PM Logging
 

I think it's time PM logs got a major overhaul.

Major revisions:
1) Reverse the logging direction. Really, bottom-to-top logging? Makes more sense to just append, script-wise, than to insert at the top, and makes more sense to read from top-to-bottom like most logs. I hate reading logs from PMs when people show me, it always takes me a few to realize I'm reading it the wrong way.

2) XML format? With the above suggestion, logs would start getting messed up as the new format is appended onto old logs. Maybe it's time to convert over to an XML format and give each date a collapsible element to more easily navigate through longer logs.
edit: raw XML is quite ugly, and average players shouldn't have to see that. Could create an XML log viewer in-game that interpretted the XML into a pretty-format, and maybe by default, collapse all elements(so you're not initially viewing a huge 1MB file log).

3) Name format. Right now it uses, YOU and OPPOSITE. Perhaps it should use the nick, or account. I suggest nick possibly as sometimes that might have a lot to do with the conversation at hand... though longer nicks may be annoying in logs. Could simply clip off after a certain character. Account might be redundant since the filename itself stores the account.

Welcome to any other suggestions as well. This would be a good thing to add to the new version as many things are getting changed.

1. I disagree with the logging direction; right now, the files are saved from top-to-bottom, which I'm sure you know, but the direction is reversed when viewed. This makes it a lot easier to find what you're looking for.

2. Sounds fine to me, since I don't normally go looking through the PM files, but there should be a way to view someone's log if they're offline (especially useful as proof to prove a ban or something when the player is offline)

3. Account would be best, and PMs should save in a different folder depending on the account you use.

So they're purposefully reversed? That's silly. Just about every other log format uses top-to-bottom and no one complains about it being too hard to find anything. I don't think it'd be hard at all to find anything in logs if they were more properly organized(hence my suggestion with XML).

Files will still be saved offline, and most of the time, XML file extension is assigned to a web-browser, which usually interprets it in a somewhat pretty fashion.

Sounds good.

1. Yes, I never liked reading bottom to top on logs, I am used to newest being on the bottom for anything that is logged. When you open PM history in game, it should be top to bottom and automatically start at the bottom of the history, to which you can scroll up to your desired point and move down.

2.Certainly would be prettier if logs could be read like that, with dates being expandable/collapsable.

3. I would agree on the nickname at the time of sending/recieveing to a certain char length or nick:account. As long as the account name is always visible somewhere in game so you know really who is talking so you don't get confused at a point where someone had a weird nick.

Agreed with Dusty.

Only being able to view decent logs in game is an even bigger inconvenience to what we have now. For everything else though, I agree.