[Closed] Forum Update

[b]Cougar[/b] wrote:

And it has.  Click the # link under the post in the “Replies created” list.

Wow - that actually works for me - and works the way we've always wanted it to. Thanks!

[b]craig5[/b] wrote:

and whats happened to the forum search? I want to get back on the Alfa thread

https://cse.google.com/cse/publicurl?cx=002353871167780190211:ffna6g0opko

Oh youtube links don’t work for me no matter what I do.

Paste the URL - the full URL, not a youtu.be shortcut - in plaintext.

CANT

Can't.  Unless you're talking about Brian.

(-:

<p>Oh youtube links don’t work for me no matter what I do.</p>

me neither.

maybe it’s because I’m a cant...

So, loads of 'fancy' new features that still don't work properly - but still no fixing the one feature everyone is asking to be restored, that used to work fine (list of topics you've posted in). Keep up the good work!

So, loads of ‘fancy’ new features that still don’t work properly – but still no fixing the one feature everyone is asking to be restored, that used to work fine (list of topics you’ve posted in). Keep up the good work!

You mean the bit that was fixed earlier today? Please do keep up.

Not fixed for me.

Or do you mean the secret way of doing it by clicking on the hash that you can only find out about by trawling through this thread, that still doesn't work anywhere near as well as the old way.

now not trying to be a pain and I certainly don't understand IT stuff -

and seeing as we pay for this - one way or another

have I missed the apology?

I probably have cause I can't be arsed plowing through everything and searching - well

but you know

Yup there’s been a few.

We know it’s not great, we know it’s still not fixed, we know some really aren’t very happy at all. It’s part of a bigger project that was needed doing to keep the forum and STW going. They knew it wouldn’t be great but they had to commit and they did. Sorry it’s still, well a bit crap but please just hang in while it gets sorted.

that still doesn’t work anywhere near as well as the old way.

Whist I take your point, that's not helpful.  In what way doesn't it work as well?  What would you like to see differently?

[b]grum[/b] wrote:

Or do you mean the secret way of doing it by clicking on the hash that you can only find out about by trawling through this thread, that still doesn’t work anywhere near as well as the old way.

Well it might be preferable if the link was more obvious, but TBH I'd have found it anyway (though I suppose that's only because I was opening the relevant page because I'd hacked a far worse way of doing it) and now we know what does it matter? As for the functionality, how does it work worse than it used to? From what I can see it actually works far better - going straight to your last post is what we've been calling for for years (to be fair it ought to be a piece of piss to make those links given access to server code, they were already being generated for other bits of the forum).

Just to prove I can be positive about this change - I think that was the main bit of missing functionality which isn't easy to fix client side (if somebody could send me a list of valid text codes for smileys my life would be complete!)

Hang on Drac, does this mean it's my turn to be Bad Cop?

AWESOME!

Um.  You all smell.  Or something.

<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px; background-color: #eeeeee;"> In what way doesn’t it work as well?  What would you like to see differently?</span>

Well...

Well…

How is that in any way related to what Grum was talking about?

@CFH we know the quoting is rubbish for you lot with buttons, but it's not as bad as quoting out of context...

to be fair it ought to be a piece of piss to make those links given access to server code

Again I'm speculating, but,

Every time you make a change to raw code, you reduce portability.  A new version of the forum software comes along and you have to implement those same changes all over again.

It's far preferable to make customisations outside of the codebase, be that config files or plug-ins or stylesheets or whatever.  Randomly hacking about with the server code, whilst superficially trivial, is I suspect how we ended up here in the first place.

Pretty much if I remember rightly Cougar.

Whist I take your point, that’s not helpful.  In what way doesn’t it work as well?  What would you like to see differently?

It's more helpful than closing threads where people ask about it and pointing them to this thread as if it has the answers, then expecting them to trawl through it to find a post where you explain a totally non-intuitive way of doing something sort of similar but no-where near as convenient.

