SM-Bytes idea!

[Spinner]

I was driving home last night and I had an inspiration, if you could go as far as to call it that. What if instead of having just one new SM-Byte after the other, every week or so, i.e. when it is manually updated, why not create a 'refresh rotation algorithm' paired with a basic 'stack' system? What I mean is, it would be great if each time you load up SM, a different SM-Byte comes up. Say a small pool of the latest and greatest could be set to random upon refresh and all the maintainer would have to do is simply add new ones in his own time and delete outdated ones at his leisure. This way, there is something different to read every time you visit the site.

I mean my own personal website has this system, in the form of a randomly rotating selection of pictures upon each refresh of the main page. If I can do it, then I guess it wouldn't be too much hassle for the coding monkeys over here to implement right?

[Norge]

Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. I have no clue how to do it but like ya said someone is bound to know how. I'm sure Shorty could figure it out.

Norge

[Shorty]

$motd = $DB_Site->query("SELECT pagetext FROM post WHERE threadid =2089 ORDER BY rand() LIMIT 0 , 1");
$smbytes = $DB_Site->fetch_array($motd);
$smbytetext = stripslashes($smbytes['pagetext']);
eval('$smbyte .= "' . fetch_template('smbyte') . '";');


Took me 35 seconds to write the code necessary ;)

Il just wait and see if anyone else wants this or thinks this is a good idea :)

[Kwitko]

Yes it is!

[madmat]

Yep, I agree, it is a good idea.

[Cyclonite]

Go with it. I like the idea. :)

[Lincoln]

Very good idea. Maybe have each expire after X number of days and just keep inputting new ones. Store the expired ones in a file, and periodically update the SM Byte thread... :)

[QCH]

GREAT idea... Glad I though of it.... I mean glad I thought of aying it was a good idea...

[Shorty]

Actually, it will work like this...

It will pull from the short-media bytes archive thread. It shall just be renamed. When we don't want them anymore.. they just get deleted :)

It's also efficient for the db and for Vbulletin :)

[primesuspect]

i like it i like it.

[Shorty]

Seems to be popular ;)

Il test it later on to make sure it formats correctly and so on, then Il just make it live :)

[Shorty]

Tis done :)

[Lincoln]

/me gets back from refreshing forums 10 times :bigggrin:


You know what this means, don't you? Supermods can add bytes now too :cool2:

[primesuspect]

That is so cool.. Excellent work, shorty m'man.... :thumbsup:

[Shorty]

/me gets back from refreshing forums 10 times :bigggrin:


You know what this means, don't you? Supermods can add bytes now too :cool2:
We shall see ;)

[Thrax]

I don't like it.

Random irrelevancies like the Athlon 64 coverage keep cropping up.

[primesuspect]

Thrax, you're fired from the internet. Please turn in your badge and keys at the front desk.

[Thrax]

I turned those in weeks ago. Your jackasses up in payroll keep me here. :range:

[primesuspect]

Damn idiots.. I'll have their heads for this.

[Spinner]

Thanks Dan'. Nice work! I'm going out for a drive again later, I'll see what else I can come up with. he he. ;)

EDIT: Also, just noticed the link in the SM-Byte about PCMark04, is dead. The link should be amended (to the latest version from the downloads section) or that Byte should be removed.

EDIT 2: The SM-Byte text could do with being 1 or 2 sizes larger as well.

[Necropolis]

I have removed it for now until we get a new link for it.

[Spinner]

I have removed it for now until we get a new link for it.
Cool, well I don't think it really needs to be an SM-Byte anymore, but here's the link incase you want to update it. http://www.short-media.com/request.php?170

[profdlp]

I like the idea overall, but I've noticed a few SM-Bytes which probably should be removed from the rotation. There was one in particular that caught my eye, it referred to planned downtime which happened months ago.

[Kwitko]

A thread with cleaned up bytes that we want in the rotation would be the best way to do it.

[Necropolis]

I have removed a couple of the out of date one's (we can always put them back if we need to ;) )

[Norge]

Hey I like it! Had to refresh the main page several times to test it out and I've been getting some good ones. heh heh.

Norge

[Necropolis]

Erm, Shorty... its pulling deleted threads into the bytes.

[Shorty]

Il fix it :)

[Spinner]

/me cracks the wip
Damn right you'll fix it! he he ;) :D

[TheSmJ]

This delay I just read as the SM Byte... is it real, or the one from a month or two ago?

[primesuspect]

month or two ago...

[Shorty]

Erm, Shorty... its pulling deleted threads into the bytes.
Actually, its pulling deleted posts :p

I have fixed the query anyway, to not bother with deleted posts. Oops my bad.

All fixed now, move along, nothing to see here now...

[Thrax]

I still don't like it!

[primesuspect]

haven't we gotten rid of this guy yet? Somebody call security....

[Lincoln]

I dunno... I think I gotta agree with Thrax :werr: Not as good as I thought it would be. I just think it should be updated more often instead.

[Necropolis]

I still don't like it!

As the Russians say Toughski Sh!tski ;D.

But seriously I like the idea. We just need to add alot more new SM bytes so we dont see the same stuff over and over again.

[edcentric]

Maybe we should run the date in the corner so people can tell if it is a 'new' or a 'classic'.
Thax, you sound like a little girl, get over it.