CAG 4.0 Announcement & Feature List

I'm excited for the update and hope to see it soon (soon soon, not Rockstar or Blizzard soon  :razz: ).  But however long it takes, seems like it'll be a really cool update.  A few questions though:

1)  Currently whenever I click a link on the site, Ghostery for Chrome blocks it.  I do not have this issue with any other websites.  Do you know if this is something that is addressed (if you've had anyone mention it that is) in the update?

2)  Collections - Is the list that we make here going to be exportable to Excel, PDF, etc?

 
Will we have the option to search for posts we've made in a thread?  I'm trying to find a post I made several hundred posts deep in a thread (and probably several hundred posts later for me) and I'm going page by page in that thread (100 posts at a time) until I find it.  :)

 
chnandler_bong said:
Will we have the option to search for posts we've made in a thread? I'm trying to find a post I made several hundred posts deep in a thread (and probably several hundred posts later for me) and I'm going page by page in that thread (100 posts at a time) until I find it. :)
Click to expand...
https://www.cheapassgamer.com/index.php?app=core&module=search

^You can search by member, date, and keywords. It should help you find your post faster if you know what you wrote and date range.

 
CheapyD said:
Yes, I am not on the site as much as I was 15 years ago. Is anyone as passionate about the same thing after 15 years? And yes, the current incarnation of CAG is pretty weak, but we've got a HUGE update coming this year: CAG 4.0 Announcement & Feature List
Click to expand...
Two years since the hack, and holy shit, more than 7 months since the start of this thread! When is CAG 4.0 coming already?! After (and since) the hack, a lot of shit was reported broken, a lot of shit was fixed, but a whole lot of shit was ignored and/or continues to be broken to this day, two years later... fucking ridiculous!

Quick, easy, and provable example: [customspoiler="User galleries']
[attachment=29332:CAG gallery.png]
[/customspoiler] and uploading files/images to it has been broken since the hack. The reason the date is a few days before the hack, is because it has yet to be fixed. Check it out yourself! You can find "[URL="https://www.cheapassgamer.com/gallery/"]User Galleries[/URL]" under the "Community" header at the bottom of any CAG page. While you're at it, go ahead and attempt to upload an image.

I put a lot of time and effort in the CAG Games Database, trying to improve CAG, but never heard a single peep from you about it. John acknowledged the problem quickly, but my PM to you and John didn't get a response (wasn't even viewed by you or John on CAG). Only AFTER the hack, 3 months after I initially brought up the issues, did I finally get input from John and did progress start to be made. It's been 1.5 years since all work was abandoned, because the new CAG version was coming. Holy shit, I didn't realize it was that long ago! So that means CAG 4.0 was really "on the horizon" 1.5 years ago. Wow...

The only time you do really seem to pop in anymore is when there is controversy (e.g. AWD thread ban [which I feel indirectly prompted the creation of this thread], GS thread bans 1, and recent GS thread bans 2). I know it's a long shot, considering your diminished passion for this site, but I hope with CAG 4.0, we get you, CheapyD, the owner of this site, giving a shit about his site and community and getting more involved. One who is responsive, acknowledging, hands-on, and actually takes action when people report broken/wanted features, among other issues. And I don't mean for the short first few months after the relaunch. At all times! When a feature is broken and reported, I hope we don't have to be told to wait for a complete relaunch, because essentially "Hey, it just so happens that a redesign is just around the corner, and why bother, right?" But in actuality, it's been another 12+ months (and 18 months when maybe 4 people first learned about it) and there's no definite launch date, yet features continue to be broken. CAG is literally your source of income, and you neglect it.

With all that said, I still look forward to CAG 4.0. Hope it lives up to what everyone wants and more. And if not, I hope you and John will be standing by to change that.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I hope that 4.0 is easy enough to post content that, outside of extreme circumstances, it essentially runs itself. Things have changed over the last decade, it’s not really practical to expect CheapyD to sit on the other end and tend to our every desire. I miss his interactions too but life happens. I’m sure he has a team of people to run things as needed and will be willing to bring more people on board if needed.

