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Email String

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 7:49 pm
by A Vicious Muffin
Considering the amount of people that actually use the email string to put their actual email in it, I suggest that we change it to either say "Signature" or erase it altogether. I have only seen a few people put their email in it, much more others put in their team names, slogans, sayings, mottoes, or messages. Unless your team name is your email, I don't think it's necessary to call it "email" anymore. It might even scare some players away by making them think that they need to put in their email to play, which they might not want to. I don't know about anyone else, but does this sound relevant or even worth considering?

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 8:29 pm
by DTRemenak
Yes, the name of the field should probably be changed.

There was a proposal a while back to remove it altogether (which was successfully Rikered even, iirc), but the fact is that it IS used as a freeform text field for plenty of useful purposes (team tags/signatures/what have you).

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 11:56 pm
by A Hobo
I know I don't use it for my E-mail. I always put some kind of saying/quote that pops into my mind. I think changing the "email" to "signature" is a good idea.



By the way, there is going to be a procrastinators meeting.Later..... :P

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 4:14 pm
by AAA
I guarantee, once you call it a signature the average email string length will increase by 2 times.

Is it appropriate? Probably not. Is it somthing that needs changing because of that? Probably not. I would say leave it alone, unless we do a complete re-write.

"Email string" sounds cooler to me, sorta like "callsign" (prefered) vs. "username" (used on this bb).

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:23 pm
by Spazzy McGee
How about "Big shout out to the collective BZFlag posse."?

Seriously, email string length really isn't an issue, since you can regulate the displayed length in the GUI options menu.

I'd like to see a fully-viewable profile menu, especially for server contact info, but I understand that's pretty much guaranteed never to happen.

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:42 pm
by TD-Linux
When I first played BZFlag, I thought at first that I had to put an email in to play, so I made one up and hoped it would work (it did). Because this field is not used for anything, it should be changed. 'Signature' is a bit long, any other ideas for a name for the field?

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:10 pm
by Tanner
TD-Linux wrote:When I first played BZFlag, I thought at first that I had to put an email in to play, so I made one up and hoped it would work (it did). Because this field is not used for anything, it should be changed. 'Signature' is a bit long, any other ideas for a name for the field?
Yeah, I thought that too. Bit confusing until you play and see you don't actually need to put your email there.

-Tanner

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:38 pm
by strayer
Well, the email field is really old. I remember this point wasn't available in 1.7x via menu, but you could set it's content by editing the config file (if you knew that you had to enter it there ^^). When so many people are so confused...simply remove it from the menu. :o)
No..seriously..renaming it to "signature" really makes sense. And it'ld be rather easy to change it by editing the language files (and eventually the menu file to change the language key if you want to be perfect).

Spazzy Mcgee wrote:I'd like to see a fully-viewable profile menu, especially for server contact info, but I understand that's pretty much guaranteed never to happen.
Yes, this is a very good idea and (unfortunately) a realistic estimation about future implementation.

[EDIT] Lenght of the word "signature" doesn't matter, because you should keep in mind that all these menu items have to be translated into supported languages and you can't presume that translations are short too. So, TD-Linux, I don't really see a reason to find "shorter" field name :D

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:46 pm
by CannonBallGuy
"Tag"?

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:34 pm
by AAA
How about "tag".

Oh, good idea CBG.

Actually, I like that fild name.

We need to figure out a way to identify it as optional, and the password, though. Any ideas? The password field, then email, seem to be the most confusing for people who don't know how it works.

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:10 pm
by TD-Linux
AAA wrote:How about "tag".

Oh, good idea CBG.

Actually, I like that fild name.

We need to figure out a way to identify it as optional, and the password, though. Any ideas? The password field, then email, seem to be the most confusing for people who don't know how it works.
Put them in parenthesis?
Not the most straightforward approach, but hopefully newbies will get the idea.

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:36 pm
by SkillDude
How about an asterik * with a *optional at the bottom? After a few rounds of BZFlag, I just turned the email strings off to save more screen space.

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 11:30 am
by asciimonster
sigonasr2 wrote:How about an asterik * with a *optional at the bottom?
Or a hint that pops up on Onmouseover()?

Here's an email string for you: :lol-old: :lol-old:
emailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemail

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:43 pm
by Grace F
asciimonster wrote:Here's an email string for you: :lol-old: :lol-old:
emailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailemailem(...)
...Indeed

I say it should just be changed. Having it as 'Email' isn't necessary.

I like CBG suggestion. TAG :)

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:44 pm
by FiringSquad
TD-Linux wrote:any other ideas for a name for the field?
Tag
Tagline
Info
Sig
VanityPlate ;)

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 3:38 am
by BinarySpike
FiringSquad wrote:
TD-Linux wrote:any other ideas for a name for the field?
Tag
Tagline
Info
Sig
VanityPlate ;)
I like "info" it gives a better idea of what it's used for than "tag".
(I was actually thinking "info" when I read the post)

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:16 am
by Lan
Spazzy Mcgee wrote:I'd like to see a fully-viewable profile menu, especially for server contact info, but I understand that's pretty much guaranteed never to happen.
I sure hope it doesn't happen, simply due to trying to avoid having BZ become too complex. I think what is (or, unfortunately, was) great about BZFlag is the emphasis on playing the actual game, rather than using it as a social tool, that is caused by its simplicity. You play other games, and it becomes either so competitive that it becomes verbally violent, or it is used as a social tool ("lets discuss this while we play," "You suck at the game because your avatar is UGLY!!"). The simplicity of the game was the most successful filter towards all of this garbage. I play America's Army, a MUCH more complex game than BZFlag (obviously), and it is CLEAR the lack of unity and focus on lack of playing for pure fun. People are so competitive and so interested in downplaying others' abilities.


And as for changing the word "email" to something more "sensible," I am strongly against this, because I feel changing this to Tagline or Signature, for example, is a landmark change towards the loss of uniqueness and simplicity in BZFlag. It is a "BZFlagism" if you will; it has been called that for as long as I can remember (since 1.7g2), and to change it so radically to better suit newbies (the only people a more "sensible" label will benefit) instead of preserving historical elements of the game is unfortunate. It is not that hard to figure out that it is not literally for email addresses, even to the average newbie.

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 2:08 pm
by *Boinkage*!
I play America's Army too! :D .

Anyways, it should be changed. It's too confusing for a new person, and they might just skip on playing altogether.

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:55 pm
by macsforme
*Boinkage*! wrote:Anyways, it should be changed. It's too confusing for a new person, and they might just skip on playing altogether.
The "email" field is confusing to a new person, and might cause them to skip playing altogether? I think that at worst, they will just put their email address in it, or nothing at all. :-)

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:06 pm
by charg
Unless, there like highly monitored by there parents. Like if there parents are scared of the internet or something, they might not let them play :roll:

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:28 pm
by Grace F
The Email String isn't needed to play, so im doubting it will stop people from playing altogether. When i first started playing, i didn't even see that email string part :?

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:40 pm
by slon02
I think its a little crazy that it'll stop them from playing. Its better to just change it to something a little more _______(fill in the blank). But its not really that big a deal, its just a blank space that you can fill in with anything, most people won't even notice it when they start. 8)