Change diaries

The Mix

The staff team will be using this thread to keep note of minor changes we make the community.

Any significant changes like the points system or new forums will always have dedicated discussions, and we'll use this for anything smaller like minor styling changes or tweaks to guidelines.

They will just be brief note-like entries, a bit like patch notes you get with software updates. Posts will look something like this:

Note: these are just examples

25/08/19 | Avatar thumbnail size changed from 50x50px to 75x75px
28/08/19 | Forum headings changed to remove underlining

We don't usually tell you guys about these things because they don't warrant their own announcement, but this gives us a nice way to keep you posted on changes of any importance and any size.

The thread will remain closed because the things here shouldn't require written feedback and we won't have time to have big conversations about them, but feel free to react and if you do want to ping us some written feedback you're welcome to PM us.

Mike & the team

Mike

28/08/19 | Profile fields 'roles', 'visits' and 'points' removed. 'Roles' wasn't used, 'visits' could have the potential to cause stigma or paranoia and isn't useful information, and 'points' wasn't used for anything and could be mistaken for guideline-related points.

Mike

27/09/19 | 'Thanks' reaction changed to 'Thank you' to make it feel warmer and more genuine

Mike

21/01/20 | Underlining removed from blue forum headers to avoid confusion with hyperlinks and create a cleaner feel to the home page

21/01/20 | Avatar thumbnail size increased to 75x75px to increase visibility and readability, and give the boards more points of visual engagement

21/01/20 | Christmas & New Year forum shelved for another year

Mike

28/01/20 | Shadows added to posts, private messages and avatars, and corners or posts rounded

Mike

31/03/20 | Automatic 'Introduce Yourself' post creation disabled to remove pressure from newbies

Mike

22/05/20 | Spam-prevention features tweaked and tightened (details below)

0-2 posts

• Restricted to basic text posts (no links or other formatting)
• All posts checked by the spam filter
• Unable to PM, add signature or location
  

3-9 posts

• Can use all formatting options
  
• Posts lightly checked by spam filter
• Able to PM, add signature and location
  

10+ posts

• Posts never checked by spam filter

Mike

11/06/20 | 'Pronoun' profile field added

Mike

12/06/20 | The following update (underlined) has been made to the Group Chat guidelines:

How do I stay safe in group chat?

All group chats are moderated by a mixture of paid staff and volunteer mods.

Their role is to oversee the group and to make sure that everyone is sticking to the guidelines so the chat remains a safe and welcoming space. Moderators are trained in offering emotional support, listening, signposting (sharing links to resources online) and managing the group. They are not expert advisers and cannot provide 1-2-1 support. Mods are supported in the background by a Supervisor.

Not new information for most of you, but realised we didn't actually say that anywhere.  

Mike

24/07/20 | New default avatars added.

Mike

18/08/20 | Blue arrow buttons removed due to permission issues and pointless functionality

Mike

15/02/21 | BBCode enabled for accessibility reasons
18/02/21 | 'Last edited' feature added
18/02/21 | 'Bump' feature added