I implemented a new profile setting that adds some padding between posts. This was requested by several users.
It should make each post stand out on a page more.

Basically, with this option three blank lines are added after each post, so that the following post doesn't begin immediately after Reply, Quote Reply, etc. of the post above.

To enable, click My Profile, scroll down to Custom View Settings, and enable "Show blank space below posts" option.

Please let me know if something isn't working as expected.

1) I added a new setting that shows OP's name in the digest.

If you want to enable it, please go to My Profile, scroll down to Custom View Settings, and enable "Show topic authors in the digest" option.

Once enabled, you'll be able to see who submitted a topic in the digest.


2) After testing it for a few months, I'm rolling out Newest Pictures page. Some users already had it enabled in their profiles. But now this becomes part of the standard menu at the top. This page shows a listing of attachments from most recent posts on the forum. All in one place.

If you click on a thumbnail of a picture, you'll be taken to the respective post.

I'm going to keep "new" marker for a bit to make sure everyone sees it.


Please let me know if something isn't working as expected or if you notice any bugs.

I added social sharing buttons to topic pages. (Some people already saw them over the past few days as I was rolling it out, but this is the formal announcement.)

You'll see them: "Save", "Share", "Tweet" -- for Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter respectively. Buttons are shown near the top-left corner of the page on the first page of every topic. Topics with pictures have a Pinterest save button. Topics without pictures only have Facebook and Twitter buttons.

This new functionality should make it easier for you to save or share your topics with your inner circle outside of our forum. So there is no need to copy/paste the URL anymore when you want to send it to your followers.


If you aren't sure what these are for (the whole pinning, sharing, tweeting thing), then don't worry about it. Forum functionality is not affected by these buttons in any way, and they are not required for the use of the forum. You can just continue using our forum as before.

If you don't use social networks or don't want those buttons to be shown, then click My Profile link at the top, scroll down to Custom View Settings, and enable "Hide social network sharing buttons" option.

I'm still testing things on the back end, so if you notice these buttons not working as expected, then please let me know.

This isn't permanent yet. I want to test it out and see if people actually use those buttons. So we are going to run it as a trial for a couple of months.

I'm going to sticky this announcement until Tuesday to make sure people who receive the digest once per week (on Mondays) see it.

I'm getting some complaints about this new user norte. Reports claiming it to be spam.

On the surface, this person seems to be creating a lot of topics. Doesn't look like spam, but the overall number of topics this user is creating seems to be alarming.

What do you all think? Should I ask him/her to slow down? Or are the topics OK?

Please PM me a screenshot of what you see. I'll investigate.

(I'm going to keep this announcement as a sticky topic for a few days. So you'll probably see it a few times. Sorry about that, but I want to make sure all users get a chance to read it.)

As I mentioned back when upgrading the forum software, there will be a new section based on an invite-only principle.

I've fixed most of the initial bugs and the software seems to be running more-or-less smoothly. So it's time to roll out the new changes.

The new section is called Invite-Only Discussions.

You'll find it on the Home page, Newest Topics, Active Topics and in the Digest.

Initially, all users who posted something on OPP during the last 60 days are given access, regardless of their past conduct in the Main section.

Those who post insults or profanity will have their posting access for this invite-only section removed. So eventually (probably pretty soon) we should end up with a place for civilized political discussion.

The Main section still remains as before. So when creating a new topic, you now have a choice of whether to place your new topic in Main or in Invite-Only Discussions. That will largely govern how the topic unfolds. Simply pick Invite-Only Discussions when creating a new topic. The rest of the process is the same as with the Main section.

This is a quote from the rules of the new section:


You can also access the Invite-Only Discussions section rules here.

If you don't currently have access to the new section for some reason, then please send me a PM and I'll look into it.

This section is for political discussions, just like Main. But unlike Main, this section is by invitation only.

The core idea of this section is to provide a place to discuss politics without the associated nastiness that often plagues such discussions.

In this section, it is against the rules to use foul language or insult other users. Also, please take it easy on the political figures being discussed. You can disagree with someone's politics without resorting to name-calling. Generally, just keep it civil.

In the Main section, we've been lenient on that for the sake of providing the users with a place to communicate freely. Sadly, some people just can't control themselves and turn from political debates to insulting others. So the Invite-Only Discussions section is meant to address that.

