New "Popular recent threads" plugin [renamed to "Active Threads"]

[Laird]

Thanks so much for your input, guys. It is invaluable.

I have renamed the plugin from "Popular Recent Threads" to "Active Threads". This renaming is reflected all the way down to filenames, so I will need to edit the link I used in the opening post. It has, though, proven to be a great help in terms of clarity.

Typoz, you are right about the "Seconds" field. It is user-unfriendly in that it adds unnecessary complexity. Simplicity is key in designing a user interface: provide your user with too many options and s/he is simply going to throw up his/her hands and say, "Argh! It's too much!". I will dispense with it next.

[Laird]

I will dispense with it next.

Done.

[Laird]

I've implemented all of the features for this plugin suggested by a friend on GitHub:

https://github.com/lairdshaw/MyBB-active...s%3Aclosed

I've enabled all three types of avatar, but if folks feel that they make the listing too busy, then some or all of them can be disabled - please let me know if you'd like that done.

I've implemented all of the features for this plugin suggested by a friend on GitHub:

https://github.com/lairdshaw/MyBB-active...s%3Aclosed

I've enabled all three types of avatar, but if folks feel that they make the listing too busy, then some or all of them can be disabled - please let me know if you'd like that done.

It does make it look a bit as though the site has been infested by ugly medieval monsters, but that's probably my fault.

[Laird]

It does make it look a bit as though the site has been infested by ugly medieval monsters, but that's probably my fault.

Fault? "Achievement" might be more like it.

In any case, I've disabled the avatars.

I see the default period is now the last week (which is convenient for me), but a week now seems to be the maximum period the form will accept. I just wondered whether that was intentional, or a glitch.

[Laird]

I see the default period is now the last week (which is convenient for me), but a week now seems to be the maximum period the form will accept. I just wondered whether that was intentional, or a glitch.

Oh, that was because I had added enough features to the plugin that I figured it was suitable for public release, and I wanted to set a conservative limit for general use - the database query can consume significant resources when there are a lot of posts in the specified interval. One of the new features though is the ability to set separate limits for separate usergroups, so for our forum I have left it at a week for anonymous (non-logged-in) users, and set it to unlimited for logged in users, trusting that none of our members abuses the feature.

(The plugin's public listing on the MyBB Extend site is here, the thread introducing it on the MyBB Community forums is here, and its GitHub repository is here).

Oh, that was because I had added enough features to the plugin that I figured it was suitable for public release, and I wanted to set a conservative limit for general use - the database query can consume significant resources when there are a lot of posts in the specified interval. One of the new features though is the ability to set separate limits for separate usergroups, so for our forum I have left it at a week for anonymous (non-logged-in) users, and set it to unlimited for logged in users, trusting that none of our members abuses the feature.

(The plugin's public listing on the MyBB Extend site is here, the thread introducing it on the MyBB Community forums is here, and its GitHub repository is here).

Thanks very much. It's not that I'm planning to do any longer searches, but I can imagine that ability might be useful occasionally.

It does make it look a bit as though the site has been infested by ugly medieval monsters,

Wow, cool!