When we upgrade vBulletin the new version has some flexibility the current version lacks. I'm not sure if customizing the size of the link text is one of those features or not but certainly we will look into it. Additionally, vB version 4 was built with a little more thought to search engine optimiazation, so it is possible that there will be more flexibility with regard to what information has to go where to yield optimal SEO results. I apologize for the rudeness that came across in my earlier post. To be completely honest, I find it beyond ridiculous that anyone is concerned about a little bit of text at the top of the page that does not in any way affect the usability of the site, and my response reflected that. But to be fair, I don't have, and have never had, the fashion or design gene, so aesthetic things are not something I pay much attention to. But I tend to focus my energies on things that, to me, have importance, and EC being able to reach a larger number of people is, on the scale of importance, a lot more crucial to me than a handful of people disliking a string of text that has no impact on the usability of the site. I hope that the above, combined with Martin's excellent description, helps people better understand the thinking behind things.
"A safe place for all." would be nice. But I like what it says, the length is a bit of an inconvenience but I feel the message is so good it's okay.
I've always thought it was strange that most people see the text at the top of the forum exceeding one line. On my screen, it's all on one line. :S Those that find it annoying, have you tried changing the "styles" of your pages? Choosing a different style may expand the page enough to where it's not bothering you guys so much. You can find this at the bottom left corner of any forum page. It's just a suggestion, it may or may not work.
Haha, nice! XD In all seriousness though, I agree, its just a title, and it seems like it fits the site perfectly anyway. It seems all on one line for me too.
I think that the length of the title shouldn't matter as long as the people struggling to get help can get it. Right?
Can we not just change the title to include the acronym 'LGBT' instead of 'gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered' ?
Back in february 2009, I would never have found EC if I would have needed to search for LGBT instead of "Gay coming out ressources", because I simply didn't know what LGBT meant back then. I think it is more important for people who are trying to get some help to find us easily on google than to have a fancy one line title.
Maybe instead of changing it completely, you could rearrange it a bit to make it look not so cluttered? Like, maybe putting Empty Closets on one line, and the rest under it on a second line? And does it REALLY need coming out on the end of it? Little fixs can help with it. ---------- Post added 10th May 2011 at 01:40 PM ---------- And no, i'm not bitching about it. I really dont care what the shit it looks like. Haha. I'm not on the site because of a title on a screen.
Well, I found it offensive that he said I was "bitching" that I mentioned that bisexual was not included in it. That said, I have no problem with the length. The only thing about it that bothers me, is when you start going into threads... for instance: Empty Closets - A safe online community for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered people coming out > Empty Closets Stuff > Empty Closets Help and Feedback > This shit is so long Just seems extremely long that way, XD But I just ignore it, I'm not even on EC much anymore. I only check maybe 5 minutes a day, post if I see a thread I can add to, etc. Though honestly, other than on the main page, it's so small you really shouldn't even be noticing it. Well, that and the fact the sentence takes up half of a cell phone screen while in Mobile Skinned EC. XD
Believe me, if we could make it less obtrusive, we would. It's one single string that we have no control over where the line break occurs. We appreciate the input, but I really wish people would put their energy elsewhere. It's not a big deal.
THIS is a problem I was not aware of, and sounds like a genuine inconvenience. I don't think we have any immediate solution for it, but I can say that the mobile version of vBulletin, which is pretty likely to be part of the upgrade, should resolve that issue.
Please do not post links to any off-site profiles or any other sites or pages containing off-site contact details. This includes Bebo, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Photobucket, Twitter, Tumblr or other social networking sites or blogs, phone, email, Skype, gaming ID and messenger IDs such as MSN, AIM, Yahoo etc. Anything that someone else could use to identify you or contact you off-site is not allowed here.You are also not permitted to link to any Chat Rooms outside of Empty Closets, regardless of whether they are anonymous or not. This applies everywhere public on Empty Closets, including forum posts, wall messages, profile, signatures, blogs, comments, chatroom etc. Any such posts will be deleted and the poster will be banned for at least ONE MONTH. I find this way more annoying, is there a way we can let full members not have to see this everywhere?
Agreed. If anything is "long" or "annoying" here, it'd be this. I understand for precautions this must be shown, but as Full Members, ECer's are already familiar with the rules, right?
I for one would like to see it go, as well. But in essence, it's us covering our butts. Before we placed it there, we regularly had members - new AND full - breaking this rule. And when we'd point out to them that they broke the rule, the response was always the same - "I didn't know." It didn't matter if they were full members, that it was in the code of conduct, and that they had to say they read and understood it before being made a full member. We'd always get the "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do that, don't take away my status, had I known..." routine. We finally decided we had to put it somewhere big (and yes, annoying) so that nobody could use that excuse again. Lex
The problem is... you'd be surprised how many people, including full members, and even with the enormous disclaimer at the top, *still* unintentionally break the rules. I agree it's ugly and obtrusive, but I suspect if we removed it, there might be an even higher rate of rule-breaking. What might be a possibility is to make it a user-selectable option for full members to remove it, with the understanding that those who do so can't use the "I didn't know" excuse Edit: Lex and I posted at the same time