As you know, I’ve been poking around trying to find out what exactly might be causing the browser issue some of you are having, wherein you post a comment and instead of dropping you back near-ish where you were in the post, it takes you to the top. Haven’t found the glitch yet.

However, this provides a good time to unveil a new feature that we’ve been considering for a while now: a discussion forum.

I know what you’re thinking. Yes, we already treat the comment area on posts as if it were a forum. Yes, we have already built plenty of community just doing that. But, before you dismiss it out of hand, let me explain my reasoning.

  1. The interface should be much faster than the comment section on each post. So, for times like the recent debates, or the election tomorrow, it should make conversing faster.
  2. If this test run is successful, any Glib will be able to start a new topic and it will be there whenever anyone can get to the forum to read…unlike comments on posts that tend to disappear quickly and cause many people to miss many things and never get caught up.
  3. You will be able to “mention” someone using their @nickname, which you can look up in the handy-dandy member directory.
  4. You will be able to see notifications when you login to the forum if someone has mentioned you, or replied to a comment you made.
  5. The forum is nominally hidden from the larger world, because of said membership directory. However, I still wouldn’t be too candid if you have anything to lose.

Now, I mention in the intro post on the forum announcements that while I have a couple decades of experience running phpbb forums, I have never used a WordPress forum plugin. Additionally, because there is a member directory that I want to keep from being too easily accessed, I needed to add a membership plugin, as well. Which has made the login mechanics a little clunky (for now).

You may need to log into the forum separately. However, your main Glibs credentials will get you there. If it wants you to solve a math captcha, just do so and then re-login and you should be good to go. (I’m warning you now: there may be math!)

About the nickname feature for mentioning. In your main website profile in your dashboard, you have a username (which can’t be changed), a nickname, and a “Display Name Publicly As” option. The forum mention function will use whatever is in your nickname field. So, if you need to change that to something shorter and more memorable, you may easily do so yourself. Your Display Name will still be the one that is next to your forum posts, but your @nickname will be below that. Note that your nickname must be unique. If someone else here is already using it, the system will not let you change your nickname to that.

There is a practice forum at the bottom. If you have issues–OK, any forum-related issues–or need help, I’ll pop in that forum from time to time to see if anyone needs assistance.

If you all think it’s a useful feature to keep around, we can talk about adding some extras such as PMs, time and money allowing.

Ready?

Go here.