That being said, I’d like to see more blog talent brought to the site and integrated. There’s lots of great independent bloggers (and personalities in the gaming community) that would really fit in around here and become a draw to this site beside gaming deal info. Sure any of us can use the blogging feature, but many of us are just not bloggers. I know I’m certainly not.

Maybe CAGCast could decide on a monthly topic and invite industry bloggers to come to the site and post a short article that contributes to it or they participate in a round table discussion?

Plus I hope to see you guys as playable game characters again like in Saints Row. With the rise of indie titles there should be something they can incorporate your personas into.
 
SirConnery said:
I hope that 4.0 is easy enough to post content that, outside of extreme circumstances, it essentially runs itself. Things have changed over the last decade, it’s not really practical to expect CheapyD to sit on the other end and tend to our every desire.
Click to expand...
Desires are one thing. I fully expect Cheapy and John to fix broken features, which previously worked fine. The News, Feedback & Site Assistance forum does not get very many posts and new threads. Being able to reply to all of them should not be difficult. I try to help whenever I can. It'd be nice to see the community help out, but I'm sure most users don't venture past the Video Game Deals forum.

Just recently reported a minimal problem that I doubt even the mods would be able to answer, but Cheapy responded quickly. That's all I really ask for: better communication. Acknowledge the reported problem, then 1) fix if an easy fix, 2) update us on fix (and regularly if it's going to take some time), or 3) tell us it's not fixable and maybe why not.

 
I don’t expect full service for things I don’t directly pay for. Sure the site makes money from me buying something via a posted link, but I doubt they make anywhere as much as they did a decade+ ago. Maybe I’m totally wrong here, but I think everyone has a primary job/position/purpose that’s going to take place sooner then site requests. I’m perfectly ok with that.
 
I don't know who "everyone" is. Two people here: Cheapy and John. Don't know about John, but I'm pretty sure Cheapy's primary "job" is CAG.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
xenForo 2 is a great upgrade for a site of this magnitude. Not much really has been added to stock xenForo 2 package, but looking at this thread and the list, you guys are in good hands with the guys working on it.

If you need help to see what you'll be in for, you can just check any one of my forums: http://www.destroyrepeat.com All of them are powered by xenForo 2.

 
We are working on restructuring the forums (read: a smaller number of forums overall) and I'm struggling on what to do with the "Video Game Discussions" section.  We have so many separate forums that don't much action.  I'd love to narrow it down to as few as many forums as possible (one would be amazing), but I know we've got a lot of specific things going on there.

Anyone got ideas beyond the status quo?

 
CheapyD said:
We are working on restructuring the forums (read: a smaller number of forums overall) and I'm struggling on what to do with the "Video Game Discussions" section. We have so many separate forums that don't much action. I'd love to narrow it down to as few as many forums as possible (one would be amazing), but I know we've got a lot of specific things going on there.

Anyone got ideas beyond the status quo?
Click to expand...
One for Console Gaming, one for PC Gaming. Hardware discussion should be included and allowed.

 
I think the GAF/Era method works well. One main forum for video game discussion with a sub-forum for Community/Official Threads. Platform specific forums causes too much overlap.
 
CheapyD said:
We are working on restructuring the forums (read: a smaller number of forums overall) and I'm struggling on what to do with the "Video Game Discussions" section. We have so many separate forums that don't much action. I'd love to narrow it down to as few as many forums as possible (one would be amazing), but I know we've got a lot of specific things going on there.

Anyone got ideas beyond the status quo?
Click to expand...
Darknyss said:
Platform specific forums causes too much overlap.
Click to expand...
Sorry for the late reply, but I agree on this, especially given the number of multiplatform releases (and, to a lesser extent, timed exclusives) these days.

How about:
- General Gaming
- Console/Handheld
- PC
- Mobile
- Retro/Arcade

Also, the "Video Game Reviews" subform is rarely active, so getting rid of it may be worth considering. Blog posts seem like a better place to post reviews, anyway.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
CheapyD said:
We are working on restructuring the forums (read: a smaller number of forums overall) and I'm struggling on what to do with the "Video Game Discussions" section. We have so many separate forums that don't much action. I'd love to narrow it down to as few as many forums as possible (one would be amazing), but I know we've got a lot of specific things going on there.

