Introducing "Thread Prefixes"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jordan
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You don't feel comfortable creating a thread without a prefix? An "Other" prefix might feel redundant, as I always assumed a thread which does not match a specific prefix in a forum simply wouldn't have one applied to it.
 
Well, I just did a thread about motocross, for example. Maybe extra kinds of prefixes would be good. Like...

* Motorcycles
* Boats (such as powerboat racing, for example)
* Karting
* Vintage

Or maybe besides "WRC," rallying. I like and respect the prefix idea, but I think a few more prefixes on other kinds of motorsport would help. I can respect the reasoning of not having an "Other" prefix, though.
 
Jordan
You don't feel comfortable creating a thread without a prefix? An "Other" prefix might feel redundant, as I always assumed a thread which does not match a specific prefix in a forum simply wouldn't have one applied to it.
Click to expand...

I don't know about other forums, but in the Motorsports forum I can't see an option to not have a prefix applied. With (none) selected, you get this message:

Prefixes.png


Am I missing something?
 
Nope, just a misconfiguration - I have no idea why required thread prefixes are the default option. Should be fixed now. :)
 
Having never used these, I decided to give them a go (browing wise) today. Though I didn't look around extensively, I couldn't find any sort of page with a list of prefix links, so I resorted to clicking on a prefix by an existing thread. So, how can we know what prefixes are there? Right now I only know of "Site News" and "Hobbies" (I saw the latter on a topic at the Rumble Strip). Let's say that I want to see all threads prefixed as "Hobbies"... Is the only way of doing this to find an already prefixed topic and clicking on its prefix link? I hope I missed something because otherwise it feels a little bit impractical.
 
Look for the "Prefix" drop-down menu under a given forum's "Display Options", near the bottom left of the page.
 
Very useful, thanks Jordan. I knew I was missing something. Can this be done on the main forum page? Let's say that there are 'Hobbies' threads in both the Rumble Strip and Cars in General and I want to see them all. This way I could see all the topics for 'Hobbies' created all across the board without having to individually check each subforum for them. Sorry for being a pain but I'd like to get a good understanding of the feature. :p

Thanks in advance. :)
 
Prefixes are forum-specific - in other words, you'll never find a "Hobbies"-prefixed thread in the Cars in General forum because such a prefix does not exist in that forum.
 
I agree, it's a very odd and non-descriptive name for the feature. That's what the vBulletin developers decided to call it though, so we're kind of stuck with it...for now.
 
Hey - I spotted a problem with "filters"...

I regularly visit the "Console and PC Gaming" forum... but I tend to usually only click the PS3 filter... which leads me to this URL...

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=24&prefixid=ps3

From this page - there is no way to remove the filter...

This is particuarly bad in this forum - because a number of threads have no filter (I assume that this is because they are for all platforms)...

So my suggested fixes are thus...

a) Add a button that allows you to remove the filter (or make the "Console and PC gaming" wording at the top clickable)
b) Show non filtered threds when using a filter.
c) Allow more than one filter to be added to a thread.

I'm not sure whether any of these are feasible and within your remit though!

C.
 
Is it possible to allow more than one prefix per thread?

In "Console & PC Gaming" most games are available on more than one platform but only one prefix can be chosen.

Alternatively a "Multi" prefix could be introduced.
 
yeti
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=24&prefixid=ps3
this page - there is no way to remove the filter...

This is particuarly bad in this forum - because a number of threads have no filter (I assume that this is because they are for all platforms)...

So my suggested fixes are thus...

a) Add a button that allows you to remove the filter (or make the "Console and PC gaming" wording at the top clickable)
b) Show non filtered threds when using a filter.
c) Allow more than one filter to be added to a thread.

I'm not sure whether any of these are feasible and within your remit though!

C.
Click to expand...
Yeah, vBulletin's implementation of pre-fixes leaves a lot to be desired, but you can still select "(any prefix)" from the Prefix drop down menu in the forum Display Options at the bottom of the page. I'll see if I can find a place to put a link back to the unfiltered forum in the next revision of the site because that does need to be more obvious.

Is it possible to allow more than one prefix per thread?
Click to expand...
Not currently, no. For multiple platforms, I'd simply recommend no prefix.
 
Another option would be going to the address bar and deleting the &prefixid=ps3 at the end of the url. Hit Enter and you'll have the entire forum in front of you.
 
Jordan
Yeah, vBulletin's implementation of pre-fixes leaves a lot to be desired, but you can still select "(any prefix)" from the Prefix drop down menu in the forum Display Options at the bottom of the page. I'll see if I can find a place to put a link back to the unfiltered forum in the next revision of the site because that does need to be more obvious.
Click to expand...

If you could make the forum that you're in a link - that would work?! (Most forums I goto tend to allow you to click that to refresh the forum that you're in)
i.e. imagine the below is the top part of the screen...
GTP Forums > GTPlanet
Site Feedback

The Italics - are clickable...
The Bold - isn't (but this is what I think could be clickable?)

Cheers for the response though.

Greycap
Another option would be going to the address bar and deleting the &prefixid=ps3 at the end of the url. Hit Enter and you'll have the entire forum in front of you.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I'd realised that bit - but generally modifying URL's is frowned upon as a UI?!

Also - if you scroll to the very bottom - you can use the "jump to" to remove the prefix too!

C.
 
Jordan
Yeah, vBulletin's implementation of pre-fixes leaves a lot to be desired, but you can still select "(any prefix)" from the Prefix drop down menu in the forum Display Options at the bottom of the page. I'll see if I can find a place to put a link back to the unfiltered forum in the next revision of the site because that does need to be more obvious.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have noticed this too. I usually go back to the main forum page and start again.
 
I've just noticed that if you click on the Photography prefix, you get an invalid link error.
 
daan
I've just noticed that if you click on the Photography prefix, you get an invalid link error.
Click to expand...
I just got that when I tried too. The prefix doesnt actually show on the main forum page, the console and pc gaming ones do :dunce:.
 
Thanks for the heads-up, the Photography prefix wasn't supposed to be there.
 
Just thought I'd rehash this thread...

There seems to be no way to return back to the forum you were in with the prefix applied anymore...

C.
 
Is the "Any Prefix" option at the bottom of the page not working?
 
Sorry, yeti, I misunderstood what you were talking about. I've added it to the list of GTPX tweaks/bug fixes in the announcement thread and will try to figure this out.
 
Jordan
Sorry, yeti, I misunderstood what you were talking about. I've added it to the list of GTPX tweaks/bug fixes in the announcement thread and will try to figure this out.
Click to expand...

No worries...

I realised that my initial bump of the topic wasn't as accurate as it could've been - hence why I added the clarification in my second post.

C.
 

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