I realise I sound moany but this is an absolute shit-show.

Do I honestly have to explain why it's not as good as it was before?

Edit: OK it seems I do - so before, you could quickly see a list of threads you'd posted in, and see if there had been any replies, who made them, and when.

Now I have to look through the posts I've written, and click on the magic secret hash symbol to read the thread individually before I know whether anyone has replied, no? Or am I missing something?

Just edited that post twice for mystery formatting errors also.

“Yup there’s been a few.”

I may have missed it, but I’ve not seen an apology. I’ve seen plenty of ‘yeah, we know it’s not great but...’

But I’ve definitely not seen a “look, we stuffed up, we’re really sorry and please bear with us whilst we fix it as fast as we can. We value your custom”

Your post just now was the most sincere apology I’ve seen. The point being that you’re not even someone who works for the company, and you’re having to apologise for them

And great, I now have a secret back door to threads I’ve posted on. I still can’t see what that thread actually was until I’ve clicked on it and then scrolled. More clicks = less functionality

Oh before I forget, I'd like to thank whoever has made the URL to the old forum automatically redirect to the new one. That was the only thing that was really annoying. I can now go back to just pressing s and letting Google auto fill the URL to the bike forum 😁

Just clicked on page 38 of this thread and got taken straight to the Classified rules page. 😀

There have been other posts Zokes I suppose it depends what you accept as an apology. As a moderator I kind of do work for them, often we are the voice on the forums. Trust me I find some of the bugs bloody annoying too but in time it’ll be fixed.

[b]Cougar[/b] wrote:

Every time you make a change to raw code, you reduce portability.  A new version of the forum software comes along and you have to implement those same changes all over again.
It’s far preferable to make customisations outside of the codebase, be that config files or plug-ins or stylesheets or whatever.  Randomly hacking about with the server code, whilst superficially trivial, is I suspect how we ended up here in the first place.

You're missing the point a bit here I think - I'm suggesting that the relevant links were already in use in the forum software elsewhere. So it's code re-use rather than hacking - though I suspect in reality it's just selecting a particular hook in the underlying software.

 It’s more helpful than closing threads where people ask about it and pointing them to this thread as if it has the answers, then expecting them to trawl through it to find a post where you explain a totally non-intuitive way of doing something sort of similar but no-where near as convenient.

Conversely, it's less helpful to have 37 concurrent threads all discussing broadly the same thing.

Do I honestly have to explain why it’s not as good as it was before?

Yes in relation to this specific function, because it's a feature I've never used so I've no idea what you're talking about.

Someone simply sitting there going "well, it's all shit" doesn't help anyone fix things.  (That's not directed at you just to be clear, I;m talking generally.)  If you want something changing then the devs need to know what that is in as much detail as possible.

So, thank you for the information, I'll pass it on.

it’s code re-use rather than hacking

Sure.  I wasn't suggesting it was a difficult change, rather this stuff is modular.  If you make a manual change to foo.php, then install an upgrade to the forum software which replaces foo.php, then that change will be lost and will have to be re-implemented.

Well, to be fair. It is all a bit shit 🙂

Ah, Moderators - I just reported the post above because I tjhought I'd be asked a reason!

the Reason:

A 'known issues' and 'known workarounds' thread would be really useful. Sticky and locked to non STW staff/moderators.

Keep the bun fight in this thread and the facts in another.

Could we have a couple of topic specific stickies re: posting pics and quoting?

I thought I'd figured them both out but currently can't quote and can't post pics.

Not prepared to trawl through 38 pages to find the solution to either, sorry... 😳

Edit: D'oh! Hadn't read wwaswas's post immediately above, at least I know the edit function works!

Like Button for BBPress

2012 so quite upto date for here 😉

http://jordiplana.com/bbpress-like-button-plugin

which is why there has been a repeated request for two (2) threads.