Anyone got ideas beyond the status quo?
Click to expand...
Your current structure is fine, the problem is the subforums. Move all the subforums into sections where they belong.

E.G/I.E:

Sony
- PS3 and PS4, PS2, Vita / PSP

Put "PS3 and PS4" "PS2" and "Vita/PSP" into "Sony" and re-name "sony" to PlayStation.

Same with "Microsoft," move the subforums into THERE, and rename Microsoft to "Xbox."

The next Xbox console will be the last of the Xbox brand, if any indication is correct - Microsoft is currently merging both Xbox and Windows ecosystems so that "Xbox Anywhere" supports Windows PC gaming. If this ends up being true, just leave it alone. PC gamers will go into the PC board in the future.

It's too late to put prefixes, because you already put "PS3 and PS4" as a single forum. It would be a nightmare to go back to your old threads and separate them by console.

This is what I did with my board.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think condensing as much as possible is the better idea. I would go with two, maybe three forums.

Video Game Discussion

Retro Gaming

Community Threads

But yes, less divisions for the forums would be better going forward.

 
CarlosX360 said:
Hey, @CheapyD, where are we with these updates!?
Click to expand...
We're targeting XenForo 2.1, so until that goes gold (which should be very soon) we're doing test runs on the import (we're using our own custom importer to reduce the conversion time from several days to a few hours).The update includes several giant add-ons that are completely custom for CAG, so testing those and quashing last minute bugs is a big part of what we're up to in the final days. That, and styling work - it's hard to leave the style alone at any point and say it's done, but any day now we should be happy enough with it to release some screenshots and talk you all through the new features.

 
John said:
We're targeting XenForo 2.1, so until that goes gold (which should be very soon) we're doing test runs on the import (we're using our own custom importer to reduce the conversion time from several days to a few hours).The update includes several giant add-ons that are completely custom for CAG, so testing those and quashing last minute bugs is a big part of what we're up to in the final days. That, and styling work - it's hard to leave the style alone at any point and say it's done, but any day now we should be happy enough with it to release some screenshots and talk you all through the new features.
Click to expand...
Excellent! Just remember to use the 1.5.x importer first. There's technically no real importer underneath 2.0. Most of it (the 2.0 importer) is in beta. The 1.5.x importer is more mature than the 2.0 one. From there, upgrade to 2.0, once you've felt like you got everything in working order, go ahead and upgrade to XF2.1 [Gold]. There's already reports of some site owners upgrading XF2 to 2.1, and failing.

And yes, while 2.1 is in beta. Yes. *shakes head in disbelief*

Just an F.Y.I.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
CarlosX360 said:
Excellent! Just remember to use the 1.5.x importer first. There's technically no real importer underneath 2.0. Most of it (the 2.0 importer) is in beta. The 1.5.x importer is more mature than the 2.0 one. From there, upgrade to 2.0, once you've felt like you got everything in working order, go ahead and upgrade to XF2.1 [Gold]. There's already reports of some site owners upgrading XF2 to 2.1, and failing.

And yes, while 2.1 is in beta. Yes. *shakes head in disbelief*

Just an F.Y.I.
Click to expand...
We're using a custom import system coded from scratch specifically for CAG, not the stock XenForo importers. The stock import scripts just don't have the performance to convert everything over within a reasonable time.
 
John said:
We're using a custom import system coded from scratch specifically for CAG, not the stock XenForo importers. The stock import scripts just don't have the performance to convert everything over within a reasonable time.
Click to expand...
Well? 2.1 is now gold.

xenForo 2.1 is released.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Id rather it take a long time & be good, or even decent, than release any time in a bad state. How's things going, by the way?
 
I would expect to use this very rarely.

However, it was very useful over at IMDb, and could be so here. Especially for those rare members who are habitually annoying, way off-topic or otherwise offensive.

Thanks, Phillip.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top