In the coming days I will be changing the Buddy/Block List to a blocking-only list (called, appropriately enough, the "Block List").
Right now the only thing that "buddies" are used for on the Buddy/Block List is to add your buddies' names to a quick drop-down list on the "Send New PM" page. In other words, there isn't a heck of a lot of use.
So what I'll be doing is moving all the buddies on everyone's lists to their Favorites Members list, and the drop-down list on the "Send New PM" page will get the names from the Favorite Members list instead of the Buddy/Block List.
Having both a "Buddy List" and a "Favorite Members" list is pretty pointless, so I think people should generally agree that this change makes sense.
The only significant change is that the Buddy/Block List is hidden, while the Favorites lists are displayed publicly by default. So if for some reason you don't want people to see who is on your Favorites list(s), just change the setting in the Options menu above ("Favorites Settings").
I'll move everyone's buddies to their Favorites list by Monday evening at the earliest. (It may be later than that, but it won't be sooner than that.) That should give everyone ample time to change the privacy setting, if they are so inclined.
(However, as an aside, I really think there is a lot of value in keeping one's favorites lists public, because it's a way of letting other people know what you personally think is most valuable on Lottery Post.)
As I mentioned above, the Buddy/Block List will become the Block List, and it will function pretty much the same as it does right now. All the entries in the Block List will remain private (unlike the buddies/favorites), as they always have been.
When I install the new features, I'll also be installing some other enhancements that are almost ready:
- I've made the smooth scrolling more smooth and consistent.
- The popup menu that gets displayed when you click someone's name will add two new choices: (1) to immediately add or remove that member to/from your Favorites list (without leaving the current page), and (2) to take you to that member's Favorites page.
- More graphics refinements, mainly some new icons that are more Vista-like.
- For IE7 web browsers, the transparent effect on popup menus and the main blue menus will go away, and the menus will have solid backgrounds instead. The reason for this is that Microsoft has decided in IE7 that for any object that has an effect applied to it, such as transparency, shadows, fading, wiping, etc., they disable ClearType text for that object. The result is much less legible text, which is much lighter and harder to read. When you disable the effects, the text become highly readable again. So as much as I like the effects, I have come to the conclusion that readability wins out, and until Microsoft reverses their policy on this, IE7 will show menus without effects. (Sorry!)
- A bunch of minor bug fixes, most notably the breadcrumbs on some pages were pointing to the wrong links.
There are tons of little things here and there that I have been busy fixing, and like the last release, it's the kind of thing where you'll suddenly see something new -- not some major new feature, but just "something".
All of the above will get installed sometime in the next few days. My best guess would be Tuesday evening, but whenever it is, I'll post a comment to announce it.