Change diaries

TheMix

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

JustV

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.

JustV

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

JustV

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

JustV

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

JustV

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

JustV

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

JustV

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

JustV

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.  

JustV

24/07/20 | New default avatars added.

JustV

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

JustV

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

JustV

24/04/21 | The Mix account name changed to @TheMix to make tagging easier

JustV

30/04/21 | 'How To' guides un-announced and merged into How to use the boards
30/04/21 | Community Guidelines updates:
- Individual forum guidelines added
- Layout changed to provide clearer headings
- Formatting tweaked to make main guidelines clearer

More changes to announcements coming soon

JustV

13/05/21 | Guidelines prompts added to new discussion and inbox pages
14/05/21 | Online safety prompt added to profile pages

JustV

22/06/21 | 'May need a trigger warning' added to post report options

JustV

19/11/21 | 'Support Topics' forum category renamed 'Get Support'

JustV

02/12/21 | Get Support moved above Chat & Debate (as per poll)

JustV

05/07/22 | People's rank label will now always display with the correct border size, fixing an issue where the ends were cut off for the first post of a thread

JustV

07/07/22 | Moderators, staff, and Community Champions now have publicly visible role titles below their usernames (mods and staff were previously shown with blue rank tags)

JustV

17/01/23 | Various changes to the community forum structure, including a new Community Announcements forum, and the retiring of Travel & Free Time and Start Here

JustV

05/04/23 | Signatures, locations, and posting polls are now enabled when you have 0 posts. The post count for sending DMs has been lowered from 10 to 5 posts.

JustV

18/05/23 | Line added to the Community Guidelines about alt accounts (see bold):

TheMix wrote:

Multiple accounts are not permitted unless the staff team have given you permission. If you would like an alt account to post things you don't want to share on your main account, please ask!

We know some of you have built relationships with people here, and that can make it difficult to share some things without this extra layer of anonymity. Keep in mind this is only allowed with moderator permission (to prevent people from using this power for evil 👀).

JustV

03/09/23 | Tag colour in Support Groups changed from red to green

Had some feedback that the red was a little aggressive

JustV

17/10/23 | New rank tiers added, post counts adjusted for some individual ranks, and custom titles made available by default to all community members

JustV

25/10/23 | Comments in the Articles forum will now display under the What's New tab

JustV

12/11/23 | 'Discord name or server invites' and 'other social media handles' added to the list of details not to share in the Confidentiality section of the Community Guidelines:

Community Guidelines wrote:

Being safe online
Whether or not you want to be completely anonymous, keep in mind The Mix community is an anonymous space that anyone can join. That means understanding and practising online safety is very important. Be careful not to share personal or contact details such as (but not limited to):

- Your full name
- Physical address
- Email address
- Phone number
- Discord name or server invites
- Other social media handles

JustV

20/11/23 | Diamond rank colour changed to match the popular suggestion in this thread

JustV

06/12/23 | 'Verification' privilege that makes your posts exempt from the spam filter is now granted at 43 posts (was 10) to enable mods to use pre-moderation settings for new members when needed

JustV

JustV wrote: »

06/12/23 | 'Verification' privilege that makes your posts exempt from the spam filter is now granted at 43 posts (was 10) to enable mods to use pre-moderation settings for new members when needed

Extra context: this might mean more instances where posts get held for review for newer accounts, but if that happens, don't worry - it'll be checked by a moderator within around 12 hours.

JustV

12/02/24 | 'Gender' profile field is now required on registration, and has been changed to a dropdown menu, to help The Mix staff understand the gender breakdown of the people who use this community (there's a 'prefer not to say' option if you'd, well... prefer not to say )

12/02/24 | 'Ethnicity' profile field added - this is required on registration, but is a private field only visible to the moderation team, and is there to help us understand the demographics of the people in this community (again, there's a prefer not to say option for this too)