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Welcome to an all-new GTPlanet! After several years of planning and lots of hard work, I am excited to announce the website is running on an all-new software platform.
This is the most extensive functional update to the site since 2001 and introduces many changes - some large and some small. As the twelfth major iteration of the site, you may refer to this new design as "GTP12". Please review the post below to get comfortable with some of the most significant new features.
Questions? Problems?
As with any major software update, there will almost certainly be various glitches and bugs. Please use the links below to submit your questions or bug reports:
New Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Design
GTPlanet has been re-built from the ground up to offer a fast, optimized experience on all types of mobile devices and tablet computers; simply load gtplanet.net in your favorite mobile browser. The new template offers universal access to all of the site’s features, including the ability to upload pictures directly from a mobile device’s camera (see below for more information on our new photo hosting features).
For even faster access, click here to install GTPlanet’s new web-app icon on your device’s home screen.
The dedicated iOS and Android apps for GTPlanet are no longer supported and can safely be deleted. Please install the new web-app icon in their place!
Unlimited File & Photo Hosting
Thanks to the financial support of GTPlanet’s Premium subscribers, I have made significant investments in the site’s hosting infrastructure which allow me to provide free, unlimited file and photo hosting to everyone in the community.
It’s easy to use: simply drag-and-drop files from your computer over the box where you are writing your post, or click the “Upload File” button to browse your hard drive. You can even copy-and-paste images directly into the post editor, and the files will be automatically uploaded to GTPlanet’s servers.
Images can be inserted into posts at their full resolution, or as thumbnails, which open the images in a “lightbox” at a size optimized for the viewer’s screen.
If you upload multiple images, you can insert all of them into your post with one click, which makes it very easy to share a complete gallery of images.
New Private Messaging System
GTPlanet’s new private messaging system is now called “Conversations”, and makes it much easier to communicate privately with other users and small groups.
Conversations act as “private” threads or topics, involving you and one other person or up to 50 people. Of course, you can be involved in multiple conversations at the same time, and other users can be invited to join the discussion at any time.*
* Only GTPlanet Premium subscribers can initiate a conversation with more than one other person.
You can also privately share files and other attachments with other users via the conversation system, and there are no limits to the number of messages you can store in your account.
Important conversations can be “starred” for easy filtering, and your Inbox can be sorted and organized by starter or participant.
Easy Video Embeds
It’s now easier than ever to share videos here in the forums: simply copy and paste the URL of a video’s web page, and a video player will be automatically embedded into your post. There’s no more formatting codes to remember, and videos can be embedded from a wider selection of services, including:
- YouTube
- Vimeo
- Dailymotion
- LiveLeak
- Metacafe
In addition automatic video embeds and unlimited photo hosting, GTPlanet’s post editor offers a significantly improved WYSIWYG experience, which shows the formatting of a post as you type.
Most formatting will be preserved when copy-and-pasting text from other post editors, and formatting will be fully preserved when copy-and-pasting text from one editor window to another.
@user Mentions
While you are composing a post, you can type the ‘@’ symbol followed by another user’s name. A suggested list of names will appear in an auto-complete menu, which you can use to help remember or reference longer or complex names.
When used, an @mention will automatically insert a link to the user’s profile and they will be notified via an alert, offering a more lean alternative to “quoting” messages.
Of course, a user will not be notified if they are @mentioned in a private conversation or any other context in which they do not have permission to view the post.
Auto-Saved Post Drafts
As you type a message on GTPlanet, a draft of your post will be automatically saved every 60 seconds. This prevents you from losing your work if your computer or mobile device were to crash or lose power while you’re typing a message.
Drafts are designed to be seamless to use, and any saved drafts will be automatically rendered back into the post editor if you return to a relevant thread or private message conversation.
Drafts are also available between different devices you may be using to interact with the site. You could, for example, start typing a post on your PC and finish it on your smartphone or tablet at a later time.
Unused drafts will be automatically pruned from the server after 30 days.
New Reply Alerts (While You Type!)
Have you ever written a lengthy post and hit “Submit”, only to see that a new post was made to the thread while you were typing?
Now, a small alert will be displayed above the post box if new replies have been posted to a thread within the last 60 seconds. You will have the option to load them without losing the reply you were already typing.
“Like” Posts
Often, you may come across a situation where you want to acknowledge or support someone else’s post, even though you might not have anything to add to the conversation yourself.
Now, simply click the “Like” button; your username will be added to a list of other people who have “liked” the content, and the user who posted it will be notified of your support.
To view all of your content which has been recently liked, see “Likes You’ve Received”.
News & Activity Feeds
GTPlanet is home to a very active community, and in the past it was difficult to to keep up with the thousands of posts made each day or to see what your friends were doing around the site.
Now, a personalized “News Feed” is available, which consolidates all of your friend’s activity into one simple stream of information, like what you may be familiar with on Twitter or Facebook.
Click here to manage the list of people who you follow. You can also quickly follow someone when viewing their profile or pop-up member card.
A “global” activity feed is also available, which you can use to see an unfiltered summary of everything that’s happening across the entire site at any given point in time.
Alerts System
It’s now easier to be alerted with activity on the site with the all-new Alerts system, available in the top menu bar.
You can configure Alerts to be notified of a wide range of events, such as when someone quotes or replies directly to one of your posts, “likes” one of your posts, replies to a thread or forum that you’re subscribed to, starts following you, etc.
Click here to manage your alert preferences to ensure you’re notified of the events which interest you the most.
Persistent Thread Read Marking
In the past, threads were automatically marked as “read” when you signed out of your GTPlanet account or your browsing session “expired” after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Now, threads will not be marked as “read” until you actually view them or click the “Mark Forums Read” button, available in the quick user menu (hover your mouse cursor over your username in the top menu bar) or at the bottom of the forum home page.*
Better yet, thread “read” status is persistent across all of your browsing sessions. This means that if you read a thread on your smartphone, it will immediately be marked as “read” on your PC or any other device you’re using with your account.
* Threads which remain unread after 30 days will automatically be marked as “read”.
Behind-The-Scenes Improvements
In addition to all of the new public features available, a wide range of new tools are available to our moderation staff, including stronger anti-spam technology, better reported post management, and a more refined user warning and infraction system. These will make it easier for our moderators to respond to problems faster and more effectively.
Update Your Avatar
During the conversion, user avatars were re-processed, which may have left your image distorted or pixelated.
To resolve this, simply upload a new copy of your avatar here.
One More Thing...
More improvements and new features will be rolled out in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned!
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