Any reason why the quote button doesn’t seem to work for me. I hit it  , get a cursor in the box, then it won’t let me paste anything there.  Using Firefox if that matters.

It’s quite frustrating that an easy to use popular forum has been borked.  I’ve turned off my recurring annual subscription. I’ll decide whether to renew when the time comes.

The situation IS getting a bit long in the tooth for patience.  IMHO…

Any reason why the quote button doesn’t seem to work for me. I hit it , get a cursor in the box, then it won’t let me paste anything there. Using Firefox if that matters.

…I dream of having a quote button! 🙂

@whitestone

That works fine, thank you for your help,

Anyone mentioned that SwiftKey is somewhat temperamental on here?

How do we post a pic from an iPad now?

How do we post a pic from an iPad now?

Send your pics to:-

Take Hart
c/o Singletrackworld
Todmorden
Lancashire

The best pictures will be selected and displayed on our forum. We cannot return your pictures, sorry.

Anyone mentioned that SwiftKey is somewhat temperamental on here?

Yes it has cheers. I’ve no answer for you though sorry.

Oh yes quote appears to be fixed.

Go Jamba and TJ start your copy and paste frenzy.

Oh yes quote appears to be fixed.
Go Jamba and TJ start your copy and paste frenzy.

Good Lord!

<div>Drac
<div>
<div>Subscriber</div>
</div>
</div>

<div>

Oh yes quote appears to be fixed.

Still some work for usernames in quotes – default still looks like you need to break the link too

</div>

“Oh yes quote appears to be fixed.”

Presumably only for those anointed with the formatting buttons?

Daily updates now in the ‘Our Forum’ thread.

Yup Zokes has buy you can type [.quote] [./quote] without . For now.

Not tested it on my iPad yet.

Good Lord!

Good Lord!

and on mobile

Can’t edit posts on my mobile tho

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>zokes
<div class=”bbp-author-role”>
<div class=””>Member</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class=”bbp-reply-content”>

“Oh yes quote appears to be fixed.”

Presumably only for those anointed with the formatting buttons?

</div>

Looking good!

Also the post image box spans over a portrait screen for me (chrome/android ) with the cancel being off screen

Is it not time to stop the criticism?  We have all had our chance to air our issues and most seem to be being tackled.

It’s in STW’s interest to fix the issues and they are clearly aware of that now.  Ad revenue, driven by visits is likely to have taken a bump and that will hit them in the pocket – as would departing subscribers.

Many of us have the knowledge and experience to have managed this more smoothly – but STW probably does not have the resources to hire a lot of people with that capability.  Although it is a business, STW was started by enthusiasts for enthusiasts and let’s face it, that is not the largest niche or most profitable model.

By taking a different approach – by perhaps creating a separate defect log thread where users can report problems or ‘features’, we could cool the temperature down somewhat?  Also maybe a thread where people could offer their support in terms of knowledge, effort and lessons learned – that would be more in the spirit of our STW community?  Make no mistake, this is ‘our community’ – STW have provided the infrastructure and functionality – but we make it what it is and can make it better again.

I am not a techy but have led digital change programmes, other business change programmes – involving significant technology investment and delivered the technical implemention of large systems.  I would be happy to offer some support.  Many of you on here are similar to me or far more technical or otherwise capable and could do the same.  It would be much more positive…

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>jamj1974
<div class=”bbp-author-role”>
<div class=””>Subscriber</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class=”bbp-reply-content”>

Is it not time to stop the criticism?

You new here?

Also, actually I’m just trying out the quote function..

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>jamj1974
<div class=”bbp-author-role”>
<div class=””>Subscriber</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class=”bbp-reply-content”>

Is it not time to stop the criticism?

</div>
</div>

Hmm.. like nah. Thats not fixed.

MacAir/Safari..

I’ll try another way..

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>jamj1974
<div class=”bbp-author-role”>
<div class=””>Subscriber</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class=”bbp-reply-content”>

Is it not time to stop the criticism?

</div>

Nope, soz lads.. not fixe’d.

Nope, soz lads.. not fixe’d.

Maybe, maybe not. Let’s see what the above looks like.

Hmm.. like nah. Thats not fixed.

MacAir/Safari..

Hmmm! I’ll test on my iPad later.

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>
<div class=”bbp-author-role”>

<div class=””>Subscriber</div>

</div>
</div>
<div class=”bbp-reply-content”>

Hmm.. like nah. Thats not fixed.

MacAir/Safari..

Hmmm! I’ll test on my iPad later.

Testing on iMac / Safari.

</div>

EDIT: That all looked OK in Preview.* Copy/Paste/Highlight/Remove formatting/1x quote button.

* Yes, I’m one of the “lucky” ones that has a Preview button.

Can you try copying just the text itself rather than the author too, cheers.

Can you try copying just the text itself rather than the author too, cheers.

Testing, testing 1.2.3………

Do we have ignition?

Are we set for Blast Off??

Cheers Bikebouy.

It would seem by copying the username it is grabbing the html from the link confusing the system some what.

