New Feature: Thread Labels/Forum Reorganization [updated]

[Samantha]

New Plugin & How it Affects Downloads

Today I have for you a new plugin that will allow for the tagging of posts à la Tumblr, LiveJournal, etc. This is a pretty big change, and has thus resulted in a bit of reorganization of the forum, but Caitlin and I both agree that tagging seems like a good alternative to having separate boards for CC downloads. There are two reasons behind this:

The first is that we have many boards for downloads but not a lot of people who actually post downloads—and therefore more than half of those boards have gone unused. Now we only need two boards: one for The Sims 2 downloads and one for The Sims 3 downloads.

The second reason is that tagging will allow for CC "dumps" that span multiple categories of CC. You can now post your hair retexture, paintings, and wallpapers all in the same post. For those of you who have ever been disinclined to post here (as I have been) because you don't want to span the boards with eight different threads, this will make posting easier and much more concise.

Board Reorganization

Instead of separate categories for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, both have been turned into boards beneath the category "The Sims Franchise," and a download sub-board for each has been added. After eliminating the 2+ downloads boards for each installment, it seemed kind of pointless to have them existing as separate categories with only a singular board beneath them.

Other than that, nothing much has changed. All CC threads were moved out of their old boards and into their respective new board.

How Tagging Works

See the Master List of CC Tags for TS2 and for TS3.

All posts are automatically indexed by the forum after they're created; once a post is indexed, it becomes searchable, whether this is through the "Search" feature on the navigation bar or by this new hashtag plugin. A clickable, searchable hashtag is automatically rendered whenever a number/pound/hashtag symbol is placed before a word. It's that simple.

It can take anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours to index a post. Therefore, if you don't see your download in the hashtag search immediately after you post it, don't fret. It will appear there soon.

It is important that you accurately tag your posts, for once a post is indexed, the contents of the post technically don't change, even if you edit. As I said, it could take a few minutes to index your post, so you may have a small window of opportunity to edit your tags if you catch a mistake with spelling or the like. (To insure accuracy and consistency across the forum, and so that all downloads show up in the search, make sure to consult the master list of tags.

Add tags to the bottom of you post, with the phrase "Tags:" preceding them.

You must put a space BEFORE and AFTER a comma when listing multiple tags. Other troubleshooting problems: If you tag isn't rendering after you click "Post Thread," try editing the post and putting a space after the tag.

Don't use tags in boards other than the downloads boards.

Example of correct tagging:

Tags: [HASH]thisisatag , [HASH]ithinkthisisprettycool , [HASH]whatdoyouallthink

[Samantha]

Update: No More Hashtags in Posts

We have gotten rid of the "hashtag in posts" feature in favor of thread labels. Labels can be applied to threads in both the TS2 and TS3 downloads board, and just like tags, are searchable when clicked on.

Downloads not included in the TS2 and TS3 downloads board (e.g. downloads created for events) have been put in an "Other Downloads" index: TS2 here or TS3 here.

Labels should be easier to work with than tags. We no longer have to worry about indexing issues, as labels can be safely applied even after a thread has been indexed (if you notice that your thread isn't appearing in a search AFTER it's been labeled, please contact a staff member so that they can check it out). Labels will be added to the boards on a basis of need—meaning that once a piece of content is created that warrants a new label, then the new label will be created.

Members CAN add labels to their own download threads. To add a label, click the "cog" drop-down in the upper righthand corner of the "edit post" page, then hover over "Labels," then select the appropriate labels. Multiple labels can be added to a thread, so include all that apply.

SPOILER: Click to show

If there isn't a label in the list for the type of content that you've created, it means that you're the first to share that type of CC here at the forum. A staff member will create the label and apply it for you.

Labels have already been applied to all download threads across the forum, and all "other downloads" have been put in the index (note that right now the index includes full images, but thumbnails are going to be created so that content can be linked back to its original thread Done! Clicking on the pictures should now bring you to the download).

We apologize for the rapid change. We are trying to create the most reliable, most convenient system for organizing downloads, and this appears to be the method is to be our permanent system.