Feedback On NewForum Software

[willyslover]

Steve. . I did not read all the pages of onfo on this post [I did read your anouncments ]. . just got a PM and it posted twice . . don't know if it was operator error or system. . also got two e-maols about PM

also noticed some that I had not deleted are now duplicated [I deleted them also] just a FYI. . i assume when software switched it duplicated them

 

[CORed]

Another thing I've noticed while using the site today... it's flaky. I've had to re-login about 4 times... no kidding. Once when trying to rate a thread. Once I logged in, it came back and said my rating was invalid. What gives?



Then I was posting a quick reply on another thread and when I posted it, it again asked me to log-in. I did and it said the thread I was posting to was invalid (or something like that) so my post never made it and I lost it.



I've only been on the site for about 30 minutes total.



Steve

 

[JoshPeters]

it.



I also miss the buddy list of users online. If it is around still, I can't find it. I can find my buddy list, but nowhere can I find a list of who is online or offline like before.



There are many things I like too. Thanks!!

I agree. I liked being able to see who was online and PM them quick if I thought of something. I found it, but it's not easy access like before. I like some of the new features, still getting used to it.....



Josh

 

[Bandit2]

Working great on this end. Running Win. XP Like the new set up!

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I don't see the down arrow anywhere on any thread.



-Deon

These are the down arrows I'm talking about. They will only be on threads that have new posts since the last time you logged in and that you have not read during this time online. Unread posts are only kept track of since your last login time. The last login time works off of a 15 minute timeout - once you've been away from the site for 15 minutes your last login date/time is reset and only posts since that time will be listed as unread. There's no practical way to keep track of which posts you haven't read - 900,000 posts x 20,000 users would be too much of a load on the server. This version does it one better than the old server in that it does keep track of posts that you've read during this session.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

At the top of each thread page, there are the 4 drop-downs for "Thread Tools", "Search this Thread", "Rate... ". It would be nice to have these at the bottom of each thread page as well. This way one doesn't need to scroll all the way to the top to subscribe, search, or rate the thread.



-Deon

In order to do that I would have to replicate a bunch of Javascript code to make it work which would make the page significantly larger than it already is. What you can do is at the bottom of the page there is a "top" link that will take you back to the top of the page without having to reload it. I have to take performance into consideration and unforetunately this would take away from it for not much advantage.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Thanks for your work Steve. As a website developer myself, I appreciate your efforts. You've been very open to suggestions as well which is sometimes difficult.



Anyway, just a couple of nits... the Quick Reply icons were very difficult to find at first - took me several visits to finally find it. The picture of a typed page next to the Quote button had me confused. I thought they were one in the same. Maybe an icon with the label "QR" would be more quickly understandable. Or add more space in between the two images. Also, I still don't understand what benefit it provides me. The quick reply area was always enabled before, now it isn't. It's an extra click just to enable it that I wasn't required to do before. Just enable it all the time and the little icon can just serve one very simple purpose... take me immediately to the bottom of the page if I choose to use it.



I also miss the buddy list of users online. If it is around still, I can't find it. I can find my buddy list, but nowhere can I find a list of who is online or offline like before.



And the numerical links in the upper right hand of each reply just pops up a window with that one reply in it. What's the point? For printing maybe? If so, it still includes all the graphics and such. If it was just the text, that may be usable for printing. I wonder if removing it altogether would help provide performance improvements as I too, have noticed a slightly slower response... and I'm on a T1 or Broadband connection.



There are many things I like too. Thanks!!

Pull down the display mode menu and change it to threaded mode and you'll see why you have to click on the quick reply icon to activate the window. In threaded mode the posts are listed below the post that you replied to, so if you replied to the very first post in this thread your post would be listed under it in a subtree. In order for that to work the system has to know which post you are replying to - hence why you have to hit the quick reply button to activate the box - otherwise it wouldn't know which post you were replying to. It links to the replying post if you click on the quote button too. If you click on "post reply" your post is just added to the very end.



A number of people have had a hard time finding that link so I will put it on my list to change it to a button that says "quick reply".



For the buddy list pull down the discussion forums menu to buddy list. There are two lists on that page - one for everyone on your list who is online and another for everyone on your list that is offline.



The numerical links at the upper right are there so that if you want to link someone directly to a specific reply on a thread you can. In the past you could only refer them to the entire thread. The code to make that work is only a few characters - wouldn't make squat difference.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Duplicate PM's are caused by the same thing duplicate posts are. When the system is slow people need to be patient. When the system doesn't respond right back they click on "post" again. If the post had already gone through and the system just hadn't spit out another page yet another post gets sent. The system is going to be slow for a few days yet. The search index rebuild is on post #545,000 of 900,000 right now. Rebuilding the search engine puts an EXTREME load on the server. Before the TDR purchased these servers rebuilding the search index would crash the server every time. That it's performing as good as it is with the load we're placing on it is unreal.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Another thing I've noticed while using the site today... it's flaky. I've had to re-login about 4 times... no kidding. Once when trying to rate a thread. Once I logged in, it came back and said my rating was invalid. What gives?



Then I was posting a quick reply on another thread and when I posted it, it again asked me to log-in. I did and it said the thread I was posting to was invalid (or something like that) so my post never made it and I lost it.



I've only been on the site for about 30 minutes total.



Steve

Look at this post Having trouble staying logged in? and do what it says in there. It will most likely solve your problem.

 

[JoshPeters]

my list to change it to a button that says "quick reply".



For the buddy list pull down the discussion forums menu to buddy list. There are two lists on that page - one for everyone on your list who is online and another for everyone on your list that is offline.

QUOTE]



That is my question/point. I'm not going to reopen, or have just a screen for my Buddy list open all the time. Before everytime I went back to my User screen it was there and refreshed so I could see who was on, or got off. It was kind of nice. To catch people if you wanted to PM them. If it can't be changed I'll just deal. Not a biggie.



Josh

 

[DLausche]

These are the down arrows I'm talking about. They will only be on threads that have new posts since the last time you logged in and that you have not read during this time online. Unread posts are only kept track of since your last login time. The last login time works off of a 15 minute timeout - once you've been away from the site for 15 minutes your last login date/time is reset and only posts since that time will be listed as unread. There's no practical way to keep track of which posts you haven't read - 900,000 posts x 20,000 users would be too much of a load on the server. This version does it one better than the old server in that it does keep track of posts that you've read during this session.

I see them now. I swear I did not see them earlier today while at work. I was looking for the arrows right where I see them now. Also was looking for the highlighted thread title and there were none no matter which forum I visited. Maybe I'm just having a bad day or loosing it a bit. Seems to be working now. Thanks for all of your efforts with this upgrade.



-Deon