LPSG Members: become part of the solution.

I'd like to add a third category to this request.
Straight
Gay
Not For Weak Stomachs (many's the link I wish I'd not clicked)

I can't help clicking on links I know are going to be vile.

A little icon that appears under your name, specifying your gender(instead of the text we currently have). I can't tell you how many times people have thought I was a female, for having "kitty" in my screen name. Although, people really should read profiles first along with signatures... hardly anyone does. I think a little icon would go more noticed than text. :x

When I first joined, the site was actually set up a little different... and on the left of the posts, where the avatars and member info are, the backgrounds were gender-specific. Guys had blue backgrounds, girls had pink. That was nice. I can't tell you how many times I thought YOU were a girl due to your name.

That's still available, if you like. (Or if you're just nostalgic.) Scroll down to the very bottom of this page, and change the drop-down box from "36Default" to just "Default". You have the old gender-specific backgrounds again.

By "time-travelling", though, you lose the sidebar that shows the latest threads and posts.

There is also the bar across the top of your post. For men or non gender identified the bar is black. For females it's a very dark plum colour.

You can see the difference if you squint.

I actually never realised that. I'd noticed the difference in colour, but couldn't see the relevance of it (not that I pondered it for more than afew seconds). Thanks.

As far as performance goes, you can get some easy improvements by making some upgrades. The site currently runs php 4.4.4, but php5.x enjoys many performance (and security) improvements. Same with moving from MySQL 4.1 to MySQL 5. Also you get the new version of Zend Optimizer (if you want to continue using it) with php5. Also applies to Apache (site is running 1.3.37, 2.2.x is much improved).

Don't run sshd on port 22 unless you enjoy little Chinese computer hackers banging away on your server.

In the gallery, you should give uploaded files unique names rather than using the name provided by the user. People using something like 4.jpg are going to overwrite eachother. It makes more sense to use the photo id # from the database as the filename (plus extension) as that will always be unique.

Making the RSS features of vBulletin more obvious might be appreciated by some members.

I personally think SMF is a better forum system (especially in terms of performance, and can convert databases) but I imagine you are already vested in vBulletin and all the plugins you have with it.

Color me embarassed! I never noticed that before. Pretty scary considering how much time I spend on this site.

I realized that... sheesh. Except I saw it somewhere.

Same here! Maybe they should make it lighter than what it is?

At least it wasn't just me that never noticed that!!

Never noticed either!

Colour blind here so I still see no difference in the bar. Maybe it should be a lighter plum colour. Not so important for me, if I wonder about the gender I just read the info under the nick.

I would go for (sorry if already mentioned/discussed/addressed):

- A different envelope icon in threads you have participated. Some forums display an envelop with an arrow crossing over
- A different colour in the chat room to distinguish gender. Not that I mind speaking with men, but it makes life easier.
- For non-gold members, be able to see one full-size pic per profile.


That's all I can think for the moment

Gods, isn't that the truth? We're such complex creatures!