Where? You're making it up 😆

I will try to do one but I’m doing proper work this week. I’ll try to take a look tomorrow and compile something with Cougar as I’m behind a bit with what’s changed.

A guide is tricky though as some tricks work for some but not others.

‘A guide is tricky though as some tricks work for some but not others.’

So does that imply there is no intention to fix the crappy new forum?

How do I quote?
How do I get to threads I have contributed to?
Didn’t there used to be a short cut to login at the bottom of each thread? Now you have to scroll to the very top

What's the purpose of the "Reply" button being at the bottom ever every post? It's not like it embeds, or indeed gives the option to quote the post you're replying to...

https://invisioncommunity.com/

Mmm

Of course it doesn’t FunkyDunc.

I've just trawled through a bit more thread and found the answer to "how do I go to threads I've posted on?" It's been mentioned a few times but it's easily missed in amongst all of the "feedback". I'll back the suggestion of a locked sticky with some official "how to do" items and official update news.

Go to your profile, "replies created" at the bottom of each post is a # symbol. Press that and it takes you to that post in the thread.

At least on iPad and iPhone on the latest iOS, in safari and opera.

Why is "take me to this post" disguised as a # symbol? Surely that is a very quick fix and one that doesn't obfuscate basic functionality?

<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Where? You’re making it up 😆</span>

i was predicting the future. The very next post is a repeat of the request pretty much.

🙀

Forum seems a bit dead doesn't it?

Hope you mods are enjoying a well-earned rest.

I've looked at the network requests (Chrome developer tools) and the resource "admin-ajax.php" would appear to be a blocker. From sending the request it's 2.55 seconds, yes that's seconds!, before the first byte is sent.

The other request is from jordiplana.com which is related to the BB like image above - that takes over three seconds before there's a server response.

Silence from the website owners is pretty deafening. How long since the ‘update’ now? Better than the weird passive/aggressive posts though I guess.

Pages are bit of a dog loading at the moment and when you hit the submit button, you're never sure if its been sent or not and lifetime later the page loads.

<edit> took 11sec from submit to page loading

Nobody's listening, nobody cares except 2 bewildered mods with no power to do anything

I dont want drift from this site, but I have a growing feeling of disinterst or desire to return.

Just getting a bit meh!

Was a very useful site, both for a laugh and getting very useful knowledge on any subject, even bikes :).

Stepping out for a while, mayby sometime........mayby 😉

And...

I totally sympathise with Drac and Cougar. Dont why you bother any more guys.

Is this article about HTTPS of any relevence here. Its about google tagging sites who dont use it as being unsecure and this was blathered about earlier

https://gizmodo.com/google-will-soon-start-shaming-all-sites-that-don-t-use-1822842705

Fire the IT guys.

"A ‘known issues’ and ‘known workarounds’ thread would be really useful. Sticky and locked to non STW staff/moderators."

good idea.
sorry if this is a repeat but there are alot of pages to read through...
Is there a way to make the freshness section tell me who posted?Is that borked forever?
& it would be handy if "topic started" info to return?
I used my forum history to track threads/topics , now I just see a list of my posts.
Is that the new normal?

Not going to bother with pics....etc
🙂

it would be handy if “topic started” info to return?

I wasn't aware that it'd gone away?  What do you mean?

I used my forum history to track threads/topics , now I just see a list of my posts.

The '#' link will take you to the relevant thread.

The ‘#’ link will take you to the relevant thread.

Wouldn't it be a great idea to replace the hash with some meaningful text for the link, perhaps something that briefly described the functionality?

Especially in light of the lack of documentation and ergonomic failures of the interface.

I get the feeling that the new forum has been put together by somebody who can kind of code, but has no experience of any of the other aspects of a software project - it's a bedroom job, like a return to the early 2000's when everyone was a web developer, and no-one was a designer.

It's a bit worrying that, two weeks after the forum 'update', both functionality and appearance are still significantly worse than they were on the previous platform, and across all devices (mine at least) - phone, ipad, laptop. Visitor numbers and time spent on the site must have fallen off a cliff, and the advertising revenue with it.

