"MUST HAVES" for forum software

[garrettroyce]

Long story short - I've lost my mind and decided I need to program my own PHP forum software. :nuts:

What features would you want to see in it? Anything goes! Something you've seen before, or just thought of, or is completely impossible, let me know! ;)

[Anna]

good luck on your project

features I think should be in a forum:

PM system

member groups (so you can limit access for parts of the forum, or entire forum, for non registered users, as well as grant moderation capabilities to selected members)

easy way to find new posts since last visit, as well as be able to go to first unread post of a thread

I'm sure there are more, but these three are the ones that pop to me as base functions

[garrettroyce]

Thanks for the suggestions

To make things more interesting, I'll create a poll for the best original ideas or improvements on other "standard" forum features. Features don't have to be just for users, they can be backend tasks too. I'll pay out for the best 5:

5th: 100 credits
4th: 200 credits
3rd: 300 credits
2nd: 500 credits
1st: 1000 credits

[galaxyAbstractor]

openID support
Credit system
Arcade
better spam protection
Advanced stats
ad management
easy theme system
social bookmarks
most popular topic/tags
most used words
most common links
quick reply
polls
thread rating
age restrictive forums
age restrictive topics

[garrettroyce]

openID support
Credit system
Arcade
better spam protection
Advanced stats
ad management
easy theme system
social bookmarks
most popular topic/tags
most used words
most common links
quick reply
polls
thread rating
age restrictive forums
age restrictive topics

And 1st through 5th place goes to....Vigge_swe!

Just kidding But thanks. Every one of those is a great suggestion!

[tittat]

Quick reply with AJAX support.
Shout box
Link posting restricted to USERCLASS (for better spam protection)
PM Spam Protection
Referral System(may integrate it with credit system)
Some social Networking Features just like Profile,Albums,Add friends,Scrap book etc
Recyclebin (When a mod deletes a thread or post it should go to recyclebin so that admins can have a look at it)

[haslam1]

Ad insentives
very nice earns you money earns us credits
and what do credits make PRIZZZESSS!!!!!
good luck with ye project

[garrettroyce]

Thanks, these are all very good ideas!
Edit:
So far:

PM system
Member groups
Unread posts since last visit
Link to first unread post in threads
openID support
Credit system
Arcade
better spam protection
Advanced stats
ad management
easy theme system
social bookmarks
most popular topic/tags
most used words
most common links
quick reply
polls
thread rating
age restrictive forums
age restrictive topics
Quick reply with AJAX support.
Shout box
Link posting restricted to USERCLASS (for better spam protection)
PM Spam Protection
Referral System(may integrate it with credit system)
Some social Networking Features just like Profile,Albums,Add friends,Scrap book etc
Recyclebin (When a mod deletes a thread or post it should go to recyclebin so that admins can have a look at it)
Ad links for referral system

I know where I'll be for the next year ;)

[neteater]

i dont know that someone thinks about that or not but i want a mass registration system for the admin.admin just have to copy a list of email in given section then it assign username with 4 or 5 starting latters of email id and give s a default password to all member and then usually a email send them to require them to activate their account i only want this in my dream forum other features discussed before are available with every forum software

[garrettroyce]

So you'd want a "convert a list of emails to registered users" tool? It would create a temp name and temp password using the email address, email the notification to each address, and then the user would click the link to fully register?