So the thread that I mentioned my woes on has been closed. I would use the quote button here to quote it but………

“Using chrome on Android and Windows 7 I have no edit tools.

I’m trying hard not to be sulky about the changes. I’ve been a subscriber since the magazine started. The last issue was great. But i do feel like I pay for this forum. If you’re not logged in then the adverts are tough here. If your paying for something it’s hard not to think that it should work

It’s an intresting comparison to ukclimbing. I don’t visit that often but they were looking at a forum update. They had a test site up for ages. The adverts don’t get in the way and it’s free. I don’t know if the adverts pay for the content or if Rockfax subsidise it as an advert and data collection site for the publishing business.

So why didn’t they run the updates on a test site before launching the updates here”

I’m quite annoyed at that thread being closed

Hi all.

Our plan and how it has turned out has well, gone as expected.

I tried to explain at the start of this thread what our approach was and why. Clearly that’s been lost or I just didn’t make it clear enough.

It’s not a lack of experience that has taken us down this route but the opposite. I totally get that this is an unusual way to make a change to a website but I’ve tried many times to explain that this is NOT just a website. It is intricately tied in to a multitude of systems that have been added in the past from BACS Direct debit integrations to a bespoke and locally hosted subscriber database. There are other payments systems and APIs linking the site to a multitude of third party systems. I’m not going to detail everything but to summarise there is a spaghetti mess of things running in the background that have developed and evolved over the last decade. All of it is badly implemented and has been the principal reason why the old forum software, which was 8 years out of date and forked off into all manner of directions by our previous devs to solve issues that at the time didn’t exist as products we could just plugin.

The old forum had basically ground our future development to a halt and handcuffed us. It had to go. But the 9 million posts within had to stay. 75% of our site traffic comes from search and if we deleted the forum and started again we’d knobble ourselves search wise by breaking links to millions of posts. Google would not be happy. We could export and import all the post into a new forum but again we’d knobble all our millions of links. So we decided to stick with the BBpress platform but update it. All the 9 million posts are still there and all links are intact. Job 1 done.

Job 2 as about to happen. When that is launched we will be in a position to tackle the bugs that Job 1 introduced. THIS IS NOT THE RELAUNCHED FORUM. It is what had to happen in order that we could do what we are going to do next.

Why does it look like we are developing on a live system? Well, we have a testbed server with a replica of the live site and we use that extensively. We have a sandbox server too and we use that lots too. But with all the BACS, Custom payment systems and such that are intrinsically interwoven we had a choice to make.

We could set up our testbed server and install all our financial systems including all our subscribers accounts onto it and submit it for BACS approval and some cost in order that we could test the forum and site extensively before simply switch the old one off and activating the new one or we could do what we’ve done and safely install the new forum core functions knowing there would be quite a few cosmetic issues that would frustrate many of you that we would then fix.

In short we were facing a lot of downtime of the site and the subsequent financial losses (that go much further and deeper than just ads) or we do 90% of the hard work with 10% of the errors to fix with just a few hours downtime. The latter is the path we took. If we had more resources, both staff wise and financially we would have taken the site down for a few weeks and come back with a shiny new site. We also didn’t think that you lot would have liked that option either.

All that aside I’ve explained the situation to a lot of people face to face as an analogy..

STW is a really popular nightclub that is open 24/7 and is always throbbing with people. But the building is crumbling and the floors are rotten. What we really need to do is get everyone out, shut the doors and put up a sign saying ‘back in a few weeks once we’ve rebuilt the place’. The problem is we don;t have the resources to keep the business running while we’ve essentially shut down. So we are rebuilding the club while everyone is in it. And you lot are getting covered in plaster dust right now and I’m sorry about that.

Now, nothing I just said is going to change any minds of those who already know better that we do despite not being able to see anything of what we are actually dealing with. You can inspect the page code all you like but that’s still just the tip of an iceberg. So, to anyone who is technically minded enough to still think we are doing this all wrong I welcome you to our office to see what we are actually doing. This is a genuine invitation and if you took it up we’d welcome the chance to explain and show you in person what it is we are doing. All I ask is that you email me first and let me schedule an appointment – we have a great deal on across the whole business right now from events and shows to shooting, videoing and writing content. But I promise I’ll do what I can to accommodate you if you want to come and see us and what we are working with and trying to do. And if, at the end of your visit you don’t think, ‘wow, that’s a lot more complicated than I imagined’ then, well.. I dunno. I’m sure you’ll be back on here to explain how incompetent we are. But I’m prepared to take that risk. Because I’m pretty confident that we aren’t.

The one thing we are guilty of is getting ourselves in this mess in the first place. We developed on the fly and adapted as we went in order to survive the publishing nightmare of the last decade that has seen magazines and website owned and run by big corporations with bags of cash give up and close. As a result we are still here and I have every intention of making sure that in 6 months we are still here and I’d love to be here talking to you guys in another ten years. But what we have done and want to do is so much more than just hosting a website with a forum. To take Singletrack to the next phase has required us to put a sticking plaster over a mess of an evolved on the fly system of publishing. Right now we are ripping the plaster off and it hurts. But it’s going to be much better soon enough.

