I could swear this was discussed earlier but

flushedpancake - 7-23-2025 at 12:34 PM

The favourite threads option is currently somewhat cumbersome - you can't see easily the threads you have favourited unless you go to the UCP, and even clicking 'add to favourites' has no text like 'remove to favourites' as corresponding.

Not sure if it autosubscribes you to the thread either by default but that would be a good idea if it doesn't already, as well as a small panel on the index page that sits below the 'YOUR PERSONAL FEATURES' box but above the category list that shows recent activity in 3-5 threads max, for the sakes of user convenience.

(I already have a pretty goodf idea of how the table template for such a thing would look like

Code:


<table>
    <tr class="category" colspan=4>
        <a href="cortexvortex.php">
            Favourited Topics
        </a>
    </tr>

    <tr class="header mediumtxt" align="center">
        <td width="5%">
            &nbsp;
        </td>
        <td width="5%">
            Icon:
        </td>
        <td width="70%">
            Subject:
        </td>
        <td width="20%">
            Last Post:
        </td>
    </tr>

blah

</table>

No idea where the full overview of the favourited topics should go. I was thinking as an additional GET parameter in today.php because most of the code would basically be the same to generate it, but then there's the management options that need to be considered, and it feels pointless to ram them in there

Any typos and weirdness in this message is because I cannot be bothered to proofread anything rigjt now·

miqrogroove - 7-23-2025 at 01:38 PM

There was one idea I've punted to the next milestone: https://bugs.xmbforum2.com/view.php?id=760

It was one of several issues that I didn't want causing a delay going into Beta.

Favorites and Subscriptions are separate features.

Quote: Originally posted by flushedpancake

a small panel on the index page that sits below the 'YOUR PERSONAL FEATURES' box but above the category list that shows recent activity in 3-5 threads max

That's exactly what we have at the bottom of the User Control Panel. I'm not convinced it needs to clutter the front page by default. It would have to be optional.

flushedpancake - 7-23-2025 at 04:29 PM

I was looking for that issue. Thank you!

And I see, so it is implemented in some form or another. Since threads can be both subscribed to and favourited by a user, I'm not entirely sure what could be done to make the display more obvious other than maybe adding some sprite icons after the thread title.

Perhaps an alternative option would be to add two buttons and/or a dropdown to the 'Latest Posts' page that allows you to specifically target the user's subscribed or favourited threads. This also incentivises people to look at this page more frequently, as they'll be able to more easily filter it by the things they're interested in.

I've already got a rough idea of how this could be covered in the FAQ, too:

How can I easily check topics I'm interested in?
Subscribing to a thread allows you to receive email or U2U notifications from the board whenever there is a new reply or when you are quoted in the thread.

Favouriting a thread adds it to your User Control Panel for easy access, however email notifications are not received.

You can also follow individual topics that you have either subscribed to or favourited through the Last Posts page, which gives a more focused overview than in the UCP. Simply use the dropdown box provided and select 'My Subscriptions' or 'My Favourites' to filter the topic listing.

--
offtopic, we should add this as well to the FAQ

How can I get a copy of this forum software?
The website is powered by XMB Forum Software, a free and open source (GNU GPLv3) project by The XMB Group. You are welcome to visit the forum webmasters/developers community at xmbforum2.com or take a look at the GItHub repository.

The XMB Group are not responsible for any custom modifications that may be running specific to $BOARDNAME.

miqrogroove - 7-23-2025 at 05:00 PM

Today's Posts could have more filters I suppose. Favorites makes sense.

I'm not aware of any use case for displaying the most recent active threads with subscriptions. The whole point of subscriptions is to have the update notifications delivered by email. I would be more inclined to go the other direction and eliminate the subscription list from the Control Panel. But that's not to say everyone would agree with that. If I remember correctly, we don't offer any other means of unsubscribing, which is another problem to think about.

flushedpancake - 7-23-2025 at 05:08 PM

I mean, clearing up any ambiguity of their intended usage is a good thing, IMO - and encouraging engagement from a board admin perspective is also good, too. :3

Unsubscribing should be handled via email itself - which is AFAIK a requirement in most EU countries, as well as the UK which kept that part of the law since Brexit.

miqrogroove - 7-23-2025 at 07:34 PM

Via email as in clicking a link?

I'll be honest, I don't understand GDPR. When I read the articles in there, I see nothing about email or unsubscribing. I can't even figure out if those articles are applicable to private forums in general.

flushedpancake - 7-24-2025 at 12:07 AM

Quote: Originally posted by miqrogroove

Via email as in clicking a link?

I'll be honest, I don't understand GDPR. When I read the articles in there, I see nothing about email or unsubscribing. I can't even figure out if those articles are applicable to private forums in general.

Pretty much, yeah.

Maybe I'm wrong - I didn't bother reading it, I just went off the reactions of how certain places responded to it. That was one thing I saw being rapidly implemented around the time, as well as self-account deletion of sorts.

These regulatories tend mostly to apply to companies though, they're often written to the detriment of smaller websites and open communities who scramble for compliance when the text is not even meant for them and often is written by those people who 'the Internet' is merely a few select sites.

flushedpancake - 9-7-2026 at 07:04 AM

Quote: Originally posted by miqrogroove

Today's Posts could have more filters I suppose. Favorites makes sense.

I'm not aware of any use case for displaying the most recent active threads with subscriptions. The whole point of subscriptions is to have the update notifications delivered by email. I would be more inclined to go the other direction and eliminate the subscription list from the Control Panel. But that's not to say everyone would agree with that. If I remember correctly, we don't offer any other means of unsubscribing, which is another problem to think about.

Did this ever get sorted? I don't have it set up to receive email replies, I just check this board every now and again when I feel like it.

You were right - some additional searching suggests that an unsubscribe link is only required if the email contains promotional/marketing material. I guess this is then the individual responsibility of the board administrator, but it would be worth having a 'safety catch' either way.

Honestly, the 'right to be forgotten' part of the GDPR is another troublesome area. I'll include some Gemini input because I'm too lazy and unfocused to actually write normally right now...

Attachment: gdpr_art17.txt (3kB)
This file has been downloaded 7 times

miqrogroove - 10-9-2026 at 01:43 PM

This is another tangent to the topic of European privacy rules. This interpretation describes the exemptions for cookie popup banners:

https://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/documentation/opinio...

Session auth cookies are exempt. Our "Stay logged in" checkbox serves as consent to store a persistent session auth cookie. We are good on those. I need to read more about use of 3rd party CAPTCHA and how that might require extra consent. For example, do we need a checkbox or disclaimer on the initial page of registration whenever reCAPTCHA feature is enabled for the subsequent page? Would this also apply to embedded 3rd party content from YouTube?

miqrogroove - 10-9-2026 at 02:20 PM

Quote: Originally posted by flushedpancake

Unsubscribing should be handled via email itself - which is AFAIK a requirement in most EU countries, as well as the UK which kept that part of the law since Brexit.

This could be a reasonable feature. I'm not familiar with those laws. I believe it's Google that requires unsubscribe links, and only for senders with 5,000+ messages per day.

flushedpancake - 10-16-2026 at 05:21 PM

As metioned on the bug tracker, it has its own RFC spec and email header thingy. Seems like more than just Gmail do it.

So it's probably important enough to add.