Sending Turn Reports Automatically

[Joshuamonkey]

It would be nice if we could check an option to send Turn Reports to our email automatically, with just the ones older than 4 days being sent automatically, so that we'd have time to name characters and such, or maybe just 2 days.

[Comy]

This would be wonderful. I've been forgetting turn reports a lot lately because I have no reason to scroll down to the bottom of the page and I always end up missing days with important things.

[Snickie]

02:11:49: <Joshuamonkey> I'm still so annoyed that I rarely kept turn reports back in the day.
02:12:12: <Wolfsong> I still don't save turn reports, and maybe I should look into getting a migration agent?
02:12:16: <Shay> I wonder if I still have my old ones....
02:12:36: <Joshuamonkey> Turn reports are very helpful.
02:12:48: <Snickie_> Yes, they are.
02:12:51: <Joshuamonkey> Very very. Email search function..
02:13:04: <Snickie_> Like, in remember who your character gave such-and-such key to.
02:13:19: Snickie_ glares at a man in his thirties in unnamed location.
02:13:44: <Joshuamonkey> I still often record important stuff in notes though.
02:14:02: <Shay> I've got reports from day 805 to day 2415
02:14:19: <Joshuamonkey> Nice
02:14:33: <Shay> but haven't kept any from my recent chars
02:20:03: <Mojo> I used to make sure I kept everyone of them, then I realized that I rarely look at them so why bother, I do it if I think about it.
02:20:59: <Shay> none of mine do anything I need to worry over right now
02:22:13: <Wolfsong> there's no way for turn reports to be sent automatically to you right?
02:22:16: <Wolfsong> you have to click?
02:22:32: <Joshuamonkey> Yes
02:22:44: <Wolfsong> pity, that'd be a nice addition - if there was a box you could check
02:22:45: <Joshuamonkey> I wish there was a way though.
02:22:49: <Wolfsong> and it'd automatically send you turn reports
02:23:02: <Wolfsong> shouldn't be that difficult
02:23:16: <Snickie_> All turn reports older than 4 days.
02:23:23: <Joshuamonkey> That might help people not leave Cantr if they check their email a lot.
02:23:35: <Snickie_> Then you'd still have the option of sending the more recent ones early.
02:23:53: <Wolfsong> I don't see why it'd have to be older than 4 days
02:23:56: <Joshuamonkey> How come?
02:23:59: <Joshuamonkey> @Snickie
02:24:02: <Wolfsong> you can view the most recent currently
02:24:05: <Wolfsong> this would just automate the process
02:24:41: <Snickie_> Button: "Automatically send turn reports."
02:24:47: <Snickie_> Button: "Automatically send turn reports." Check.
02:25:16: <Snickie_> Then it will automatically send you then turn report each day at a certain time.
02:25:37: <Wolfsong> yeah
02:25:38: <Snickie_> Like, if today is 3348, then it'll send 3344. And tomorrow it'll send 3345.
02:25:51: <Snickie_> And so on and so forth.
02:26:00: <Joshuamonkey> But why wait 4 days?
02:26:02: <Wolfsong> but why the delay - yeah
02:26:03: <Snickie_> So that you have plenty of time to edit names and locations.
02:26:09: <Snickie_> If you need to.
02:26:21: <Joshuamonkey> Hmm, didn't think of that.
02:26:33: <Snickie_> I always keep three turn reports at the bottom of my page.
02:26:41: <Wolfsong> you can just not select the automatic option if you're that sort of person
02:26:45: <Wolfsong> and continue to do it manually
02:26:50: <Snickie_> True
02:26:57: <Joshuamonkey> I always send my turn reports when I see them.
02:27:04: <Snickie_> But if you're on vacation mode.
02:27:06: <Joshuamonkey> But that's when I'm logging out, after naming and such usually.
02:27:24: <Snickie_> I've gotten in the habit of naming characters I see doing stuff
02:27:33: <Wolfsong> have it send out automatically... hm, when the site goes down around 1:30 AM EST? during that whole process?

I believe that's the IRC discussion that led the way to this topic.

If you guys can draw anything to add on / take away based on that, then feel free to say so.

[SekoETC]

I think turn reports used to be sent automatically way back in the past (before I joined) but it was turned off because it was putting too much strain on the server. It has been suggested several times but rejected for that reason.

[Doug R.]

*agrees with Seko*

[Chris]

How about moving the Player Menu section up above all that text that is read once, at most? And how about making better use of screen real estate so as much useful stuff is visible in the first screen as possible? (The main page reminds me of websites in the 90s that had everything on a single Home page, instead of dividing content into separate pages.)

[Doug R.]

That's a decent idea.

[viktor]

How about moving the Player Menu section up above all that text that is read once, at most? And how about making better use of screen real estate so as much useful stuff is visible in the first screen as possible? (The main page reminds me of websites in the 90s that had everything on a single Home page, instead of dividing content into separate pages.)

i find that at 100% magnification with my window maximised, there is room on the sides if a table was wanted to be put in for links, just an idea, then it would be up near the top always

[Snickie]

i find that at 100% magnification with my window maximised, there is room on the sides if a table was wanted to be put in for links, just an idea, then it would be up near the top always

How big is your screen?

[viktor]

oh the resolution is set to 1366x768
somehow i forget not everyone has it set the same

[Snickie]

My netbook screen is 1024x680. So obviously that won't work for me the. Way it'd work for you.

[Armulus Satchula]

I think turn reports used to be sent automatically way back in the past (before I joined) but it was turned off because it was putting too much strain on the server. It has been suggested several times but rejected for that reason.

Wasn't that back when cantr was still running on a VPS and not a dedicated server? One way to not crush a server is to break up the tasks throughout the week. Cantr goes back 7 days already, so daily turn reports i find to be a lot less useful than weekly reports.

You'll need to created a new table for the ID's of players who want their turn reports.

Default is off.
When a player turns on the automatic turn report they are given a random day of the week which their report always comes on.
First tick of the day populates the table with those who are supposed to receive their report that day.
Each tick takes 12.5% of those from the table.

Now you've broken up your processing to different days of the week. Running once, instead of 7 times, and throughout the day instead of one tick.

[EchoMan]

Weekly reports wouldn't work well for people who actually use their reports, since dynamic naming may not have kicked in for recent days. A lot of players wait a few days before claiming their reports just because of that.

Also, why do we need a new table? It's just a boolean value in the existing player settings, yes?

[Piscator]

Wait... wouldn't the report use the dynamical naming of the time it's created? Shouldn't the names always be in their most actual state? Or am I missing something?

[EchoMan]

Cantr saves 7 days of events. Say e.g. from Sunday to Saturday. If you opt to recieve your weekly report on Sundays, the Saturday data is just one day old, and not four days as seems to be quite common to use, to make sure you have got the names of everyone straight.