Please bear with us a little longer.

Cheers Bikebouy.

Just testing..

What about the cake Mark? Cougar said there was cake, the he admitted he has lied now I don’t know what to believe. There better be cake and jelly on Saturday or I’m not renewing my P.

Hi all.

Our plan and how it has turned out has well, gone as expected.

I tried to explain at the start of this thread what our approach was and why. Clearly that’s been lost or I just didn’t make it clear enough.

It’s not a lack of experience that has taken us down this route but the opposite. I totally get that this is an unusual way to make a change to a website but I’ve tried many times to explain that this is NOT just a website. It is intricately tied in to a multitude of systems that have been added in the past from BACS Direct debit integrations to a bespoke and locally hosted subscriber database. There are other payments systems and APIs linking the site to a multitude of third party systems. I’m not going to detail everything but to summarise there is a spaghetti mess of things running in the background that have developed and evolved over the last decade. All of it is badly implemented and has been the principal reason why the old forum software, which was 8 years out of date and forked off into all manner of directions by our previous devs to solve issues that at the time didn’t exist as products we could just plugin.

The old forum had basically ground our future development to a halt and handcuffed us. It had to go. But the 9 million posts within had to stay. 75% of our site traffic comes from search and if we deleted the forum and started again we’d knobble ourselves search wise by breaking links to millions of posts. Google would not be happy. We could export and import all the post into a new forum but again we’d knobble all our millions of links. So we decided to stick with the BBpress platform but update it. All the 9 million posts are still there and all links are intact. Job 1 done.

Job 2 as about to happen. When that is launched we will be in a position to tackle the bugs that Job 1 introduced. THIS IS NOT THE RELAUNCHED FORUM. It is what had to happen in order that we could do what we are going to do next.

Why does it look like we are developing on a live system? Well, we have a testbed server with a replica of the live site and we use that extensively. We have a sandbox server too and we use that lots too. But with all the BACS, Custom payment systems and such that are intrinsically interwoven we had a choice to make.

We could set up our testbed server and install all our financial systems including all our subscribers accounts onto it and submit it for BACS approval and some cost in order that we could test the forum and site extensively before simply switch the old one off and activating the new one or we could do what we’ve done and safely install the new forum core functions knowing there would be quite a few cosmetic issues that would frustrate many of you that we would then fix.

In short we were facing a lot of downtime of the site and the subsequent financial losses (that go much further and deeper than just ads) or we do 90% of the hard work with 10% of the errors to fix with just a few hours downtime. The latter is the path we took. If we had more resources, both staff wise and financially we would have taken the site down for a few weeks and come back with a shiny new site. We also didn’t think that you lot would have liked that option either.

All that aside I’ve explained the situation to a lot of people face to face as an analogy..

STW is a really popular nightclub that is open 24/7 and is always throbbing with people. But the building is crumbling and the floors are rotten. What we really need to do is get everyone out, shut the doors and put up a sign saying ‘back in a few weeks once we’ve rebuilt the place’. The problem is we don;t have the resources to keep the business running while we’ve essentially shut down. So we are rebuilding the club while everyone is in it. And you lot are getting covered in plaster dust right now and I’m sorry about that.

Now, nothing I just said is going to change any minds of those who already know better that we do despite not being able to see anything of what we are actually dealing with. You can inspect the page code all you like but that’s still just the tip of an iceberg. So, to anyone who is technically minded enough to still think we are doing this all wrong I welcome you to our office to see what we are actually doing. This is a genuine invitation and if you took it up we’d welcome the chance to explain and show you in person what it is we are doing. All I ask is that you email me first and let me schedule an appointment – we have a great deal on across the whole business right now from events and shows to shooting, videoing and writing content. But I promise I’ll do what I can to accommodate you if you want to come and see us and what we are working with and trying to do. And if, at the end of your visit you don’t think, ‘wow, that’s a lot more complicated than I imagined’ then, well.. I dunno. I’m sure you’ll be back on here to explain how incompetent we are. But I’m prepared to take that risk. Because I’m pretty confident that we aren’t.

The one thing we are guilty of is getting ourselves in this mess in the first place. We developed on the fly and adapted as we went in order to survive the publishing nightmare of the last decade that has seen magazines and website owned and run by big corporations with bags of cash give up and close. As a result we are still here and I have every intention of making sure that in 6 months we are still here and I’d love to be here talking to you guys in another ten years. But what we have done and want to do is so much more than just hosting a website with a forum. To take Singletrack to the next phase has required us to put a sticking plaster over a mess of an evolved on the fly system of publishing. Right now we are ripping the plaster off and it hurts. But it’s going to be much better soon enough.

Please bear with us a little longer.

So what you are saying is we’re not getting a non-copy+paste quote button in the new forum?

Please bear with us a little longer.

Of course, be a pleasure.

When can you get here Jamie? There’s cake and I’ll even shout your lunch. maybe a beer too.

🙂

I’m not sure my delicate sensibilities could take the sheer volume of passive aggressiveness that would greet me, Mark.

But thanks for the offer.

🙃

Oh offer him cake. 😡