Access to this section does not depend on your political views or affiliations. But you must be able to control yourself when debating with the other users.

If you are able to discuss politics in a civilized manner, then you are welcome here, regardless of your opinion on any particular matter. If not, then your account will be stripped of the posting access to this section. If some user starts insulting others or posting profanity, then access permissions are removed and the user is no longer able to post in this section.

If you see someone posting insults, then please use Report Issue link of the post in question, so that I can find it and deal with it.

New users are not granted access to this section by default. This is done to prevent trolls from creating fake accounts just to flood the section.

If you are a newish user and would like to participate in this section, then please send a private message to Admin and request access to the Invite-Only Discussions section. When requesting posting access to this section, you can't be a brand new user. You need some posting history in the Main section.

For the overall forum rules, check this page.

The datacenter where we host our servers is experiencing connectivity problems.
So the forum might be slow or inaccessible for a few minutes at a time.

The digest will also be delayed by about one hour. I want to wait for them to resolve networking issues before resuming the digest mailing.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

When someone quotes your post, in the part where it says "UserABC wrote:" your user name will be shown in bold, while other people's user names will be shown in regular font.

That should help when scanning down long topics for replies meant for you.

Please let me know if you notice any errors with this new feature.

I made some changes to the way tags are rendered.
So brackets can be used in the text like this [whatever] without interfering with tags that follow and they would still work.

Please let me know if any of the existing tags functionality gets broken or new bugs introduced by the new changes, as that's always a possibility.

GIF image uploads should be working now. Please let me know if you run into any problems.

- Please watch your language. We would like to keep this site clean.

- If you create additional fake accounts to troll, then be prepared for your main account to be revealed. Most likely with "aka YourOriginalUserName" as the status of all of your troll accounts.

- Do not include a link to your site inside the posts. Instead use a signature (you can set it up in your profile).

- If your signature contains a link to your website/blog/store, then please make sure to reciprocate and link to this forum's home page from your site.

- Signatures should not contain more than three lines without wrapping. Blank separating lines are also counted. Please, no flashing images either.

- If you are "hotlinking" an image from a remote site, please make the image stays in place, otherwise we end up with broken pages.

- Do not "bump" your topics up. If everyone starts doing it, the forum will get filled with empty posts.

- To prevent strain on the database we will be splitting up topics that reach 100 pages. All conversations will be carried over into follow-up topics.

- Approval or disapproval of users' posts by the moderators/administration does not shift the responsibility for the content of the posts (any claims made in the posts or laws violated) from users onto the moderators or the administration.

It is the responsibility of each user to make sure all his/her actions are within law.

In other words, just because a post wasn't removed/edited by the moderators or the administration, it doesn't automatically mean that the moderators or the administration condone the content of a post.

- This website is private property. Administration reserves the right to disable any user account at our own discretion without prior notice at any time and for any reason. While this is usually a measure of the last resort, we disclaim any and all responsibility for your inability to use this website due to disabled account.

- We do not generally delete old images/posts at user's request. So if you don't want your content to be shown here indefinitely, then please don't post it here in the first place. The reason for that is simple: deleting one user's posts usually requires deleting responses posted by other users. So for the sake of keeping the forum stable, we maintain this policy.

The one major exception to this is publicly-visible personal information, such as full name or home address or place of work. If you or someone else posted your personal information and now you want it deleted, then we'll delete such content on request.

- Just because somebody else is breaking the rules, doesn't mean you can do it too. Pointing out another user "doing the same thing" as a defense to a violation is in itself a bannable offense. If you decide to start breaking rules because you saw someone else doing it, you are compounding the problem.

- Threatening or hinting that you'll leave the forum unless I do something you want, threatening with legal action or posting ultimatums of any kind will not have the desired effect. I don't respond well to threats or ultimatums. In such instances, I'll either ignore your request completely (regardless of the merit of the original request) or I'll kick you out simply as a matter of principle.

- The most important rule of all is this: use common sense.

- Aside from that, please have fun, learn, and share your knowledge with others!

Various sections on this forum have specific rules of their own. So please make sure to read them as well before posting in a section.

What do you mean?

Please PM me a screenshot of this happening. I'll look into it.

Pages are listed at the top and at the bottom.