly tagged them), and a price comparison.
Much of this is already present in the system, but tomorrow's update expands the types of content eligible for the "smart embed" feature.
I'm looking forward to the update and I hope you'll enjoy the added functionality. After years of stagnation with the old platform, I hope you're all as pleased as I am to experience regular progress.