# A BBS signature idea



## J9sling (Jul 10, 2006)

Hi everyone!  I have been actively utilizing the cruisecritic boards while planning our upcoming cruise and noticed that many of the posters include the cruises they have been on below their signature.  Just thought that would be a terrific idea for the posters here...I'd love to see where all of you have exchanged to.  I know that some of you have multiple visits a year so maybe a record of your most previous would be great.  It might help those of us "less traveled" timeshare owners know who to go to about a particular resort or area.  Whaddya think???

Jennie

Looking forward to our first exchange to the Valdoro Mountain Lodge this September!


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## Keitht (Jul 11, 2006)

For additional information about resorts rather than cruises, check out the Member Help tab on the relevant review.  These are people who have already offered to help.


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## geekette (Jul 11, 2006)

The only problem I have with this idea is how much it increases page length, and therefore, wait time.  Some of the sig lines on CC are just too darned long and one page may have very little banter on it and instead be jam-packed with huge sig lines.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jul 11, 2006)

The other problem with this idea is that the search feature for the site looks at the signatures as well as the text.  

One of the main uses of the search feature is to locate information about a particular resort or resort group.  If people start listing exchanges in their signatures, then when someone searches for infomation about a resort, the search will return all posts made by people who list an exchange into that resort, even though the post itself has nothing to do with the resort. 

That will greatly reduce the usefulness of the search feature.

****

When the BBS first started people started listing the resorts that they owned in their signatures.  It didn't take long for that to make searches for information about some resorts to become almost useless because of the number of irrelevant results returned.

That's why people are encouraged to list their ownerships in their profile info (which appears to the left of the post and is not checked by the search engine) instead of in the signature area.


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## Makai Guy (Jul 11, 2006)

T_R_Oglodyte said:
			
		

> The other problem with this idea is that the search feature for the site looks at the signatures as well as the text.



Actually, that was true with the old UBB bulletin board software we used for 5 years.  The vBulletin software we've been using for a bit over a year now doesn't include the signature in the individual message text that is saved to the database, so sig information is not included in its searches.  But since you CAN'T search for the sig information, how would you find the folks to answer your questions?

I'd still prefer NOT to have everybody filling up the page with this information in every single post they make, when most of the time it would not be relevant to the topic it was posted in.

In addition to the people who have already volunteered to answer member questions about a resort, as listed in the resort reviews, you can also search the User List for folks that have listed ownership of a given resort in their profiles.  
Users List | Search Users | Advanced Search will bring you *here*.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jul 11, 2006)

Makai Guy said:
			
		

> Actually, that was true with the old UBB bulletin board software we used for 5 years.  The vBulletin software we've been using for a bit over a year now doesn't include the signature in the individual message text that is saved to the database, so sig information is not included in its searches.


Well then, Never mind.


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## Makai Guy (Jul 11, 2006)

T_R_Oglodyte said:
			
		

> Well then, Never mind.



Thank you, Emily.


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## Keitht (Jul 11, 2006)

Makai Guy said:
			
		

> In addition to the people who have already volunteered to answer member questions about a resort, as listed in the resort reviews, you can also search the User List for folks that have listed ownership of a given resort in their profiles.
> Users List | Search Users | Advanced Search will bring you *here*.



I've never done a User Search so didn't know of this feature.  It has the potential to be very useful.


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