This^^^^^^

Why is “take me to this post” disguised as a # symbol? Surely that is a very quick fix and one that doesn’t obfuscate basic functionality?

Like I said up there yesterday.

in true STW fashion no one reads the thread, not even the MODS.

It's sooooo sloooow! Takes (a good, scratch that) at least 20 secs to load after a post, or editing a post now. And seems to be getting slower.

I just tried to post a normal reply in a normal thread and got the coffee cup. It's like.. why bother.

That was this thread -  http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-law-of-attraction-the-secret-and-positive-visualisation - has it been deleted for some reason??

46 seconds after hitting submit on that. Pretty much unusable.

I'm sure they're aware, but I've passed on your comments.  Thanks.

in true STW fashion no one reads the thread, not even the MODS.

Demonstrably.

Cheers Whitestone that’s helpful.

Just stumbled across this thread never knew it was here.

Which is this thread? 😆

Ok.

It’ll be a slow today and over the weekend as there’s some magic going on at STW towers.

Another one -  http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/formula-brake-clearout-2/   mtbmarkymark's sale thread in the classifieds. Coffee cup.. (just noticed it shows pink in my threads list)

I don't know what's been changed over the last day but the view on my mobile is now awful.  You have to scroll past two big ads before getting to the forum header then another one to get to the threads!  Takes three full screens worth to get down to something readable.  The add float over he told of the Single-track banner at the top too.  Al on the latest version of chrome.  Typing s really laggy too.

Also it's sucking huge amounts of data again.

thought the IT guys dont work weekends 🤔

They don’t no but the internet does.

It’ll be a slow today and over the weekend as there’s some magic going on at STW towers.

We'll like that... not a lot, but we'll like it.

"some magic going on at STW towers" someone clearly has no shame.

STW web wizard at work

There's a definite bug regarding formatting of pasted text. Start a post, copy and paste some text from elsewhere into the post, apply some formatting (bold or italic will do), click "submit". The copied text does not appear as you intended but has HTML tags wrapping it. This happens even if you are copying from a plain text editor (such as used for programming) so there's no weird codes in there.

Similarly you used to be able to use the "Copy links" functionality in Imgur which gave you the whole link wrapped in BB codes. This doesn't work anymore - you have to use the dialog box to insert the BB codes.

It has to be the code behind the text entry field doing something like translation between BB & HTML codes on the fly whereas before it was only done when you pressed the submit button.

Rincewind there fixing stuff.

Two things:

RSS feeds?

Fix for SwiftKey balls up?

Ta.

Another one –  http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/formula-brake-clearout-2/   mtbmarkymark’s sale thread in the classifieds. Coffee cup.. (just noticed it shows pink in my threads list)

Ok, that's odd.  I know what was causing that originally, it was a hare-brained anti-spam measure which was blocking threads with multiple links in it.  As far as I was aware this was disabled.  I'll flag it up.

I don’t know what’s been changed over the last day but the view on my mobile is now awful.

Likewise, I'll report that.

RSS feeds?

This was pulled intentionally, it's mentioned on the first page of this thread.

Fix for SwiftKey balls up?

Swype? (-:

Indexing?

Thanks cougar ,I’ll try the hash!key.
Topic started info- I used to be able to see who started the topic and when. As in ,”how old is this thread I am about to reply to...” ( in days ,hours etc). Now I don’t .
Sorry to be a fusspot.:-)
Maybe we’ll all wake up on Monday and it will have been a bad dream, like Bobby Ewing’s death in Dallas.

Dude, spoilers.

Yeah, good point. I was waiting with anticipation to see what the forum would be like on Monday, now senor has spoiled it for me.

How do I search the forum for a post I haven’t responded to?

Really irritating on the ipad - when you select text to quote or italicise - the ipad's edit bar covers the code bar on the post window.