The fact that I even read this thread is something of an oddity, but I'll go ahead and address this even though it's probably better suited for the Feedback forum...
Potter wrote:also, can we take a step back and ponder how fucking effing baller this site would be if we could embed youtubes? It would be so much easier, especially since this is the only fucking site I visit where links clicked open in the same tab, so when I habitually close the tab after watching the video, I get to open indyddr and find the thread I was in again. I know brian hates change on this forum and would absolutely never ever do this, even though in phpbb3 it takes literally 5 minutes and is flawless security wise, brian, Ill paypal you 50 dollars right now to allow youtube embeds. Id like, actually check the forum more often and stuff
I'll perhaps give some thought to YouTube embeds. Is it for YouTube only and not just Flash embeds (which we did have here in a previous incarnation of the forums)? My biggest concern with anything like this isn't so much security as it is page load times where you end up waiting for an external site to respond before the page can be completed.
As for the latter point, that actually bothers me, too. I've often accidentally closed a tab after visiting a link myself. I'm sure I could fix that in the templates, but is there an easier way (just some setting in phpBB3)?
You see, it's not that I fear or hate change... It's that change requires work and IndyDDR is pretty darn low in my priority thread for allocating any sort of effort. One of the reasons it still exists is that its current incarnation has been kept simple enough to pretty much run on autopilot and not require much, if any, intervention.
It was one thing when we were an active, vibrant, and growing community. I was delighted to throw hours and hours at the site for the visible benefits it provided the community. But now that we're down to maybe a dozen of us just shooting the shit over whatever (which I do still enjoy), I am not as motivated to spend much time providing what amounts to minor conveniences for a small number of people--even if one of those people is myself.
You're still welcome to make suggestions (though I invite you to do them in the Feedback forum where I'm more likely to actually see them). I will evaluate them and I'll probably at least tell you my reasoning as to why I will or will not do it. And, if I seem to be ignoring a suggestion, I may be taking
Thumper's father's advice.